How to be professional on Twitter

Twitter can be a potentially dangerous place career wise. You might throw yourself into raging arguments on important subjects like how much smaller Wagon Wheels are now or if the dress was blue and black or white and gold. But Twitter can reveal a lot about someone, so if you want to appear like the professional you are, here are eight ways you should use the social media platform.

1. Don’t be angry!
The train is running late, there weren’t that many crisps in your packet, you disagree with someone’s political views, keep your finger away from the tweet button. If you have such an issue with a brand, or even a person, email them or give them a call. Loads of people tweet brands to get a response, but it’s not the best thing to do if you want to seem like a cool, calm professional. Nobody is going to want to do business with someone who looks like they get angry over really petty things.

2. Be yourself…
…but don’t reveal too much. After all, this is all online and anyone could pick up on something you’ve said. You don’t need to tell your followers how hungover you are at work, instead tell them about the great networking event you went to last night and who you had the pleasure of meeting. If you spend your Sundays on the sofa with a packet of biscuits, good for you, but it’s not making you look that professional and should therefore stay off your Twitter.

3. Nobody likes to be bombarded
If you tweet up to 50 times an hour, you’re going to get some serious unfollows. You don’t need to go mad with your tweeting and your followers would much prefer to see an occasional tweet than have their feed full of you for hours. Also, if you’re spending so much time on Twitter, what jobs aren’t getting done? If you’ve got so many great things to say, make a note of them and tweet them over time.

4. Why be private?
If you’ve got a private twitter, it looks like you’ve got something to hide. Although you may just like to keep your Twitter followers down to your friends and family, it’s not doing anything for your professional image. Someone may like to find you via Twitter and if they can’t access your account, you may have just lost a potential contact or client.

5. It’s all business
It’s worthwhile seeing your Twitter bio as a business card. You can’t say a lot, so make your information worthwhile. State who you are, what you do and ways for people to get in touch with you. Tag your workplace in your bio so people can easily see where you work and what you stand for. If you have a website, make sure it’s in there so there’s somewhere for your followers to learn more.

6. Add perspective
Instead of just retweeting a few tweets, add some perspective to them and say what you think about it. Otherwise, followers could look at your feed and be confused to why you would retweet a certain tweet. Tell them why and what you find interesting about it, it will make you look more on the ball and Twitter savvy too.

7. Show an interest
Get involved with people on Twitter and show an interest in others. If all you ever do is talk about yourself on your feed, you’re going to look self-absorbed and uninterested in others, which is not what you want people to assume from you if you want to appear as a professional. Start conversations with others and remember that Twitter can be an excellent way to network.

8. Promote yourself
Let people know you’re on Twitter, it will make you look like you know what you’re doing on the site and encourages people to follow you, giving you a bigger following. Put your Twitter handle in your email signature and on your business card. The more you can promote yourself and give yourself a personal brand, the more professional you will appear.

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close