Top Tips for Managing Design Projects

March 16, 2022 - 10 min read

Kelechi Udoagwu

Working with creatives and designers often takes a different approach from working with straight-laced 9-5 professionals in a typical work setting. You must be flexible to manage their work styles and quirks with finesse and communicate and collaborate well to produce the best possible result.

Delivering successful design projects requires careful project management, which often includes allotting free slack time to allow all pieces of your design project to fit together beautifully. This article teaches you all about design project management. We’ll cover:

What is a design project?
What are the five phases of a design project?
Top tips for managing design projects
The best design management tools

Let’s get into it.

What is a design project?

Design projects cover all types of creative work, from designing a logo to drafting a website structure. They can be straightforward, requiring only a simple brief to complete the work, or complex, requiring multiple teams and input to complete. Although design projects are built on a creators' work, they must meet expectations and incorporate feedback from stakeholders who are commissioning and using the deliverable.

Types of design projects

There are many types of design projects depending on a company's needs and industry. A healthcare facility, for example, would have very different design needs from a professional services agency.

A small company may have only one person running, managing, and delivering its design projects. In contrast, a larger establishment may have people in specialized roles, such as website designers, graphic designers, product designers, and brand consultants, handling aspects of its design projects. Let's take a look at five common types of design projects.

Branding, logos, and identity

Brand identity design projects create a cohesive look and feel for everything a company puts into the world. This type of design project incorporates colors and images with the brand name to create a unique, memorable look. Branding, identity, and logos are important because they help consumers identify a brand. They also help businesses build trust and credibility.

Websites

Website design projects incorporate words, colors, and images to create an online home for a business or brand. These projects don't just need to look good; they must also consider how users interact, engage, and patronize the business. Website design projects bring together web and mobile designers, user interface (UI) designers, copywriters, and creative project managers to create engaging pages that are easy to use, responsive on all devices, and fit well with the brand.

Product design

Product design projects work on creating new products to meet a business goal. It's all about conceptualizing and bringing new products to life to satisfy customer needs. Product design influences packaging, brand identity, and customer experience. These types of design projects focus on understanding the customer journey and satisfying their expectations.

Print design

Print design projects include creative work intended as a physical copy. This may be as small as a business card or as big as a billboard. Print design remains a powerful medium for businesses to reach customers, despite the continued adoption of digital content. Common print design projects include branded stationery, brochures, pamphlets, flyers, and posters.

Publications

Publication design projects may be digital, print, or both. These are multi-page documents, such as books and magazines, combining text and visual media to tell a story or convey information. Digital publications often include interactive components such as hyperlinks or embedded features that drive engagement.

What are the five phases of a design project?

A well-managed design project goes through these five phases:

1. Initiation

Every design project starts with the initiation phase, in which the project is conceived. Sometimes, the initiation phase means presenting the project's business case and getting senior leadership buy-in. Projects may also be initiated at the top, in which case the request is passed down the chain of command to the creatives who will do the work. Having a strong project initiation phase is critical to achieving a successful outcome. Product initiation also includes gathering basic information about a project, including the goals, timeline, and budget.

2. Planning

Information from the initiation phase is fleshed out into an actionable plan in the planning phase. Here, project managers create a detailed timeline and assign tasks to individual designers or the design team. The entire team may come together to discuss metrics for success, potential risks or schedule conflicts, expectations for team communication, and non-negotiable due dates. Ensure everyone is clear on the project objectives before moving into the execution phase.

3. Execution

Execution is where most of the design work happens. Wireframes for the project are developed, reviewed, and approved before creating more detailed mockups. The initial prototypes allow the creative team to get a feel for the product without getting attached to a particular theme or concept. It is common for design projects to require multiple revisions during the execution phase. Communicate the process for this to the team. They need to know how many revisions to expect and what counts as successful project delivery.

4. Monitoring

Tracking and monitoring a project usually takes place alongside the execution phase. This phase ensures timelines are being met and the project stays within budget. Monitoring also implementing risk and change management strategies as needed. Ensure your designers and external collaborators have access to the tools, resources, and media files they need. Design project management software helps to view and monitor the entire project easily. Prioritize approvals and sign-offs from key stakeholders to ensure they’re satisfied with the project progress.

