It’s a common expression that in life, timing is everything. On Twitter, nobody tells you that your effectiveness is more dependent on timing that any other online activity.

Time your reading.

Beginners always think that twitter involves reading everything. If you want to give up your life do that by all means, but sensible people will limit their reading to appropriate times and ways.

Rather than becoming a slave to other people’s tweets, read at a time of your choice. Save yourself time by reading in bulk, rather than one tweet at a time. Switch off for periods and don’t worry about being out of the loop – if there is something important it will come round again. You can reconnect with everybody when you are ready, and the internet being what it is, they will be there waiting for you when you are ready.

Time your tweeting.

There is no point to tweeting when there is no one listening!  Who are you hoping will be reading? If they are in a particular time zone, then you need to time your tweets when they are awake, and if you are in a different time zone to your audience it may be worth your while using Tweet Later.

Know when your audience is listening. This will vary from person to person, but my own audience is listening from 08:00 till 09:30 when they switch off to get on with some work. They reconnect at about 16:00 – 18:00 as they wind down the day’s work. My audience is UK, so those are GMT times for me. Take the time to observe what time of day you get retweets, replies, and when your followers tweet. Those times are the times that you should be tweeting yourself.

Vary your tweets to the time of day – don’t flirt with an audience in the office, don’t tweet a technical analysis to followers who have just had their third glass of wine and are relaxing on the sofa at home. Make your tweets appropriate to the mood of your followers, not to your own mood!

Don’t waste your followers’ time, that is the quickest way to lose a reader.  Try to make every tweet worth reading. Don’t retweet items that everyone and their dog is retweeting, you won’t be first and they don’t want to read it AGAIN. Make time reading your tweets worthwhile, be unique and add value. When retweeting use the | character and add your own view after to make your tweet different and better than the original.

Take Time to Sharpen Up

Finally in the words of Covey’s “7 Habits of Successful People” – Sharpen the Saw. Take time to improve your tweeting, read, and learn.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



In Life Timing Is Everything, On Twitter It’s More Important Than That

Do you own a small business? Are you having a hard time understanding Twitter?

As a small business owner and social media user going on two years now, I can honestly say that initially I did not really see the point or power of Twitter at all.

However, after sticking it out passed the learning curve, picking up a couple of followers, and following really intelligent people, thanks to Twitter, I get to make connections and learn something new every day. In fact, at this point I feel like Twitter is a tool that all small business owners should use as part of their overall efforts to build a distributed social media footprint.

Nevertheless, if you are like many in the small business community who have tried Twitter without success, then you might be fond of saying, “I just don’t get it.”

For numerous small business owners (including myself at one point in time) who are new to Twitter, and social media in general, there appears to be a common misconception that as soon as you sign up customers are going to fall from the sky in droves and you will immediately be inundated with more business than you can handle.

Small Business Twitter Frustration
Amongst the business people that I discuss Twitter with there appear to be two types of discouraged small venture owners who give up on Twitter at rapid rate.

Frustrated business owner number one feels like Twitter is analogous to entering a large cocktail party or hotel lobby where she doesn’t know a single soul. Yet, conversations are happening all around her and rather than trying to ease into the discussion, she gives up without talking to anybody because the sheer numbers are overwhelming.

Disgruntled Twitter quitter number two is the complete opposite of number one. He will get on Twitter, see all of the conversations going on, and assume it is the customer “candy store.” This leads to the sending out of many spammy messages, which spew forth details about his great products and prices. He will typically stop using Twitter when to his surprise nobody follows him back and he doesn’t receive one @ reply.

Twitter Tips to Help Small Business Owners
Recently, a friend asked me to help him with that “Twitter thing” because he wants more customers for his niche jewelry business.

After our very long discussion and Twitter run through, I thought that perhaps there might be other business owners out there who are beginners on Twitter and could use some help. Here are the 20 tips that I passed on to my friend:

1. Twitter is first and foremost a place to connect, learn, and listen.
2. Define your goals if you have any (e.g. business promotion, socializing, etc).
3. If you’re confused about where to begin on Twitter, but are interested in learning, take a look at the previously done Twitip post that highlights key people for beginners to follow.
4. Twitter allows you to interact with individuals who you might not normally come into contact with. If you want to interact with a celebrity or a person with a huge following then send a simple @ message or comment on something they are doing. If you get a response you can then take it from there.
5. Don’t be offended if folks don’t follow you back. It’s not personal. (Even if it is, it doesn’t really matter.)
6. Use a photo of yourself or your business logo in you profile.
7. If you’re interested in connecting with someone you might want to try ReTweeting some of their messages before you introduce yourself.
8. It’s probably going to take a good 3 to 6 months to get a following.
9. Find out who the influencers are in your industry and see if they are on Twitter. If they are, follow them.
10. Always follow Jeff Pulver’s rule of giving 95% of the time and asking only 5% of the time.
11. Utilize a Twitter photo-sharing site like TwitPic or Yfrog to share cool photos from your typical business day, or while plying your craft, so that people get to know you. It helps to build social trust.
12. Use Twitter Search with keywords to find information and conversations that are relevant to your business. It’s also a good way to find out if anyone is talking about you or your company.
13. If you are not part of a particular conversation that concerns your area of business, but you would like to participate, approach with caution.
14. If you are sending DM’s to your followers with something related to your business, make sure to use your social capital wisely. Overwhelming folks with DM’s can result in a rapid loss of followers
15. Don’t Tweet anything that you would not want to see on the front page of a newspaper or wildly famous website.
16. Do interact and connect and don’t hesitate to @ message folks who have 10x or 100x the number of followers you have.
17. Employ sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, and Reddit to find, and share amongst your followers, interesting stories from your particular area of business.
18. Create connections don’t spam. You most likely would not just walk into a crowded venue where you don’t know anyone and say, “Hi my name is Bob and I replace window screens and have great prices.” This method does not work very well on Twitter. (Should be a given but you still see it every day!)
19. Twitter is only one area online where you can begin to build a distributed social media footprint for your business. Do NOT rely solely on Twitter as your social media business promotion tool.
20. It takes a long time to build up a following and develop trust, but it only takes one Tweet to alienate every one of your followers.

To be sure, on a daily basis we are all trying to figure how best to utilize Twitter effectively as a small business tool. Certainly, this is not a be all end all list, so your thoughts and input on how small business can better tap into Twitter are appreciated.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



20 Must Read Beginner Twitter Tips for Small Business Owners

Making money online is not only one of the most frequent topics in blogging, it’s also one of the hottest searches on any search engine, and it’s becoming ever more popular on twitter too.

I’ve left this topic until now because most of the people who start out with the sole objective of creating money making blogs, and more recently twitter accounts, do tend to be a bit obvious.  If they succeed, they also tend to get short-lived success, mostly along the lines of niche blogs – they build one tiny area up to be profitable, then move on to another area.  We’re seeing something similar on twitter where people are setting up multiple accounts.

Trend-surfing this way may get you a few big wins, or enough small ones to support yourself, but it isn’t the same as being one of the big-guns of blogging, earning 6 or 7 figures a year in stable and ever increasing income.  There are very, very few of those (and they all have big followings, as I mentioned in the last post).  While the average income for blogs in 2008 was $6,000, that was influenced heavily by the top 1% of bloggers who earnt $200k plus.  Look at the top 10%, and the average income is down to only $19k.

You may be surprised to know that most of the blogging big names didn’t start out earning their income that way.  In fact, very few of them earnt their livelihood from blogs to start with.  Some of them, like Cris Brogan and Robert Scoble, still have offline jobs. Darren Rowse of Problogger paid his bills with multiple part time jobs while he built his blog up to the level where it would support himself, and kept going from there to the income levels of today. Yaro Starak of Entrepreneurs-Journey supported himself with an editing business and a gamers site before he grew big enough to earn a full time income from blogging.  David Risley of davidrisley.com (Confessions of a 6 Figure Blogger) has made his income online for years, but when he started most of that income came from consulting work, not blogging.

Every single one of these Blogging-Income Masters say the same thing: you don’t get that level of income unless you treat it seriously.  Blogging is a business.  If you want to turn it into your income, you need to have a Business Plan.

Twitter is the same.

There are no shortage of ways to turn blogging into an income, although not quite so many on twitter yet. Already, though, the “Make Money with Twitter” offers are starting to flood in. A lot of them are going to make money for the people selling them, and not many others. The tried and true methods that have worked for the top names in blogging, though, are summarised below:

Have a plan. It’s as true on twitter as it is elsewhere. Failing to plan = planning to fail.

Build a list. Yes, twitter is a list of sorts, but if your follower has 348 other people tweeting at the same time, your update will be all too fleeting. Convert them to your mailing list, or at the very least your blog’s rss feed!  Remember: the money’s in the list.

Over-deliver on value. Your followers are not going to throw money at you just because you put your hand out for it – especially not as any kind of sustainable income. Prove to them that you deliver the goods, and they’ll think of you down the track when they need what you have to offer.

