The Most Passionate eCommerce Coach & Advisor
Now that I have launched a Facebook campaign for my personal brand AlaaHassan.com, I decided to test out Twitter Ads.
I’m using the same ad concept and landing page as my Facebook campaign but fine tuning the message to fit Twitter’s newsfeed.
I’m setting the budget for $10 and a max bid of $1.68. Let’s see how it does!
Although Twitter may be considered a simple social network, it can certainly overwhelm you if you’re not prepared for it. What’s important is to know exactly what are you branding goals. You don’t want to create an account, be active for the first couple of weeks only to quit right after.
Twitter is a very powerful medium that offers you lots of great ways to help you boost your personal brand. If you want to be efficient, make sure you use one of these 3 tools.
I love Buffer and use it everyday. I use the premium edition since I’m able to connect up to 1o social profiles. This tool makes it very easy to schedule content since it comes with its own browser plugin.
Tweetdeck was acquired by Twitter and is now available to all users. It integrates really well with your profile but I honestly don’t use it much. I prefer Hootsuite.
Hootsuite is the perfect tool to help you do everything you need to manage not only your content but your communication as well. I love it because I can connect my other social media profiles and not limited to Twitter only.
Whichever tool you decide to go with, start using the basic free versions. That’s what I did. I only got the paid versions when I felt I’ve outgrown the current limitations and I somewhat was active on Twitter where I was consistently posting content.
Personal branding on Twitter will help you generate lots of awareness as well as interest in what you have to offer. One way to ruin it is by having an unprofessional Twitter profile.
Whether you’re just starting out on this popular social network or an advanced user, make sure you’re taking advantage of all the features available within your profile options. It surprises me how many people are simply not taking the time to fully complete and optimize their accounts and yet, complain how Twitter is not generating any interest in their personal brand.
Here are 3 things you need to do in order to have the perfect twitter profile.
The first thing people see when they discover you on Twitter is profile pic. Make sure you’re using one that makes you look good and supports your personal brand. The last thing you want is having negative first impressions within the first couple of seconds of someone getting in contact with you.
I got mine done with a professional photographer and been using it across all my social networks. Make sure it’s 400 x 400 pixels at least so it fits perfectly.
You can view my Twitter profile.
Many users on Twitter aren’t even taking advantage of this feature where you can upload a header photo that’s 1500 X 1500 pixels right above your Twitter profile.
It’s a great way to showcase your passion and simply being creative. Avoid putting a message in there since it will display differently on mobile devices. You don’t want to confuse people. I recommend you use images or a background that supports your interests.
For example, I love my computer and eCommerce. So I chose this background that has a keyboard, mouse and coffee.
Name
Make sure to use your full name so that people can find you and realize this is your official account. The last thing you want is use a name that people don’t recognize.
Bio
Having a well optimized bio is key on Twitter. Make sure display your valuable proposition by stating who you are, what you do and what differentiates you from the rest out there. You can mention where you work as well as your position. You can also mention your interests or passion. Be creative and keep testing different variations of it.
Location
Specifying your location can open up new local opportunities for you especially when someone discovers you for the first time. If I know you live in my city and we share similar interests, it increases the chance of me contacting you.
URL
Having your personal website within your profile is very important especially if people want to learn more about you and what it is that you do or offer. Make sure your the website you’re sending people to is mobile friendly since most of the traffic will come to you from apps or smartphones.
Your personal brand wouldn’t be complete without you being present on Twitter. It’s one of the least understood social networks, yet the one powerful tool that simply allows you to connect with those you’re trying to target within your branding strategy.
Make sure you have a professional headshot, a creative header photo and a well optimized bio with a link to your website. Do this and you will notice how easy it is to connect with people who are genuinely interested in you and what it is that you have to offer.
Good luck!
You’re trying to grow your personal brand on social media. The challenge is which social network should you focus on?
It’s not very easy for me to answer this question but I can assure you that the more social networks you engage in, the more chances you have to get discovered online.
Twitter is indeed a great choice for helping you build your personal brand. I’ve been using it for a while myself and love seeing the results from my branding efforts. You can follow me here.
Here are 5 ways you can benefit from Twitter:
One thing I love most about Twitter is how easy it makes it for people to visit my website or my Clarity profile. Within 1 or 2 clicks (or taps), users can learn about who I am, where I’m located and what is my website URL.
If you want to have a positive first impression, it’s very important to use a good quality headshot with your full name. Your bio should include a descriptive summary of who you are and what you do. Keep it simple as people skim through text. Make sure to include some keywords within your industry so that if someone searches on Twitter by profession, your profile will show up in results.
Finally, make sure to include a link to your website or to whatever landing page you want people to visit when they want o learn more about you and what it is that you offer. Use the following tools to create a personal website if you don’t have one.
Most people simply create a Twitter profile, post a couple of tweets and complain they’re not getting good results from this social network. Keep in mind that you need to put some effort on a daily basis if you really want it to pay off.
Remember how it’s important to be patient and consistent when developing your personal brand. It’s not easy but it’s not difficult.
I great tactic that I’ve seen work for me is to follow at least 5 people every day who share similar content as me or experts within my industry.
Following 5 people a day adds up to 150 a month. Now that’s a lot of people to follow but if you see they’re not posting valuable content worth sharing within your network, simply unfollow them. Focus on quality vs quantity. Following too many people makes it hard for you to keep track of what people are tweeting about.
In my situation, I followed people within the eCommerce industry, companies that provide software solutions for online retailers as well as eCommerce and online marketing blogs.
For example, I follow Scot Wingo, co-founder of Channel Advisor, a company who offers a powerful software for online retailers.
Just like how I recommended you follow 5 people a day, you should also consider retweeting content posted by them throughout the day by retweeting their posts. People will appreciate this gesture since you’re helping them spread their thoughts. This will help you get noticed even more than simply following them.
When you start retweeting their content, they will hopefully do the same with your tweets. This is a perfect example of the art of reciprocity.
For example, my friend Luiz Centenaro tweeted about a topic I enjoy a lot which is conversion rate optimization for eCommerce. His blog post was insightful that I decided to retweet it to my network so they can benefit from it.
If you don’t have time to follow or retweet people’s content on Twitter (which is hard to believe if you’re serious about building your personal brand), you can simply favorite their tweets. When doing so, it simply means that you’ve acknowledged or valued their tweet as well as it’s a great way to bookmark it for future reading.
I usually launch my Twitter app, browse through my feed and whenever I see something interesting or worth reading later, I simply tap on the favorite (star) icon below the tweet. This will send a notification to the person who Tweeted it and creates curiosity to visit your profile.
For example, my good friend Johnny Russo, eCommerce Director at Bentley Bags shared a blog post about free shipping. I didn’t have time to read it at that time so I tapped the favorite feature.
In order for you to discover new people to follow as well as new content within your industry, you will have to make use of Twitter search. I recommend you do that once a week so you don’t get overwhelmed with too many tasks on Twitter.
The best way to search something is to start with the main keyword that you’ve been targeting and from there, you can simply use different variations of it in order to dig deeper within the Twitter network.
For example, I love everything eCommerce. I can search the keyword “eCommerce” as a first step. But if I am looking to connect with eCommerce consultants, I can simply search “eCommerce consultant”.
Twitter may sound confusion at first, but trust me, as you learn how to use it, you will realize how powerful it is when it comes to building your personal brand.
In order to succeed, make sure to optimize your profile, follow individuals within your industry, favorite as well as retweet their content and always look to expand your network using the powerful Twitter search.
Good luck!