How (and why) To Use Twitter
There are many different platforms for social media, and not all our used the same, and for the same purposes. FACEBOOK, for example, is great for staying connected with the circle of friends, colleagues and acquaintances that you already have. --Twitter, on the other hand gives you a chance to reach out to and interact with total strangers who *do* want to read what you've got to say.
Not that when you first join twitter, it can seem almost lame if not confusing unless you already have lot’s of friends on it. That’s why lot’s of people seem to join then drop off. (According to one statistic only 40% of all TWITTER profiles are actually active.) — But, following these tips, you can make TWITTER awesome from the get go and a phenomenal way to connect with people and promote yourself.
At present I have over 700 followers -- a great deal who are localized, and almost one who are "junk accounts".
PHASE 1:
FIRST: Set up your profile. This includes having an ICON. If you don’t want to put a picture of yourself, put a picture of something you like… anything. A lot of people are reluctant to follow back people who still have the egg. Its says you’re just not that into it.
SECOND: Describe yourself in 140 characters or less + do it in a way that’s catchy & makes people interested in you. In other words, answer the question, how would you describe yourself in 140 characters of less. Consider hobbies, career, ambitions — anything that says who YOU are. (My twitter profile is here.)
THIRD: Start tweeting. Yeah, you may not have any followers yet, but many people are reluctant to follow people with no TWEETS. (Bot alarm!!!) Your first tweet might just say that you’ve just joined twitter. After that, you can tweet about whatever is on your mind… Try to make it witty, clever or informative.
FOURTH: Think of TWITTER at first as a news feed & start following the people you want to get information from. It can be news sources, journalists, your favorite celebrities, musicians, magazines — You can come up with ideas by checking to see if people you like who are already elsewhere on the web are active on twitter.
FIFTH: Follow people who follow twitter accounts that interest you and that they you find interesting. When any TWEEP posts something that you find interesting RETWEET it or send them an @ comment with a polite response.
SIXTH: Make it a habit to tweet whenever interesting things come to mind. For an idea about what to tweet about simply study the people you follow, especially people who are similar to you. You can use them as your TWENTORS (twitter mentors.) Different people have different styles of tweeting… find the style that’s best suited for you.
note: Be careful not to follow too many people at once. Otherwise you might set off the bot alarm…!!!
<— At this point you have most likely established yourself as a real person. As you RETWEET, @ REPLY and engage with other TWITTERERS don’t be surprised if you begin to get your first followers. (Some, however, will be BOTS.)
PHASE 2:
As you find your niche, begin to tweet regularly as well as read your timeline @ reply, RT and follow people that other people RT or #FF that you find interesting. If you’re not sure about what to tweet look at what other people are tweeting then EXPRESS YOUR OWN IDEAS and make funny or quirky comments IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Also, try to say things that are likely to get people to want to engage with you.
At least once a day be sure to: Follow back new followers and reply to your @ messages, if not briefly.
note: although some twitter accounts are strictly one way PR, your ideal followers will include a mix of hardcore lurkers & people who want to engage, even chat with you.
At this point, don’t be surprised if people who you RT or who you @ message (and follow) begin following you back. —> Some personalities have an auto-follow back policy (if you follow them, they’ll follow you), other “twitterati” (twitter personalities) are selective of whom they follow. For quality followers simply follow REAL PEOPLE who interest you and who you think in return will be interested in you.
Things to note:
1. On The art of TWEETING:
—> Getting used to expressing yourself in 140 characters or less takes a bit of practice. As a musician, my style is to get used to the “rhythm” of what a tweet sounds like then learn to make observations in that style.
—> Sometimes I *ignore* the word limit at first then EDIT it afterwords. In other words, if I go over a certain number of characters I look at my tweet & think of ways of editing it down.
—>When I tweet, I try to think of about a variety of writing devices to draw readers in. To me, good tweets may involve “comic timing”, they may even be good poetry, and definitely headline grabbing. Whatever you do… BE YOURSELF, BE INTERESTING and offer tweets that are funny, entertaining or informative. IF YOU HAVE NO SENSE OF HUMOR ABOUT YOURSELF OR LIFE, TWITTER IS PROBABLY NOT FOR YOU.
Also consider reading articles about TWITTER ETIQUETTE and following TWITTER accounts that specializing on how to tweet better. (One, for example, is @tweetsmart.)
note: In the twitteverse, you are both rewarded and punished quickly for good & bad behavior. Ironically, some of the most basic rules were laid out almost a half a century ago in Dale Carnegie’s classic book “How to Win Friends & Inluence People”.
2. Dealing with the trauma of getting unfollowed & what to do about it…
The first time you get unfollowed may very well be traumatic & the first time you get unfollowed by a bunch of accounts may drive you into a state of SHEER and UTTER paranoia. You will wonder: What did I do wrong? — after that you may even second guess yourself and be fearful of truly expressing yourself. STOP! Don’t worry… first, understand that a lot of people suddenly following and unfollowing you are BOTS… these are accounts that automatically follow. If you don’t follow them back, they may automatically unfollow you within a few days (and if you follow them, they’ll SPAM up your timeline.) In addition, some of those accounts will be getting deleted too. In my own case about 90% of people who UNFOLLOW me fall into this category. How do I know? Tip: If people unfollowing you is unnerving, try something like http://www.twunfollow.com. It’ll help you keep track of who follows & unfollows you each day.
