A Bloggers Guide to Using Twitter!

Over the past year as I have been enjoying the blogging world it has become very obvious to me that social media has the biggest impact on bloggers. It determines who see's you blog, how you interact with others bloggers and brands and most important it helps you create a strong and powerful following. Twitter has quickly become one of my favorite social media platforms to use because it's so easy to use and learn and because of the many interesting features that blogger's have helped to incorporate into the platform. Today I thought it would be nice to share some of my favorite features of Twitter as well as some helpful hints and tips to help you improve your Twitter journey. 
Description & Profile Images  The most important part of your Twitter Profile is to make sure you have your description to perfection and that your images convey yourself and the people you are trying to attract. We'll start off with the images first, since they are the easiest to grasp. Personally, I would always try to include an image of yourself as your profile image. This gives viewers to you page a chance to see who you are and make a personal connection with a name and a face. As for your overall cover image, I like to keep mine pretty basic and just use the header to my actual blog. This helps keep my branding all across my social media platforms and helps people recognize me easily. You could also just chose to create a unique header to your Twitter by using the same fonts or colors as your overall blog branding. The description can be one of the harder things for people to grasp, it's something that is limited to a number of characters and something that should be planned out strategically. When I was thinking of making my description I started with the obvious and that was to include my 'job title' or what I do which is a beauty blogger. I also wanted to include my website link and a main way to contact me, which was my e-mail address. While I still don't think my description is all that it could be I still make a point to read it every now and again and update it as my blog changes or as I change. At the end of the day I think it's important to keep your description simple but detailed as well as something that will attract the reader or professional that you want to have reading your work. 
Twitter Chats If you've been in the blogging world for longer than a minute you might know that these things have evolved in the Twitter world called 'Twitter Chats'. Because I'm so active on Twitter many of the people reading this blog post may have actually found my blog through these chats and through talking with me. Basically what these chats are is a selected time period, usually for one hour, where you use a specific hashtag and track the tag in order to talk with other members of the blogging community. I always recommend joining in these Twitter Chats because it gives previous or future readers of your blog a chance to get to know the person behind your blog. It also allows you to grow a stronger, loyal and more supportive follow base that are going to come back to your blog time and time again. I've loved getting to know many close friends in these chats and I've also been able to learn a lot about the blogging world and people in general.
Hashtags One of the most obvious things about Twitter is the use of hashtags. I know we are all probably guilty of using too many or using none at all because I certainly am. The way I like to use hashtags is to limit myself to a maximum of three. Using more than that can make a tweet appear cluttered or as self-promotion and most times if individuals see a tweet with 10 hashtags, they will automatically assume it's irrelevant and move on to the next one. While I'm sure we all want to get our blogs out there and we all want people to see our posts it's important to remember that you also want to direct your tweets to your intended audience. If you are a beauty blogger for example, why would you hashtag your blog with a food blogger hashtag. Make sure to keep your hashtags relevant to your post and make sure they are specific or to a group that you know is active but is dedicated to the content you are producing. Being more aware of your hashtags and being more specific about them will also create a loyal and true follower base.
Tweetdeck Last but certainly not least I'm going to talk quickly about a nice little add-on feature that you can use alongside your Twitter platform. Tweetdeck is like Hootsuite, if you've ever used that platform and it allows you to house different columns side by side each other. For example, if I'm in a Twitter Chat I like to have the chat hashtag window visible so I can easily follow the chat. I also like to have my private message area open as well as my home screen and my notifications screen. Tweetdeck allows me to see all of these in a horizontal fashion across my page. I rarely use Twitter anyone after discovering this website, because of how easy Tweetdeck is to use. I also find that when I'm spending time on Twitter I'm not just looking through my home feed to see what everyone is up to I'm also under areas like the #bbloggers hashtag to find new and up and coming bloggers to follow. I'm also always looking for people to connect with and helping people out by answering questions. Tweetdeck makes it really easy to do all of this in my nice little area. 
What are your secret tips to using Twitter? Is there anyone you follow that you think uses Twitter exceptional well?