How To Get Started on Twitter

Easy Step-By-Step Guide for Financial Advisors

What’s Inside… Part One How to Create Your Free Account Part Two How to Setup Your Profile Part Three How to Start Following People Part Four How to Start Tweeting Part Five Basic Twitter Lingo Part Six Easy Formulas for Awesome Tweets BONUS How to Send a Tweet From Your Phone Glossary

Ready? Let’s do this.

If you’d like help along the way... email marketing@blueleaf.com

or Tweet @BlueleafAdvisor

Part One – How to Create Your Free Account

How to Create Your Free Account 1. Go to http://twitter.com/signup 2. Enter your name and email address 3. Create a password 4. Choose a Twitter username i.e. @BlueleafAdvisor

•  A Username should represent you or your firm. It should be easy to remember and quickly recognizable, and easy to spell so other users can send messages without typos.

•  You’re not locked into this username forever – it can be changed!

5. Quickly check to make sure your name, email address, password, and username are all spelled correctly 6. Click ‘Create My Account’

Part Two – How to Setup Your Profile

7. From the Twitter home page, click on the ‘Settings’ link. You should be on the ‘Account’ tab. Set the timezone to match yours. 8. Don’t check ‘Protect My Updates’. If you do, your tweets are hidden from the public. This shuts people out, discourages engagement, and will hinder your Twitter success. 9. From the ‘Profile’ tab, upload a picture. http://michaelhyatt.com/the-beginners-guide-to-twitter.html

How to Setup Your Profile

Tip! Use your headshot, not your logo, for your profile picture. Research

suggests that a personal headshot (or the headshot of someone at your firm) leads to better engagement. It’s more personal and relatable. You can use

your logo for your header photo.

10. Fill out the rest of your basic information: Location, URL for your website/blog, and a brief bio. 11. When you are finished, click the ‘Save’ button. http://michaelhyatt.com/the-beginners-guide-to-twitter.html

How to Setup Your Profile

Tip! If you work with clients irrespective of geographical location, we suggest writing something vague for your ‘Location’ – i.e. “Everywhere”, or “Just a phone call away”. “Chicago” may deter prospects who find you on Twitter and then jump to the conclusion that “This person can’t help me. I don’t live in Chicago.”

Your bio can also be as serious or as fun as you’d like, but it must be brief

– no more than 160 characters. Quite a few bloggers agree that

Hillary Clinton perfected the Twitter bio/profile picture combo.

Part Three – How to Start Following People

Follower – On Twitter, you “follow” another user to see his or her updates on your Twitter home page, and they follow you to see yours.

13. Build your followers. As you get more savvy in the Twitter world, you’ll build a base of followers. You can do this by following more people, which encourages them to follow you back, sending out clever tweets that people who aren’t your followers may see, and just continuing to be an active tweeter. Tips To Get More Followers •  Integrate your efforts to extend the engagement •  Work with others to reach more Twitter users •  Learn more about our users and what they like •  Delight your followers with behind-the-scenes access •  Wow them with exclusive content and promotions •  Let your current followers help you spread the word to new ones •  Get more followers with paid Twitter Ads (This shouldn’t be

necessary https://business.twitter.com/attract-followers

How to Start Following People

12. Find people/brands you know via search and via Twitter’s suggestions. Twitter will present you with a list of popular people to follow. Click at least five people to follow and press ‘Next’ when you’re done. You’ll be presented with another list tailored to the people you chose, and you’ll be asked to choose at least five more. You can always skip this step by skipping forward on the prompts given. You can always ‘Unfollow’ an account later, so don’t over-think each Follow. If their tweets turn out to be boring, irrelevant, you can Unfollow them. http://www.wikihow.comGet-More-Followers-on-Twitter

How to Start Following People

Part Four – How to Start Tweeting

How To Start Tweeting 14. Just Tweet it. Now that your account is set up, you’re ready to go! Start sharing your short-and-sweet thoughts with the world. Just type a message and press ‘Tweet’ when you’re ready.

How To Start Tweeting 15. Attach a photo. Tweets with images get 150%+ more engagement.

From Your Computer: Go to compose a new tweet, as you normally would, and click the small ‘camera’ icon and select the image you want to tweet from your computer files. Add some text and press send! From Your Smartphone: Go to compose a new tweet, as you normally would, and tap the small ‘image’ icon. Select the photo from your camera roll, or take a photo (selecting ‘Use Photo’ when you’re happy with it), and add some text and press send.

