E moderation beginners-twitter_guide_to_business_july-2013

Beginner’s guide
to Twitter for
business
Want to start supporting your business with Twitter but don’t
know where to start? All you need to know is in this handy
guide.
Authored by eModeration Community Management Team July 2013
www.emoderation.com

Beginner’s guide to Twitter for business
Table of contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 4
Part One: Getting started...................................................................................................................... 5
Should you be on Twitter?.......................................................................................................... 5
Setting up your Profile................................................................................................................ 6
Promoting your Twitter acccount via your online presence................................................... 8
The anatomy of a tweet.............................................................................................................. 9
Finding and following................................................................................................................ 10
Part Two: Using Twitter....................................................................................................................... 12
Having conversations on Twitter............................................................................................. 12
Replies............................................................................................................................. 12
Mentions.......................................................................................................................... 12
Direct messages............................................................................................................. 13
Retweeting....................................................................................................................... 13
Creating your sources.................................................................................................... 14
Using hashtags and keywords....................................................................................... 14
How to post links (URLs) in tweets............................................................................... 14
Posting images and videos............................................................................................ 14
Best practice on writing tweets............................................................................................... 15
Dos and Don’ts on Twitter........................................................................................................ 16
Part Three: next steps......................................................................................................................... 18
Twitter lists................................................................................................................................. 18
Search on Twitter...................................................................................................................... 19
To find people by name.................................................................................................. 19
To browse accounts by interest..................................................................................... 19
To search for tweets containing a keyword or hastag................................................ 19
To search for tweets mentioning a user....................................................................... 19
2

Choosing Twitter tools.............................................................................................................. 20
Twitter clients, to publish, read and engage (for Mac and PC)............................................. 20
Twitter apps............................................................................................................................... 21
Twitter chats.............................................................................................................................. 23
Part Four: Stuff you need to know..................................................................................................... 25
Hacking and security................................................................................................................ 25
Twitter lingo............................................................................................................................... 26
Twitter Terms and Conditions.................................................................................................. 29
About eModeration ............................................................................................................................ 31
3

Introduction
Twitter is arguably one of the easiest social
networks to engage in. Unlike Facebook and
Google+, there is no distinction between a Twitter
account held by a business and a personal
account. You don’t have to link the account to any
online identity via an email address and there is no
limit to the number of accounts you can hold.
Why use it for business? It’s said that Facebook
is for talking to the people you know; but Twitter
is for talking to the people you want to know.
And this is true: Twitter is a wonderful medium to
reach and engage, share news, and information,
debate, converse and make contacts. Twitter really
can help business grow, as these case studies
demonstrate.
For customer service, it’s becoming a must-have:
30% of top brands have dedicated Twitter feeds
for customer service. Your customers are probably
already talking about you on Twitter: it’s time to become part of that conversation.
However, it’s easy to make mistakes, be confused by jargon and the different tools available. It is
easy also to forget that Twitter is not a broadcast medium: the voice behind the account should
genuinely want to engage with other users.
How can eModeration help? This guide is aimed at people just starting out to use Twitter as part of
their social media marketing efforts for their business. Our guide has been designed for beginners,
and is as accurate as we could make it at the time of writing. If what you seek isn’t covered here, do
check out Twitter’s own Basics Guide. Please open a Twitter account before reading this guide as
you’ll need to be signed in to follow many of the Twitter links.
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Part One: Getting started
Should you be on Twitter?
Before leaping in, take some time to prepare yourself properly:
Have you got the time to devote to Twitter? It’s a time-consuming platform, and you may find
yourself needing to respond to tweets outside office hours. If so, you will probably need a contact
tree for out-of-hours escalations.
On the same note, people have come to expect
very speedy responses on Twitter. Can your
business provide this level of customer service?
What are you hoping to achieve with your
business tweets? And (importantly) how will you
measure your success?
How are others using it? It’s a good idea to look
at what other similar organisations to yours are
doing. What are they using the platform for? Are
they using it to broadcast, or helping to solve
customer service issues?
What do users what to hear from you? Users follow brands and organisations for lots of reasons:
promotions and customer service are high on the list – but so are ‘exclusives’ and entertainment. Find
out what works for you.
Are you authorised? If you are representing an organisation or business, make sure you have got the
necessary authorisation before setting up any Twitter accounts. Double check your company’s social
media policy.
Keep it secure! Decide who will have access to the password and be prepared to change it on a
regular basis.
5

