But it’s something comedians have been doing for years – writing short, pithy punch lines. Ask Comedian Michael Ian Black who recently decided to add advertisements to his tweets. Black wrote in his blog “As of today, I’ve written 2,655 tweets. That’s a lot of free material, all of it contributing to the entertainment of the 1.5 million people who follow me, as well as the multibillion dollar capitalization of Twitter itself.”

Yes, comedians have the art of writing short down. But so do poets. Talk about imbuing thought-provoking meaning with as few as characters as possible! I don’t know if anyone does it as well as E. E. Cummings.

Whether comedian or poet, writing short is a good skill to have, especially if you have a Twitter account (and who doesn’t?) which caps posts at 140 characters. I once had a mentor who told me the best writing uses the most effective language with the fewest words possible. A good goal whether character restricted or not.

The trick is getting your message across in 140 characters or less without sounding like a monkey with a computer. They say even a monkey with a keyboard can eventually spew out Shakespeare, but I think he might lose his audience first.

Michael Pollan provides a great example of writing meaningful but short content with this 7-word manifesto: eat food, mostly plants, not too much.

Those 7 words say a lot.

That’s what we’re looking to do with Twitter. Say what you need to say in as few as words as possible. The trick is to find ways to let people get to know who you are, what you have to offer, and have a little fun in the process. Writing with only 140 characters can be a limiting handicap.

Or not…getting rid of the necessary words and characters can also be freeing!

I gathered some of my favorite Writing Killer Twitter Content tips, added some of my own, and came up with this list. Here’s Tips on Writing Short in the Twitterverse:

• Choose Your Words Wisely. You want to pick the right words that evoke the right amount of meaning with as few as characters as possible. A thesaurus can help with this. For example, if you have a choice between two words, “lighthearted” and “fun,” go with the latter!
• Get Verbal. Select verbs that are more emotive to get your message across. An example would be to use a word like “leap” instead of “jump.” They’re both energetic verbs with equal characters, but “leap” implies more emotion.
• Lolly, lolly, lolly leave your adverbs here. Dustin Wax suggested on Lifehack that one way to shorten characters is to leave adverbs to a minimum. Adverbs use up important real estate and your content will be perfectly fine without it. Well, there’s an example of an adverb right there. I didn’t need to say “perfectly and fine” to get my point across. Don’t use two words when you can use one.
• KISS. Have you heard the saying, Keep it Simple, Stupid? That notion works here too. One way of doing that is to do what Dom Sagolla recommends in his book 140 Characters, keep your tweets focused on one thought. Hey puts it this way, we need to learn to “say more with less.”
• Writing is in the rewriting. The folks at ReadWriteWeb ask an interesting question. Maybe we should all learn to read and write in Mandarin where each character is actually a word. That’s a great idea, but in the meantime try this tip. Write exactly what you want to say, then begin the process of rewriting; paring it down while keeping an eye on that character count.
• Know the lingo. Twitterville has it’s own grammar. Use it. I promise there will be no school marms tapping your hands with rulers. And if there are, you can ignore them. Some examples of Twitterville Grammar is leaving out unnecessary words such as “that” and “which.” People understand what you’re trying to say without them.
• It’s not about you. Leave out personal pronouns. You can just say, “Going to BlogHer Food!”
• It’s all about you. Lisa Barone reminds us in her post How to Write Better Tweets to be sure to keep Twitter posts personal so people will want to read them.
• Don’t beat around the bush. Tweeting is not the time to be cryptic. Say what you want to say, but leave out the “I think” explanatory phrases. Of course you think it, otherwise you wouldn’t be tweeting it.
• The Link-anizer. If you’ve got more to say than 140 characters allows, write a provocative intro and then link to the rest of it. There are oodles of link shorteners out there – Tinyurl, Hootsuite, Bit.ly, etc. Pick your favorite and use it!
• Alternate Universe. Mark Fulton explained in a recent post on TwiTips that “Twitter accepts more than just normal characters.” Most keyboards allow you to create symbols with special “alt” characters. Fulton recommends the tool TwitterKeys to have all these symbols at your fingertips. Thanks, Mark! We ♥ you!
• Size Matters. Copyblogger suggests using small words. They say “…simple words work better than big ones. Write ‘get’ instead of ‘procure.’ Write ‘use’ rather than ‘utilize.’ Use the longer words only if your meaning is so precise there is no simpler word to use.”
• Be Creative. Mark Twain once said, “I don’t give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.” Twains words ring true today. English is a living language and Twitter is just the place to have some fun with your word choices.