5. Delivery

This phase marks the completion of the design project. Involve the project owner and sponsors to ensure the completed work meets their expectations. To conclude, the design team may have a review or debriefing session to discuss what worked, what went wrong, and what can be improved on their next design project.

Top tips for managing design projects

Now we get to the meaty part of managing design projects.

How to create a design project plan

After initiating a project, it's time to create a plan. Project managers or team leads typically spearhead the project plan creation, with input from the other team members. Design project plans clarify how to get the work done and overcome roadblocks that crush designers' creativity.

First: Establish the project timeline. Design projects range from just a few days or weeks to months. Once you know the project due date, work backward to establish deadlines for different tasks, e.g., submitting copy, reviewing wireframes, and incorporating stakeholder feedback.

Next: Assign tasks with details such as description and due date so each team member knows what to do and when. If you're working with a dispersed, remote team, get confirmation from each team member to know they have accepted and understood their tasks. Ensure all content, media, or documents created are stored in an accessible place. This prevents bottlenecks and enhances team collaboration. You can use document management software for this purpose, though smaller projects may be easier with a simple solution like Google Drive.

Finally:

Check resource allocation against the project budget and expectations.
Include meetings and check-ins with the team and stakeholders to ensure progress continues at the appropriate pace and prevent unmitigated scope creep.
Set up clear communication channels and manage your project in one place.
Your design project plan may include presenting the finished project to sponsors and stakeholders. This could be done using a slide or video presentation for digital projects and printed samples for printed projects.
Include a review and debriefing session with team members to note any deviations from the design project plan and improve teamwork.

How to manage and organize design projects

Managing and organizing design projects effectively requires someone to own the process from start to finish. This person ensures everyone understands and completes their assignments on time and within budget. Three critical aspects to consider in organizing and managing design projects are:

Communication

A clear communication plan is essential for any collaborative design project. The project manager should set standards for the communication channels the team will use, how frequently they'll communicate, and how to share feedback. Your communication plan doesn't need to be complicated. Here's a simple example:

All team members must check in via Slack daily and share their focus for the day. Everyone reviews the channel daily and notes any concerns or comments as a threaded response. Any additional information or conversation related to the project should take place in the #random channel, not as direct messages.

File and asset management

When working on a design project, it's easy to accumulate and lose files, images, and media assets if there's no dedicated space to share them. Your design project plan should include instructions on where the team stores documents and shares files throughout the project. Use a document management system or project management software to keep things streamlined.

Another important aspect of file management is establishing naming conventions for files and documents. This may be company, industry, or team-specific, making it easy for everyone involved to get basic information about a file quickly. Common components for naming files and assets include the project name, file name, creation date, or creator name. Here's an example of what a file and asset management plan might look like:

All files, documents, and other assets related to this project should be stored in the "Project Name" folder in the company's document management system. File names should include the name of the asset and the date it was created.

Change and version management

Many design projects are iterative, meaning that many small changes are made over the course of the project. It's important to track the changes for two reasons:

Everyone can access and is using the most recent version.
A design can be rolled back to a previous version if necessary.

Version management can be established by having team members name files using version numbers, e.g., 1.0, 1.2, 1.3, etc., or the date created.

The system used is less important than making sure it is used consistently. Here's what your change management plan could look like:

All design work should include the date on which it was created as part of the file name. If changes are needed on any asset, the file should be copied and given a new name with the updated date.

Best design management tools for managing the design process

Successfully managing a design project requires the right tools and software. Three essential categories of design management tools are:

Communication tools

Communication tools enable team members to stay on the same page, regardless of their work location. They can ask questions, support and give feedback, and stay updated as milestones are checked off. The go-to communication tool for many businesses today is Slack, which allows group channels and one-to-one direct messaging.

Timeline management tools

Timeline management tools give team members a clear understanding of when milestones are due and the entire project to be completed. This may be as simple as a list of due dates in a shared document for small projects. Bigger projects need a more sophisticated timeline and project management tool like Wrike.