Setting up your Profile
Your business Twitter home page
Your profile page (https://twitter.com/username)
is where you can put your company’s best
face forward: set the tone of the account, give
important information such as links to website,
blogs or Facebook, use your house colours and
images and display a cover image which reflects
your brand. Any tweets you post will appear on
your homepage, and anyone searching will land
on it.
What information is visible on your profile?
Apart from your bio, your Twitter profile page says a lot else about you: your recent tweets, who you
follow, who is following you, who has you ‘listed’, your own lists, and your favourited tweets. When
deciding whether or not to follow you, others will check out your profile. Make sure it represents you
well.
Write a good bio
Write a clear, concise bio that describes your brand, products or services. To help others find you,
it’s a good idea to treat your bio like your website SEO, although you need to leave some room for
personality among those keywords.
We would advise against using hashtags in a bio: apart from making you look impersonal, they use
up valuable characters – and you’ve only got 160 available, so make them count.
Include a disclaimer
If you are not tweeting on the part of an
organisation but have mentioned your role in your
profile, it’s a good idea to put in a disclaimer that
your views don’t necessarily represent those of
your employer. Indeed, the social media principles
of your employer may require you to do so.
State your office hours
If you are using your account to provide customer
service and can’t monitor it 24/7, then give your
‘office hours’ in your profile, so people know when to expect a response.
Make it look good
If you’d like help on choosing and formatting your profile pictures, Mashable has some good advice
here. You can create your own custom Twitter background (you can get a designer to do this for you,
or make your own). Be sure to check your profile on different screens, from smartphones to tablets to
laptops to desktops.
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What is a verified account?
You may sometimes notice the verification
tick on some Twitter
accounts, usually
popular accounts in
music, acting, fashion,
government, politics,
religion, journalism, media,
advertising, business, and
other key interest areas, and anyone else
deemed at high risk of impersonation.
Unless you’ve received an invitation from Twitter, you won’t be able to get your account verified:
however, linking to and from your website should be enough to establish your identity.
7

Promoting your Twitter account via your online presence
Link from Twitter
In order to encourage traffic from Twitter
to your website and tell people what you
are about, you should include a link to your
main website or to a specific landing page
– make this trackable if possible so you can
measure the success.
Link to Twitter
Linking to your Twitter URL from your
website, Google+ page, Facebook page and
any other social places (including your email
signature) will help build up a following.
Click here to learn how to add a ‘follow’ button to your website.
Make sure your Twitter contact is on your stationery, email
signature and business cards.
Use your network
Go through your prospects, client list, partners, suppliers and
friends and make sure that you’re following them. Are you
following all of your LinkedIn connections on Twitter?
Useful tools
Tools like Rapportive can be added to Gmail and will show you
an email contact’s social media presence and output – including
Twitter – right inside your email inbox (see the image). This is
a great way to learn more about your contacts and grow your
network. It’s also a reason to be circumspect about what you
tweet, as your recent tweets will appear in the inbox of people
who have Rapportive installed.
8

