From The Crow’s Nest

This is the fourth post in a series designed to help you set up and fine tune your Twitter account. It’s geared for business people who use Twitter either for a company or as a professional networking tool. However, most of the information applies to the person using Twitter just for fun.

Without a Twitter goal, you can't hit the bulls eye.

Twitter is fun and the latest trend, but using Twitter takes time away from running your business. If you are serious about your success, you understand that it is important to manage your time so you get the important things accomplished each day. Without a Twitter goal, you may see some benefits from your time, but you won’t begin to harness the value Twitter can bring to your business.

Your Twitter Goal

Before you take one more step, stop to figure out your Twitter goal. The reason you use Twitter plays a major role in the rest of the decisions you make about your Twitter account.

To figure out your Twitter goal, ask yourself the following questions.

• Why am I considering using Twitter? (Or, why did I start using Twitter?)
• Will I be talking to friends and family on Twitter?
• Am I looking to find my customers on Twitter?
• Am I hoping to connect with peers and create a professional network?
• Am I going to use Twitter mostly to receive information, or do I plan to send out information on Twitter?
• What do I plan to talk about on Twitter?
• Do I want to connect with potential customers?
• Are my potential customers located in my geography or anywhere Twitter goes?

Write down your answers to these questions. This is the raw information that you will use to build your specific Twitter goal.

Define Your Twitter Goals

You can have more than one Twitter goal. However, your Twitter goals must be compatible for you to combine them in the same account. When you have goals that are not compatible and you want to use Twitter to meet them, you will need more than one Twitter account.

For example, you may identity these two Twitter goals:

• Talk with my bowling buddies and plan parties with them.
• Teach my customers and potential customers about my business.

If you run a bowling-related business, these two goals may be compatible. However, for most businesses, these goals are incompatible. Your customers who want to learn about your products and services don’t want to hear about your bowling plans. And your bowling buddies may not want to wade through your business communication with customers.

Here are some examples of good Twitter business goals that may work well together.

• I use Twitter to share information with my existing customers about my products, services, and industry so they are well-informed consumers.
• I use Twitter reach out to potential customers who could benefit from the product, service, and industry information I share with my customers on Twitter.
• I use Twitter to direct my followers to information about my products, services, and industry that appears on my blog and website.
• I use Twitter to allow my existing and potential customers to ask me questions about my products, services and industry.

Here are some good Twitter goals that may not be compatible with these goals.

• I use Twitter to ask and answer questions with my peers so I can learn more about my industry, recent trends, and best practices.
• I use Twitter to communicate with my contractors and vendors to make sure that my projects and supplies stay on schedule.
• I use Twitter to communicate with my business partners about new and existing business we work on together.
• I use Twitter to solve customer service issues with my existing customers.

Here’s one way to figure out if your Twitter goals are compatible. Imagine you have a room full of the people that make up your Twitter community. If they were in the same room, are there some conversations that you would not feel comfortable having in that mixed group? If so, you may need more than one Twitter account.

However, if your goals drive you to set up multiple Twitter accounts, ask yourself if each goal is best met on Twitter. There are many conversations that should remain private and should continue to use your existing communication channels, such as email or telephone. Twitter isn’t the solution for every business goal. That’s a bit like only having a hammer in your toolbox. Don’t let every business problem look like a nail!

Twitter Goals and Profile Setup

Your Twitter goals determine the choices you make for your Twitter account setup.

• Set up one or more than one Twitter account. You can have more than one goal for an account, but the goals must be compatible.
• Decide the best user name for your Twitter account. If you set up multiple business Twitter accounts, you need to give them slightly different names so you and your community can identify the account’s purpose from the user name. For example, the New York Times has a separate account for major paper sections.
• Identify the best web link for more information about your Twitter account. If you create multiple Twitter accounts, you need multiple Twitter landing pages. You should also include information about the other accounts in each landing page, along with information to help potential followers find the best account for their needs.
• Create the appropriate bio for your Twitter account. Your Twitter bio should explain your Twitter goal to potential followers. If you need more space, you can expand this explanation in your Twitter landing page.
• Select the appropriate avatar for your Twitter account. If you have multiple business Twitter accounts, you may want to modify your logo for the avatar to support the account user name and goal. For example,  if you have separate Twitter accounts for different products, you might use your company logo with the product name for your avatar, or you might use the product logo instead of the company logo.

Twitter Goals And Community Management

Your Twitter community management is everything you do to maintain your list of the people you follow. It involves finding new people to follow, deciding whom to follow back, and occasionally weeding out people you follow.

Your Twitter community, the people you follow, determine your ability to meet your Twitter goals for the account. Each week as you perform community management tasks, you should make your choices based on your Twitter goals. Seek out people on Twitter who can help you meet your Twitter goals and follow them. Many of them will follow you back, making your community stronger.

You may find that someone follows you who does not obviously support your Twitter goal. For example, you may focus your Twitter account on new and existing customers, but you discover that a stranger is following you, or a vendor has started following your account. It never hurts to have extra community members. However, if you have a different Twitter account that you think they should follow instead, send them a direct message with your alternate account information. You can’t stop them from following any Twitter account, but they will appreciate if you help them find the most appropriate account to follow.

Twitter Goals and What You Tweet

Your Twitter goal also determines what you tweet. If you have multiple accounts, your goals show you which account should send each tweet. What you tweet is only part of the communication process. You should also read the incoming tweets and make the appropriate replies according to your Twitter goals.

The same advice applies for retweets. I often read tweets on my personal account that I know my business Twitter community would love to hear. In those situations, I retweet on the business account because the tweet meets the goal for that account.

Your turn: Do you have Twitter goals in place for your accounts? If so, how did you determine them, and how do they help you manage your Twitter communication. Share your insights with the community.

Related Posts

• The Twitter School
• Twitter Your Time Away
• Twitter Landing Pages
  

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