With 13,297 Twitter followers combined, the following graphic designers know a thing or two about using Twitter to effectively promote their design businesses: Lawrence Anderson (twitter.com/hellolawrence), a San Francisco graphic designer at Designed By Anderson; Jacob Cass (twitter.com/justcreative), an Australian freelance graphic, web, and logo designer at Just Creative Design; and Grace Smith (twitter.com/gracesmith), a United Kingdom freelance web and blog designer at Postscript5. Moderated by San Francisco copywriter and graphic designer Stephanie Orma (twitter.com/stephanieorma) of Orma Design, the three designers share their personal Twitter experience, tips, and advice including how to get Twitter followers and land design jobs.
How long have you been twittering?
Lawrence Anderson: I have been twittering since mid December.
Jacob Cass: Probably around a year now, I signed up for it but didn't really get into it until about 3 months after getting an account but very glad I did!
Grace Smith: I started my Twitter account in late December 2007, so around 1 year and 3 months.
Why do you Twitter?
Lawrence Anderson: I got on Twitter in order to gain more exposure but somewhere along the way it just turned into an interesting way to receive information, send information, and network with my colleagues in a very unobtrusive way.
Jacob Cass: I use Twitter as a marketing device for my blogs and also to connect with my readers while also getting links to other great resources.
Grace Smith: I twitter because as a freelance graphic designer you can miss having that connection to people you would have if you worked in an office. It means you can connect with like-minded people within your industry and those from related industries. I love the conversational nature of Twitter and enjoy interacting with such a wide mix of interesting and insightful people. It is also like a huge RSS Feed, as each day there are hundreds of amazing links tweeted to useful information.
What’s the best way you have found to get Twitter followers?
Lawrence Anderson: I started by adding other designers I knew from the branding and logo design field and then tweeting relevant design articles. I was very sure to thank people for ReTweets and respond to anyone who contacted me. This created a good follower snowball effect. So, I would say start by adding an avatar, telling people who you are in your bio, and then adding a niche group of people you know. Then just tweet out helpful info instead of just "I am doing…"
Jacob Cass: I leave links to my Twitter profile on a lot of blog posts, all my profile pages and am genuine, not spammy and provide great resources while helping others.
Grace Smith: Be yourself, show your personality and instead of following thousands of people to begin with, build up a small network of people you actually interact and converse with. Provide value to those people and your network will grow organically. Twitter at its core is about sharing; sharing links, information, insights and up to the minute trends. This doesn't however mean sharing what you had for lunch!
Have you gotten graphic design jobs using Twitter? If so, how?
Lawrence Anderson: I have in fact gotten clients through twitter. By using my guidelines outlined in the article (TweetDeck's Search Feature) I have gotten the leads. I then followed up with my standard quote process. But, I have gotten a lot more RFPs than signed clients since I tend to be more on the premium service side and I find that the internet tends to attract more of a price-shopper group.
Jacob Cass: Indirectly... every post I write gets sent out via a Twitter and then people click through to read my site and see I am a designer and it goes from there. But I know for sure that I have gotten at least 2 or 3 jobs from Twitter.
Grace Smith: I receive quite a few inquiries into my design services on a consistent basis and have so far worked with several people who directly contacted me from Twitter. It is an organic process, where we have followed each other and conversed, building up a personal connection, which has led to them hiring me for design projects.
Has Twitter helped your graphic design career?
Lawrence Anderson: I think there hasn't been a very direct or pronounced affect on my career, but it has made it easier to stay up to date on the trends of the industry. Which, I think has helped me stay connected to what's going on without getting too distracted from my professional work.
Jacob Cass: Not too sure about that, probably not as a designer but maybe indirectly because of the links that get shared (i.e. links to other articles that teach me things).
Grace Smith: I believe while not directly affecting my career, it has helped build brand 'Grace Smith' and increased the visibility of my freelancing services and portfolio online. I recently launched my first blog at gracesmith.co.uk and this has had an amazing start due in a large way to the Twitter community embracing my writing and insights. So personally while Twitter may not have affected my career path it is helping me create a strong, unique brand both as a person and as freelance web designer.
Do you think all designers should Twitter?
Lawrence Anderson: Honestly, I don't think all designers should twitter. I tweet to network with fellow designers mostly because 1) it's fun to me and 2) I do a lot of sub-contracting, so it's helpful to my business even if I don't get clients from it. If you want to just gain clients you should focus on real-world networking. That's where I have achieved the most success.
Jacob Cass: People use Twitter for different reasons so you should really sum up why you are going to get an account and then go from there.
Grace Smith: It's a completely personal preference. Twitter is a valuable personal branding tool, which can help to grow your network and interact with people you wouldn't have access to otherwise. It's great fun but you have to make sure it isn't replacing your other promotional activities or affecting your actual workload. I personally think all designers can benefit from using Twitter to build their brand and connect with people, however it's an individual choice.
Twitter mistakes to avoid?
Lawrence Anderson: Don't bad mouth clients. Sometimes you don't know who is listening :-)
Jacob Cass: Spamming. I hate it. Not a fan of auto reply messages either.
Grace Smith: Often the biggest mistake people in general make on twitter is to go on there to forcefully sell their product/services. It's perfectly acceptable to link to your own products/services or blog posts but there has to be a balance between self-promotion and the value you add in other ways. People don't want to be given the 'hard sell', they are on there to connect with like-minded people and share ideas and information, you have to think long-term and remember it’s a social tool so be social and join in the conversation.
Best newbie Twitter tips?
Lawrence Anderson: Twitter newbies should try using StumbleUpon to find very new and relevant articles to tweet out to their followers. Also, as I mentioned before, you will want to get a custom avatar and bio up before you start following people because most people won't follow back if that person has no bio or avatar.
Jacob Cass: Be yourself. Help others. Don't spam.
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