The anatomy of a tweet
The different parts of a tweet can be
confusing. Here’s a typical tweet,
dissected:
Profile pic. This will appear next to all
of your tweets. It can be a company
logo, avatar or picture of you. Most
people choose to include a picture of
them, to make it seem more personal.
If you are tweeting for a company
account, it’s usual to use the logo,
but you can blend a face and logo, or sign each tweet to make it more personal. Don’t forget to name
your photo – it helps with search.
Name. You can use your full name, your business name or a nickname, up to 20 characters. This
doesn’t have to be unique. We suggest you use the same name as you would use for your business
so that people can easily recognise you.
Username. This will always start with @ and - unlike your name - must be unique. Keep it as short as
possible to take up as few of the 140 allotted characters as you can (you have up to 15 characters).
You can change your username if necessary, but if you do, any existing links to your Twitter account
will no longer work.
Tweet text. Remember all tweets which are not ‘Direct Messages’ are public and can be seen by
everyone. There is a limit of 140 characters which includes all hashtags and ‘@somebody’s – but note
that if you include a link, you only get 121 characters.
Link to more content. In this tweet, there is a link to see more on a website. The link has been
shortened to reduce the characters needed.
Timestamp. This is when the tweet was sent. It may be expressed as a time relative to when you are
viewing it.
Available actions. When a tweet is viewed, other users can choose to reply, retweet - or save it as a
favourite to find it easily.
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Finding and following
An account has ‘followers’ and accounts that it, in turn, follows. This information is public and visible
on your profile.
How do users find me? To help you connect with other users, your default account settings allow
others to find you by your name (the name you registered the account with), your @username and
your email address. After you add a mobile phone to your account, your mobile settings by default
allow others to find you by your phone number. You can change these settings at any time.
Is my email address and phone number displayed? Not unless you have put them on your bio.
However, users can find you via the email address or phone number registered to your account
through the Find Friends feature, the Who To Follow section as a suggested account to follow, or on
third-party services.
What is on my homepage? When you open up
Twitter, the page at https://twitter.com is your
home page. The tweets of everyone you follow
(known as your timeline) will appear in your home
page.
Unless they follow exactly the same people you
do, no-one else will have the same timeline as
you.
Can I read someone’s tweets if I don’t follow them? If you don’t follow an account, you’ll only
be able to read their tweets if you search for a topic (by word, username or hashtag), if you are
mentioned in their tweet, or you have a direct link to a tweet.
Should I always follow someone back? While you may want to follow someone back who has
followed you (and there are tools to enable you to do this automatically if you choose), it’s not a great
idea. You may become a target for bots and find it difficult to hear the voices you want to listen to.
Can I follow anyone I like? You can follow (listen to) whomever you want, provided their tweets
are not protected. We wouldn’t advise you to protect your tweets: it defeats the open nature and
purpose of Twitter.
Target markets. We all have companies we’d love to do business with. Make sure you follow
them and engage with them on Twitter, but don’t go straight for the sell: Twitter is about building
connections and relationships first, and understanding what makes the other person tick.
Can I stop someone from following me? You can block an account so that you do not see any ‘@’
tweets from them in your mentions, and they can’t add your Twitter account to their lists or see your
profile picture. You can also report accounts – for example, for spamming. Tweepi claims to be able
to force users to unfollow you.
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Why can’t I send a user a Direct Message? If an account isn’t following you, you won’t be able to
Direct Message (DM) them. Direct messaging is the only messaging NOT visible to all. If you need
to say anything private or share confidential information, then we would always advise following a
customer and then asking them to follow you so that they can DM you (to send their contact details
for example).
Follow other Twitter accounts which have similar
interests to establish a network on Twitter. You
can find these accounts organically, by searching
on keywords to see who is tweeting about issues
important to you, by using the Twitter webpage
and its suggestions (which are based on which
users the people you follow are following) and by
keeping an eye on your Timeline for interesting
re-tweets. Use their lists to find other people to
follow.
Be nosy. Who are your competitors following on
Twitter? Is there anyone on their following list that
you should be following and engaging with, but
are not? Have a look at their Twitter lists, and create some of your own.
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Part Two: Using Twitter
Having conversations on Twitter
The use of the ‘@’ sign, and who can see what tweets where can get a little confusing, so here’s a
quick run-down. You can see more information on this in the Twitter help section.
How is the ‘@’ sign used? Twitter accounts are denoted by putting ‘@’before the username. You can
click on any @username in a tweet and it will take you to their Twitter profile. Visiting another user’s
profile page on Twitter will show their tweets; not tweets that mention them. However, you can search
for all tweets mentioning their username in the search box by searching for “@username”.
Replies
What is a reply? You can click the ‘Reply’ button on a tweet,
or just start a tweet with @username to make a reply. A reply
always has the ‘@username’ first, before the rest of the tweet.
Who can see replies? A reply will only be seen by the person
you replied to and people who are following both of you.
Nobody else will see it in their timeline (although it will show up
on your profile page and in Twitter search).
If I see an @reply in my timeline, how do I know what tweet
they replied to? Click on the tweet and it will expand to display
the tweet they @replied to. You’ll also see other content related
to the tweet – i.e. the conversation.
Where can I see replies to my tweets? These replies are also
collected in the ‘Connect’ tab on the ‘mentions’ page on Twitter.
All replies are considered ‘mentions’ (but not all mentions are replies!). If you also follow the person
who tweeted the reply, you’ll see the tweet in your timeline too.
How can all my followers see a reply to another user? If you want all your followers to see your ‘@
reply’ to someone, then preface the ‘@’ with a full stop (period), like as above.
Mentions
What is a mention? A ‘mention’ is any tweet that contains ‘@username’ anywhere in the body of the
tweet. It could be a reply or just a call-out.
How does it differ from a reply? If you tag a username anywhere but at the start of the tweet,
everybody following you will see that message.
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Where can I see tweets which mention my account? Mentions are collected in the ‘Connect’ tab
on the ‘mentions’ page on Twitter. Other tools or apps you use to view Twitter will usually call them
mentions too.
Does someone have to follow me for me to ‘@mention’ them? No. But if they don’t follow you
then your tweet won’t appear in their home timeline, only in the ‘mentions’ tab.
Can my followers see my tweets with ‘@
mentions’ in them? Yes, unless the mention is an
‘@reply’ with @username at the beginning of the
tweet (see @replies, below).
Can I ‘@mention’ more than one person in a
tweet? Yes, and all people mentioned will see the
full tweet in their mentions tab.
Direct messages
Can I send a private message that no-one else
can see? Yes, you can send a Direct Message
(DM), but only if the recipient is following you
(although a few Verified Accounts have the option
to exchange DMs without following first). You can
either click the ‘Direct Message’ icon to send one,
or preface a tweet with DM username. Note that
there is a space between ‘DM’ and the username,
and no ‘@’.
Retweeting
If you use the retweet icon to retweet (RT), it will
be retweeted with the original tweeter’s logo
instead of yours.
Otherwise, to keep your own avatar on the tweet
or just to be able to make a comment as you pass
it on, then begin with ‘RT’ followed by the @sign
and the original Twitter handle and paste in their
tweet.
Some Twitter third party tools such as Hootsuite
and Tweetdeck offer you this option automatically,
though it isn’t yet available on the native Twitter
page.

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If you edit the original tweet, then use ‘MT’ instead of ‘RT’.
Crediting your sources
Tell your followers where you got the link: either the media title, the author, or the user who shared it
with you. If you share straight from the Twitter share icon on a website, the “via @username” to credit
the title will automatically appear, but otherwise, you can add it manually, using ‘via’ or ‘|’. Telling your
followers where you got the news is not only a courtesy: it adds credibility to your tweet.
Use hashtags and keywords
Use the search facility on Twitter for keywords and #hashtags regarding your brand and topic, so you
can read tweets you are interested in, and find accounts to follow. Use hashtags and keywords in the
tweets you write to reach an audience doing the same.
How to post links (URLs) in tweets
Posting a full URL would take up too many
characters (which are now reduced to 118
characters if you are including a link). For this, and
other reasons of security, any link you post via
Twitter.com will automatically be shortened to an
http://t.co link of 20 characters.
You may choose to use a link shortening service
like bit.ly, which tracks the clicks on your links,
and provides you with valuable data on the
engagement with your posts. Or if you use a third
party tool to manage your Twitter account, the
tool will provide its own shortening service (See
Choosing Twitter Tools section).

