Decide On Your Goal

When you decide to become an active user on Twitter, it’s important to decide what you want to get out of Twitter for your business.

Generate Leads

Do you want to actively seek out people to engage with who you think will be an ideal customer? Maybe you want to start a conversation with them to make them aware of your business.

Drive traffic to your website

Are you going to share content that takes people back to your website through your blogs, ebooks and online content? Perhaps your primary goal is to build your email list so you can sell your services via email.

Promote engagement with existing clients

Are you going to concentrate on following your existing customers and engaging with them, sharing pet pictures and news with them and generally creating a fun Twitter community for the pet parents you service? Maybe you want to do a weekly hashtag to get everyone together, for example, #petsofnewyork or #newyorkpets.

A good Twitter strategy should ideally include a mix of all 3 of these. You should be looking for new customers to engage with and driving them to your website while engaging with existing clients.

Optimise Your Account

Before you start putting together your Twitter strategy, you should make sure your account is optimised so that people can find you and that they understand what you do.

Choose a Twitter Handle

Your Twitter handle can be either your business name or personal name. This really is a personal decision and there are pros and cons for both.
Some people feel if your Twitter handle is your own name people will engage more because they can relate to you as a person, that it is more personal and relatable.
On the other hand, if you have a business that is more than just you then your company name can be more appropriate. You can always add in the description something like ‘Tweets by Kate’ or sign off your Tweets with your name or initials.
I have always felt that your social media accounts belong to your business and that if you are expanding or ever thinking of selling that these accounts should be in the company name.
But, as I said, it is a personal choice.

Fully Complete Your Profile
Click on Edit Profile and update the following

To Do List

  • Header photo – This needs to represent what your business is about and ideally should include a Call to Action (CTA) so that your ideal customers know what you want them to do. For example, a picture of pets, your services, and a CTA that says to call you or visit your website.
    Make sure you use quality images. Don’t use grainy, dark, poor quality photos. Check out my resources section to find places to get stock images – both free and paid.
    Tip: You can make Twitter header photos on www.canva.com.
  • Profile photo – If you decide to use your logo then make sure it is correctly sized and all of it can be seen. If you need to get it reworked for the avatar dimensions then you will be able to find someone on www.fiverr.com to do that for you.
    Alternatively, if you decide to use a profile picture of yourself then make sure it is professional and clear. If you want to brand the photo with your logo, that is an option as well.
  • Name – Use your company name.
  • Bio (maximum 160 characters) – Make your bio interesting. It should let people know what you do and stand out to catch your ideal customer’s attention. Include the keywords that describe your business so that people can find you through search.
  • Location – Make sure you enter the location as the areas you cover.
  • Website – Include the URL of your website so that people know where they can go to find out more information about your business. If you don’t have a website yet, you can add your Facebook page.
  • Pin a tweet to the top of your profile – This can be something to advertise your services or it could be a freebie you want people to sign up for.

Grow Your Followers.You can only follow 2,000 people before Twitter expects your followers to exceed that. So it’s important to follow the right people that are likely to follow you back.

You need to tell people you are on Twitter and promote your Twitter handle.
Make sure you include it on your email auto signature, business cards, website, and other social media channels. You could even make your CTA to contact you on Twitter. For example, on the bottom of each of your blog posts you could say tweet me with your thoughts. There are even plugins to do this – such as click to tweet.


Find people on Twitter to follow using the advanced search function. You can really narrow down your search to find your ideal customers. For example, search dog and your town to find people in your area that are talking about their dogs. Once you find them, start engaging with them.
It might feel a little bit weird at first as you almost feel like you are hijacking people’s conversations. But people are on Twitter to chat and that is the beauty of it – you are meant to jump into a conversation and contribute to it.
Screenshot 2015-08-28 13.59.35Twitter Search Operators

Look for hashtags conversations that take place weekly that you can get involved in. For example, weekly business hours, pet hours, blogging hours such as #blogpaws. Events like this will get you chatting with like-minded people and increase your Twitter profile.
Use hashtags in your tweets to connect with people like #petsitter #groomer #dog and #cat. Search those hashtags to find people talking about those subjects and connect with them.
Jump onto appropriate trending hashtags. For example, if a sporting event was trending on Twitter, you could comment about the sport and post a picture of your dog watching the TV. Get involved in the conversation though. Don’t just spam the hashtag with business ads. Also make sure it’s an appropriate hashtag for you to get involved in.

Exercise Ebook

Twitter lists make it easy for you to keep up to date on tweets from accounts that you are particularly interested in. They can be public or private lists, depending on if you want people to see your lists.
For example, you could create lists for:

  • Influencers in the pet industry
  • People you have met in person (at events etc.)
  • Clients
  • Pet product companies
  • Bloggers
  • Your biggest fans

Look What Your Competitors Are Doing
It is ok to check out what other people are doing on Twitter so you can see what is current and get inspiration for your own account. DO NOT copy people though – it’s not flattery at all!

If you are extremely active on Twitter then you can embed your Twitter feed on your website. It will give people a chance to see you are active and to follow you. Do not embed your feed though unless you are going to be very active.

If someone doesn’t follow you back in 3 to 5 days then you should unfollow them and follow someone else. You want to follow active Twitter followers who are likely to engage with you.

Thank people

Always thank for a follow and a retweet where you can. Generally speaking, it can start a conversation with a follower and give you a chance to engage with them.

Retweet other people’s content

You don’t need to just share you own content. If you feel your followers will be interested in it then retweet (RT) it. Hopefully then they will retweet some of your content in the future.

Favourite Tweets

Some people use the favourite button to curate certain types of content. For example, you could favourite only tweets where someone gives you a good review. Others use it as an acknowledgment that they like the article – a bit like you might like something on Facebook.

Now that you are ready with your profile,

proceed to learn how to write for twitter!

Whatever content you create it needs to bring value to your followers. Different people respond to different content, which is why it’s important to have a mix of content people can engage with.

See How!

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