Depending on your project scope and size, you can choose a tool that works best for your team's needs. Use Wrike if you appreciate the idea of merging project milestones and deadlines seamlessly into each team member's digital calendar, e.g., Google Calendar.

File and resource management tools

File and resource management tools ensure project briefs, content, images, digital resources, and other assets are stored in a centralized, accessible platform for all team members to use throughout the project.

Design projects generate a lot of files. It's essential that the whole team can find what they need quickly, easily, and independently.

How to use Wrike as design project management software

Design project management software like Wrike's creative project management software helps design teams unleash their creativity with its clean, collaborative, and secure environment.

You can create timelines quickly and view your project in multiple formats, enabling everyone involved to choose the best way to interact with upcoming targets and deadlines. Wrike has a built-in communication and feedback process, making it possible to have all comments and edits on a particular file or media asset organized in one place.

For similar projects or those with repeatable components, Wrike's creative templates make it easy to recreate a process that's been proven successful. Are you ready to develop better design project plans and execute them in a secure space for all team members? Start with a two-week free trial of Wrike today.

Kelechi Udoagwu

Kelechi is a freelance writer and founder of Week of Saturdays, a platform for digital freelancers and remote workers living in Africa.

#Project Planning #Creative Teams

Project Management 7 min read

Bottom-Up Estimating in Project Management: A Guide

Need help creating the most accurate project forecast of all time? Look no further than bottom-up estimating. Bottom-up estimating in project management is a method of estimating project duration or cost by aggregating the estimates of the lower-level components of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). In this article, we’ll dive deep into what bottom-up estimating is, the pros and cons of bottom-up estimating, and how it differs from a ‘top-up’ estimating approach. Explore more about this effective technique, along with the tool you‘ll need to master it. What is bottom-up estimating? Bottom-up estimating is a technique that helps determine the overall cost and timeline of a project. It works by gathering all the details of a project at the most minute level. It provides a better, more accurate forecast than other project planning methods because it allows managers to see every available element of the project before it even begins. How accurate is the bottom-up estimation technique? Because the bottom-up estimation technique uses every known factor to determine the project’s needs, it is considered more accurate than most other methods. When you have all the details related to a project before you begin, it is easier to determine: Where bottlenecks may arise (and how to banish them before they do) How to overcome a lack of project resources How your team can strategically navigate this particular project This is particularly effective when starting a project that is unique or new to your team and doesn’t have historical data to pull from. Pros and cons of a bottom-up approach in project management The pros of bottom-up estimating include: Highly accurate. Laying out the project's scope can be very challenging since it involves estimating the exact details of the project and the people involved in its execution. Bottom-up estimating allows team members to see all the components of a project in one place, and it saves them time and effort by estimating separately. Saves time. By estimating the work package in advance, a manager can make better decisions and avoid costly mistakes. It also helps avoid surprises down the road. Even though there is a large time investment up front, the idea behind the method is that it will prevent wasted time down the road. Reduces risk. A bottom-up estimate allows the manager to address issues related to the estimates without making significant changes. This allows the team to avoid making significant errors. Improves success. A bottom-up analysis also allows managers to implement strategies to help the team execute the project more effectively. A comprehensive bottom-up analysis also allows the manager to identify potential issues before they occur, which allows the team to react more effectively to those that arise. Increases productivity. The team's autonomy and control are also distributed through the various members of the team, which allows them to work efficiently. Bottom-up estimating cons: Not scalable. Bottom-up estimation requires project managers to start from square one on each new project. There are opportunities to pull details from related projects from the past. But the point of bottom-up estimation is to create a forecast based on the individual components of this particular assignment. Time-consuming. The project planning work is front-loaded. It can take days, weeks, or even months to gather all the necessary information. For teams with a high volume of incoming projects or staffing issues, this may not be ideal. Slow-moving. Bottom-up estimation is typically not done in a hurry and is therefore incompatible with last-minute projects or work that has a short timeline. Bottom-up vs. top-down estimating Bottom-up estimating is different from a top-down approach. In top-down estimating, management estimates the project based on the previous work on the same or similar projects. Bottom-up estimation is ideal for unique projects or work that is unlike anything the team has done before. Top-down estimation, however, is ideal for duplicate projects, recurring assignments, or work that needs to be completed ASAP. It’s also easier to templatize past project plans in top-down estimating than in bottom-up estimating. Bottom-up estimating example In its simplest form, bottom-up estimation looks at the individual costs and time duration required for each project task. For example, let’s say you own a wedding cake bakery. The last time you gave a wedding cake quote for a three-tier and several dozen cupcakes, you underestimated the cost and lost profit on the project. Now, you’d like to better estimate a brand new order to avoid making the same mistake twice. In this scenario, you would lay out the individual components needed for each baked good. Everything from frosting quantity to hairnets is factored in. You’ll also need to account for the time it takes to do the shopping, coordinate customer service, and more. Having all of this together on one list will make it possible for you to see the entire scope of the project and provide an accurate estimation this time around. Why you should use Wrike for bottom-up projects Wrike is a project management tool that allows users to create robust yet simple bottom-up estimates for work of any kind. First, Wrike allows you to lay out all of the tasks that are involved in the project. Wrike’s task feature offers individual task due dates, descriptions, assignees, and more. Once a task is assigned to an individual team member, you can also assign approvers and factor into decision-making time to your bottom-up estimate. Instead of asking for approval from everyone, the manager focuses on getting feedback from all team members. Wrike also makes it easy to identify the various skills and people needed to complete the assigned tasks using information already stored in your dashboard. Not only will you have the most qualified team members working on the right tasks, but you’ll also be able to balance out scheduling so that no one person is bearing the majority of the workload. Finally, Wrike's Gantt Chart offers a visual view of project progress that lets you keep track of all your work's phases and dependencies. With our tools, you can set milestones, link task dependencies, and provide a clear step-by-step explanation of your bottom-up estimation to stakeholders. Ready to take your project management strategy to the next level? Use Wrike’s two-week free trial today to create a highly accurate bottom-up estimation for your next project.