Posting images and videos
The most retweeted content tends to contain links,
pictures, videos or quotes. You can insert image
and video files as links in your tweets, which can
be seen directly in the timeline when the tweet is
expanded.
How to include a picture (a Twitpic) in your
tweet:

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1. Begin a new tweet and click on the camera icon.
2. Locate the image you want to upload on your computer / phone / tablet when prompted.
3. Your character count will update to include the image’s shortened URL. Type your message and
click tweet.
4. If you selected the wrong image or no longer wish to share that image, just click the x in the
thumbnail or next to the filename to delete the current image.
How to include a video in your tweet:
If you post links to videos shared via the following
sites, the videos will play in the expanded tweets:
YouTube
Vimeo
Ustream
Justin.tv
Twitlens
Twitvid
What is Vine?
Vine is a service launched in January 2013, initially
just for iPhones, allowing the user to film and
tweet a six second video. Read more about it on
Twitter, on the Vine blog and on the eModeration
blog. Brands are starting to get very creative in
their use of it: Econsultancy has some great
examples of good and bad practice to give you
inspiration.
Best practice on writing tweets
You can use your tweets in a number ways: to ask followers for their opinion, share an interesting bit
of news or information, converse with your followers, respond to a another tweet, retweet someone
else’s tweet, reach out with an ‘@someone’ and initiate a conversation.
Tweeting is easy, but writing good tweets is an art. Here are some tips to get you started:
Make your tweets personal. Tweets should sound useful, conversational, unique and ultra specific
to your audience. Write to the person – use ‘you’ and ‘your’. Avoid marketing speak.
Wit works. If it’s appropriate to your brand, Twitter is a good chance to show off your razor-sharp
humour and know-how. Twitter is a place of entertainment too.
Be brief. Try to leave some space to let other people retweet your content and add their own
message.

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Take your time to write your tweets and make sure you re-read your tweets before you send it off.
Avoid any spelling mistakes or bad grammar.
Censor yourself. Never tweet anything you wouldn’t want to be read by the whole world. Actually,
it’s a good idea never to DM anything you would be ashamed of either.
Content – for each self-promotional tweet post five to 10 tweets about something else. It’s also best
to have more than one team member able to update the Twitter account – it adds variety to the posts
and avoids any issues should your solo tweeter drop off a cliff.
Read before you RT – don’t just see a tweet with a catchy heading and hit the RT button. Read
the article first. Then you’ll have an informed opinion when you RT, and avoid seeming to endorse
content you may not actually agree with. RT-ing content from edgier sites can be problematic – the
editors may have no problem with swearing, but you and your followers might prefer not to read an
article laced with ‘F’ words.
Dos and Don’ts on Twitter
Do…
Respond to people who talk to you (by using @username), and keep that personal touch.
Acknowledge and address criticism as well as praise (but be careful not to get drawn into an
argument).
Be transparent about what you are tweeting and respect others on Twitter. If you want to have
a private conversation – and you are following each other – use the ‘Direct message’ facility to take
your conversation to a private space.
Acknowledge your sources. Thank others and say where you are linking from.
Provide value to your followers. Think before you tweet and ensure your tweets are relevant to your
followers.
Retweet interesting tweets and comment on them.
Don’t…
Schedule tweets to provide – say – links for your blog when you aren’t at your desk, but be
careful that you are not pushing out unmonitored content which could be erroneous, offensive or
inappropriate, so for example, avoid scheduling tweets during major news stories, e.g. the Boston
bombings, as your account could be seen as being insensitive.
Spam. Don’t use Twitter to push out ads or brand messages. Twitter is about conversations. Don’t
#spam #with #hashtags. Don’t over-tag a single Tweet. (Best practices recommend using no more
than 2 hashtags per Tweet.)

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Be boring. Don’t use Twitter to tell everybody about your daily tasks, your lunch or who you are
meeting. You are on a public forum and your tweets are visible to the world. And ... it’s not all about
you. Mix your content up! Add media, have conversations, retweet others. Don’t stick to the same
tweeting format all the time: only retweeting or posting news items.
Be dodgy. Don’t tweet out spam phrases, use @ spamming, send duplicate links, duplicate tweets,
advertisements.
Be absent. Tweet regularly. Otherwise it’s a ghost town and you won’t get or keep followers. Twitter
closes inactive accounts too.
Flood your followers. Don’t tweet too much though – a particular problem when you are live
tweeting an event. If you drown everyone else out, expect to be unfollowed.
Be non-responsive. Accounts which show no interaction, those that follow back less than 10% of
the number following them, or have streams that are all feeds from their social media channels.

