Ideas For Dietitians and Nutritionists
TO: Registered Dietitians: How much can you say in 140 characters? A lot — and often. Just ask the millions of Twitter users worldwide.
Large and small consulting practices: such as Registered Dietitians and Nutritionists are aggressively growing their Twitter presence to communicate directly with their current clients, alliance partners, investors, employees and potential clients.
In response, Dietitians are creating profiles that showcase their expertise, opinions and character: to attract relationships with potential alliance partners, clients, industry gurus, etc.
Not too late to start: If you’ve been tweeting since the early days of Twitter, congratulations — you have cultivated a substantial digital asset for yourself. If you’re just starting out or you’ve abandoned your account, the good news is that it’s never too late to start.
The best day to begin (again) is today. Twitter is forgiving like that. Here’s how to get going and stay going:
1. Set up your account. Twitter profiles are very simple to create and update. The essential elements are:
- @name: Select a name for your account that’s distinct and professional. If possible, use some form of your real name.
- Image: Post an image that is a clean and appropriate — a quality headshot, an artistic avatar, a logo or an image that suits your line of business. Do not use the generic Twitter image.
- Description: Write a 160-character overview of who you are and what you tweet about. Most professionals list their role, or company, and then what they are passionate about as space permits. The passionate part is what your audience will sense and remember.
- Background Design: Choose a background design and image that complements your stated profile. Twitter supplies templates in the Design section of your account page and there are paid Twitter background apps available on the Internet with a wide variety of selection and price. Typically the more expensive a product or service…the more conservative you will want to be. A conservative image enhances first impressions and trust…especially in today’s hyper competitive markets.
2. Go mobile. Be prepared to participate by downloading the mobile version of Twitter. The platform is best enjoyed and maximized on the go. Twitter is available for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry users on their respective app stores. The functionality is incredibly good on mobile and easily recognizable from the desktop version. Many find Twitter to have transformed networking at trade shows and conferences with its simplicity of finding people, getting session feeds and tracking down event locations.
3. Give to get and learn the lingo. Twitter enables and encourages you to interact — it has distinct terminology and functionality. The sooner you learn the lingo the sooner you can reap benefits. In your initial days and weeks of engagement, focus on mastering the technology and publishing roughly 1 to 3 tweets daily. Very important is: you MUST provide value in every tweet. This is especially important when using Twitter in your professional marketing efforts. Remember that every communication…via any format (Twitter, email, in-person, etc.) is like an interview…your audience is always evaluating your potential “value add” to them…for their current or future initiatives.
Some Twitter Terminology:
Tip: The best tweet content for earning new clients for your nutrition practice are those which demonstrate your knowledge and skills. Use hashtags (#) before keywords to identify the subject matter or important aspects of your message that may not be used in the words in your tweet. For example, if you’re offering tips on when to consult with a nutritionist, you can use the hashtags #nutrition and #allergy and #dietitian. That way, if others are searching for tweets about nutrition, they can find your tweet.
4. Focus on Your Target Market. Beyond tweeting with hashtags, your next priority is to wisely select followers to grab their attention. For example, if you are trying to gain corporate clients… i.e. to provide “Lunch and Learn” Nutrition Seminars to the employees (prospective clients) of the large firms in your area…then target HR managers and Corporate Communication managers that tweet about the company’s committment to their employees, community, what’s happening at the company, and industry trends. Use their tweets to learn their potential needs and to be relevant. Learn about their corporate culture. Read their tweets, list or favorite them, and retweet their most relevant tweets. Help them. If they follow you back, you then have the opportunity to send them a Direct Message of 140 characters. Learn to introduce yourself and ask for what you want (the value you can provide) succinctly.
5. Know the Etiquette. In your first level of proficiency with Twitter, keep these rules in mind:
- Remember that tweets live forever and are spread at the speed of light.
- Don’t hog your knowledge — Twitter demands sharing and interaction.
- Balance the quantity and quality of your tweets.
- “Follow back” someone who follows you as appropriate.
- Participate in real-time to get real results.
Best wishes for your success.
John Hudson About
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