Have you ever stopped to ponder what value you are creating for your followers on Twitter?
I’ve written numerous times about the benefits of Twitter to me – what I get out of it – but perhaps a more pertinent question for Twitter users to be asking is not what THEY get OUT of Twitter – but what THEY put INTO Twitter.
Don’t get me wrong – Twitter is a medium which can significantly benefit YOU and enhance your life in many ways – however when you talk to most successful Twitter users you find that they’ve discovered one thing:
I’ve seen this to be true many times in my own 1 year journey with Twitter. The more you put in, the more helpful you are, the more value you bring, the more effort you put in to enhancing the lives of others – the more comes back to you.
How do I set up a Twitter account? Sometimes those of us who have been using Twitter for a while forget what it was like to start out and work out how to get going. So when Nate Moller of MollerMarketing (follow him at @MollerMarketing) asked if he could write a beginner post on how to set up a Twitter Account I thought it would definitely help those starting out.
What is Twitter?
“Are you in to bird watching or something?” asked one of my Facebook friends once as I made a Twitter post about my 1,000th “tweet”.
Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time.
Wikipedia describes it this way:
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service, that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.
Before I get in to too much detail on why twitter is such a great part of online marketing, I want to teach you how to set up a twitter account.
Step 1: Go to http://twitter.com.
When you get to Twitter.com, you’ll see this page:
In this guest post Aira Bongco (@airabongco) shares 10 tips for Beginners who are just getting into Twitter.
So you just signed up for Twitter. You make your first tweet and you realize you don’t have any followers. “What a dumb idea!” You say. “Who the hell would be interested in what I’m doing anyway?”
Don’t worry. You’re normal. That is a sign that you are a Twitter beginner. A lot of us Twitter users (or addicts) went through the same questioning routine. And look at us now. We’re geeks who are on Twitter all day and night and we can’t stop tweeting.
So you want to be like us? It’s not that hard really. Just follow these simple steps.
1. Set up your profile
The first thing you need to do is to set up that profile. See that bar on top of your twitter page? Click Settings and start filling up your profile. The notable areas in here are URL, bio, picture and design. Put up a link to your site or blog in here along with a brief description. Upload a picture to differentiate yourself from the others and then tweak your Twitter design. Like any other social networking site, it is important to completely express what you are or what you stand for in your profile.
Do you know what you are aiming to achieve with Twitter? Do you have Goals in mind as you Tweet?
Here is an instant messaging exchange that I had with a TwiTip reader yesterday.
Reader: “I want to grow my Twitter follower numbers? Can you help me!” Darren: “Can I ask you a question?” Reader: “Sure” Darren: “Why do you want more followers?” Reader: “Everyone wants more followers don’t they? I want to be more connected and to have more followers.” Darren: “Let me ask another question – Why are you using Twitter?” Reader: “I am using Twitter to get more connections. I want to connect with as many people as I can.” Darren: “But why? What’s the purpose of that?” Reader: “Because it means I’m a more powerful Twitter user. Tell me, how do I get more followers?” Darren: “I’m still not sure why you want more followers or why you’re using Twitter?” Reader: “That doesn’t matter – I just want more followers.”
This conversation went on for another few minutes – I won’t bore you with the details (we went in circles) but I think it illustrates an issue that I see many Twitter users having – they don’t know why they’re using the medium.
I can relate to this. In my own early days of using Twitter I didn’t really know why I was using it either. I saw everyone else doing it and while I was a little skeptical of the medium thought I ’should’ at least give it a go. I had no real outcomes in mind and as a result – it showed in my Tweeting.
My first few days (if not weeks) of using Twitter were unfocussed and scattered. As a result I didn’t really ‘achieve’ much. Sure I found a few followers – but because I didn’t know what I wanted to get out of Twitter I didn’t really get much.
It took me a while – but I slowly realized that I needed to be more focused in my use of Twitter and to work out what outcomes I was hoping for.
Being successful at something is very hard if you don’t know what you want to achieve. It’s much easier to hit your target…. if you know what it is. (more…)
