If potential clients found you via Twitter – would it enhance or tarnish your reputation?

Social networking forum Twitter is a great way of promoting your business. There are lots of ways you can increase interaction with your followers and get your business noticed. But is getting noticed enough?

Well, no. It’s not just about making noise on Twitter. It’s also about looking professional and presenting high-quality information and genuinely great products and services.

So how do you look professional on Twitter?

Having a high quality photo, a branded profile background, ensuring you deliver high-quality Tweets, being careful about who you follow and who follows you and summing up the great benefits you offer in 140 characters is a good place to start.

If you don’t have a professional photograph, contact a photographer who specialises in portraits. It may seem strange for someone like me who runs a branding company to advise you not to use your logo as your avatar on Twitter, but the fact is, people want to connect with a name and face – ‘a real person’.

So, don’t show your logo (which can be seen as impersonal) or a casual snapshot (which can be seen as unprofessional), instead give them a photo of a person who looks confident, a professional, someone who they can trust and get to know.

If you want to improve interaction and response from your followers, think carefully about the quality and quantity of your Tweets. There are great advice resources available, such as TweetMentor by Nikki Pilkington, which I would highly recommend.

How can you promote your business on Twitter?

Get a professional Twitter profile background. Not everyone has taken advantage of this great opportunity to raise awareness of their business by using their logo, slogan and business colours in their profile background. It will also improve your business image and help you stand out, get noticed and attract more high-quality followers who will be drawn to following someone with a profile that looks professional.

You can also clarify what makes your product or service special and beneficial by adding catchy quotes and tag lines within the design. These can grab the attention of potential customers who will quickly be able to understand what your business is all about, without having to first read your tweets or click through to your website.

You can show your credibility and exploit your reputation and expertise by having a testimonial from satisfied customers. This will enable people to see you are an experienced professional and give them confidence you are able to deliver on your promises.

How can you increase your credibility on Twitter?

You can promote specific products, services or events by including images, photos or catchy summaries within an impressive and professional looking Twitter profile background will help, setting you apart as someone who is worth following.

Plus you can use your business’ house colours as a border around your profile photo or have part of your logo visible over your photo to help you stand out and raise awareness of your corporate identity.

If your background is generic and perhaps made from templates available on Twitter or other free online sources or if you have simply tiled your logo or profile photo as a background, potential customers are unlikely to see your business as anything special.

Having a uniquely branded Twitter background that enhances your credibility and emphasises the benefits that make your product or service special, you’re much more likely to impress your target audience.