Part Five - Basic Twitter Lingo You Need on Day One

Retweet (RT) – Twitter is all about sharing things that your followers might find useful, interesting, or entertaining. When you see a tweet that

you think your followers would be interested in, click the ‘Retweet’ button to make that tweet appear in your followers’ home pages. They’ll know you

were the one who shared it.

Favorite – Using the ‘Favorite’ function is the equivalent of liking a post on Facebook. It shows your appreciation or agreement with a post without reposting it on your followers’ home pages. To use this function, click the

star icon below a tweet.

Hashtag (#) – People on Twitter insert ‘hashtags’ into their tweets to

provide context and to make them easily searchable for people looking for updates on a specific topic. A hashtag is simply a keyword preceded by the hash symbol, like #Blueleafing. Include it and anybody who searches that

hashtag will see your updates.

Part Six -

Easy Formulas for Awesome Tweets

To help you up your Twitter game, here are some Twitter “formulas” – just make the below changes to each one. Each audience is different, so you may find that some of these formulas work better than others to grow your following. •  Fill in the ‘blanks’ where the

[BRACKETS] are •  Edit the hashtag with the actual

hashtag you’d like to use (e.g. #Blueleafing)

•  Replace @TwitterHandle with a person’s real Twitter handle (e.g. @BlueleafAdvisor)

http://blog.hubspot

Tweet Formulas

blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tweet-formulas-to-get-you-started-on-twitter

#1 – The Basic Shared Content Tweet [ARTICLE TITLE] – http://url .com #hashtag by @TwitterHandle This go-to tweet style is the easiest to execute, but many times people forget to include a relevant hashtag and author’s Twitter handle. The hashtag could get your tweet more exposure to people following that hashtag. And always credit your information source (the author or the site you got the post from) on social media. It’ll show appreciation to the original content creator, and they might return the favor by sharing some of your content with their followers. Example: Harry Connick Jr., Skittles, & Advisors You Want to Punch – hub.am/1njSwla by @BlueleafAdvisor #2 – The RT With Commentary [YOUR OPINION] #hashtag – RT @TwitterHandle [ARTICLE TITLE] http://url .com Typically when you want to retweet someone’s tweet, you can simply click the retweet button and share the content with your followers. But if you want to get people to notice you on Twitter, you may want to add some commentary to your retweets. In this case, when you retweet, copy and paste their tweet, preface the tweet with RT @TwitterHandle, and add commentary to the beginning. If you modify their tweet at all (e.g. to make the tweet a bit shorter), use MT – stands for “modified tweet” – instead of RT. Example: #4 is important but often forgotten – RT @BlueleafAdvisor “It’s Time to Rethink the Standard Email Newsletter” hub.am/1qa5jvC by @CorinneDeCost

Tweet Formulas

blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tweet-formulas-to-get-you-started-on-twitter

#3 – The Problem/Solution Tweet Don’t let your [ASSET] [NEGATIVE RESULT]. Find out how to [GOAL] here - http://url .com #hashtag Fear is a powerful motivator. Nobody wants to suck, or fail, or flounder, or fall short, or whatever [negative result] you use. And if they do, they want to learn how to remedy the situation, fast. That’s where you can help them. Also, if there’s a relevant hashtag you can use here, don’t forget to include it! Example: Don’t know what to post, so you’ve lost all your readers? Check out these “4 Hot Topics and 12 Specific Blog Post Ideas” – hub,am/1i4rYXP #blogging #4 – The Stat or Fact Tweet Did you know that [STAT]? http://url .com #hashtag Don’t just find any old data point here – find something that will really intrigue your target audience. Once they get this little preview, they’ll want to read the full story to understand (1) why this data point is true, and (2) what they should do about it. Example: Do you know the online research tool 81% of financial service pros neglect? hub.am/1nw6Zfr #Blueleafing

Tweet Formulas

blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tweet-formulas-to-get-you-started-on-twitter

