7 Steps to Growing Your Personal Brand on Twitter
This is an article from The Business Boost & Build Newsletter.
It’s once a week and includes one tip from me and three resources from others.
The hardest part of Twitter is staying consistent.
In the beginning it’s a real grind. In fact, someone DM’d me the perfect sentence that explains how it feels:
“Honestly feel like I’m tweeting gold into a forest.”
I’m currently growing my own personal brand (from scratch) on Twitter, so I know what it feels like.
If you have a solid plan and stick with it - you will grow and attract your ideal audience.
1/ Consistency
What does consistency on Twitter mean?
- Showing up daily
- Posting 2-3 times a day
- Commenting 20+ times a day
It’s really that simple, the trick is to be memorable.
With around 350 million active daily users, your tweets can easily be ignored. You need to stand out.
Otherwise your tweets will get lost in the forest.
But it’s worth it, check out these Twitter statistics and trends
2/ Have Clear Goals
Get clear on your goals.
It’s probably not “get followers” (or maybe it is!)
More likely, it is:
- Grow newsletter subscribers
- Get sales for my product or service
- Drive traffic to your site
Once you’re clear on your goals, you can then define success and won’t be distracted by KPI’s (key performance indicators) that don’t matter - like follower count.
My goal: Grow subscribers to my Business Boost and Build Newsletter
Read more about creating clear goals.
Side Note: Twitter Is a Rented Platform
I could focus on growing my following directly on Twitter, but I don’t like that idea.
Why?
Because I don’t own Twitter, but I own my newsletter.
I see Twitter as a rented platform, I want to de-platform people into my newsletter, which gives me security and ownership.
My newsletter is just a vehicle to provide value, though simultaneously it gives me security.
Something to think about.
3/ Provide Value
People won’t follow for no reason, you need to provide value.
Ask yourself what value you provide? More precisely, what problem are you helping people solve?
Read more about defining your ideal audience.
Don’t feel stuck in this answer.
You can (and likely will many times) change your value proposition, who you help and how.
My value proposition: Simple marketing ideas, tips and strategies for business owners and solopreneurs.
Think about ways you can provide value to your audience, grab a pen and paper and jot down some ideas.
This is what I came up with:
- Provide solutions to their problems directly
- Inspire them to take action on their problems
- Educate them on solutions to their problems
- Persuade them to feel better about their problems
- Entertain them in such a way that they forget about them
4/ Have a Content Plan
Without a plan, you’ll run out of ideas and get lost in the noise.
You also want to avoid the dreaded question: “What do I tweet about this week!?”
Choose 3-5 big topics that you will cover, make sure these are aligned with your audience, goals and values. Here are mine:
- Marketing
- SEO (search engine optimisation)
- Sales
- Psychology
These are topics I have personal experience with, align with the audience I want to attract and my value proposition.
If you feel like straying away from these topics, go for it.
Use this as a guideline, not a rule.
Test ideas out and add personal content as well.
You’ll notice I usually post pictures of my Sunday walks - it shows I’m a real person and creates a deeper human connection.
5/ Bring It All Together
Breakdown your value propositions into content buckets explaining how you will provide value, lets use my values as an example:
Value: Provide solutions to their problems directly
How: Actionable ready-to-implement advice and AMA’s (ask me anything)
Value: Inspire them to take action on their problems
How: Aspirational success stories and Twitter threads
Value: Educate them on solutions to their problems
How: Actionable tips and analytical content extracting insight
Value: Persuade them to feel better about their problems
How: Anthropological content about how people behave
Value: Entertain them in such a way that they forget about them
How: Pictures and memes
6/ Create a Content Schedule
You want to keep your feed interesting.
Don’t tweet only tips for a week, or only insights. Mix it up.
I do this by creating a weekly content schedule and randomising the content each day.
Here is my content breakdown and calendar:
This image is pretty hard to read, but you can view and duplicate it on Notion here
7/ Optimise Your Profile
Create an easily marketable tagline for your profile.
Clearly explain exactly what you do and why people should follow you.
Here is my profile:
Make sure you have a clear high quality picture of yourself, this builds trust and makes you memorable.
Make use of the banner to promote how you help people, I take the opportunity to push my newsletter.
Notice that my profile matches my website colours as well.