8/3/2019 Twitter: Start from zero

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There is a lot of advice out there on how to manage your social media. Most of that advice, including my own, is aimed at streamlining and improving the conversation. The conversation is of course a series of interactions between at least two parties, the more the merrier. But, what if there isn't one?

What if you don't have a large number of followers, what if you are not a topicof discussion among people, what if you have to start from zero?

First of all, and this is important, there is no shortcut. At least not if you want people following you who actually care and who will interact with you, whatI call actual followers. If you get 1000 followers after a "follow us and RT towin an iPad"-contest, those will be passive and will eventually trickle down. Buying followers does not work. Don't be tempted to cheat, the number of followersis not your high score.

The only real, sustainable way to go about it, is to grow organically. Don't focus on the numbers, focus on what really matters: quality and purpose. People expect authenticity and added value. In the long run, that is what will make your social media approach a success. If you have to set a KPI, don't take "number of

followers" but go for the effect your social media approach has on customer retention and brand reputation.

In the corporate world, you may be faced with KPI's that have been imposed fromabove. You could take your Klout score. As flawed as Klout may be, it actually is a better KPI than your number of followers, since it also looks at interaction, retweets and the influence of your followers. But in the end, it's better to work with principles, not mathematical KPI's.

Now, before we get started, let's take care of some important details.

Do you have a good profile picture on Twitter? Some profile pictures are betterthan others. The best profile picture is your face. That sends a signal to your

followers. You are a real person they can get to know, not an anonymous automaton whose tweets have been written and approved by committee. In some cases, thisis not possible. Then you may opt for a picture of the product, especially if you only have the one. Your company logo is of course better than the standard twitter avatar, but it is not very personal. And Twitter is a very personal medium.

A notable exception is the company that will use Twitter mainly for help desk purposes, like service providers. You may use your company logo here. Just make sure to have a community building approach in place. A "help desk-only" twitter-account is not very inspiring.

Your bio is very important. That, plus your logo, is what people see first afteryou follow them. The decision to follow you back (or not) is made very quicklyand your profile picture and bio are some of the most important factors influencing that decision. You should avoid marketing-babble at all costs, so never everdescribe yourself as an expert or guru. This evolves over time. At the moment,

people declaring they are "passionate" about a certain topic may find that working as a red flag. The KISS-approach seems to work best. What do you do and who are you? People will look at this and decided to follow you back, or not, write it with that in mind.

Contrary to what many people seem to think, your twitter-background is not as important. It can be a good marketing-tool and you can do some interesting thingswith it. But most people use Twitter through an app.

Time to get started!

8/3/2019 Twitter: Start from zero

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You have set up your twitter account, taken care of your profile picture and your bio. Now what? You simply follow the rules of human interaction. Social mediais a brand new tool, but the rules are not. The most important one is: "be interested, not interesting". You shouldn't just be a broadcaster of ideas and content, no matter how great they might be. People on Twitter are looking for interaction, so interact. Find people and conversations revolving around your sector andparticipate in the conversation. The more people are in the conversation, the b

etter, especially if the conversation has its own hashtag. Don't do this forcefully, it's all about authenticity and quality.

Like any conversation, the purpose is not to "win", but to build a rapport withpeople. A few pointers that you probably don't need:

- accept and even welcome criticism, you can learn from it- don't try to sell things- don't spam, don't be passive, find a balance that works- listen

You could check out the twitter-accounts of your competition. They are most cert

ainly worth a follow. The same goes for pundits, people with a particular expertise in your field. And follow back all real people following you.

Now, just keep engaging people in conversation and don't let a day go by withoutusing Twitter.

You're part of the community now.