Build a reputation. The trust and credibility people give you is the equivalent of brakes to your online income. If you don’t have much, you won’t get much. I saw a tweet not long ago by a well known social media expert on how someone with a tiny fraction of his follower count was trying to sell him a system to build more followers. Needless to say, there was zero credibility there.

Find out what your followers want. The way to make money is to offer solutions. You can’t do that until you know what problems people are facing, and decide which of them you have the skills and know-how to help them overcome.

Be Consistent and Persistent. This feeds back into all of the above.  If you’ve created a plan, make sure you follow it – it’s sad but true that the majority of people give up before they succeed. Keep taking action past the point where others drop out, and you win the race by default.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Tips for Beginners: Lessons from the Evolution of Blogging Part 5 – Monetisation

As blogging went mainstream, and more newcomers started flooding the market, the earliest bloggers were given a bit of momentum forward into the online equivalent of celebrity status – they were the trend-setters.

Not all of them took advantage of this push, though, while some of the newcomers rapidly adapted to blogging and took it by storm, getting their own place high up in the heirarchy with amazing speed.

The difference between these thought leaders and the majority of bloggers is the same difference we see affecting who gets promotions at work, makes it as a ’star’ in Hollywood, or even gets nominated to run the local Rotary Club.  It’s simply this: in order to lead others, you have to be willing to get out the front and lead others. Much easier said than done, I know.  After all, the ones that sit in front at school are picked on for questions, and it may be a movie cliché but the sketch about asking for volunteers to step forward, and one person gets picked because everyone else steps back, is more true than we’d like to think.  Leadership is something we’re not only encouraged, but trained to avoid.

If you want to go professional, though – on twitter, on your blog, or in life – you have to be willing to step out in front and take the risks and responsibilities that go with it.

Let me be clear here, though.  You don’t actually have to do this.  It’s not only possible, but fairly easy, to build up a modest following by taking the lessons of the last 3 posts on board; sharing of yourself, offering solid value and building relationships.  If you’re happy there, by all means stay there.For those willing to move on further, though, this is where you distinguish yourself from the pack.

The biggest lesson to advance yourself to this next level is: You have to be fearless – or at least appear to be (it’ll come if you fake it long enough).

You still need to edit what you say, but this is where you stop editing out those things you’re only holding back because of what others might think.  Be up front about what you believe every now and then, and if you get some controversy going, great!  People that don’t think along the same lines will either argue with you (getting you more publicity as well as giving you the chance to put your reasons forward) or if they’re really opposed to your thoughts, leave.

You may be surprised that this is where I tell you that’s a good thing.

The people who leave you because of something controversial you’ve said can actually get you more followers, believe it or not.  They talk about your stand, so they can tell people how they disagree, and some people come looking for you so they can see your side of the story (or so they can pick a fight with you too).  Some of them may stay.

To become a thought leader, you want to lead people who are happy to have you lead them.  I’ve already mentioned that most people are happier being followers than leaders (to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, most people “prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.”) but the internet is big enough that you should find plenty of people who like your point of view, or at the very least admire you for having the strength of your convictions, and decide to keep watching.  That’s the nuts and bolts of how you start to get a following.

Next issue, we’ll cover one of the biggest topics in blogging, and rapidly in twitter too – turning that following into an income.  Monetisation.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Tips for Beginners: Lessons from the Evolution of Blogging Part 4 – Thought Leadership

The Blogging community grew bigger as more blogs were started, and existing blogs shared the love by linking to them.  Of course if you know SEO, you’d know that this meant the search engines started paying attention to these, and more people started discovering blogs. The community stopped being small, but started to distinguish between the well known and established bloggers, and the newcomers who were still learning the ropes.

This is where conversations come in.  Bloggers would read a new post by someone, with their editorial comments on it, and write an answering post on their own blogs. Naturally, this added fuel to the SEO fire, as cross linking gave blog sites some serious weight.  As the art took off and gained momentum, and more people wanted to start blogging themselves, software started making it easier to create and update your blogs, and eventually the ability to comment was born.

Enter the era of interactivity. (Don’t try saying that after a few drinks, ok?) Bloggers could now do more than just put their opinions out there – they could get feedback and, more importantly, develop a following.  For the bloggers that had come from the beginning, this was a major step forward – they could write responses, as well as just diarize their thoughts.  They could build their own reputation and grow their audience.

Twitter uses the @reply for exactly the same thing.  This is the essential tool for making contact with people you’re following, who are asking questions you know the answers to, or to catch the attention of people you’d like to connect with.