Marketing 10 min read

Graphic Design for Beginners: Top Tips

With so many brands vying for customer attention in a sea of digital content, it’s more important than ever to use effective images that draw people to your message and brand. But having Photoshop loaded on your work laptop doesn’t automatically make you a designer, and a bad visual can annoy viewers (at best) and attract the wrong kind of attention (at worst). Good design is not something you can master overnight. There's simply too much to learn. The principles of brand identity, layout, and white space, color and typography, how to convey a message — not to mention complex design software. So how do you, as a non-designer, avoid common mistakes and navigate a suite of design applications to create eye-catching visuals without getting bogged down by too much information? We've collected a library of quick tips, cheat sheets, and online courses to help you master the basics and design beautiful creative assets for your business in no time. Why learn graphic design? Why should you spend time learning about graphic design for beginners and consider this as a career field? 1. Graphic design skills are in demand For starters, it’s an in-demand career path. Research suggests that the job market for graphic designers is expected to increase by 4.6% between the years 2016 and 2026. CareerFoundry echoes a similar sentiment, placing graphic designers at number seven on a list of the top 10 most in-demand design job titles for 2022. 2. Graphic design offers plenty of career options Another perk of learning graphic design for beginners is that it’s applicable to just about every industry. Graphic designers can assist with a variety of services, including business promotion, software, trade shows, and product packaging, to name a few. And because there are so many different types of services graphic designers can help with, the graphic design skillset is relevant across all industries, whether you work with product or service-based clients. 3. Graphic design work keeps you on your toes While some professionals prefer a consistent day-to-day workflow, graphic design means every day is different. New projects and work vary across the board, so there’s never a dull moment. The types of tasks that you work on will differ depending on client needs — one moment, you could be working on a logo design, and the next a full branding guide. There’s no telling what each day will bring, but it’s guaranteed to be a mix of types of work, unique tasks, and clients spread across industries and sizes. 4. Graphic design lets you flex your creative muscles Graphic design provides the opportunity to tap into your creative brain, and Entrepreneur suggests that reaching our creative potential in our work is paramount to feeling fulfilled and living a meaningful life. Sure, there are technical skills in design, such as using particular software systems and understanding design basics. But good graphic design also requires creative expertise. Coming up with new and unique designs means you’ll need to tap into your creative brain as much as possible. Graphic design courses for beginners Are you convinced and ready to learn graphic design? It can be tempting to dive in and try to learn everything all at once but don’t overwhelm yourself. We’ve rounded up some graphic design for beginners courses to help you get started. Free graphic design courses Graphic Design Workshop For Beginners Professional Advertising & Graphic Design [Mascot/Logo] Graphic Design for Entrepreneurs…Who Can’t Draw Graphic Design Basics Introduction to Graphic Design History Graphic Design Paid graphic design courses Become a Graphic Designer Graphic Design Basics: Core Principles for Visual Design Introduction to Graphic Design: Illustrator Basic design fundamentals everyone should know Want to take your learning a few steps further? Let's dive into some basic design fundamentals and resources for you to uplevel in these areas. Typography Your choice of typeface gives your design character, in addition to legible text. A stylish font is pointless if it’s unreadable, and using too many different fonts can be overwhelming to the eye. In general, limiting yourself to two to three complementary fonts in your design is recommended. Color theory Achieving harmony with color is essential for an eye-pleasing design. You don’t want your design to be either too bland or too chaotic. Some basic formulas for color harmony include using analogous colors (three colors that appear side-by-side on a 12-part color wheel), complementary colors (any two colors that are directly opposite each other on the color wheel), and a color scheme based on nature. Hierarchy What’s the most important element of your design? Don’t overwhelm your headline by overlaying it on a bright, bold image, for instance. Prioritize each of