#5 – The Endorsement Tweet I loved this article by @TwitterHandle about [TOPIC] http://url .com #hashtag Lots of valueable info on [TOPIC] in this article by @TwitterHandle – http://url.com #hashtag This tweet can take many forms, but instead of tweeting a basic shared content tweet, you’re adding your endorsement to the tweet, and possibly including info on why you enjoyed the piece. Example: I loved this article by @CarolynHeard about how to stand out from other Financial Advisors – hub.am/1kXH1Bw #Blueleafing #6 – The Question Tweet [QUESTION] #hashtag OR [QUESTION] – http://url .com #hashtag Twitter, like all social media, is a two-way conversation. You should regularly ask your followers questions. These can be tied to an article you’ve read or could be something a little more random (though still tied to your brand). Not every tweet needs to drive traffic to a website page. Example: What kind of billing system do you prefer? #Blueleafing

Tweet Formulas

blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tweet-formulas-to-get-you-started-on-twitter

#7 – The Tip or Advice Tweet [YOUR OWN WORDS OF WISDOM] #hashtag [QUESTION] #hashtag 1. [ANSWER 1] 2. [ANSWER 2] 3. [ANSWER 3] Tweeting bits of advice that obviously aren’t traffic drivers is a great way to build credibility. Tweets like this are tweeted frequently and can get you more engagement and followers, so don’t look at it as a sacrifice. Example: Do you pass re-share test? Be valuable as a #blogger 1. Provide information 2. Provide analysis 3. Provide assistance 4. Be entertaining #8 – The Inspiring Quote [ARTICLE TITLE] – http://url .com #hashtag by @TwitterHandle The hashtag could get your tweet more exposure to people following that hashtag. And always credit your information source (the author or the site you got the post from) on social media. It’ll show appreciation to the original content creator, and they might return the favor by sharing some of your content with their followers. Example: Advisors You Want to Punch – hub.am/1njSwla by @BlueleafAdvisor

Tweet Formulas

blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tweet-formulas-to-get-you-started-on-twitter

You’re almost there! BONUS section: How To Send a Tweet from Your Phone

Twitter is even more convenient if you can connect it to your cell phone. You can receive updates from those you are following as well as send your own interaction alerts. It can all be done via text message or the Twitter app. For the App: •  Download the free app through your

smartphone’s App Store. •  Once the app has downloaded onto your

mobile device, open it up. Enter our account information on the login screen, and you can get started!

How To Tweet from Your Phone

For Texting: •  Twitter doesn’t charge anything for this

service, but your phone carrier might. It’s a good idea to check with them and make sure you are on an “unlimited text messaging plan”, since you don’t want to be surprised with a big phone bill.

•  Under the ‘Settings’ link, click on the ‘Mobile’ tab. Enter your mobile phone number and click on the ‘Start’ button. Now take your cell phone and text message the code Twitter gives you to 40404 (the number will be different if you are outside the U.S.). Be patient. Eventually, Twitter will confirm to you that your device is registered.

•  Now, while still on your phone, set up a contact named “Twitter”. For the mobile phone number, use 40404. Anytime you want to send a Twitter update, you will text it to this contact name.

How To Tweet from Your Phone

A Brief & Basic Twitter Glossary

Twitter Glossary @Mention– You direct public messages to other Twitter users by inserting an “@” sign immediately followed by their username. For example, “@BlueleafAdvisor Nice article!” DM – DM is short for “Direct Message”, a tweet-like message sent in private between two Twitter users. Unlike the public @Mentions, DMs are private and do not appear to anyone except the specified recipients. You can send a DM to anyone who follows you. Engagement – Engagement on Twitter refers to the practice of responding to and making conversation with your followers and other people on Twitter. Most of the businesses that are successful on Twitter make this a priority. Feed– A “feed” is any constantly-updating list of tweets or other updates, usually sorted chronologically with the most recent updates appearing at the top. Your home page is a feed of tweets from people you follow and your profile page is a feed of your tweets. URL Shortener– Tweets are limited to 140 characters, so many users will choose to shorten website links in order to better fit in the character limit. At Blueleaf, we like to use the free service Bitly. Trending– When a term is extremely popular on Twitter at any given moment, it’s “trending”. The home page offers a list of trending terms. Be forewarned – the Twitter community is fickle and trends often evaporate as quickly as they appear.

Congrats! You’ve completed the beginner Twitter training for Financial Advisors.

NEXT: Send a tweet to @BlueleafAdvisor to tell us how it’s going! ‘Follow’ @BlueleafAdvisor to get even more helpful resources for building and growing your advisory business. Visit www.Blueleaf.com/advisor to see what we do. (It’s cool.)