First you need to present your brand. Tell your business story to the Twitter community. Make sure it has the same feel as all of your other online presence. It will help people identify your business and trust.
Use your cover photo and profile picture to show what your brand is about. Many small business’s use their business name for the account and a personal photo for the profile picture. This will add a personal touch to your Twitter account.
Be sure to customize your background as well. You can create a graphic that will match when your business is branding.
Completing your Twitter profile completely is important. You need to people to be able to find where your business is located. Give them enough information to be able to find you. People could be visiting from another city, state or country and wont be able to recognize your neighborhood or community name. Be sure to share your website address as well. Either that be your website or your blog. Last but not least fill out your bio. You get 160 characters to tell people who you are and what you do. Add personality to bring your profile to life.
When your ready to start following be sure to start in these categories:
• Your customers
• Your business partners, suppliers, contractors and vendors.
• Your competitors or peers
• Trade organization or professional organizations for your industry.
• Business’s in your neighborhood
• Business’s run by people you know.
Twitter can also help find people by your email address book.
When you plan to start Tweeting make sure you give people useful information and answer the questions you think the people are already wondering. Quality or quantity here. Over time the quality of what you share will help you grow a strong Twitter following. To be prepared take the time to come up with more than one Tweet. Being able to post when you are most likely engaged to people will help out as well.