your design elements and keep that priority in mind when placing them, determining size and color, etc. Grids and balance Grids create guidelines for how visual elements should be positioned within your design layout and help determine proper proportion and balance. The golden ratio, or the ‘“rule of thirds,” is commonly used with grids to create an eye-pleasing result. And by placing certain elements outside of the grid, designers can naturally draw the viewer’s eye to these break-outs. Another way to learn graphic design? Study others’ work Start a collection of designs that you like, taking the time to define what you like about them and why. By analyzing successful designs and adopting certain elements into your own creative assets (without copying the design outright, of course), you can learn what works and quickly improve your visuals. Some common design mistakes to avoid: not using enough white space, placing too much text on one line, and using too many fonts and colors. Additional resources: Fundamental design principles for non-designers Want to learn graphic design? 9 tips and tricks for beginners The designer's guide to grid theory Typography design: Rules and terms every designer must know 10 basic elements of design Logo design: 15 golden rules for crafting logos How to design the perfect business logo (infographic) Graphic design software: Three options (and how to learn them) When it comes to software for graphic design, there are a few choices on the market that seem to reign supreme – and they’re all from Adobe. Below, we’re breaking down some tips and helpful resources for each of the most popular options: Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. And when you’ve improved your graphic design chops and need to manage the ins and outs of your creative projects? Adobe Creative Cloud integrates seamlessly with Wrike. Photoshop Tips for beginners Unfamiliar with Photoshop? We have a few quick tips and extra resources to help you get started with this popular design software. Crop your images to create the best composition. If you find the horizon is off, you can level it by dragging any corner of the image box to rotate your photo. Use the Healing Brush to erase any spots on your image left from specks of dust or scratches on the camera lens. Bump up the contrast by brightening highlights and deepening shadows using the Levels window. Go easy on the color saturation. You can boost saturation to make your image more colorful, but too much can make it look glaring and overwrought. Additional resources: 2022 Adobe Photoshop keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet 5 easy Photoshop tips for beginners 18 quick Photoshop tips for beginners 10 Photoshop tips and tricks for beginners 120 Photoshop tips, tricks, and fixes Illustrator tips for beginners Illustrator is another popular software option used to create vector graphics. Vector graphics can be enlarged without compromising the integrity of the original image, so you get a crisp image no matter the final size (unlike bitmap graphics created by Photoshop, which can look jagged and blurry when scaled up). Additional resources: Adobe Illustrator cheatsheet Keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator 10 essential Adobe Illustrator tips and tools for beginners 11 quick tips for Adobe Illustrator The absolute beginner's guide to Adobe Illustrator InDesign tips for beginners InDesign is built specifically for designing printed materials, including brochures, ads, business cards, books, and more. It’s the tool you use to put the visual elements you create in Photoshop and Illustrator together into one place or publication. One of the trickiest aspects of print design is being artistic while also making sure your work can be printed without any technical issues messing things up. You'll need to understand things like bleed, file format, image resolution, measurements, and more. Additional resources: Beginners guides to InDesign 2022 Adobe InDesign CC keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet InDesign tips I wish I'd known when starting out 14 little-known InDesign tips Adobe InDesign tips and tricks Take your creative campaigns to the next level Of course, having the right graphic design chops is crucial. But, when it comes to organizing your work, using collaborative campaign management software helps ensure that everyone on your design team is using the latest, approved creative assets and that what’s produced is in line with brand guidelines. It’ll save you hours (and headaches) and result in a better finished product. Wrike’s all-in-one solution for creative teams streamlines the administrative side of creative projects and includes proofing and approvals and an extension for Adobe Creative Cloud. Start your free trial to give it a try, with nothing to download or install.