@replies turn twitter from a one way monologue into a dialogue.  They’re an important part of any twitter user’s toolbox.

The lesson you need to take from the successful thought-leaders of the blogging world in this stage, though, is the importance of holding conversations that include, and don’t exclude, your other followers.  Have you ever stood waiting at a party where someone you wanted to talk to was so involved in a one-on-one discussion that the rest of the room might as well not have existed?  That’s what you want to avoid.  Don’t cold-shoulder the room.

Remember that not everyone will know what you’re replying to when you send a response to someone else – try to phrase your reply so it’s not one-sided and people have no idea what you’re talking about.  Put it in context, like the second example tweet below.

@questionasker Pirates of Carribbean. Years ago.

@questionasker – last movie I went to see was yrs ago: Pirates of Carribbean”

Anyone reading the second one knows what you’re answering, and may even join the conversation.

Finally, It’s important to remember that, just like any party, conversation should be mixed with mingling, too.  Keep giving out comments and links that others can appreciate and/or react to (which can start more conversations). You build the community, AND your followers, that way.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Tips for Beginners: Lessons from the Evolution of Blogging Part 3 – Conversations

Since my last post, I hope you’ve had fun playing around with your storyline.  This time, we’re going to look at how blogs shifted away from journaling, and started becoming lists of links.

Initially blogs were few and far between so, having shared themselves by journaling in this new medium, there was a sense of being part of a small community.  Bloggers weren’t all that common still, so when a new blog was found other bloggers would link back to it, providing a way to follow other blogs for people who’d discovered (and liked) reading blogs.

These list posts over time evolved to include linking to other sites the blogger found interesting – creating a kind of filter for all the information on the web, through the lens of someone’s interests.  If you shared those interests, you had a quick way to find things you’d probably like, without having to hunt them all down yourself.  That meant people that weren’t bloggers, friends or family, started coming to visit these blogs, and their popularity grew.

Not all of those blogs continued through this stage of evolution, though.  Some shifted entirely to links and went on to become portals, although not all portals started out as blogs.  The blogs that kept growing were the ones that took a lesson from the last stage – journaling – and maintained that sense of friendship and sharing, putting themselves into their posts and keeping it personal, giving their editorial comments so people could get a sense of what they thought and why.

The blogs that thrived in this stage were the ones that had a clear focus – some particular topic they were passionate about, so you knew (mostly) what you’d be finding if you came back to visit again.  If you were interested in the same topic, you’d make sure to come back.  Having someone filter stuff for you and deliver up your interests saved you time, and with their editorial you had someone else’s opinion to guide you, too.

The rise of url shortening services sparked a similar trend in twitter.  Once your focus changes from what you want to write, to what people want to read – a natural shift after journalling for a while – you’ll want to start sharing the things you’ve found interesting, just like those early bloggers. This is the start of ‘professionalising’ your twitter micro-blogging.  You don’t update based on what you want to say, but on what you think your friends might like to hear about.  In sharing with them, you’re delivering something that means they’re likely to a) appreciate what they get from you, b) come back for more, and c) possibly tell their friends.

There’s two things to remember when you start using link-sharing updates on twitter.  Even though it’s got to be short, people want to know what they’re clicking – don’t waste their time sending them to links that just say something generic like “Check this funny video out.”  Let your friends and followers decide if this is something they want to check out for themselves.  Even better, if you can describe it in only a few words, put a comment of your own to personalise it.  As an example, Chris Brogan recently posted:

chrisbrogan Thanks, Seth. I needed this post on saying no – http://bit.ly/IASR

Your challenge for the next week is to find at least one interesting link to share with your friends (followers) on twitter, and post it with BOTH a description and comment.  They can be combined, like the one above, or you can add your note onto the end.  If you look at the tweets that get most retweets, you’ll find a large number of them do exactly that.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Tips for Beginners: Lessons from the Evolution of Blogging Part 2 – Link Lists

Do you think that people who are able to successfully expand their network using Twitter share any habits or common traits?

If you had asked me six or seven months ago, “What is the value of Twitter?” I probably would have responded with something to the effect of, “Itís a great way to let people know when you are making coffee or sitting in traffic.”

However, after quite a few months of participating, networking, and most importantly, learning, I am now a firm believer that when used properly Twitter can be an extremely powerful addition to a comprehensive social media strategy.

For the newbie Twitter user it can be difficult to know where to begin or how to constructively increase the number of followers, and as such, I drafted this post with the beginner in mind. People like you and me who are somewhere between ëjust creating a profileí and a couple hundred followers.

