A social media walk through to help any new Twitter user get started. This will guide you from setting up a great profile to starting conversations with others to finding specific users to follow. Twitter is a great place to find people who share interests with you, and build relationships. It is also a great place to listen to users to understand how they feel about certain topics. Whether you're a business or just looking to connecting with people, Twitter is a great place to do so. Twitter is a completely public platform so everything it open. Try not to feel weird joining in random people's tweets because it's typically ok. Join conversations that you are fluent in and understand.

1. TWITTER 101
A B A S I C I N T R O D U C T I O N T O T W I T T E R

2. What is Twitter?
-Twitter is an online social networking and
microblogging service that enables users to
send and read 140-character messages.
-Registered users can read and post tweets,
interact with other users, and all other
features of Twitter.
-Unregistered have limited access and can
only read them.

3. Why should I use it?
-Identify interesting people
-Immediate connections
-No apps or groups necessary, just conversation
-No barriers to engage in relationships
-Keep up with the news
-It’s a great way to get to know people!

4. The Do’s and Don’ts
Do:
-Talk “to” people
-Create unique messages
each time you tweet
-Allow your content to
find people
-Join conversations that
are relevant to your
industry/interest/hobbies
Don't:
-Talk “at” people
-Broadcast the same
message repeatedly
-Force content on
people/conversations
-Join conversations that are
irrelevant to you

5. The basics of getting started
1. Creating a profile
2. Your audience
3. How to Tweet
4. Functions of Twitter

6. Creating a profile
Profile picture: A nice inviting, professional, good quality
image.
Header Image: Something you are passionate about
(show the human side of who you are)
Bio: include info about business, position, and passion
points/interest. Use short concise words that capture
who you are will help people connect with you. The key
is being you.
Remember: Use same photos on all social handles;
Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.

7. Example of my Twitter bio
-Profile Picture: Nice, inviting,
high quality
-Bio: Shows the human side of
me with interests and passions.
Includes information about the
company I work for

8. Example Twitter profile
My background image
displays a passion point.
If possible, try updating
background image 2-3
times per year. For the
winter, I update it to
reflect my interest with
snowboarding.

9. Building an audience
To start building, you must start connecting with other
people. Unless you’re a celebrity or company, no one will be
interested in following you until you create interest.
Try to follow people with similar interests that can relate to
your industry and passion points.
When people try to connect with you, respond back to them.
You want to grow connections with these types of users
because they can relate with you and are more likely to
engage.
Bots are not good to follow. Although they can make you
appear to have a larger following base, they are useless in the
long run and will never engage with you through
conversations.

10. Building an audience
You can't build an audience
overnight. Just like real life
relationships, your audience is
built over time. It’s a process,
not an event.
If you work at it over time, you
can build engaging
relationships.
Think less of “networking”,
and more of “connector” and
“community builder”.

11. Use Twitter’s search function to locate users
talking about similar interests or topics. If one of
your interests are hiking, some example searches
are:
Keywords: hiking, backpacking, trails, etc.
Mentions of companies that relate to hiking such as
REI, Dicks Sporting Goods, Sierra Trading Post, etc.
Try searching local to your are as well.
Example way to find users

12. tips for Tweeting
-Try to keep your tweets short and sweet. Use the 140
characters wisely.
-Use URL shortening services when sharing links.
-Use hashtags to enter relevant conversations to talk about
topics.
-Do not overwhelm your tweet with tons of hashtags. No
more than 2 per tweet is recommended.
-Use pictures, they drive engagement differently than
tweets without them.
Remember: if you wouldn’t tweet a piece of content from
your company Twitter page, you probably shouldn't tweet it
from your personal page.

13. Basic functions of twitter
-Retweet: A user likes your post so much, they wanted to
share it with their followers.
-Favorite: Shows some love to a tweet, but doesn't share it.
There is no defined purpose for favorites.
-Lists: ways of sorting users. Great ways to keep track of
users
-Direct Messages: privately held conversations. You can
create groups chats or it can be one on one.

14. By default, you will be notified when other users interact with
your account.
Examples of notifications:
New followers
A user mentions you in a tweet
You should try responding to each notification
If you get a new follower, follow back
If a new follower expresses similar interests, spark a
conversation.
If you get retweeted or favorited, follow that person
If someone tweets at you, try to start conversation/dialogue
with them.
Understanding notifications