Marketing 10 min read

Top Tips for Creating a Twitter Marketing Strategy

Twitter can be complex. Similarly, the techniques and methodologies that brands use to implement their Twitter marketing strategy add yet another layer of difficulty. While some marketing project managers prefer to follow Twitter best practices and cross their fingers, others know that putting a strategy down on (virtual) paper ensures growth and success on the platform long-term. For those who prefer to know what they’re doing on Twitter and why their efforts (and budget) matter, having a strong Twitter marketing strategy is a no-brainer. In this guide, we’ve answered your most frequently asked questions about Twitter marketing, provided a curated list of essential tips, and listed the exact tools you need to achieve your next benchmarks. What is a Twitter marketing strategy? A Twitter marketing strategy is an action plan that aligns with your company’s concrete goals for this particular platform. A good Twitter marketing strategy involves creating and publishing content that will attract new followers and improve your brand recognition. Why is Twitter good for marketing? Twitter is not as creative as other platforms like Facebook and Instagram. However, it does have an advertising audience of 353 million and is the first in line for customer service as far as social media apps go. Not only is Twitter a must-have social media tool, but it’s also effective for engaging individuals, sharing time-sensitive content, and staying up to date with what’s going on in the world as it relates to your business. How to create a Twitter marketing strategy Despite its fast-paced nature, Twitter still requires a bit of strategic planning and discipline to get the most out of it. Not to mention the fact that it’s important to be prepared for all the unexpected conversations that happen on Twitter. Having a strategy in place will help you respond to any situation that may arise while also building a strong marketing and sales funnel for your brand. Here’s everything you need to know to successfully implement a Twitter marketing strategy. 1. Evaluate your current strategy You should check your existing social media accounts both on and off Twitter to make sure they're in good standing. This will help identify any issues that need addressing now before you launch the next phase. 2. Define clear goals Having clear goals is the first step to achieving success on any social media platform. You should create goals that are specific, measurable, and time-bound. These should align with your company's greater objectives and be realistic about the resources you have to dedicate to the project. You’ll also need to get specific about which metrics you’ll use to measure progress and how often you’ll check in with goals. Remember that there are a ton of different metrics available but not all of them will be applicable to your particular goals. 3. Check out the competition By carefully analyzing the accounts of your competitors, you can learn about their weaknesses and develop a stronger strategy. Look for common themes, tweet frequency, and their most popular tweets to better understand what your audiences are looking for. You can also use this information to improve on what they’re already putting out there in your own content. Pro tip: You can also get digital marketing inspiration from original strategy examples found elsewhere that you can make your own on Twitter. 4. Create a Twitter guide Your company’s customized Twitter guide should include a code of conduct and a clear set of style guidelines anyone can replicate. First, follow a clear responsibilities policy to ensure that everyone is on board with how you’ll deal with the variety of scenarios you may find yourself in on Twitter, which can be a well-known hangout for pot stirrers and ‘trolls’. Even something as simple as accidentally having multiple team members answer the same questions can create a lot of confusion and lead to unproductive discussions. Following actionable guidelines will prevent these common roadblocks from happening in the first place. Next, remember that a good social media style guide is also helpful to keep your team's communications on track. This will prevent branding mistakes and minimize miscommunication. Keep in mind that your brand personality should be consistent across all platforms. It should also communicate your company's values and goals. 