Also, if you are like me, I am assuming that you want to be an active participant and wish to grow your network for collaborative or creative opportunities. Specifically, you would like to use Twitter as an online tool to connect with people all over the world.

With the above in mind, and until someone (Google, Chris Brogan, YOU?) creates an algorithm that will quantify “effective Twitter users,” my analysis is based on watching the Tweeting habits of regular users and not only the elite “Twitterati.”

10 Traits of Highly Effective Twitter Users

So, subjective as it may be, my observations over the past couple of months show that there are some common characteristics amongst those who seem to be effective users of this service and they are as follows:

• Be welcoming & friendly – say hello to your new followers or folks that you would like to get to know.

• Engage people – ask questions and respond to queries that interest you.

• Be humorous – funny Tweets really help to break up the timeline.

• Inform – provide useful information and news items.

• Regular time – tweet at a regular time and in a consistent voice.

• Monitor self-promotion – it is fine to promote your projects and work, but nobody likes to be spammed all day .

• Promote others – “retweet” liberally and highlight good work.

• Link in post – link to other Twitter users that you would like to connect with in blog posts.
• Listen – there’s no need to dominate the conversation all the time, so spend some time just reading what others are saying/Tweeting.
• Be human – not always obvious but most important, being a “real” person is probably the most important trait of any effective Twitter user.

How about you? Have you noticed any traits or habits of effective Twitter users? What are they?

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



10 Traits of Highly Effective Twitter Users

For some, it’s hard enough finding your voice in a 500 word blog post. So when it comes to expressing your thoughts and opinions on Twitter in 140 characters or less, you’d think it would be even harder. Right?!

Well actually, finding your voice on Twitter can be a pretty painless process if you employ the right strategies. For those of us with kids, we “get it” right away. Twitter can be a lot like your 2 year old. It screams and whines and will bark orders at you all day (ex: give me….get me….follow me, etc). Parents know that getting your child to communicate with them is truly an art that requires patience and creativity. And Twitter is no different. So when it comes to finding your voice on Twitter, I suggest you start thinking like a toddler or how you would communicate with one!

The following list includes my top 10 tips for developing better communication  with toddlers on Twitter:

1. Toddlers have a limited vocabulary. So make your tweets simple and not too complicated. Do your best to tweet how you speak. Don’t overuse acronyms.

2. Toddlers have the attention span of flies. So you need you to get to the point. Think in titles and summarize. You wouldn’t read a chapter book without pictures word for word to 2 year old.

3. Toddlers like toys. So share helpful resources like links to smart blogs, industry reports, funny YouTube videos, free ebooks, etc.

4. Toddlers have favorite characters… The Wiggles, Backyardigans, Elmo, etc. So find a niche you know and are passionate about. Infuse your tweets with information about it, share your expertise, and foster relationships with others in your niche. Start a fan club or TwitterGroups for your niche interest.

5. Toddlers naturally embody a transparency radar. They can see right through you. So don’t be something you’re not. And especially don’t spam or sell to twits. If you’re a genuine twit you will get the respect you deserve.

6. Toddlers learn best from hands-on experiences. So be sure to share your most interesting daily happenings, life ponderings, and hair raising questions.

7. Toddlers can benefit from the right equipment. For example, a high chair, bib, and sippy cup can make for a cleaner and more efficient lunch. So take advantage of Twitter support tools. Utilize mobile and desktop apps to streamline the tweet process and be a more efficient conversationalist (Tweetdeck, Twittelator, Twitterific, Twitterberry, SnapTweet, Twitpic, etc.).

8. Toddlers like Kung Fu Panda and Tom & Jerry! So share a variety of media and expand your voice to include updates or links from: Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, Blip.fm, your blog posts, etc.

9. Toddlers can learn a lot from their peers. So read other twitter streams to get new ideas, style, etc. Remember to learn new ideas, but update them with your own twist upon implementation.

10. Toddlers rely on consistency. So be the same person online you are offline.

Once you understand that Twitter is not just a broadcasting tool used for barking orders…but a Web of communities with interest-based conversations, you’ll find your voice and a new respect for it in the process. Good luck and be nice…or I’ll put you on a time-out!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Think like a Toddler and find your Voice on Twitter

How to light a candle under your Twitterings for both Newbies and those that think they are Pros…

How silly! I’m preparing to share some powerfully useful and advanced Twitter tips, yet I start with a warped variant of a well known children’s nursery rhyme. What’s up with that? It’s simple…

At the core of Twitter is a concept so simple, even a child can do it. Yet almost every newbie who arrives at the Twitter site is overwhelmed with a variation of the following thought:

“What the…?”

