How to Launch Your Business on Twitter

5 min readJun 26, 2021

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If you have a small business you need to be on Twitter. With over 300 million users, I can GUARANTEE your customer base is in there somewhere.

Getting started on Twitter is easy. It’s entire user interface is designed to be intuitive.

If you think you’re not tech-minded — ignore that thought and just get going.

I’ll give you the advice I give my “can I turn over this CD” mother — which is, just click on every single menu and setting and find out what it does.

It’s the only way to master any bit of software, that and just using it. So-called “techie people” aren’t born with an innate knowledge of Twitter, they just use it a lot. (Sorry, I feel I’m offloading a rant that I usually give to my parents when they call up to fix their phones with child tech support).

However, there are some things you can do to get a head start on Twitter and position yourself before you start sending those amazing tweets.

What do I need to get started on Twitter?

Getting started on Twitter is pretty easy. You just need a few graphics a bit of text and away you go.

Step 1 — Create a banner

Use your graphic design software or a free online provider like Canva to create a banner. This sits as a header behind your profile photo or logo.

You need a header that is 1500px by 500px.

Add any background images or some text if you want. This could be a brand slogan or just your company name but remember there will also be a small circle to the right-hand side for those using Twitter on their desktop, so leave a bit of space for that.

Just remember, for desktop users, this banner at the top is prime real estate to showcase your business and your brand.

I created a few from scratch below to give you some ideas. Canva has some excellent templates for Twitter posts and headers. Try a free version of Canva Pro here.

Step 2 — Create a Twitter logo or headshot

This should be either a high-quality headshot or logo.

If it’s a headshot, make sure your face fills at least 70% of the circle. Most people use Twitter on a phone and they won’t be able to see you if you’re zoomed out.

Tip: If you are a company and don’t have a person in your profile, please do include images real people in your tweets. We want to know who we’re tweeting with.

Step 3 — Write a stand out profile

You’ve got 160 characters, so try writing it out in word first and checking your word count.

Include your value proposition (what solution you solve and why you do it).

Remember to add keywords that describe your product or service so people can find your.

Also, add in any branded hashtags you’re using, and emojis if they fit your brand.

Showcase your personality or company identity. Just please don’t say ‘leading,’ or ‘one of the UK’s top etc.

If you need some inspiration, check out the profiles of these guys: Madalyn Sklar, Andrew Davies, Mashable, Shopify , DoubleTree, Wendys, Starbucks Not on the High Street and Headspace.

Step 4 — Create some branded templates

If you’re promoting content or videos, then having some templates up your sleeve is a good idea.

You can add branding to your content with frames or logo watermarks to help you stand out and make your tweets instantly recognizable. If it’s a video, don’t forget to add some captions, using Rev.com.

If you are sharing images then make sure it is correctly sized. There’s nothing that frustrates me more than incorrectly sized images on a platform. Canva premium allows you to create one image, and click re-size to any other format. Easy peasy.

Hubspot have a range of graphics they use for different types of tweets.

Step 5 — Add your website link or another social media channel

You could add your website here, or your LinkedIn profile.

Step 6 — Add your location

Yup.

Step 7 — Find people and topics to follow

When you set up your account, you may have been asked if you want to link your contacts, if you said yes, Twitter will see if your contacts are on Twitter.

My suggestion is to search by your keyword hashtags first and find related accounts. Once you find relevant accounts Twitter will start offering your suggestions.

Also follow Twitter Business to stay up to date with how the platform is developing and get ideas for promoting your business.

Definitely look at your competitor accounts and see who they are following and who is following them. You may get some useful accounts to follow that way.

Also go to the Explore section and select Topics that you are interested in.

Keep following of celebrities, comedians and news platforms to your personal account. Otherwise, Twitter is going to send your promoted content and ads and suggestions not related to your customers.

As you start to follow people, Twitter will start bringing up suggestions in “Who to follow.”

Also go to the Explore page to find topics