5. Create your Twitter profile Having a professional Twitter profile can help strengthen your brand and inform your audience. You also want to make sure that your handle is consistent across all platforms. Here are the steps you’ll need to take in order to get started: Create a handle. Your username is the first thing that people will see when they look at your profile. It should include your company's name and other recognizable details. Add a profile photo. Make sure your imagery keeps to the correct dimensions and is high-resolution. Add a header image. Your profile should also feature a clean and prominent header image. It can help provide insight into your company culture or reflect on current campaigns. Write your bio. A well-written and snappy bio is also important to stand out from the crowd. You can also use a tagline or a creative image to highlight your brand personality. Include a link. Send click-throughs to your homepage or a dedicated landing page for Twitter audiences. Choose a location. One of the most important elements of your profile is your location. This is very important for small businesses as they want their customers to be able to find them offline. Add a birthday. Use the date your company was founded or an important launch date. 6. Start a Twitter content calendar A social media content calendar is a great way to align your content across all your channels and identify potential conflicts. It can also help you plan ahead and capitalize on any opportunities that arise. Another benefit of planning out your calendar is that it will help you determine if you're sharing a balanced mix of content. Although you can schedule some tweets to go out ahead of time, the social aspect of social media will still require you to respond to DMs, mentions, and retweets promptly. 7. Schedule some tweets ahead of time Get ahead of the competition by scheduling your tweets to go out on optimal days and times. Doing so will allow you to maximize the engagement and visibility of every post. Unfortunately, you can't always schedule 100% of your tweets or else the platform may flag you as spam. However, it's possible to save time by pre-scheduling content that's already planned in advance. 8. Create a monitoring plan Once your marketing strategy is in place, it's time to regularly evaluate your progress and set goals against those that you set. Use the same project management platform to evaluate your Twitter data and run reports to keep everything in one accessible place. 9. Use social listening Twitter isn't just about speaking. It's also about listening. Through social listening, you can learn about the opinions of other people about your products and services. It can help you develop a more authentic and loyal customer base. 10. Consider paid ads Paid ads aren’t right for everyone, but they can help your new Twitter marketing strategy gain more traction faster. Twitter Ads are a great way to target specific audiences. They allow you to measure the effectiveness of your campaign and find the right messages for your brand. Even if someone doesn't follow your brand or hashtags, a promoted tweet can still show up in their timeline. You can also interact with them in the same way as organic content. 11. Include link tracking Just like you link track on your sales pages, email newsletters, and other social media, Twitter offers another way to obtain data on customer buying journeys. Track the link in your bio as well as any company website links you tweet out. The metrics provided by link tracking tools allow you to monitor how people navigate to your website and measure the effectiveness of your campaign management. They're also useful for analyzing your bottom line as you improve your conversions and traffic over time. 12. Use all of Twitter’s features This one may take some time, but it’s worth noting that the best way to maximize your Twitter marketing strategy is to use every last tool the platform has to offer. For example, did you know Twitter allows users to host live chats? Use a live chat to discuss a topic, ask customers for their opinions, or collaborate with a brand partner on something you're working on. Twitter marketing tips There are countless tips on the internet about how to do Twitter well. The truth is most of your success depends on trial and error plus consistency over time. Here are some of our curated Twitter marketing tips that we’ve either used or seen work firsthand. They serve as a good jumping-off point for any foundational strategy. Start with one, then mix the rest in over time. Think big-picture. One of the most important factors to consider is how Twitter fits into your overall social media strategy. Assign daily supervision. Busy accounts may require a team member’s attention to monitor them every day or even every hour. Have a backup team member for every single account in case one is out-of-office. Plan one month out. A 30-day content plan will help you grow your Twitter following fast. It will also help you track your social media campaigns and analyze what resonates with your audience. Use lists. Through lists, you can get in touch with the conversations that matter to you most. These feeds are curated by the accounts that are most likely to have influential discussions. Develop your voice. Although you can use images and videos to attract followers, a well-written and compelling voice is very important