My interpretation of this flummoxing phenomena suggests that most folks (newbies or not) are really asking:

1. Why should I Twitter?
2. How do I Twitter?
3. What do I Twitter?
4. How do I get followers?
5. Can I make or raise money with Twitter?
6. and… OK, I’m ready to start, what’s next?

If you could nail down these answers (quick), it might strike a match in your brain and get that Twitter candle burning bright. Now granted, I could write a book on each of these questions, but after Twittering for months, my brain often goes blank after 140 characters, so bear with me as my nimble finger pecks away at these Universal Twuestions.

THE SIX UNIVERSAL TWUESTIONS

1) Why should I Twitter?

You’re already doing lots of stuff, right? Business, social, charity, a blog, a site, marketing too… Twitter (if done right) can become the VELCRO or glue that makes all the stuff you currently do “cohesive” – yet, Twitter does not require much extra time.

2) How do I Twitter?

Technically, you just type (or tweet) short sentences from time-to-time, sharing with other folks (your followers) interesting stuff about (fill in the blank) – oh, and you can LINK to anything. At a deeper level and in time, you’ll develop a “Twitter Personality” or style. It’s well worth listening and observing other Twitterers you find interesting to plot out your “personality strategy,” but ultimately your goal is to be 100% YOU – a real person – only notch it up bit; be MORE of whatever you are. Perhaps MORE humorous, MORE edgy, MORE informative, MORE social, MORE sexy, MORE original, MORE controversial, anything except… MORE obnoxious

Take note of this reTweet classic:

I only follow those who meet 2 of 4 criteria: informative, interesting, dialectical, original.

3) What do I Twitter?

Ah, that’s the magical part. Now granted, what you post depends largely on your goals and purpose with Twitter, but in general this is easy… just post interesting stuff, preferably related in some way to what you do, who you are, what you (and your followers) are interested in etc. It pays to be interesting to your followers, but it pays more to be interested in your followers; so communicate and network to your hearts content – but don’t (I repeat, do not) tell me what you or your cat had for breakfast. Twitter is NOT a public cafeteria nor a micro-advertising billboard.

Twitter posts (if done well) can be very valuable and/or interesting tidbits of information. However, rest assured that even the most attentive follower will not read all (if not most of) your posts. Thus repurposing previously tweeted posts is a good idea provided you do it with prudence. On posts you feel are particularly interesting or valuable, repost or reTweet these with honesty while spacing them broadly across time.

For example, you might say things like:

• In case you missed it…
• Last weeks retweet…
• Popular Retweet-
• Last weeks favorite…
• Did you see this?
• Retweet Rewind:
• Rehashed Twit:
• Recycled Twit:

For any naysayer who just read this tip and you’re now experiencing raised hairs on the back of your neck as you think “Twitter Spam!” – think again. Is your TV spamming you when a station runs repeats, or are they providing a service whereby you can catch something you’re interested in but you missed it earlier? Unlike a blog which journals posts in archives by month, some have suggested that Twitter is like a text version of Reality TV; it’s an interesting thought and I they do both flow in a timeline.

At the end of the day, quality content should have a lifetime value beyond a single Tweet. Think about that great advice you shared with your followers 2 months ago. If you don’t recycle some things occasionally, how will it benefit your newest followers that just tuned-in to your Twitter channel? If you set your quality standards high and space your Tweets broadly, everyone will be happy.

4) How do I get followers?

Re-read tip #2 first. Potential followers seek out interesting personalities to follow. The MORE interesting you are, the more followers you’ll get. But beware: having more followers is not necessarily a worthy goal. To rain tweets upon a million non-attentive followers is like circle irrigating barren soil where no growth is possible.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Be interesting (as in VERY)
• Be YOU (only notch it up)
• Be social (that does not mean putting a lampshade on your head)
• Be helpful and informative
• Engage existing followers regularly in interesting things.
• Tweet as often as you can, but maintain quality.
• Look sharp (Photo/wallpaper etc)
• Seek out targeted followers, who may be predisposed towards your “Twitter Personality” and subject matter.

While there are systems and strategies to pro-actively increase your followers, you will find that quality followers (people that listen) will often find YOU once you’ve established an interesting “Twitter Personality.”

OK OK, it’s the old “you attract more flies with honey than vinegar” strategy… but what other “get more follower” tips might there be?

