How Mediators Can Make The Most Of Twitter

Twitter is interesting because people go on the platform to discover and talk about everything under the sun.

One major asset is that tweets can easily show up on people’s news feeds that don’t follow you because Twitter has the retweet function, where people can basically share someone else’s tweet with their followers. Additionally, suggested tweets will show up on people’s Twitter newsfeeds, and these tweets are based on a user’s interests, searches, and Twitter activity.

Twitter may seem like an unlikely tool for marketing, but it can actually be a great platform to expand your outreach if your target audience is of certain demographics. In a previous article, I covered how to map out your target audience and how to choose social media platforms based on these demographics. Check out this video for a more in-depth explanation of how to do this.

Consider the following key demographics of Twitter users:

1. It has a pretty significant gender disparity; according to 2021 data, 68.5 percent of users identified as male.

2. The overwhelming majority of users were between ages 18 and 44, and 28.4 percent of overall users being between the ages of 35 and 44.

3. Other data suggests that Twitter’s user base skews wealthy and college-educated, as well as those living in urban or suburban areas.

Needless to say, Twitter can be valuable if your target audience includes people within younger age groups or college-educated people living in urban areas. If this sounds like a good addition to your social media marketing plan, keep watching. We’ll be discussing how to set up your account, establish a social media style guide, and map out a content calendar to plan future tweets. Once you’ve got this information established, you can start building content and building your Twitter presence.

There are six main components to set up in your Twitter profile: your Twitter handle, username, profile picture, bio, header image, and links.

1. Your Twitter handle, which can be up to 15 characters, will be the name that other Twitter users will use to search for you or refer to you as in posts. It should describe your brand, or what you do, and be personalized to you. Good ideas might be the name of your business if you have one, or something related to your resolution practice that people would easily remember.

2. Your username is what appears above your Twitter handle, on your profile, and on your tweets, and it can be up to 50 characters. It could either be the name of your business, or your name with a one-word indicator of what you do in your practice. For example, John Doe Mediation, or whatever field of resolution you’re in.

3. Your profile picture should be either your business logo or a photo of you, whether it’s a headshot or more informal. Check out this video for an in-depth explanation of how to get a great headshot

(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NKEVRcKZzqhncmKeU0KWd5uIbeSjFoFZlSeglRV

uW2Y/edit_). The only main restriction here is that it should be a square image since Twitter profile pictures are circular. This will help the image appear clearly on your page.

4. Next, your biography is a 160-character description of your business. This is a way to describe yourself and what you do, and it shows up when people click on your profile. Including your mission statement or value proposition is usually a good idea, but you can customize this part of your Twitter however you’d like. You just want to make sure that after reading your biography, people know what you can do, and how you stand out.

5. Your header image shows up behind your profile picture, and it’s a rectangle at the top of your Twitter page when people view your profile. Many people change this regularly and use this to highlight promotions or news about their business or their practice. For example, if you have a book coming out, or a webinar or networking event coming up, you can include this in your header.

6. Finally, you’ll want to include links to valuable information about your business. Twitter has the option to put your general location, which can help your target audience know what city your practice is located in. There’s also an option to put a link to a website, and if you have a personal website, you’ll want to link this here.

Once you have your profile set up, you’ll want to establish a style guide for your content. This will be based on what image you want to portray to your target audience. In your style guide, you’ll want to consider your tone, how you write, your use of emojis, and your use of hashtags. The purpose of this guide is to keep everything on your profile consistent, which will help make your page look more cohesive.

Finally, you’ll want to set up a content calendar. You want to consider how often you want to post and at what times. A good guideline is daily or every few days. You’ll also want to consider the type of content you’ll be putting out. A good idea is to have one-third of your tweets promote your practice, one-third offer relevant information on topics, and one-third share personal stories that may or may not be related to your practice. This will help you reap the benefits of all three types of content while giving a sense of relatability and giving people something to reply to and retweet.

As a side note, it goes without saying, but with sharing personal stories, use discretion to ensure that everything is appropriate, non-offensive, and does not disclose potentially sensitive information about yourself or your clients.

You’ll also want to establish your pinned tweet once you start creating Twitter content. This is a tweet that shows up at the top of your Twitter page when people view it, so you’ll want to make sure that this is an interesting, thought-provoking tweet that relates to your business or practice in some way. When used correctly, this can almost serve as an informal second Twitter biography, and can really make your account look interesting.

Congratulations! Now that you’ve got this setup, you’re ready to start creating content and connecting with new followers. Stay tuned for upcoming videos to see how to create great tweets and grow your outreach.

References:

https://business.twitter.com/

https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7488-twitter-for-business.html

https://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-marketing/