4 Twitter Branding Secrets

Social networking today is a huge opportunity for any business to use. Not only is it a system that is free to use, but also you can potentially reach more people faster by using these Internet related tools. All this goes doubly for Twitter.

The unfortunate part is that most people don't use the full power of Twitter. One of the biggest reasons for that is they don't have a clear understanding of what Twitter branding is all about.

May I help?

*** Secret 1 ***

Use a screen name, not your own.

I get far more mileage out of a creative USER ID than I would out of my own name. After all, whom would you rather tweet with?

@BodyByChocolate

@GuySiverson

Using a creative screen name that reflects who I am also allows people to clearly see what my mission is.

*** Secret 2 ***

Stuff your bio with keywords related to your mission.

Words like "I, am, the, a" simply don't help your profile. Don't use them. The more keywords you can get in your bio the more lists you will find yourself to be part of.

Have you ever been in a networking meeting where everyone has the chance to describe who they are and why they are there? On Twitter this your moment to tell people who you are. This is your 30-second elevator speech. And this is critical to your success.

*** Secret 3 ***

Perhaps this is the most overlooked part of branding for Twitter.

Take full advantage of your location.

Most people know they have 160 characters to describe themselves on Twitter. What they don't know is they also have 120 characters for their location information.

I personally started out by telling people that my location was "Spokane."

Once I discovered this secret I quickly changed my location information to read "Seattle B4 Spokane WA USA."

Now, when people are searching for any of the following keywords

* Seattle

* Spokane

* WA

* USA

I am there.

*** Secret 4 ***

Use a branded picture.

In this age of social networking people see more pictures of people than ever before. To a certain extent, I believe people have learned to ignore these pictures. Even worse, put an image or a logo where the picture goes. Now visual people cannot connect with you but only your brand. Given that your brand is likely located elsewhere you lessen your image with this approach.

So what's the answer?

For me, it was to dawn a cape with my logo on the back and secure a mask. After all, I am the Body By Chocolate Man saving the world from unhealthy chocolate.

With this approach people have the ability to see me as well as to connect with my brand all in the scope of a single picture.

*** Summary ***

Twitter branding, like with any social network may take a bit of time to do right. Those who choose to take the time to build correct profiles will reap the rewards 10, 100 & even 1000 fold.