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/.
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