I hope these tips help you be expansive in your Twitter thoughts while at the same time minimal in Twitter characters!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Writing Killer Content in 140 Characters or Less

I queried some other successful Twitter-ites to learn about their favorite Twitter Tips. Here’s some ideas to take your Twitter Page from Topsy-Turvy to Titillating!

• Tweeter, Push Thyself! Don’t have a personal trainer or an agent pushing you to meet those personal deadlines? That can make reaching a goal even more difficult. Annabel Candy wrote recently about using Twitter as a source for motivation. She tweets her goals to help hold herself accountable for daily goals. Talk about baking two loaves in one oven (my alternative phrase to the more gruesome bird and stone saying). Not only does this make her more accountable to her own goals, it also piques the interest of her Twitter followers. For example, she might tweet about her goal to write another chapter today to which her followers might lift an eyebrow and say, “Is Annabel writing a book?” Curiosity can kill more than a cat, it can also drive traffic to your site.
• Know Your Niche. Twitterista Jaden of the fabulous blog Steamy Kitchen, suggests this Twitter rule: be entertaining, useful or both! People on Twitter are busy and in order to get their attention, you have to fill a niche. Think of your Twitter account as a blog…in 140 characters. Then next ask, why would someone want to follow your Twitter “blog.” Are you like Neil deGrasse Tyson and provide useful scientific tidbits? Or are you more like Ellen DeGeneres providing folks with funny, entertaining quips throughout the day. Go for one or the other, or find your own middle ground in between.
• Sir Link-a-Lot. Grace Langlois of La Mia Vita Dolce doesn’t just post on lovely sweets, she also connects with others on Twitter. Her suggestion? Link to interesting stories. If you find something noteworthy, chances are there might be others who will too. Your blog may have a theme but you can share some of your other passions via links to other articles from aha moments, inspiring to informative articles.
• Reduce. JJ of the blog, Blah Blah Blahger shares some great advice on using tools to help manage your Twitter Account. JJ says that by using a bit.ly or ow.ly, url reducer, you can push followers to your site. With a condensed, clean web link, your message won’t get lost AND you’ll be able to track the number of click-throughs that you get!
• Be a Connector. Have you ever been at a party and been cornered by someone who does nothing but talk about themselves? Well, think of Twitter like one big party. You can be one of the dull people at the party only talking about yourself or you can be a connector. Suzanne Broughton of the OC Family Blog says “help others first on Twitter before linking to yourself.” She recommends this technique on your Twitter page: “Give twice. Take once.” For every tweet linking back to your site, retweet something of someone else’s and find some other way to spread the Twitter love.
• Clean up the Clutter. My personal Twitter tip is to be sure to clear out the clutter from time-to-time. Once or twice a year, I go through my “follow” list from beginning to end and “unfollow” those people that are not following me back. Of course, there are some people I’ll follow no matter what. You know, like Steven Colbert. I don’t really expect him to follow me back (but it sure would be cool!). And there are some organizations I follow with expecting a follow back. You have to make these decisions for yourself, but if you use my advice, be ruthless. Keeping your Twitter follow list clean is important. It helps your Twitter experience to be more of a community rather than a sycophantic one-way dialog with someone who really isn’t that into you (another party metaphor, but it’s relevant).

Following these tips can help you reach your Twitter Targets, but it can also just make Twitter a lot more fun too.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Top Tips for Your Twitter Targets

For writers who like a challenge, there are a number of Twitter-based ezines that publish short (and I do mean short) stories. Some call them “Twisters,” others micro- or nano-fiction, and others simply “one heck of a challenge.” You’ve only got 140 characters to tell a complete story that leaves your readers nodding their heads with a sense of fulfillment.

If this sounds like your cup of java, there are several venues where you can submit your tales for consideration. Some even pay big bucks (up to $1.50), so what are you waiting for?

Twitter-fiction markets:

Thaumatrope – @Thaumatrope

If you can write a science fiction, fantasy, or horror story that fits in a Twitter box, send your submissions to these folks. Pays $1.20.

Tweet the Meat – @TweetTheMeat

This publisher of horror/weird/speculative fiction wants “fear in 140 characters or less.” Thanks to their weekly themes, there’s plenty to inspire you. Pays $1.

Nanoism – @Nanoism

Submit your thoughtful, literary nano-fiction to these folks. They’ll accept all genres but particularly want “stories that move us with their writing, stories that stay with us longer than the few seconds it takes to read them.” Pays $1 for one-tweet stories and up to $5 for serials.