to have on Twitter. Tweet authentically. Don't send tweets that sound like they're coming from a robot or a script. Instead, communicate clearly and politely. Stand out. Follow a unique and original message whenever you post on social media. Doing so will make your Twitter content more engaging. Use polls. Twitter polls allow users to pose questions with multiple choice answers. Gather valuable feedback and opinions about your customer preferences and favorite products. Add photos and videos. Visual assets can help you convey a message more effectively. They can also be used to reinforce an important point or highlight a chart or infographic. Use hashtags. Hashtags are a great way to boost your visibility and discoverability on Twitter. This feature is essential for new accounts. Add branded content. For example, creating a branded hashtag is a great way to organize and promote content about your business. It can also be used to search for user-generated content related to your products. Track trends. Follow trending topics to get notified about new posts and hop on relevant themes. Think before posting. Although most Twitter users rely on the mobile app, search engine preview snippets of profiles may show recently deleted tweets. So think through each message before you hit publish — otherwise, it may come up on Google days, weeks, or months from now! Engage, engage, engage. It's important to create a two-way channel of communication on Twitter to engage your audience. Creating content that encourages your followers to interact with each other is also important. Get verified. A verified profile helps prevent people from being confused with fake and duplicate accounts. Twitter marketing tools to get you started There are three main marketing tools you’ll need to get started, regardless of your goals or strategy. Data measuring and reporting Asset storage Project management platform Without the help of data measuring and reporting, brands aren’t able to perform well on Twitter. The feedback from key metrics such as retweets helps marketers better understand their audience, grow their following, and reach as many new timelines as possible. Asset storage is another essential Twitter marketing tool. Between branded links, third-party links, photos, videos, GIFs, and more, having one central location where all of your Twitter content assets are stored is both convenient and strategic. Last but not least, the most important Twitter marketing tool you can use is a project management platform. Twitter requires you to create content, respond to public and private messages, track data, and keep up with the latest features. A great project management tool will allow you to do all of that in one accessible place so you can stay on top of all the moving parts while focusing on your chosen strategy. Why use Wrike to build your Twitter marketing campaign Like other social media platforms, finding success on Twitter requires a strategy and an intentional approach. That is why using a marketing project management tool is so important. Wrike's marketing project management software lets you track and communicate with your team across all your campaigns in one place. Not only does it help break down silos and make communication easier, but it also gives you a 360° view of your Twitter and related social media campaigns, allowing you to see all of them in one place. Wrike's software also helps you track communication with your team across all your campaigns in one place, so you’re always on the same page, even with Twitter’s fast-paced conversations. If last-minute tweets or replies need approval, team members can easily see your feedback and loop approvers into ongoing conversations via @mentions, which can help cut down on review cycles. For productivity, Wrike's marketing project management software helps you streamline your processes and achieve your goals. Doing so will increase the visibility and efficiency of any strategy you implement. With all of Twitter’s moving parts, having full transparency into your workflows is essential since bottlenecks are that much harder to resolve. If you run a social media strategy on any other app, you already know that project management for digital marketing is different from other project management disciplines. That is why Wrike developed flexible workflows that make it possible to eliminate the guesswork and get more done in less time. Twitter has many complex moving parts with real-time feedback, so solid data reporting is mission-critical to getting it right. Wrike's marketing project management software features dynamic reports that allow you to visualize and gather business intelligence quickly. Ready to take action on your new Twitter marketing strategy? Get started today by organizing your social media plan into assigned tasks and timelines using Wrike’s two-week free trial.

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