I’ve got another reader question that came in recently that I thought would be a great one for TwiTip readers to help answer.
“Seems like everyone’s got something to say about Twitter. How to use it, how not to use it, when to use it, etc. I’d like to hear what the top few tips would be. Not things like “Don’t spam people,” as that’s pretty much left to Captain Obvious, but rather real “power Twitter user” stuff. Any thoughts?”
With over 22,000 of you subscribed to TwiTip’s feed, and the many more who are sent here via links and recommendations, I think it would be cool if you guys helped answer this.
What are your top 3 tips, tricks, or pieces of advice for someone trying to make the most out of Twitter?
@recruitnik
My three top tips:
- Don’t tweet & drink- it is worse they drunk dialing.
- Remember once it is out there… it is out there… all the white out in the world will not remove it from the internet.
- Humor is a good thing
Six Rules to Twitter! Mind your Tweets! http://ow.ly/hvL1
@Dawn_Abraham
My first suggestion is always respond when someone @’s you
My second suggestion is add value to your tweets so people can learn something from your experience. It’s great to re-tweet and it’s a compliment but don’t forget to add your own voice as well. Both are important.
My third suggestion is mix it up. Talk and share about different things. Share about your business but not all the time. People want to get to know the real you.
@jbwagner
I don’t know if these are “power Twitter user” tips, but this is what I’ve got. Hope you can use them.
1. Engage people around you. @ reply them, FollowFriday them, talk with them. You get a lot more out of Twitter when you engage.
2. Get an app. If you follow more than 50 people, you’ll need an app. Apps can group users, do searches, and otherwise coordinate the flood of data coming in so you can stay sane. There are so many out there that you’re bound to find one you like.
3. Follow people. Okay, I know, but you have to follow people to use Twitter well. There are services to help, or you can just use FollowFriday results. But you can find great people to follow if you only look.
@Dawn_Abraham
I gave the wrong twitter address this is the correct one. Thanks
@stacypopke
I’m still pretty much a Twitter newbie, so I’m curious as to what the pros say. Looking at Twitterers with lots of followers, I see some commonalities. They engage readers by posing thoughtful questions, being humorous (but not obnoxiously so), sharing useful tips, and giving shout-outs to fellow Twitterers. Kind of like blogging, but the writing comes easier and the feedback is faster.
@young_yang
Though I am not as popular as Darren on Twitter, but I still want to share some of my thoughts against Tweeting:
First of all, Be real. Sometimes, I saw people tweeting or retweeting something which was obviously not real. There are already a lot of Rumors in the world, so I think it’s better to check the reality before tweeting.
Sencondly, Be useful. Our people are all too busy to pay attentions to useless things, and if they do not know what you have said, the won’t know who you are.
Thirdly, Be friends. Tweeting with @, RT and DM will help you get more followers even real friends in return.
Fourthly, use tools. Use some tools to find some Tweeple to follow, John Chow is good at this, he even follow eveyone that follows him.
@jessicawaters
1. The number one tip that I give all new or aspiring Twitter users is to download and use Tweetdeck. (www.tweetdeck.com) I can’t tell you how many people have not understood Twitter’s interface, and so let their accounts languish, but once I put them on Tweetdeck, they fly! The latest version makes managing your columns/groups so much easier!
2. Don’t be one of those obnoxious ‘auto thank you” people, my DMs go to my cellphone and I have been woken up in the middle of the night by a canned response. Not only frustrating, but I immediately UNfollowed them as a result.
3. Clean up your following/follower list by using something like TwitterKarma once a month. It really helps get rid of all the dead weight.
I help solopreneurs who identify themselves as “technologically challenged” find the social media tools (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, etc) that works best for their marketing strategy.
@robneville73
1) Don’t answer Twitter’s question of what are you doing? Unless you’re mega-famous, nobody care’s what you’re doing. Instead tell us something funny that just happened, tell us how you’re feeling or what you’re thinking.
2) Use other tools like Tweeple et al to find people that are talking about stuff that you like to talk about and follow quality profiles
3) Engage in real, non-promotional conversations with people….that is, a lot of @replies and DMs. Keep the RT to a minimum and only do it for stuff that you truly want to pass on, not just brown-nosing to gain another follower.