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Part Three: Next steps
The first parts of this guide concentrated on getting you set up on Twitter with the right kind of profile,
suggested ways to build up a following and showed how to reach out and engage using the correct
formats.
Now you’re ready to take off. Part three concentrates on really using Twitter as a business aid: list
curation, the tools to use, participating in chats and live tweeting. Plus a handy glossary of Twitter
lingo and a look at some of the Twitter terms to be aware of.
No cost options
There are many ways you can spend money with Twitter (advertising) and on various Twitter
management tools and clients. You may indeed choose to go on and allocate your marketing budget
in this way, but it’s perfectly possible to promote yourself without any outlay at all, so this guide won’t
try to sell you a thing.
Twitter lists
To find interesting users to read and follow, you
can also use lists of accounts which others have
curated (and of course create your own).
You can see the lists a user has curated and the
lists to which they belong on a user’s profile page.
Drill down to see the individual members of a list.
Viewing a list timeline will show you a stream of
tweets from only the users on that list.
What lists are you a member of? You can see
who has included you in lists, which is useful
feedback to know what category you are being
placed in; to reach out to the list owner, and to
check out other profiles on the list.
Subscribe or follow. You have a choice with
other people’s lists: you can ‘subscribe’ to them
or follow them directly. If you only subscribe then
you’ll receive their updates, but they won’t be
notified, counted among your followers and can’t
DM you, or you can follow them one by one. (Do
this slowly – see Twitter Terms and Conditions).
Can I send a tweet only to list members? Lists are used for reading tweets from a curated group
of users only: they are not the same as (for example) a Facebook list, a Google+ circle or an email
group. You cannot send a tweet only to members of a list. Your tweets go out to all your followers. If

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you don’t want a list to be publicly available, you can make it private.
Create your own lists (private
or public) and use a tool to
view them (for example, you
might have separate lists for
‘journalists’, ‘customers’,
‘influencers’ and ‘friends’).
Read more about lists, including how to create them, in the Twitter help centre.
Search on Twitter
You can search for tweets, or you can search for people. Twitter profiles and tweets show up within
other search engines – Google for example. Keep in mind that the words you write in updates may
also be indexed and come up in a search for those terms.
To search from within Twitter:
To find people by name:
1. Type the person’s name into the search box at the top of your Twitter homepage.
2. Results for your search will show up under the People tab on the search results page.
3. You can also search by typing the person’s name into the search box on the Connect page.
To browse accounts by interest:
1. From the Discover page, click Browse categories.
2. Click on any interesting category to get a list of accounts you may want to follow.
3. You can also browse by interest using
the search box at the top of the Browse
categories page. Type in a keyword and you’ll
see a list of account results for that search
term.
To search for tweets containing a keyword or
hashtag:
1. Enter the keyword or hashtag into the search
box.
2. Toggle between viewing People and tweets
results by clicking the menu on the left side of
your page.
3. When viewing tweets, choose to view Top or
All results by clicking the options at the top
of your search results timeline. (You can also
choose to see results about a given topic from
only the accounts you follow by selecting
People you follow.)
4. Click here to learn how to save your search.

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To search for tweets mentioning a user:
1. Enter the user’s username, preceded by the @ symbol, into the search box.
2. Tweets results display tweets mentioning the username; People results display accounts
matching that username. Toggle between the two on the left side of the page.
Previously, Twitter search only used to show results going back about a week, but they are beginning
to extend that period further back in the past. The tweets bought up in a search will only be a
percentage of what was actually tweeted, and are based on highest levels of engagement.
Use search operators for advanced search, to drill down more precisely.
Choosing Twitter tools
Whether you choose to tweet and manage your account from the native Twitter page, or one of the
other free or paid-for clients is up to you. Your choice will depend on how busy your account is; what
reporting and analysis needs you have; what devices you are tweeting from; who else will be sharing
the account with you – and your budget! As we said previously, we are only looking at free options in
this guide.
Twitter clients, to publish, read and engage (for Mac and PC)
Twitter twitter.com The native Twitter webpage and smartphone/iPad app. This is still a favourite for
searching for accounts, watching trends, getting
recommendations and live tweeting events.
Hootsuite hootsuite.com Web, mobile and
desktop. Our personal favourite, Hootsuite offers
three sign-up plans, including a free option which
allows you to manage four other social network
profiles (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ Pages)
through the tool and offers basic analytics,
scheduling and team collaboration. You can
organise your view into ‘streams’ (columns) of
groups of accounts, searches, or keywords.
Tweetdeck tweetdeck.com (now owned by
Twitter) Web and desktop only. This allows you to
create columns for lists of accounts and searches,
which helps you to monitor your incoming feed
and not miss tweets from those you follow. You
may have (for example) different columns for
‘customers’, ‘news media’, ‘suppliers’, ‘friends’ etc as well as the standard columns for your @
mentions, direct messages, your own tweets etc.
Echofon echofon.com (iPad, smartphone) It does all the basics — tweeting, retweeting, messaging

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— and can easily sync all unread tweets across multiple devices. Plus, it features a clean interface,
allows for drag and drop attachments, and can manage multiple accounts.
There are many more clients for desktop and mobile which are worth considering, and please note
that for reasons of space, we have not included any of the excellent paid options available.

