Image courtesy of 7son75's photostream
I have a Twitter account, but I’ll admit, I have a pretty dismal record as far as my ‘tweets’ go. Lately though, I have been taking more notice of Twitter. I check it for real-time information on a variety of topics, such as politics or sports. But what’s really captured my attention is the Twitter redesign – and how it can help better promote branding.
In mid-September, Twitter introduced the header photo option. According to Twitter Product Manager Sachin Agarwal, the header photo is available on mobile Apps for the iPad, iPhone and Android, and also can be viewed on Twitter.com.
When a Twitter user views your profile, he or she will be able to see the header photo at the top, located above all of your tweets. Your profile, or avatar, image is set on top of it, along with 160 words or less of text to describe you – or maybe, your business. You can also include your web address. Additionally, a background theme, or photo, can be chosen. To see an example, view “Today” Co-Anchor Savannah Guthrie’s Twitter account here.
Along with the new header photo option, a user’s photo stream will now be front and center. When using an iPhone, iPad or Android, you can see fellow Tweeters’ images underneath their most recent tweets.
So how does Twitter, and its recent redesign, help you promote your business and your brand? First, as Scott Levy of Entrepreneur magazine pointed out, the new header photo option really makes the image the focal point of the whole Twitter page. It’s the very first thing customers, potential employees, etc. will see when they view it. In a previous blog post, I mentioned 60% of consumers polled said that if a business has an image online that is really eye-catching, they are more likely to contact the company or at least think about doing so. That statistic speaks for itself – the new header photo, along with the profile image that is set on top of it, is important!
On Twitter, the 160-word biography that you can write is also crucial, and gives you the perfect opportunity to articulate who you are, what you do, where you are located, why people should work with you, and how they can get in touch. Yes, it’s a lot of information to fit into one space; but, it gives just enough detail to get viewers interested.
And don’t forget about the ability to have your photo stream appear on iPhones, iPads and Androids – Levy explained that the images you add can provide visuals to your short bio and the 140-character tweets that are written at a time.
Finally, think before you tweet. According to Entrepreneur magazine’s Jason Fell, people viewing your Twitter account don’t want to hear that you are in a bad mood or that you checked in at McDonald’s for a pre-meeting breakfast. Instead, they want links to content you’ve created, questions you want to ask and personal commentary about relevant information. In other words, viewers don’t want to read tweets they can read anywhere else; they want something that is intriguing and worth a few minutes of their time.
Twitter is evolving – and so is how you promote and brand your business. Find a strong image that represents your business, write a biography that gives a solid description of you (and your business) and choose photos and tweets that will strengthen and increase your brand recognition in the social media world.