@mikecj
I only have one tip, and if you follow that one tip, then everything else happens the way it should.
Behave exactly as you would at a large cocktail party attended by a mixture of your friends and interesting people you don’t already know. If you wouldn’t do it at the cocktail party, don’t do it on Twitter.
@SpikeTheLobster
Mine would be:
1) Add freely, then unfollow if they tweet crap. Give them a chance to prove they’re not just RT-bots, spamming marketing idiots or people who only tweet quotes and horoscopes.
2) Don’t talk buzzwords, like “engaging”, “reaching out to”, “adding value” and all those other currently-popular nonsense terms that people spout to try to make themselves sound like they’re “social networking experts”. They just make you look like someone with an over-inflated opinion of their own importance. That goes for your profile, too – do NOT claim to be an expert of any kind: everyone I’ve met will unfollow you immediately.
3) Unless you’re tweeting for a business, just tweet about stuff that other people might like, find funny or be interested in:
Forget the whole “marketing with Twitter” ideology.
Forget trying to build some kind of “tribe” (gotta love that new buzzword, yeesh).
Forget the number of followers you have (it really means nothing).
Forget “monetizing” (other things are more important – and that’s not a real word, anyway).
Just tweet, have fun and rest assured that the right people will find you.
That’s my 2 cents. Can you guess I don’t like marketers?
@timeontaskva
My Top Three tips are:
1. Pick a username that reflects your company, your brand or you, not something like ‘H7g5ff7′. People will come to recognize your twitter username more than you may realize.
2. Your Bio information is vital to many making a decision to follow you or not. Fill it out – look at this as a place to include your elevator speech. Tell people what you do and how you help or work with others. What pain points do you solve for your clients?
3. Don’t make it all about you and your company and don’t post the same type of update over and over. Post useful and helpful information that others will see has value. Join in conversations with others by sending replies to interesting posts, or even a direct email or message. Be professional at all times, and you can be personable and professional at the same time.
Twitter is a great place for people to get to know you, your business and products or services. Tell them about it all; but by giving back, by sharing and talking to others.
And Mike (above) is absolutely correct; if you wouldn’t say it in person, then don’t say it on Twitter.
@tweeminence
There’s already a lot of great advice here about how to interact with followers, and actually act out whatever your goals are. So, rather than repeat what everyone else said, I’ll look at things from a broader perspective.
My advice is to treat Twitter just like anything else – ESPECIALLY if you’re trying to promote your business in some way.
1. Set goals! – whether its gaining 1k followers, getting retweeted a certain amount, getting a certain number of visitors to your blog or website, or whatever…you need to know what you’re trying to do.
2. Plan – figure out how you’re going to accomplish the goals you set.
3. Take action! – You can’t succeed if you don’t get started! Don’t be afraid to fail and learn from your mistakes!
Also, As always you should be intentional, treat others with respect, give more than you expect to receive!
@whizkid7
I say do not post a lot of tweets in a few minutes. When I see that, I unfollow them.
Mike CJ’s advice is spot on!
I would say:
1. Be playful
2. Be pithy
3. Be personable
@mindmapdrawer
Check out this wonderful Mind Map about using Twitter created by Adam Sicinski at IQ Matrix:
http://blog.iqmatrix.com/mind-map/how-to-twitter-beginners-guide-mind-map
It contains invaluable tips & advice whether you are just starting out on Twitter or are a long-time user
@pereca
1. follow back – it’s not important if you don’t like subjects your followers like, if they followed you, do the same, but avoid to follow back spam accounts. Use TweetDeck to filter your followers.
2. retweet – do this with useful content, but also try to help beginners, they will remember your gesture.
3. use trending topics – stay informed and get involved, here is how to hack twitter trending topics.
@Gaelen2
So much good advice–to emphasize the best:
- Talk with the people in your Twitter stream–not at them. I joined Twitter to meet others with my interests. I like reading them, but I like discussing things with them even better.
- When you’re talking with others in your stream (@replies) reference the subject/opinion so that people following you (or checking you out) get a sense of the whole conversation.
