The Bloggers’ Lounge Twitter Beginners’ Guide!

In a world where everyone seems to be using Twitter, you might feel left out if you don’t have an account for your blog. While it can appear overwhelming to start from scratch, the good thing is that it’s never too late to join the Twitter party, so don’t despair if you’re wondering where to begin!

Whether it’s your first time building an account, or you just need some advice for enhancing your current profile, use our Beginners’ Guide to Twitter and hit the ground running…

1. Create Your Brand

First things first, decide whether or not you want your personal account and blog account to be one and the same. Many successful bloggers marry the two concepts and find it to be a great way of establishing their personal brand, so make a decision and run with it; nothing’s set in stone, but it’s good to know your aims before you start!

As soon as someone visits your Twitter page, you want them to see your whole image, not disjointed pieces awkwardly placed next to each other. Edit your profile and use the design settings to create a theme. Use a display photo, header image and theme colour that complement each other, letting your personality shine through in the appearance you’ve chosen and the bio you’ve written. Read more about the new header dimensions, as well as getting to grips with the new features introduced this year.

• Consistency is key – Choose a username (or “handle”) that reflects your blog name, exact match if possible. Make it easy for people to mention you when sharing content from other platforms such as Instagram, without creating links to empty profiles (or worse, to the wrong user!).

2. Publish!

Ensure you’re posting from your blog to your Twitter account and include links to posts, including eye-catching images when possible, and if you sync up with the likes of Instagram, Pinterest or Vine, be sure to regularly link over to these accounts so potential followers can find you. If you’re actively using other platforms, you don’t want lopsided social.

• Know your #hashtags – Draw followers in by putting yourself out there! Use hashtags that place your content in front of your relevant audience. People will be searching for your field of interest, so make sure they can find you. Use Google, hashtagify.me and the Twitter search bar itself to research relevant hashtags for your Tweets and blog posts. Start with the basics and then you can refine your tags to target specific audiences.

3. Mingle

Speak to people! Thank your new followers and people who favourite or retweet your content. Encourage conversation by commenting on things that interest you and build relationships with people who inspire you – This is ‘social’ after all! Ask your friends to give you some Twitter love, share their content in return and ask them to retweet anything they like from your page. People will share what they enjoy naturally, so ask relevant contacts to give you a signal boost and kick-start your new following!

Let people who already read your blog know that you’re now using Twitter. Write a post about it, add Twitter follow and social sharing buttons to your blog and set the template Tweet to include your Twitter handle. That way, people immediately know how to find you!

4. Report, Plan, Schedule

Use social metrics platforms such as SocialBro to see how your Tweets are performing. Generate such reports as “Best Time to Tweet”, allowing you to schedule appropriate tweets for the times when your followers are online. You can do this through platforms such as HootSuite, but there are a whole host of multi channel planning platforms that you can use.

Lastly, you can generate short links through bitly.com and see how many clicks your links receive (If you’re more skilled with Google Analytics, track your URLs to monitor traffic).

Hopefully, these tips will give you a helping hand if you’re struggling to get your Twitter account up and running, but one of the most important things is to set your goals and jump right into the Twittersphere deep end. You’ll learn as you go along, especially from other users, and we’re sure you’ll establish a healthy Twitter presence in no time!

Comment below or Tweet your Twitter advice to , and share our Beginners’ Guide to Twitter with your new followers!