Here’s the straight scoop. You don’t want to seek more FOLLOWERS you want to seek more LISTENERS. There are many proactive strategies, here are a few:

• Make Twitter the “CENTER” of your online universe. All profiles across the social media universe should list and link to your Twitter page as your primary page. If you are doing Twitter seriously, this will be very effective. With the exception of specific campaigns, you should drive all ancillary traffic to Twitter as the primary destination. Twitter is a soft close, in other words, people can get to know you without giving you a name and email straight way. It’s far easier to move a Twitter follower along your path (or funnel) to more engagement later, than to go from cold contact to full close in one fell swoop.
• Determine the primary keywords and phrases that your ideal follower might use in their daily lexicon. With that in mind, do searches of Twitter timelines (Twitter Search) and/or Twitter bios (Twellow) and/or Twitterers in your local area (TwitterLocal or Twellowhood) to find targeted people you might follow. An ongoing strategy of finding targeted people to follow will build your followers because often 30% or more will follow you back. Don’t go twitty, just add a reasonable number of new follows each week – meet and greet as many new followers as you can.
• There are many resources such as Mr. Tweet, TwitterGrader and TwitterPacks which all offer different angles on finding the best listener/followers. And with care, automated services (such as Twollo) can help.
• Don’t be shy about visiting the Twitter follower or following pages of other users who already have the type followers you like. Yes, we’re talking comrades and competitors; you can follow folks from their ranks. I can hear it already, a few readers are getting heart palpitations about it now, as if I’ve just recommended robbing the local five and dime. You’re following people, not stealing people; if these folks later decide you’re worthy of following, cool. There is nothing sinister about any of this and for sure, there are no monopolies on followers.
• Add “Follow Me on Twitter” messages in prime spots like: email footers, newsletters, thank you pages (after a sale or opt-in). Don’t trap your mindset in just the online world; think SMS text messaging, sending real cards and letters, mentioning your Twitterings in speeches and even within your own voice mail recordings.
• Socially bookmark your better Twitter postings (I’m talking static pages). Yes they have SEO value. Services such as Twitchboard and Fleck Lite automate social bookmarking in different ways. You can of course go heavy-duty with services like Onlywire or SocialPoster.
• I could easily list 100 more ideas on how to get followers, but I’ll close with TWO of my favorites…
  • Simply increase your engagement with existing followers, and your followers will reTweet and recommend you to new followers. As a famous Twitterer once read… It’s not how many followers you have, it’s how many times you get reTweeted.
  • Whenever you get a new follower, a direct message, or someone reTweets or mentions your name… pour on the hot social buttered rum sauce with a smile.

Believe it or not, before you can say Twittercalifragilisticexpialidocious, you’ll likely have more followers than you can manage and dumping a few can be a good thing. If only I had these tools back in my college dorm days! Lessfriends, FriendorFollow, or TwitTangle

To sum up this Twitter tip:

Followers are fiction whereas listeners are fact. In Twitter, you want more fact than fiction.

5) Can I make or raise money with Twitter?

Answer: Send me $1 via Twitter and I’ll tell you (just kidding).

All kidding aside, the answer is YES! In fact…

“Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) says Twitter has produced $1 million in revenue over the past year and a half through sale alerts”

Read How to make a million dollars on Twitter (just like Dell) and my wacky response.

OK, you’re not Dell, but rest assured the fact that Twitter can help make or raise money is no longer theory. If you VELCRO everything you do with Twitter, the cohesion of your strategy will increase your prospect, customer, or audience stickiness factor and the money will follow.

The secret is NOT to think Twitter drives revenue as a stand-alone vehicle. Instead, think of Twitter as one more wheel or perhaps the driveshaft on your internet dune buggy. Once it’s up and running, you’ll likely find yourself compelled to put your Twitter pedal to the metal. You’ll find ample fuel to power your Twitter vehicle at the many Twitter Tip sites from TwiTip to my own Twittin’ Secrets series which provides 100 Twitter Tips 100% free.

6) FINALLY, “I’m ready to start, what’s next?”

If you haven’t signed up for Twitter, DON’T. That’s right, do not. Not yet.

Step back and become a sponge for a few days. The first few decisions you make about Twitter can be important and deserve forethought as you contemplate your Twitter purpose and Twitter strategy. Twitter is this tiny little thing that “with a good strategy” becomes a BIG thing.

Even if you’ve already started Twittering, the following Twitter Tips should provide invigorating insight regardless of where you are in the Twitter timeline of life.

