Beginner's Guide to Twitter: Hashtags, Lists, Analytics + Chats {Part 2}

Twitter is a social network that people tend to either love or hate (or just not understand). It's one of my personal favorites for the speed of communicating, but many clients question the value. Not every social network is appropriate for each person or business, so I'm breaking down how to get the most out of Twitter.

In the Beginner's Guide to Twitter Part One we discussed:

• Why entrepreneurs should be using Twitter
• Best practices for setting up your profile
• What, when, and how often to post
• How to gain Twitter followers
• The difference between a retweet and a favorite

Now we're going to dive into hashtags, lists, analytics and chats so you can step up your game for business.

How should you use hashtags on Twitter?

Hashtags allow people to view all the tweets around a certain topic and interact with others with a similar interest.

Use your hashtags wisely, though. If you use too many it will junk up your tweet and distract from your actual message. You should also really think about your hashtags (on Twitter and Instagram). Are people actually searching on that topic? Are you just adding it to get likes, in which case, are they quality likes (qualified leads)?

• Events: If you're attending a conference/trade show/etc there's a good chance there's a hashtag for it.
• Trending Topics: Join a trending conversation and stay up to date on what people are tweeting most about
• Locations: Find people close to you, find things to do when traveling, etc.
• Popular Themes: For the health and wellness world, some popular hashtags include things like #MeatlessMonday and #MondayMotivation.

Hashtag Tools

• Keyhole: Conversation / hashtag tracker for Twitter and Instagram
• Hashtagify.me: Find similar hashtags
• Tagboard: Monitor hashtags in a nice, visual way

What are Twitter Lists?

Twitter lists are a way to organize the people you follow so you can view segmented timelines of tweets.

For example, since my business covers a few different topics, I have lists for:

You can see which lists others have added me to here. This would be a good place for me (or another similar Twitter user) to go to find like-minded people.

How can you access Twitter Analytics?

Go to https://analytics.twitter.com/ while you're logged into your account.

You'll see a dashboard with helpful statistics like this:

1 Quick Twitter Tip for Beginners

If you are responding to someone or starting a tweet with someone's handle (@twittername), only that person and people who follow you both will see the tweet. If you want more people to see it, add a . in front of the @ symbol.

5 Twitter Chats to Join for Creative Entrepreneurs

I love Twitter chats. I've only joined a few, but I always learn so much and have made some great connections. Here are a handful worth looking into:

1. #creativecoffeehour -- Mondays 9pm EST -- Hosted by Callie Gisler
2. #createlounge -- Wednesdays 8pm EST -- Hosted by Kayla Hollatz
3. #ellechat -- Thursdays 8pm EST -- Hosted by Lauren Hooker
4. #blisschat -- Thursdays 8pm EST -- Hosted by Charissa Moore CCT
5. #OWSchat -- 1st Wednesday of each month at 9pm EST -- Hosted by One Woman Shop

There are a ton more great Twitter chats out there, but these are just a few I've jumped into in the past. Chloe Social has a handy Twitter Chat list in her sidebar here, and Elle & Co. recently posted this Helpful Guide for Utilizing Twitter Chats.

If you know of a good one, leave a comment to share with everyone!

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Join me on Twitter. Start a conversation or ask me a question!

Read part one here: Beginner's Guide to Twitter: Profile Set-up, Posts + Followers {Part 1}

In the Comments:

What has kept you from trying Twitter?

-or-

What do you love about Twitter?

Beginner's Guide to Twitter: Profile Set-up, Posts + Followers {Part 1}

One of the questions I hear the most from new business coaching clients is, "Do I really need to learn how to use Twitter? I just don't get it." But for me, I have the most followers on Twitter. (However, Pinterest sends the most social traffic to my website, making up 55% of my monthly traffic overall, in fact, but that's a topic for another day!)

Twitter describes the platform as, "The fastest, simplest way to stay close to everything you care about." It has become one of the top news sources, often beating out news agency's for breaking stories.

Business Insider calls it the fastest way for news to spread. "Twitter is the fastest way to spread thoughts. Not the kind of thoughts about what you'll eat for lunch. The kind of thoughts that have global impacts."

Why should entrepreneurs use Twitter?

• 500 million+ people are on Twitter
• 47% of people who follow a brand on Twitter are more likely to visit that brand's website
• Here's a helpful interactive infographic on The Value of a Twitter Follower
• Easy, fast way to interact and get news on the move or in a time crunch (which most entrepreneurs deal with, right?)
• It's an easy way to provide customer service
• 74% of people who follow small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) follow to get updates on future product
• Twitter is becoming more visual. Tweets with photos tend to get more interaction

Whether these stats and benefits have convinced you or not, I still recommend giving it a try. That's the best way to see if it's a good fit for you and your business.

4 Tips for Setting up Your Twitter Profile

• Choose a Twitter handle that's similar to your other social profile handles if possible
• Use the same (or a similar) head shot to your other channels (preferable to use a head shot rather than a logo)
• Take advantage of your banner space and keep it consistent with your website branding
• Make your bio fun + include keywords to tell people what you do

What should you post on Twitter?

• Follow the 80/20 rule: 80% education/helpful content, 20% sales and self promotion
• Industry news and opinion articles
• Pull lines out of your blog posts to reuse content several times
• Post your blog post 3 times the day it goes live, and re-use often in the future (as long as it's relevant)
• Quotes, images or links to stories that inspire you
• Questions or short messages for brands or industry people you'd like to meet

How often should you post on Twitter?

• The "prime of life" for a tweet is about 18 minutes, so you can post pretty often
• I've heard 9 times a day is ideal, but that's kind of an arbitrary number in my eyes
• Use a scheduling tool like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or Buffer to schedule out your posts for maximum reach

How do you gain followers on Twitter?

• There are a few tools you can use to search on topics in people's bios, like:
  • Twitter Advanced Search
  • Topsy: Twitter Search, Monitoring + Analytics
  • Add your favorite bloggers and entrepreneurs
    • Look through their followers and check out bios, lists they've made, people they interact with
    • Tweet consistently + share quality content
    • Promote others' work. They might retweet your message to their followers

Retweet vs. Favorite

Retweet something if you want all of your followers to see it.

Favorite something if you want to save it for yourself. Your followers can still see your favorites if they navigate to your profile and click on your list of favorites, but it won't be broadcast out to your list. A lot of Twitter users will also use the Favorite button as a way to acknowledge that they saw a tweet.

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Join me on Twitter. Start a conversation or ask me a question!

In part two we'll look at how to use hashtags, lists, analytics and a list of Twitter chats to join!

In the Comments:

What has kept you from trying Twitter?

-or-

What do you love about Twitter?