If you run a search on a topic followed by the word ‘Twitter’ or ‘tweet,’ search engines such as Google are beginning to incorporate results from one of the largest social networking sites, Twitter. With 65 millions tweets per day, it’s essential to take advantage of Twitter in your arsenal of internet marketing strategies. Here are top 10 tips on leveraging SEO for your brand or company’s Twitter platform.
1. Your Twitter handle. A Twitter ‘handle,’ simply put, is your username on Twitter. It’s called so because it’s fixated at the end of your Twitter URL, taking the form of twitter.com/yourhandle. Since your handle is how people will search and follow you, it’s a good idea to choose a handle that’s relevant to you brand, company, or niche – this will optimize your Twitter URL for search indexing. In devising a Twitter handle, think of a handle that’s short and to-the-point – this will make your brand or company easily tweetable.
2. Account Name. Your account name is different from your handle (see above). Your name appears next to your profile, and while it’s not necessarily how someone might search you directly on Twitter, you’ll want to select a name that best promotes your brand or company. Here’s a novel idea: conduct keyword research such as on Google AdWords and come up with a variation of your brand that has more search frequency.
3. Fill in your Bio. Your ‘Bio’ appears next to your picture at the top of your profile, and it’s what people read to get a sense of who you are, your brand, or your company. While Twitter gives you 20 more characters (160) than a regular tweet, use this space wisely with your brand or company’s most important keywords or phrases. Your bio is indexed so whatever you write will give your Twitter page its core relevance.
4. Promote your Twitter. Now that you have your Twitter URL, it’s important to build your Twitter base. A great way to promote your Twitter URL online is by posting a ‘Follow’ button to your website, such as your website’s Global Footer, and/or in email marketing campaigns. A good idea would be to include your Twitter URL on your website.
5. Your website’s URL. In your Twitter’s account settings, be sure to include your brand or company’s website. While doing so will not provide offsite reputation, this is a great way to gain exposure for your brand or company.
6. The ‘lead-in’. The lead-in is roughly the first 42 characters of your tweets. Be sure to condense your tweet’s most important keywords or phrases at the front because they are will appear in your tweet’s title tag when it shows up on SERPs, such as Google.
7. Hashtags. Hashtags is the pound sign (‘#’) that’s placed as a prefix of a keyword, which is used to designate a trending topic. For example, someone doing a search on #AustralianOpen will get tweet results that refer to the tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, and not on tweets that include the words ‘Australian’ or ‘Open.’ Tweets with hashtags are cataloged within a niche of its appropriate trending topic.
8. Re-tweetability. This refers to the ease of your tweets being re-tweeted. The rule of thumb is tweeting within 120 characters so that followers that want to re-tweet you have 20 characters to include RT @YourHandle. To further maximize re-tweetability, use URL shorteners to maximize your limited characters per tweet. TinyURL and Bit.ly are great URL shorteners.
9. URLs. Use back links to refer followers to your website, and be sure to use URL shorteners (see above #8). This has been successful in driving traffic up for blogs.
10. Give your followers what they want, and then some. When people follow you on Twitter, they’ve decided that they like your brand or company, and that they have something of value to be gain. When you include URLs (shortened of course), be sure that it’s content that sure to provide a richer and enlightening experience.
Written By: Jaszver Bauzon