You are ready to start Twittering when…

• You’ve skimmed through Twitter’s official FAQs and HELP. (I’m not kidding. Invest 15 minutes upfront and save hours down the road)
• You’ve decided on your “Topical Twitter Focus” (what you plan to Tweet about – mostly).
• You’ve thought of a memorable (and perhaps descriptive) 15 character username that you can carry across all the social networks (Here’s a tool to let you check username availability)
• You have a really good photo of yourself for your Twitter profile (Occasionally an avatar, cartoon, image, or logo can be appropriate – but be careful – when is the last time you wanted to follow or chat with a logo? )
• You have a punchy, compelling, and interesting 160 character BIO ready for your Twitter page.
• You have a FIRST TWITTER POST (Tweet) ready. 140 characters. No link required. Here’s where many go brain dead or embarrass themselves. Your first tweet is like your first baby steps and it should begin your “Twitter Flow.” You’ll find a lot of “What NOT to post” ideas here: MyFirstTweet
• Your Twitter background image or wallpaper can wait (if necessary), but it is very important to really do a bang-up wallpaper job within your first month. So many Twitter pages look like the work of a one-armed paperhanger.
• Finally… and this might be the hardest part (but don’t skip it)…You need a low key “Twitter Convincer” web page to LINK TO as part of your Twitter Bio. Most likely your website or blog home page is NOT the best choice. And for sure, your “get rich quick for only $19.95 page” can be saved for relatives, your “ex”, or former jail mates. Here’s why: people visiting your Twitter page want to know WHY they should follow you. If your Twitter posts look interesting, your wallpaper catches their eye, your photo looks good, and your bio packs a punch, all that’s left to convince a visitor to follow, is a quick click to see what you’ve linked to. At that point, you either convince them to follow or they’re gone. A good “Twitter Convincer” page can be an “About Me” or any page that gives the visitor two things:
  • The answer to his or her primary question… “Why Should I Follow?”
  • A convenient way to get back to your FOLLOW BUTTON on your Twitter page.

NEWBIE EXAMPLE

“The Beginning of Happiness!”

Andrew Matthew is a cartoonist and author of books about Happiness.

His first Twitter post establishes his “Twitter Focus”

Andrew’s wallpaper makes it clear he’s a cartoonist (to follow)  

His “Happy Bio” plays off the title of one of his books and he links to his “About Me” page:

http://twitter.com/followandrew  

Oh, and let’s not overlook, Andrew snared a great Twitter username @followandrew

ADVANCED EXAMPLE:

http://twitter.com/dhollings (Click my website/bio link / upper right)

Or BIO link: http://go2468.com/followdan

On my own Twitter page, I’ve used a creative frameset, whereby I display a humorous static page Tweet (to the left) and in a frame (to the right), I give reasons and simple steps to follow me on both Twitter and Google’s FriendConnect. I also take all the mystery out of WHY you might follow me:

Why Follow?

• Free Twitter Tips
• Marketing Ideas
• Wacky humor
• Lots of laughs
• Even more laughs

I’m not recommending my set-up necessarily, but it demonstrates a creative approach that works well for me. For the adventurous, here is how to build a frameset, step by step.

A SIMPLIFIED VARIATION:

A variation of what I’ve done could be as simple as linking to a very well worded static Tweet. In other words, I could have made my Twitter website/Bio link simply this:

   http://twitter.com/dhollings/status/1054232633

   (note: my wallpaper is designed to encourage followers)

By the way… I can hear you asking already… How do you create (or find) a “Twitter Static page?”

Step 1: Make a Tweet.

Step 2: Click the timestamp link directly below that tweet.

Step 3: The link to that page is in the browser address bar.

Before finishing up, let’s return for a moment to where we started with our Jack Be Nimble nursery rhyme. According to Wikipedia, it has been suggested that “jumping over a candlestick” is a way of foretelling the future. If the candle stays lit, good luck should follow. With that in mind, I’ll leave you with one final Twitter tip: Twitter be Nimble, Twitter be Quick, if you don’t know Jack, follow & listen and he’ll follow you back.

—

About Dan Hollings

Follow Dan on Twitter @dhollings

The author & creator of “Twittin’ Secrets – 100 World’s Greatest Twitter Tips & Secrets” and the free “MyTwitter Toolbar.” In pre-Twitter days, he was the internet strategist behind the mega hit movie phenomena, “The Secret.” Dan is also the co-founder (along with Joe Polish @jpolish) of “BridgeGAP Marketing” – bridging the gap between Online, Offline and Mobile marketing.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter be Nimble, Twitter be Quick, if you don’t know Jack, try these Twitter Tricks

This video has been around for a while but I wanted to include it for those new to Twitter who might need an introduction.

Thanks to the team at Common Craft for putting it together.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Introduction to Twitter [VIDEO]