Business guide to Twitter part 2: Customise your page

In the previous article, we introduced you to Twitter. We explained why it’s useful for businesses, and how to get started with it.

Now that you have your Twitter account set up for your business, your page needs a makeover. Customising your Twitter page makes your business more dynamic at first glance. When your background contains a great image and your profile picture is friendly, people are more likely to follow you. This gives you the upper hand when compared with competitors.

First Step: Create a profile picture

Twitter only allows up to 700k for a profile picture, but it doesn’t need to be even close to that big a size in memory. Create something that’s 200k or less, with 150px x 150px dimensions. The space given for the profile pic is very small, so you can’t use it to show much. A picture is worth a thousand words, so use an image that will attract followers. Avoid using the logo of your business; it is advised that you use a photograph of a person from your team e.g. the CEO or Social Media Marketer. This makes your Twitter page more approachable and friendly. Twitter is a social environment, so using a logo creates a barrier between you and potential customers. This is the same reason why when you walk into a phone shop you expect to see a friendly face, ready to give you the best advice and conversation, rather than a machine. Here’s a great demonstration:

Your image must be in JPEG, GIF, or PNG format.

Second Step: Create a background image

Design an image based on the layout of Twitter. A lot of businesses use the margins on the left and the right of the page to their advantage by showing their business name, contact details, services, website URL, services, and strap line. Create an image that will catch the eye of the browser, and stick to the brand of your business in terms of colour and font.

The background position will change depending on the resolution of the screen, but working on a size of 1280px x 1024px will do. The file shouldn’t exceed 800k, again because of Twitter limits, but ideally, it should be about 200k or 300k. This is so that browsers load the page quickly. Here are some examples to give you a clearer picture.

Third Step: Upload your Profile Picture

• Log in to your twitter Account.
• You’ll be taken to your live feeds page. Click on your account name on the top-right section of the page.
• Click on “settings” from the drop-down menu.
• From the settings page, select “profile”.
• Click on “Choose File” next to the profile picture, and locate your image from your hard drive and click open.
• Click on “save” at the bottom of the page.

Fourth Step: Upload Background image

• Click on “Design” from the settings page. You will see a selection of thumbnails of default backgrounds.
• Click “Change background image” at the bottom of the page.
• Click on “choose file”, and then locate your background image from your hard drive.
• Click “open”.
• Save changes.

Fifth Step: Change Design Colours

• Choose “Change design colours” at the bottom of the Design section
• Change the colours of the text, links, and sidebars depending on the colours of your background or the brand of your business.
• Save changes.

You’re all done! Now you can view your new and improved Twitter page by clicking on “Home” in the navigation.

That’s it for this week. Follow us on Twitter for announcements on our next article, “Business Guide to Twitter Part 3: What Should I Tweet about?” In this article, we will take a deep look into the art of Tweeting. We will cover the “Top 12 things to Tweet”, and the language you use when communicating with other users.