If you’re new to Twitter it can be a little hard to figure out what the “next step” is once you’ve created a profile. Whether you’re doing it for personal reasons, or trying to build a following for your business, there are a few things you can do early on that will make tweeting more enjoyable, more relevant and more effective.
Listen First -
Search Twitter using http://search.twitter.com
You can search Twitter right from their home page, but the link above is cleaner and easier to navigate. It will also give you tips in the bottom right corner of the results page about how you can filter your search for better results.
Example: If you are doing this for fun/personal reasons, then chances are you’ll search for keywords of topics that interest you. Example: If you love to travel you might search terms like, “travel deals”, “hotel specials”, “cruise perks”. From there you can find people to follow that talk about things relevant and interesting to you.
Example: If you are doing it for business you’ll want to start by searching for people talking about things that would indicate tweeters might be a current client, potential client or even advocates for your business. Example: If you sell real estate in Orlando, FL try searching for phrases like “moving to Orlando” or “moving to Florida.” People don’t generally send a tweet out that says, “I’m looking to hire a real estate agent to help me buy a house in Orlando, FL” so you have to search for phrases that people would actually “say”.
Organize -
Twitter Lists were introduced late in the game so for those of us that already followed thousands of tweeple; it’s hard to go back and organize. But for those of you that are new I highly recommend using this feature early on. You can create lots and lots of lists and they can either be public (visible to people viewing your Twitter profile) or private (visible only to you). You can put the people you follow into lists.
Example: On my personal account I have public lists for Digital Tools, celebs, news, etc. You can see them at http://twitter.com/AmyJantzer/lists On my business Twitter account (@weedott) I have private lists that include Prospects and Clients so that I make sure not to miss their tweets! If you visit that profile, you’ll notice you can’t see the lists http://twitter.com/weedott/lists You don’t have to put everyone you follow in a list…just the ones that are important to you.
Engage -
Ok, so now you’ve found some people to follow…you’ve organized them into list and you’ve been listening to the conversation. You’re now ready to jump in. Following and listening will also give you a better idea about what to say and how to say it. You only get 140 characters to tweet so people have become pretty creative in shortening words. Here’s some ways you can engage.
Simple (text only) update: Post something in 140 characters or less.
Example: “Working on a project and can’t wait to share.”
Share a link: You can post a link to an interesting article, your website or you’re your Facebook profile. Don’t forget the http:// so that it ensures it becomes a “clickable” link.
Example: “Currently reading an article about tips for social media content http://www.weedott.com/2010/03/what-will-you-say-40-ideas-to-help-with-social-media-content/“ You’ll want to use a URL shortner to scale down the size of that link. If you go to http://bit.ly you can get your link shorted for free. I did and now the post is “Currently reading an article about tips for social media content http://bit.ly/ccktW4” When you only have 140 characters to work with, you have to capitalize on each on.
ReTweet: This is Twitter lingo for “repeat” and it simply means you repeat another person’s Twitter update or tweet. You’ll want to give credit to the source of the tweet by putting their Twitter ID before the message being repeated. This happens a lot when people post something useful, funny or even controversial.
Example: “RT @AmyJantzer Currently reading an article about tips for social media content http://bit.ly/ccktW4“
So, hopefully that helps you get started on Twitter. If you need more advanced help reach out to us!