Aside from that, read up on TWITTER ETIQUETTE as much as you can & consider the type of people who are following you & what is and isn’t acceptable for them. As you create your own niche this’ll be a lot easier.
notes—>
3. Getting more & more & more & more followers!!!
There are tricks to getting lot’s and lot’s of followers, for example you can follow as many people as possible, especially those who are likely to follow back. (Such people often have a pretty even follow/follower ratio. In addition, lists of them exist.) Here’s the problem: Is it really important for you to have 10,000 followers if not almost none of them have any interest in you as a person or your endeavors? — for this reason, I don’t follow people just to get followbacks. I follow people because I’m interested in what they tweet about, feel we have something in common or because they followed me (and I’m following them back to express my gratitude & a desire to communicate). That said, two rules of getting follow backs.
1. Do not ask people to FOLLOW YOU back. There may be a small number of exceptions, but basically people who do this are considered pests by other twitter users — so consider it virtually taboo. HOWEVER --
2. You can earn follow backs by being a good follower. This means: Retweeting interesting things the person says and replying to things they say (on a sincere level) by @ messaging them. By getting yourself noticed & proving your loyalty, the chance of getting a follow back is much higher.
As for getting followers the old fashioned way (earning them) —>
At this stage of the game you should be a true bonified 100% twitter addict. You’ll probably be considering various (mostly free) apps and services to further enhance your twitter experience & will suddenly find out that when you get the blue shark (TWITTER goes down) one and only one thing comes to mind: How suddenly the entire core of your being depends on TWITTER!!!
--
For businesses and professional organizations:
This information can be used by businesses and professional organizations as well, with slight modification. For example, if you are already a well established business or personality, you may not have to engage with your followers as much and can promote your account via already established communication channels within your org (as opposed to following people to get follow backs) — regardless, you will still need to provide followers with interesting content. On the other hand, TWITTER can be used by businesses to monitor customer reaction and opinions by encouraging followers to engage and by professional organizations to keep in touch with staff and colleagues in the time of an emergency or if the staff is available, as a type of 24x7 public relations channel.
Not that when you first join twitter, it can seem almost lame if not confusing unless you already have lot’s of friends on it. That’s why lot’s of people seem to join then drop off. (According to one statistic only 40% of all TWITTER profiles are actually active.) — But, following these tips, you can make TWITTER awesome from the get go and a phenomenal way to connect with people and promote yourself.
At present I have over 700 followers -- a great deal who are localized, and almost one who are "junk accounts".
PHASE 1:
FIRST: Set up your profile. This includes having an ICON. If you don’t want to put a picture of yourself, put a picture of something you like… anything. A lot of people are reluctant to follow back people who still have the egg. Its says you’re just not that into it.
SECOND: Describe yourself in 140 characters or less + do it in a way that’s catchy & makes people interested in you. In other words, answer the question, how would you describe yourself in 140 characters of less. Consider hobbies, career, ambitions — anything that says who YOU are. (My twitter profile is here.)
THIRD: Start tweeting. Yeah, you may not have any followers yet, but many people are reluctant to follow people with no TWEETS. (Bot alarm!!!) Your first tweet might just say that you’ve just joined twitter. After that, you can tweet about whatever is on your mind… Try to make it witty, clever or informative.
FOURTH: Think of TWITTER at first as a news feed & start following the people you want to get information from. It can be news sources, journalists, your favorite celebrities, musicians, magazines — You can come up with ideas by checking to see if people you like who are already elsewhere on the web are active on twitter.
FIFTH: Follow people who follow twitter accounts that interest you and that they you find interesting. When any TWEEP posts something that you find interesting RETWEET it or send them an @ comment with a polite response.
SIXTH: Make it a habit to tweet whenever interesting things come to mind. For an idea about what to tweet about simply study the people you follow, especially people who are similar to you. You can use them as your TWENTORS (twitter mentors.) Different people have different styles of tweeting… find the style that’s best suited for you.
note: Be careful not to follow too many people at once. Otherwise you might set off the bot alarm…!!!
<— At this point you have most likely established yourself as a real person. As you RETWEET, @ REPLY and engage with other TWITTERERS don’t be surprised if you begin to get your first followers. (Some, however, will be BOTS.)
PHASE 2:
As you find your niche, begin to tweet regularly as well as read your timeline @ reply, RT and follow people that other people RT or #FF that you find interesting. If you’re not sure about what to tweet look at what other people are tweeting then EXPRESS YOUR OWN IDEAS and make funny or quirky comments IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Also, try to say things that are likely to get people to want to engage with you.
At least once a day be sure to: Follow back new followers and reply to your @ messages, if not briefly.
note: although some twitter accounts are strictly one way PR, your ideal followers will include a mix of hardcore lurkers & people who want to engage, even chat with you.
