The Simple Guide to Setting Up Your First Twitter Profile

If you’re reading this article you must have an interest in Twitter. Twitter has skyrocketed to stardom in only a few short years. In 2006 the first prototype was launched and today it’s ranking up there with Facebook and Google. Twitter is not going away anytime soon so now might be the time to create a Twitter profile for your company (which is the easy part). After creating the profile your company will need a strategy (which is the difficult part). For now, let’s get down to creating a Twitter profile. Here are the step-by-step directions to create a Twitter profile for your company.

Important Note

Do not be alarmed if you run into the Twitter Fail Whale. Twitter is known to go down occasionally. Hopefully it doesn’t happen while you’re creating a profile.

Step 1: Sign Up

Go to http://twitter.com and click the big yellow button that says 'Sign Up'.

Your profile…

We’ve noticed a few companies, such as our local news station, create separate Twitter profiles for each newscasters, weather personal, and traffic reporters while other companies tend to only have one Twitter profile. If you cannot post more than three tweets a day we recommend starting with one profile. Once you become more familiar with Twitter and have much to talk about then go ahead and create additional niche accounts.

Step 2: Full Name…

This can be your full name, company name, or anything you would like. It can be changed at a later time. Only 19 characters are allowed. Be creative and think about branding while keeping it simple.

Step 3: Username…

It’s best not to rush this part. Although the username can be changed it is recommended to stick with what is chosen. Underscores, uppercase, and lowercase can be used to style the username. In addition, the username is limited to a combination of 15 characters, numbers, and underscores.

Twitter will warn when the username is already in use. Keep trying.

Twitter provides an example of the web address you will be able to use after the profile is complete. If you are satisfied with the username make note of this URL.

Step 4: Password…

It’s best to use a mixture of letters, numbers, and characters to create a strong password. Keep the password secure to prevent hackers from infiltrating the Twitter profile to write inappropriate tweets.

Step 5: Email address…

Enter an email address that is easily accessible. It is needed to confirm the email address with Twitter. Plus, throughout the year Twitter will send notifications about new followers.

Step 6: reCAPTCHA

Here you will need to type words to verify you are a human being. reCAPTCHA is used to prevent programs from automatically creating accounts. Every time reCAPTCHA is used it’s helping digitalize books, newspapers, and old time radio shows. Computers cannot decipher all the words in a book… especially the ones that are smudged. After typing the word(s) click Finish.

Step 7: Confirm your Twitter profile…

After clicking ‘Finish’ you will be redirected to the page that mentions ‘Find sources that interest you’. Keep this window/tab/browser open, go to your email, and proceed to the next step.

Step 8: Check your email…

Within minutes Twitter should have sent an email confirmation to your inbox. Open it up and click on the link they provide. (If it is not clickable copy the URL and paste it in the browser’s address bar.)

The link will take you to a page that provides a confirmation that is was accepted. Close out of this window (tab, browser, etc.) and go back to where we left off.

Once this message appears, return to the other browser window to finish creating a Twitter profile for your company.

Step 9: Let’s skip a few steps…

The following steps want you to start following others and find friends on Twitter. If you’re reading this article we are thinking you might be new to Twitter and it would be best to complete the setup before interacting with it. These steps are available from the Twitter profile and can be completed at another time. Click Next step: friends at the way bottom of your browser window.

When ‘Step 2 of 3: Find your friends’ is reached, click Next step: search.

‘Step 3 of 3: Search for anyone’; click Next step: You’re done!

Step 10: That’s it!

You’re done! Well, not yet. Click Settings on the top right.

Step 11: The ‘Account’ dashboard…

Then you will be taken to the ‘Account’ dashboard. Review the information, time zone and additional options. Click Save at the bottom if there are any changes.

Step 12: Add information to your profile…

As you have noticed, Twitter has limits. For example, tweets are restricted to 140 characters, username is limited to 15 characters, and so on. This makes it much easier to create a profile and start using it. Unlike creating a Facebook Fan Page, setting up Twitter can be completed in a few hours. Click Profile to upload an image, add a location, website and bio.

Step 13: Upload a picture…

The saying is a picture is worth a thousand words but with Twitter you will be limited to 73 pixels wide by 73 pixels tall. If you don’t know what this means; well, it means small. If you have a wide logo, such as we do, it might not look good after it’s shrunk to 73px wide. It might be a good time to get a hold of your designer to craft a logo or branded icon that will fit.

Here are few examples of images from Twitter users that we follow.

Step 14: Website address…

If you have a website or blog enter the URL here.

Step 15: Bio

The Bio is limited to 160 characters. Read the ‘Profile’ and ‘Tip’ section towards the right to understand how it will help people find your profile. For ‘Bio’, write short description about your company.

Step 16: Save

Don’t forget to click Save at the bottom.

Step 17: Design

Click Design on the top navigation. Here you can select a theme, change the background image and update design colors. Click cancel at the bottom if a mistake is made and save changes when finished. To make an impressive Twitter profile create a custom background in Photoshop. This is tricky and not for everyone. A bad design can make the Twitter profile look cluttered. Plus, it will look different for those that have different sized monitors and resolution. It might be best to contact your designer.

Here are a few examples of custom Twitter pages.

Step 18: Tweet!

Now that the Twitter profile is complete it’s time to make your first tweet. Click on Home. It’s found at the top. Under ‘What’s happening’ say something. Then click Tweet.

Then go to Profile and see how your page will look when others visit.

Conclusion

This concludes our article on setting up the first Twitter profile for your company. As you can see, setting up Twitter is not that difficult. Your biggest challenge will be creating a strategy to grab and engage followers. This might be the time to stop at a local Barnes & Noble and pick up a book, search for articles online, or follow other Twitter users to see what they do. Read Introducing wisnet.com's Twitter Page to see before and after screenshots. Although Twitter limits the amount of characters to 140, you have unlimited potential of reaching new clients with this tool. Have fun tweeting!