Twitter apps
Also, to help you manage your account, there are hundreds of free Twitter apps. Here are just a few
which are worth mentioning:
Posting
Tweriod tweriod.com Usefully - despite the
twerrible name - Tweriod will analyse when
the people you follow are most active and DM
you the results in pretty graph form so you
know when it’s best to tweet and engage your
followers.
Bufferapp bufferapp.com Use this to easily
share and schedule content to your social networks from wherever you are, mobile, newsreader etc.
Twubs twubs.com A useful hashtag directory to discover topics and twitter chats, check the
availability of hashtags and register your own.
Monitoring
Twilert twilert.com Get updates of tweets containing your brand, product, service... any keyword
you like. Great for making sure you don’t miss a crisis brewing, a sales opportunity or a chance to say
thanks.
SocialMention socialmention.com Real-time social media search and analysis (not just for Twitter)
(Also listed under ‘search’.)
Search
Hashtag Tracking hashtracking.com Gives you all the tweets on a hashtag, # tweets, followers,
impressions etc.
Twitter Advanced Search Twitter.com/search-advanced Often overlooked but very powerful
searching capabilities.

22
SocialMention socialmention.com Real-time social media search and analysis (not just for Twitter).
TweetGrid tweetgrid.com Twitter search dashboard that updates in real time.
Topsy topsy.com Real-time search for the social web. Google for the social web.
Postpost postpost.com A tool that helps you to discover interesting tweets that might otherwise
have been buried.

Measuring influence reputation monitoring
Klout klout.com measures your influence on your social networks.
Kred kred.com Another good influence measurement company.
tweetLevel tweetlevel.edelman.com Tracks influence and shows the algorithm used to calculate it.
PeerIndex peerindex.com Measures influence by topic and person, etc.
tweetGrader tweet.grader.com Check the power of your Twitter profile.
RetweetRank retweetrank.com Tracks your rank and retweets.
tweetreach tweetreach.com Measures the reach of tweets, links and hashtags.
Analysis
Bit.ly bit.ly Track information you post to Twitter by custom URLs.
SocialBro socialbro.com Powerful Twitter analysis.
SocialBakers socialbakers.com Global Twitter stats.
ManageFlitter manageflitter.com Powerful Twitter account management, both free and paid.
Twittercounter twittercounter. To just keep an eye on your activity and growth (and that of the
competition) you can use the freemium level of this app.

23
Organisation
Unfollowing You may find yourself following a lot of accounts which may no longer be active, are
fake, or of little use to you. A number of apps such as Manageflitter and Tweepi offer a service to
analyse and categorise your following list and then make it easy to unfollow them (though beware of
either following or unfollowing too many at once, as Twitter sets limits on this and may suspend your
account).
Twitlistmanager twitlistmanager.com fetches the people you follow, as well as any lists you’ve
already created, and puts everything on a single page. You can create new lists if you want to, and
simply check boxes to add or remove people to your lists.

Twitter chats
An excellent way to contribute, meet people and exchange views on Twitter is by participating in
Twitter chats. Twitter chats are conversations around any topics, organised by a hashtag for that
topic, and sometimes held at prearranged times. They might be a one-off, ongoing, or often a
regularly scheduled event.
The idea is that anyone can join in by searching for that hashtag and using it in their tweets – but
don’t use Twitter chats to spam people with links: you’ll find yourself quickly blocked and reported for
spam by communities which police themselves.
On the other hand, if your tweets add value to the conversation, you’ll find a ready-made audience
ready to click your links, retweet your best stuff, follow you and welcome you into their hashtagged
community.
Examples:
#Usguys – an ongoing discussion where any topic is ok
#cmgr – an ongoing discussion around social media community management matters
#fitblog – The weekly #FitBlog Twitter Chat is held every Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET and focuses on
all the hot topics facing the fitness and healthy living community that week
#cmgrhangout is a combination Google Hangout and Twitter chat for community managers.
Every Friday at 2pm EST and the 2nd Saturday of every month at 11am EST. More details at
http://mycmgr.com
How can I find a Twitter chat?
There is no definitive directory of Twitter chats, but this article from Social Media Today lists a
number of popular chats and includes a link to a spreadsheet of known groups: The Twitter Chat
Schedule. Robert Swanwick hosts a Google Spreadsheet listing more than 750 Twitter chats. If you
know (or host) one that isn’t on his list yet, feel free to add it. The public Google doc is editable by
anyone.

24
Also check out:
Chirpguide chirpguide.com provides a searchable directory of chats and live tweeters – but please
note that this is still in Beta.
Tweetchat tweetchat.com allows you to search for chats by hashtag. Things tend to move pretty
quickly during a twitter chat and it’s easy to miss handfuls of comments at a time. Tweetchat allows
you to see all updates in real-time but it also “smart-pauses” while you scroll down the stream,
ensuring you don’t miss anything.

