Twitter Tips for the Tweeting Novice

Over the past couple of weeks I have been trying to get going on Twitter. Slowly I have been adding people to follow and promoting interesting content through various tweets. I know I am not getting the most out of my limited interaction with the micro-blogging site, so I went out to gather a list of tips from other users. Below is a compiled listing of Twitter tips gathered from friends, colleagues and my own experiences. I hope this helps other Twitter rookies looking to make the most of this potentially beneficial service.

• Pick a memorable username.
• Make your profile informative…Answer this question: “Why should I follow you?”
• Use Twitter Search or WeFollow to find people to follow.
• Develop clear objectives about what you want to achieve by using Twitter and stick to them.
• Twitter allows you 140 characters, but if you use them all up you cannot be retweeted easily. Aim for tweets of 125 characters.
• Retweet, Retweet, Retweet. It will benefit you in the long run as your followers will do the same for you.
• Don’t go for the numbers. The quality of your followers is what really counts.
• Use groups to segment tweets of the people you are following. This allows you to segment conversations and closely watch those of primary interest to you.
• Add quality to the conversation with your Tweets.
• Include topical keywords for an optimized headline in your tweet.
• Try to tweet regularly so that people know you have an active presence.
• Do not overtweet.
• Include some personal information so that people know you’re a human being and not just an online merchant pushing links.
• Be modest…say thanks for the follows, favors, retweets and help.
• Monitor keywords and competitors.
• Follow those following you, unless they are spammers.
• Verify links before tweeting them. Be sure they’re not broken or misdirected.
• Assume most of your followers will never respond to you. That’s the nature of most digital communities.
• If you want all of your followers to see your public replies, never begin a tweet with the “@” character. This indicates “conversation” mode.
• Click the star icon next to a tweet you like to add it to your Favorites.
• After authenticating your Twitter account through LinkedIn, using #in at the end of a tweet will send it to your LinkedIn status.
• The letter “d” placed at the beginning of a tweet will trigger a direct message to the username it precedes.
• Instead of answering the question “What are you doing?”, answer the question “What has your attention?”
• 3rd party clients like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter.
• Use Twitter to promote fresh corporate content, upcoming events, etc.
• Try to maintain a ratio of around 50% between original Tweets and re-Tweets. People appreciate original material and it‘s more likely to help maintain a loyal following.
• You don’t have to read every tweet.
• Don’t forget to have fun.

For additional information on building a Twitter presence and making the most out of this micro-blogging service, check out Mashable’s guide: http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/.