Recharging Twitter: Five Steps to Refreshing Your Twitter Presence

I have recently become a Twitter maniac. For the first year of my business, I tweeted very often with my company account. Then as the agency grew, I relinquished control of our Twitter account to my very capable staff of social strategists. Recently, I realized how much I missed my favorite social media platform so I reactivated my personal Twitter account and got busy. I loved every second of it. Twitter is such an amazing way to create conversations and reach new audiences.

Today, I would like to share with you five things you can do right now to recharge your Twitter account. These simple changes will take only minutes and can instantly energize your account for maximum business impact. Here you go…

1. Update Your Photos – Twitter is a rapidly progressing and constantly changing social network. The life of a tweet is only minutes. So why have your profile and cover photos not changed in the last year? Keep your profile fresh with new graphics. If you want to keep your profile picture constant for branding purposes, that’s fine, then change your cover photo. Try including a call-to-action or a key marketing message. It is amazing how different and fresh your profile looks with a quick swap of your cover photo.
2. Pin a Tweet – I tweet a lot. Others tweet a lot more. With so much content being distributed, you need to make sure that there is a single tweet, with an eye-catching graphic and call-to-action that you can pin to the top of your feed. That way, every time someone looks at your profile, the first tweet they see is something that you deem important. To pin a tweet, click on the […] icon on the bottom of a tweet and click on “Pin to your profile page.”
3. Experiment with Your Profile Description – It is very common for social media strategists to recommend inserting a call-to-action into your profile description. I think there are better places for the CTA – like the pinned tweet or cover photo. Instead, let your profile description be a canvas. Be fun, creative or different. Experiment. Try different descriptions and see if anyone reacts to it. Let this description be truly reflective of who you (or your brand) really are. Let the other elements of the page sell your service.
4. Don’t Forget the Power of Visuals – Twitter reports that a simple photo in a tweet produces 27% more retweets than a tweet without a photo. So make sure that every time you tweet, you include a photo. We have a monthly subscription with a stock photo company and use photos from that library to boost the effectiveness of our tweets.
5. Be Creative with Your Tweets – Not every tweet has to be a piece of content related to your business. Check out my twitter account (@jbaumann). I tweet about everything – TV shows I watch, how beautiful Chicago really is, the Chicago Cubs, quotes that inspire me, tools that we use to make our lives easier. Social media is about building and nurturing relationships. These fun tweets help to nurture relationships. Try it.

Twitter is such an amazing social media platform but all too often we get stuck in the groove doing exactly what everyone else is. Be adventurous and try something different. Hopefully these five ideas will help you recharge your Twitter account. If I missed something, leave a comment here, or tweet me at either @BoxlessMedia or @JBaumann. I would love to hear your feedback.