25
Part Four: Stuff you need to know
Hacking and security
There have been many instances of Twitter
accounts being hacked, either as part of a
political action, by mischief-makers or a rogue
employee. Here’s what you can do to help
protect yourself:
• Keep the password secure and try not to
share it (you can use tools such as secure
log-in systems or Grouptweet to share the
account).
• Make sure the password is unique and long.
So, it’s not used on any other account and preferably 20 characters or more, uses uppercase and
special characters. Nothing guessable, like ‘MyC0mpanyName’ please.
• Change the password frequently.
• Remember which email address you are using with the account, and keep it secure.
• Get a mobile/cell number associated with the account via the profile settings and verify it.
Consider using the new two-step authentication process offered by Twitter.
• Watch your output. It’s stating the obvious, but make sure that you have a column open watching
your feed and that it is monitored as close to 24/7 as you can get.
• Have an escalation process in place with 24/7 contacts. Ensure it is available to all who may need
it. Keep it updated!
If your Twitter account has been hacked, then speed is essential.
• Change your password immediately, if that’s
still possible.
• If you can’t log in to change it, then request
an email from Twitter via the password resend
form, which will give you the opportunity to
reset it. Be sure to use the username and
email address associated with the account.
• Lost access to the email account associated
with the account? Try entering the phone
number you had verified in that form instead
to reset it via SMS. If you’ve lost access
to the email address that’s linked to your Twitter account and haven’t got a phone number
associated, you can try contacting your email service provider to try and regain access. Here are
contact links to common email providers.
After you have control again
• Put out a statement alerting the public to the hacking and misinformation, with an apology to the
community.

26
• Delete the errant tweets and pictures.
• Use humour - if humour is at all appropriate - to get the crowd back on your side.
Twitter lingo
Not only does the Twitter platform have its own special jargon (to which Twitter has helpfully
published its own glossary), you’ll have noticed that – due to the 140 character limit – Twitter is full of
abbreviations and acronyms. Here’s a list to get you started:
Technical Twitter abbreviations:
CC = Carbon-copy. Works the same way as email
CX = Correction
CT = Cuttweet. Another way of saying partial retweet
DM = Direct message. A direct-message is a message only you and the person who sent it can read
HT = Hat tip. This is a way of attributing a link to another Twitter user
MT = Modified tweet. This means the tweet you’re looking at is a paraphrase of a tweet originally
written by someone else
PRT = Partial retweet. The tweet you’re looking at is the truncated version of someone else’s tweet.
PRT = Please retweet, a plea to put at the end of a tweet
RT = Retweet. The tweet you’re looking at was forwarded to you by another user
SP = sponsored (link or tweet).
Industry Twitter abbreviations:
EM = Email Marketing
EZine = Electronic Magazine
FB = Facebook
LI = LinkedIn *
SEO = Search Engine Optimization
SM = Social Media
SMM = Social Media Marketing
SMO = Social Media Optimization
SN = Social Network
SROI = Social Return on Investment
UGC = User Generated Content
YT = YouTube
Conversational abbreviations:
# = start to a hashtag, or a way of organizing subjects on Twitter
AB/ABT = About
AFAIK = As far as I know
AYFKMWTS = Are you f---ing kidding me with this s---?
B4 = Before
BFN = Bye for now
BGD = Background
BH = Blockhead
BR = Best regards

27
BTW = By the way
CD9 = Code 9, parents are around
CHK = Check
CUL8R = See you later
DAM = Don’t annoy me
DD = Dear daughter
DF = Dear fiancé
DP = used to mean “profile pic”
DS = Dear son
DYK = Did you know, Do you know
EM/EML = Email
EMA = Email address
F2F /FTF = Face to face
FB = Facebook
FF = Follow Friday
FFS = For F---‘s Sake
FML = F--- my life.
FOTD = Find of the day
FTW = For the win, F--- the world
FUBAR = F---ed up beyond all repair (slang from the US Military)
FWIW = For what it’s worth
GMAFB = Give me a f---ing break
GTFOOH = Get the f--- out of here
GTS = Guess the song
HAGN = Have a good night
HAND = Have a nice day
HOTD = Headline of the day
HT = Heard through
HTH = Hope that helps
IC = I see
ICYMI = “In case you missed it,” a quick way to apologize for retweeting your own material
IDK = I don’t know
IIRC = If I remember correctly
IMHO = In my humble opinion.
IRL = In real life
JK = Just kidding, joke
JS = Just sayin’
JSYK = Just so you know
JV = Joint venture
KK = Kewl kewl, or ok, got it
KYSO = Knock your socks off
LBS = Laughing but serious...
LHH = Laugh hella hard (stronger version of LOL)
LMAO = Laughing my ass off
LMK = Let me know
LO = Little One (child)
LOL = Laugh out loud

