Think of a name, but not any name!

I’ve been on twitter for many years now and was the first person in our organisation to use the platform. At the time my username was @MoodDesign.

Now several years later, the company has grown and each individual has their own work related twitter account, except me.

Following an office move, some financial forecasting and review of our plans for growth, we decided that in order for us to grow we needed to look at ways of improving our communications so that we could extend our network further and take a more targeted approach to our sales drive. And part of that process involved looking at how we communicate on our social media platforms. So we took the decision for me to change my twitter name to run in line with my colleagues and establish a new account that was specifically from the company. That account needed to be reflective of our brand and could be used for company relevant information, hints, tips and images, rather than personal opinions and conversations.

I changed my twitter name to @Sharon_Mood and set up the new account without any issues, linking it to a new email address to aid our return on investment. We took the decision for our company twitter address to be @MoodDesign under the headline ‘Social Media Mood’, as we did not want to use an individual’s name or mislead anyone and it is an account which several people will have access to.

The account was set up and we started to follow about 300 people in business, some we knew, some were specialists in areas that interest us. What was really surprising was how quickly we got followed back. Within two days we reached 100 followers, many of which were linked to social media development and services from all around the world. Whilst these followers aren’t necessarily our target audience, they are a source for information and industry news.

So what have we learnt?

What we came to realise was that the headline that you use to link to your twitter address plays a big part in people being able to find you and follow you. Most people use their actual name as their headline for their personal account, but when you are setting up a company twitter account you really need to take some time to consider some key words that will attract the right followers.

The keywords that you use in your biography are also equally important and should really summarise what you do as an organisation, making it clear which demographic area you work in with links to your website. When was the last time you reviewed yours?

You can follow our progress as a company @MoodDesign, or me individually @Sharon_Mood. I look forward to tweeting with you.

Blogging - who, what, why and when?

We are often asked for advice by people wanting to start a blog, and these are the usual questions.

Who? - Who are your articles aimed at and where can you find them, this varies for nearly everyone I know.

What? – What are you going to blog about? Make it interesting and informative, this way people will return to read every post you write.

Why? – Why do people blog? People usually write to get known in their field of expertise. They share their knowledge and help others.

When? – When you have the time but people like regular posts, so we recommend every 2 to 4 weeks as a good starting point.

Our top blogging tips

• Your title should always be a question – this will encourage others to read your post.

• Posts should be between 200-300 words – any more and people will get bored and not read the whole article. Break longer articles into part 1 and part 2.

• Always use at least 1 image per article – the web is very visual, the more visual your post the more it will appeal to readers.

• Always finish with a question – this encourages responses to your post.

• Post every 2 – 4 weeks and monitor. Too regular or too few posts may encounter unsubscribers.

• Publicise your blog - every post needs promoting, use as many online platforms as possible.

• Ask for feedback – this way you know if your articles are relevant.

• Register with bloggers forums, this is a great way to get people engaged.

• Make every post informative and useful.

Have you been inspired to starting blogging?