At this point, don’t be surprised if people who you RT or who you @ message (and follow) begin following you back. —> Some personalities have an auto-follow back policy (if you follow them, they’ll follow you), other “twitterati” (twitter personalities) are selective of whom they follow. For quality followers simply follow REAL PEOPLE who interest you and who you think in return will be interested in you.
Things to note:
1. On The art of TWEETING:
—> Getting used to expressing yourself in 140 characters or less takes a bit of practice. As a musician, my style is to get used to the “rhythm” of what a tweet sounds like then learn to make observations in that style.
—> Sometimes I *ignore* the word limit at first then EDIT it afterwords. In other words, if I go over a certain number of characters I look at my tweet & think of ways of editing it down.
—>When I tweet, I try to think of about a variety of writing devices to draw readers in. To me, good tweets may involve “comic timing”, they may even be good poetry, and definitely headline grabbing. Whatever you do… BE YOURSELF, BE INTERESTING and offer tweets that are funny, entertaining or informative. IF YOU HAVE NO SENSE OF HUMOR ABOUT YOURSELF OR LIFE, TWITTER IS PROBABLY NOT FOR YOU.
Also consider reading articles about TWITTER ETIQUETTE and following TWITTER accounts that specializing on how to tweet better. (One, for example, is @tweetsmart.)
note: In the twitteverse, you are both rewarded and punished quickly for good & bad behavior. Ironically, some of the most basic rules were laid out almost a half a century ago in Dale Carnegie’s classic book “How to Win Friends & Inluence People”.
2. Dealing with the trauma of getting unfollowed & what to do about it…
The first time you get unfollowed may very well be traumatic & the first time you get unfollowed by a bunch of accounts may drive you into a state of SHEER and UTTER paranoia. You will wonder: What did I do wrong? — after that you may even second guess yourself and be fearful of truly expressing yourself. STOP! Don’t worry… first, understand that a lot of people suddenly following and unfollowing you are BOTS… these are accounts that automatically follow. If you don’t follow them back, they may automatically unfollow you within a few days (and if you follow them, they’ll SPAM up your timeline.) In addition, some of those accounts will be getting deleted too. In my own case about 90% of people who UNFOLLOW me fall into this category. How do I know? Tip: If people unfollowing you is unnerving, try something like http://www.twunfollow.com. It’ll help you keep track of who follows & unfollows you each day.
Aside from that, read up on TWITTER ETIQUETTE as much as you can & consider the type of people who are following you & what is and isn’t acceptable for them. As you create your own niche this’ll be a lot easier.
notes—>
- Some twitterers will have more than one account. For example, one business and one personal. As for my own account, I try to offer variety & represent myself myself more as a “personality” who tweets about a wide variety of subjects…
- If you tweet about one & only one topic you’ll be more likely to have people who are either very loyal followers or who unfollow you quickly because they’re simply not interested in whatever your particular obsession happens to be. For this reason its important not to follow people for the sake of following them, but find tweeps who are interested in what you talk about, and also who you are going to want to interact with. — By following tweeps who also tweet about similar things as you, you can also come up with inspiration for topics to tweet about.
3. Getting more & more & more & more followers!!!
There are tricks to getting lot’s and lot’s of followers, for example you can follow as many people as possible, especially those who are likely to follow back. (Such people often have a pretty even follow/follower ratio. In addition, lists of them exist.) Here’s the problem: Is it really important for you to have 10,000 followers if not almost none of them have any interest in you as a person or your endeavors? — for this reason, I don’t follow people just to get followbacks. I follow people because I’m interested in what they tweet about, feel we have something in common or because they followed me (and I’m following them back to express my gratitude & a desire to communicate). That said, two rules of getting follow backs.
1. Do not ask people to FOLLOW YOU back. There may be a small number of exceptions, but basically people who do this are considered pests by other twitter users — so consider it virtually taboo. HOWEVER --
2. You can earn follow backs by being a good follower. This means: Retweeting interesting things the person says and replying to things they say (on a sincere level) by @ messaging them. By getting yourself noticed & proving your loyalty, the chance of getting a follow back is much higher.
As for getting followers the old fashioned way (earning them) —>
- Do tweet regularly. Tweeting too much can lose followers, but too little will result in followers dropping you.
- Learn how to use #HASHTAGS
- Make people LAUGH or help people discover cool things and they’ll definitely dig what you do.
At this stage of the game you should be a true bonified 100% twitter addict. You’ll probably be considering various (mostly free) apps and services to further enhance your twitter experience & will suddenly find out that when you get the blue shark (TWITTER goes down) one and only one thing comes to mind: How suddenly the entire core of your being depends on TWITTER!!!
--
For businesses and professional organizations:
This information can be used by businesses and professional organizations as well, with slight modification. For example, if you are already a well established business or personality, you may not have to engage with your followers as much and can promote your account via already established communication channels within your org (as opposed to following people to get follow backs) — regardless, you will still need to provide followers with interesting content. On the other hand, TWITTER can be used by businesses to monitor customer reaction and opinions by encouraging followers to engage and by professional organizations to keep in touch with staff and colleagues in the time of an emergency or if the staff is available, as a type of 24x7 public relations channel.