28
MM = Music Monday
MIRL = Meet in real life
NBD = No big deal
NCT = Nobody cares, though
NFI = No Further Information or Not F---ing Interested
NFW = No f---ing way
NJoy = Enjoy
NSFW = Not safe for work
NTS = Note to self
OH = Overheard
OMFG = Oh my f---ing God
OOMF = One of my friends/followers
ORLY = Oh, really?
PLMK = Please let me know
POIDH - Pictures, or it didn’t happen!
QOTD = quote of the day
RE = In reply to, in regards to
RLRT = Real-life re-tweet, a close cousin to OH
RTFM = Read the f---ing manual
RTQ = Read the question
SFW = Safe for work
SMDH = Shaking my damn head, SMH = Shaking my head
SNAFU = Situation normal, all f---ed up (slang from the US Military)
SO = Significant Other (or S/O = Shout Out)
SOB = Son of a B----
SRS = Serious
STFU = Shut the f--- up!
STFW = Search the f---ing web!
TFTF = Thanks for the follow
TFTT = Thanks for this tweet
TJ = tweetjack, or joining a conversation belatedly to contribute to a tangent
TL = Timeline
TLDR/TL;DR = Too long, didn’t read
TMB = tweet me back
TT = Trending topic
TY = Thank you
TYIA = Thank you in advance
TYT = Take your time
TYVW = Thank you very much
W or W/ = With
W/E or WE = Whatever or weekend
WTV = Whatever
YGTR = You got that right
YKWIM = You know what I mean
YKYAT = You know you’re addicted to
YMMV = Your mileage may vary
YOLO = You only live once

29
YOYO = You’re on your own
YW = You’re welcome
ZOMG = OMG to the max
Common hashtags and chats:
#BrandChat = private chat about branding
#CMAD = Community Manager Appreciation Day
#CMGR = Community Manger topic chat
#FB = The user is sending this post to Facebook
#FF = Short way of saying Follow Friday, or a recommendation that others follow the user
#in = the user is sending this post to LinkedIn
#LI = This user is sending this post to LinkedIn *Use this hashtag to cross post your tweet to LinkedIn
(set it up here)
#LinkedInChat = For general use questions and questions about marketing/self-promotion on
LinkedIn
#Mmchat = Marketing and social media chat
#Pinchat = a chat for maximising Pinterest use
#SMManners = Social media manners chat
#SMMeasure = For discussion of analytics and measurement, led by MarketWire and Sysomos
#SMOchat = Social Media Optimisation chat lead by Stanzr
#SocialChat = Social media chat lead by SocialParle
#SocialMedia = an all-inclusive chat for subjects big and small in the subject of Social Media
Twitter Terms and Conditions
The Twitter rules are here and are designed to protect against copyright violations, spamming,
trademark and privacy infringements. Please read them.
Assuming that you are NOT indulging in black hat marketing and are mindful of the law on copyright,
including copyright of images, the rule which you are most likely to accidentally fall foul of is
spamming by following or unfollowing en mass, posting the same link within 24 hours, or posting
too many times within a period. The latter could be a problem if a group of you are, for example,
live tweeting from the same account, or reaching out to followers in a marketing campaign. This
infringement can result in your account being suspended, so be careful.
Posting limits
See here for the rules on the limits of DM, tweets etc per day (at time of writing, 1000 tweets per
day).
Follower / following ratios
See here for more from Twitter on best practices for following (again, designed to avoid spamming
and unethical marketing techniques). Note that once you’ve followed 2000 users, there are limits to
the number of additional users you can follow: this limit is different for every user and is based on
your ratio of followers to following.

30
Automation rules
Many third party applications exist for Twitter automations: auto follow-backs, auto follow-
acknowledgements, automated tweets based on an action you’ve taken (for example, posting to
Twitter when you upload a video in YouTube) – the list goes on.
Whether automation is a good idea is up for debate. Some say yes, and some no. It really depends
on the size of your account and how personal and tightly targeted you want to be. There is a great
danger of your tweets appearing like spam.
If you do choose to automate your tweeting, be aware that Twitter holds you responsible for the
actions of your account: be sure you’ve checked out the app concerned and it’s not violating
Twitter rules on automation. An example of violation is automatically tweeting to trending topics
– anyone who has attended a popular conference with a Twitter wall knows that moment of despair
when the spam bots leap on the hashtag and the wall is suddenly covered by naked nubiles
proffering links. Please check out the rules here.

31
About eModeration
eModeration is a social media management agency which delivers high-quality multi-lingual
community management and moderation services, social media consultancy, and crisis
management training and simulations.
With offices in London, Los Angeles and New York, we work with some of the world’s biggest brands
across a wide range of industry sectors. These include: automotive, kids and entertainment, FMCG,
financial services, luxury brands, media, pharmaceutical, publishing, and telecoms.
The agency works with leading global brands, including BBC Worldwide, HSBC, Mind Candy (Moshi
Monsters), MTV, Sony Mobile, ITV, Hyundai, Smirnoff, the LEGO Group, Sprint and The Economist.
It also works with a growing roster of agencies, including Starcom MediaVest Group, Wieden +
Kennedy, Ogilvy, Saatchi Saatchi, DDB Worldwide, Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Publicis Groupe.
Committed to providing a safe and engaging social media experience for children and adults,
eModeration’s CEO Tamara Littleton has over 11 years’ experience of community and social media
management and moderation. She has also advised the UK government on guidelines for child
safety.
eModeration contributes to the development of social media expertise via its white papers, and
blogs and has a strong roster of returning clients who appreciate the agency’s high quality services
and expertise in social media tools and trends.
© eModeration Limited 2013. This document is the intellectual property of eModeration Limited and
may not be duplicated or disclosed to any third party without the written permission of an authorised
officer of the company.
Disclaimer: All information and links correct at the time of publication. eModeration does not take
responsibility for any of the tools or apps featured in this guide.

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