How to: Get Started on Twitter

If you're just getting started on Twitter, it can be very confusing and overwhelming. You've got things to say and websites to link to, but how do you get followers so that someone actually reads what you're putting out there? Here are some tips:

1. Follow the accounts on this list
Almost everyone that appears on the list will follow you back. You might be thinking that this will just pad your follower numbers without providing you with an audience that is genuinely interested in your topic. You're absolutely right. Fortunately, I'm not just having you increase your followers for nothing. It makes a big difference to a prospective customer whether you have 100 or 10,000 followers on Twitter. More followers looks like your company is a well respected authority in your particular industry. 

2. Follow related accounts
If you sell cars, follow accounts that talk about new cars, new car technologies, and industry trends. If they notice that one of their followers is tweeting information that would be relevant to them, they will most likely follow back. This way you can gain more followers while working on building an audience that cares about what you have to say.

3. Follow your target audience
Now that you have a decent base of followers, seek out your target audience. This is easiest to accomplish when the target audience is based in a certain region. When this occurs, you can find accounts for newspapers and sports teams in that area. Look at the list of people that are following those accounts and follow them. Again, they will most likely follow you back.

4.Retweet other people
Whenever you see a tweet or a link to an article that you find interesting, retweet it. This helps you to form relationships and engage your audience. Often it will result in a retweet or a suggestion from the person you retweeted to their followers to follow you. Both of those can result in more followers for you. Do not, however, hit the retweet button below their tweet. If you do this, your company logo and name will be replaced by theirs. Instead, copy and past their tweet and before it write RT @whomever.

5. Use hashtags
Hashtags are words or phrases that are put after a "#." They become hyperlinks. When you use these, it makes your tweets, and by extension you, easier to find. Make sure they relate to the article or tweet. For example, on our Twitter page we talk about marketing, social media, advertising and graphic design, so some of the hashtags you will find include #marketing, #socialmedia, #advertising and #graphicdesign.

Other than that, the biggest thing is to be patient. It takes time for people to notice you, it takes time to get people to care and it takes a lot of time before it will affect your sales.

Simplicity in Strategy

Simplicity is one of the most powerful techniques you can use when marketing or advertising. Things that are simple are also easy, and when you're trying to inspire someone into an action, easy is good.

Consider a Web site. While your natural instincts may tell you to add a lot of elements and gadgets, this can often lead to confusion for the user. Since Web sites are now one of the main avenues consumers use to find product information, find contact information, and make a purchase, it's absolutely necessary to make sure that your Web site is easy to navigate and understand.

Logos provide yet another example of the positive power of simplicity. Logos are created to stick in the minds of consumers. The more complex, the more there is to memorize. This makes it much more likely that your logo will not be remembered.

In short, simplicity in marketing or advertising increases the chances that your company will be considered by a customer because it eliminates potential speed bumps on the road to a purchase.

The Importance of Visual Communication

As you may be able to tell, considering we are putting time and effort towards creating and maintaining a company blog, we appreciate the power of words to effectively deliver a message. Graphics, however, hold a very special place in our hearts.

The use of imagery to communicate and persuade has a few distinct advantages that cannot be obtained through the use of the written word alone. While great writing can capture your imagination and paint a vivid picture in your mind's eye, it is ultimately you who has created that image. Sure, the writer gave you the boundaries. You also probably wouldn't have thought about the image in the first place had you not read what you did, but there is only so much detail that can be described through the use of colorful adjectives and eye-opening metaphors.

With images, however, the graphic designer knows exactly what the viewer will see. There's no guesswork involved because the image is right there to investigate, and if something seems ineffective or inappropriate, it can be changed.

Another advantage is that people tend to respond more to visuals. Would you want an advertisement for your business that consisted of nothing more than blocks of compelling and persuasive copy? Absolutely not. No one would take the time to look at it because of its lack of visual appeal. Without eyes to read it, the most effective copy in the world will do you no good.

These are just a couple of the unique advantages offered by design oriented work. While we could probably make a much longer list of benefits, it's not entirely necessary. Ultimately, design and copy must come together to produce something far more compelling and interesting than either could on their own.

Branding as Personality Traits

Branding is absolutely necessary for any business regardless of what it's selling. Most people seem to understand its importance, but they struggle when asked to define it.

Some might say it's the image, how people perceive the business relative to the competition. Others explain that it's the history, everything from the start up to where the company now stands. The truth is that it is both of these things, and so much more.

Branding encompasses your logo, website, history, price, availability, consumer perceptions and more. To keep things simple, think of branding as the effort put forth that attempts to control your brand's "personality."

It often helps to think of your brand as a person. Should it be the sexy and exclusive model that so many fashion companies strive for, or should it be the sturdy and reliable friend, like some of the less expensive car companies try to be.

Whichever personality trait you choose to ascribe to your brand, and their are far more than the two examples we chose to provide, it's important that you are proactive in making that vision a reality. After all, if you don't decide your brand's personality, someone else will.

Repositioning the Advertising Industry.

It's often been said that advertisers create a need within a consumer, but that isn't exactly how it works. In truth, everyone shares the same basic needs, such as food, shelter, sense of belonging, etc:.. Advertisers cannot create these needs, nor do they have to.

Ralph Starr Butler, a member of the Advertising Hall of Fame, once said, "Advertising promotes that divine discontent which makes people strive to improve their economic status." We're not sure it could be stated any better.

The challenge that advertisers must face is how to awaken those needs that already exist within potential customers. Doing this brings a sense of separation in each consumer between his or her desired and actual states. Then, advertisers must show how a particular product or service is the perfect solution. This is the process that Butler referred to as "promoting that divine discontent."

In this way, advertisers do not create needs. They just remind you that they're there and offer a solution.