- Fill out your profile/bio. Don’t have your ‘webpage’ link to a sales or marketing video. When I’m looking at a user deciding to follow or not, I check out the bio, the website, the
current tweet stream. No bio, or a sales website as your ‘webpage’? I won’t follow. A stream full of tweets about the details of your day and what look like one-way conversations (3-5 word @replies) don’t really interest me; I probably won’t follow. Choosing who I follow helps me manage my tweet stream (along with Seesmic), so your content has to interest me.
And the most important advice: don’t engage in or support follow-me campaigns. When you’re new to Twitter, you need to keep your stream, conversations and follower count manageable. If you can’t/don’t interact with them, those 100s of followers you gain overnight with a follow-scheme will quickly lose interest and unfollow. Instead of schemes, take your time and build good content into your stream. List yourself in the keyword directories, pay attention on FollowFriday, engage with your followers regularly, and your follow list will build gradually (but solidly) at its own pace.
When someone asks me I tell them:
-Write like Hemingway, concise, pithy, interesting. It will get better the more you post. Twitter will grow on you.
-Add a voice, not just noise. I get annoyed with constant repeated auto tweets (I just added myself….), RT over and over the same thing, @@@, quotes, bloviating. Do you really like getting the same email joke from everyone you know? If you RT from a # remove the # or a couple of @, make a comment, RT to a different audience, Maybe just your followers. Nothing wrong with, “What are you doing”? Just try to make it not so mundane. Why does the moment fascinate you?
-On the tech side- Yes, invest the time in a desktop client like Seesmic, Twhirl an/ or Tweetdeck (no need to limit yourself ). Makes all the difference. Means you can keep something open all the time for that serendipity moment. I often open a small Twhirl window while working as it’s not as distracting as the others.
@giftofmoney
1. Be personal. Whenever I get a follower or a DM, I click on their profile, learn something about them, and reply with a personalized tweet, mentioning them by first name! They know I’m not an automaton & they respond accordingly.
2. I find new followers by looking at the follow/followers and retweets of those who follow me. This way I find are many more with similar interests.
3. I am promoting Rev. Ike’s teachings, but I never “sell” anything. All my tweets offer
something of value: inspirational quotes, free ebook, free audio lessons, YouTube videos.
@MonicaMcPherrin
1.Try to get your own name as your Twitter ID or some form of it. It’s valuable property to have (you can always create a 2nd Twitter account with your business name). People want to connect with other people, not businesses and to help them make that connection make your bio interesting and engaging so people will want to follow you.
2. If you are using Twitter to drive your business don’t just chat about mundane things (like what you’re eating). Give people valuable content (80%) a little levity, jokes, quotes ect…(10%) and just a touch of you personally (10%).
3.Don’t fall for those “get 10,000 followers in 3 days” gimmicks. It’s better to have fewer followers but followers that want to hear what you have to say and are your “Target Market”.
@titusxiii
1. Ignore the flakes, you took a liking to a user you’re following but they never reply to your DMs or @reply, just ignore them and forget about them, it is really not worth wasting your time
2. Ignore the spams, one concrete example: all of ijango pyramid scheme followers are spamming the beJesus out of Twitter; just ignore all spam tweets, if you reply, they’ll come back at you with even more spam
3. Be creative, try and tweet something no other users are, that way you are making it worth for your followers
tweet! tweet!
@TomDuong
My Top 3 Twitter Tips:
1. Don’t Use All 140 Characters for Your Tweet. Rather than use all of your characters, you should leave spaces for at least a “RT @YourName” so that other users can retweet you.
2. Track Your Tweets! Your goal is to establish which types of posts generate the most interest amongst your followers. You can do this simply by using some type of URL or page analytics such as Bit.ly, Budurl.com or Google Analytics.
3. Don’t Over Tweet! You don’t want to tweet every little event in your life because there are already far too many people doing just that. If you start doing the same, you’ll have no chance of standing out in the crowd.
Happy Tweeting!
Tom
@flawless23
I would like to know how in the heck do you RT a person on twitter?
@TheLifehackPost
1. Engage your New Followers by promoting them. Make them happy to promote yours self to their friends. Usually we start with “My New Partners on #…” It works well…
2. Promote others who you didn’t know each other. I always try to do this, of course related my niche – and after then, i see my Followers bullish before i follow them back.
3. Conversation, conversation, conversation. This could be the best way to make your self exist
“Slow down to enjoy… your Life.” -The Lifehack Post