Twitter 101 for Solo Marketing: How to Sign Up For, and Set Up, a Twitter Account

This is post #2 in the TIS “Twitter 101” series. See post #1, “What’s the Point of Using Twitter Anyway?” and tomorrow, come back for post #3: “Twitter 101: How to Search and Find People and Topics.“

Social Media: All In? Or One At a Time?

Views such as this one by Troy White at Clayton Makepeace’s The Total Package blog aren’t uncommon. And you might be surprised to learn that I agree with him … but only up to a point.

I don’t agree with his basic premise that you’re committing “social media suicide” unless you “master one marketing tool” before trying another. In this era, especially with professional service firms such as law practices, solos must be jacks, not masters. (You do know that old saying, right? Including the part that most forget: Jack of all trades, master of none …)

Trying “just one thing” is the same as putting all your marketing eggs into one bottom-line basket, and we all know what happens next when you stumble, as we all inevitably will. Nor is pure mastery necessary: good enough is good enough.  This is why I almost always advocate a multi-platform approach for solo marketing. Do several things competently — well enough — instead of relying solely on one tool that you’ve mastered.

Where I do agree with Troy is in his warning that, unless you’ve got your daily output under control, stuff like Twitter and other social media platforms will just make you crazier.  If you are running through your day with barely enough time to choke down a bagel for breakfast and a McDonald’s hamburger for lunch, all at a breakneck pace, then “not having time for Twitter” is not your problem.

Your problem, rather, is that you likely have not leveraged either your staff (if you have one), technology, or office systems well enough. Or, you aren’t charging enough. One or the other(s).

So, first, get control of your schedule and your energy budget, both “deposits” and expenditures. Then, read on.

Signing Up For a Twitter Account

Registering your free Twitter account couldn’t be easier. Simply go to http://twitter.com, and click the “Get Started – Join!” button at the bottom of the screen. Fill out the very simple registration page — full name, user name, email, and CAPTCHA — and click “Create My Account.”

Choosing Your Twitter User Name

The solo’s brand is the solo. You are your own brand, and as such, your user name should be your own name. Choose cutesy puns or references to your unnatural love for deep fried Snickers bars at your own risk.

Now, it’s not a bad idea to consider a second Twitter account strictly for personal use. That’s where you can be FriedSnikrsLuvr or whatever. But keep your own name strictly for business use.

Look For Your Friends

Simply by providing login information, you can have Twitter do the heavy lifting for you when it comes to finding friends on Twitter. (Your email password is never stored, so it’s safe.) Twitter will scroll through your email address book or contacts list and see which of your contacts are already using Twitter. You can skip this step if you prefer, of course.

In the next step, Twitter will suggest some interesting folks for you to consider following. Mostly celebrities, these names can be deselected if you like, but give you a little bit of a head start.

That’s it for the setup. As promised, it couldn’t be easier!

Set Up Your Bio

Your biography should be short, succinct, and interesting — much as your tweets will be. On your home page (which will always be http://twitter.com/home, as opposed to your individual page which is always http://twitter.com/yourTwitterName), look at the very top of the page and you’ll see several link options. Click “Settings” and then fill out your profile. This will be mostly visible to other users, so give this some thought.

The two most crucial parts to get right on this page: the URL for your site or blog, and your one-line bio (which must be under 160 characters — not 140). Take a few moments to look at your website/blog, and view each page. You don’t have to select the home page (http://www.mylawfirmsite.com, or whatever), so look at other pages to see which page you want your followers to see first. You can even create a new landing page just for Twitter followers. If you go this route, build out your new page with a special welcome message directed specifically to Twitter users and a list of suggested places to get started browsing your site and finding out more about you — and your services.

The one-line bio deserves some careful thought. You’re undoubtedly familiar with the concept of the elevator speech. Start there and boil it down further. What’s most important about what you do? What problem do you solve? Who do you solve it for? Keep scultping away the non-essential and non-interesting until you get 160 character packed with interest and vital info.

Upload a Picture

From the top of the Settings tabs, select “Picture.” Whatever you choose as your picture will be seen by users whether on the web or via one of the special Twitter platform tools, so again — choose wisely. Best option is a picture of yourself but for more creative professions — such as consulting, coaching, the arts — you can be a bit less literal-minded.

Whatever you do, don’t pick the default pictures. Nohing marks you as an uninteresting person (or, worse, a spammer) than the default image.

Those are the basics. Tomorrow’s post will cover “Search and Find” on Twitter.

UPDATE – 4/2/2009 – Amy Derby has also posted some other resources for lawyers on Twitter at her Law Firm Blogging blog.