@Microcosms

This publisher’s first “issue” isn’t scheduled to appear until April, but you can send in your submissions of science fiction, fantasy, and horror now. Pays $1.

Know of other markets for Twitter stories? Share them in the comments!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Flex Your Literary Fast-Twitch Muscles Writing Twitter-Sized Stories

Many people use brute force techniques to grow their twitter followers only to be disappointed by the quality of relationships they form. I’ll show you how to grow a community of followers who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer using simple tools and techniques.

If your goal for using Twitter is simply to acquire as many followers as possible, there are plenty of common techniques you can use to accomplish your goal. For most people though, the quality of relationships made on Twitter is much more important than the quantity.

Maybe you’re trying to attract people to your blog, or sell a product, or find some freelancing work or just meet some new like-minded friends. Whatever the case, you can use the techniques here to build a high-quality Twitter following.

Stay on Topic and Write Often

In a lot of ways, Twitter really is just like blogging. One of the golden rules of blogging is staying on topic. When you’re building a blog audience, that audience needs to have a good idea of what you’ll be writing about.

If you switch topics to whatever you’re interested in day-to-day, it will be hard to gain and keep readers. Some people get around this rule because they are really interesting, but they are the exception, not the rule.

The same goes for Twitter. It is much easier to connect with people who will genuinely be interested in what you have to say if those people can figure out what you’ll be tweeting about. Pick a topic, or a handful of related topics, and write about them. Write often, and use the same keywords that you use to search for information about your topics.

Twitter Search RSS Feed

Have you ever looked for something on Twitter Search? It’s a great way to find out what people are saying on Twitter about a particular topic.

When someone tweets about something that you also write about, there’s a better chance that he will be interested in your twitter stream. You can search for various keywords on Twitter Search, and discover people who are talking about the same things you care about.

This is how I find make the best connections on Twitter. I search regularly for keywords related to the topic I blog about. I then check out the people writing on the subject and add them if I think they will care about what I have to say. It’s a focused approach, and it has helped me turn Twitter into the most powerful marketing tool for my blog.

To automate this process, you can subscribe to the RSS feed for each search you would regularly run. The search results will then be regularly refreshed in your favorite RSS reader, where you can keep track of the conversations and continually add people who might like your tweets. I’ve found that people I add this way are the most likely to retweet my best content.

Retweet and Ye Shall Receive

A lot has been said about retweeting here on TwiTip before. It also happens to be a great tool for gaining like-minded followers.

When you retweet something from someone you follow (on a subject that you regularly tweet about), you’ll set yourself up to gain some valuable followers. Here’s how it works and how to do it.

When retweeting, expect to give before you get. Start by retweeting things that you genuinely find interesting, and more importantly that your followers will find interesting. This will help you gain followers in a couple of ways.

First, some of the people you retweet will eventually reciprocally retweet your content. Since they write about the same things you write about, it’s likely that their followers will be interested in you too. Second, the people you retweet will also likely write “@ reply” thank you notes to you and/or recommend you for #followfridays.

Making Use of Your New Best Followers

If you use these techniques, you’ll start to find people writing more about you and your content on Twitter. It doesn’t take tens of thousands of followers to drive some meaningful traffic to your blog or website. I’ve found that with only a thousand followers, Twitter has become my best marketing tool.

Start building a better quality Twitter following for yourself today. Just stay on topic, write often, find people through Twitter Search and retweet people how you like to be tweeted.

[image credit: sir_mervs]

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



How to Grow an Interested Following on Twitter using RSS

Nowadays people prefer to connect with other people rather than with a corporate brand. Whether you are a company or individual, branding is a way to make yourself memorable.

Yes, personal branding is about making yourself memorable.

Examples of Personal Brand

Donald Trump is known as a dealmaker. That is his brand. As someone who knows Mr. Trump only from television — in The Apprentice TV series — I also tend to think of “Trump” as quality and luxury.

That’s what I see from my perspective. I believe that is also the message that he put out consistently. Although both his personal brand and product brand are two separate entities, at the first glance they are one.

Although I read that his corporations have filed for bankruptcy recently, it didn’t change my perception about his brand too much. After all, everyone is going through hard times right now. If he is able to make it, perhaps his brand will grow even stronger.

Well, Donald Trump is Donald Trump. How could personal brand be important to an individual offering bookkeeping service?

Personal branding is still important for everyone because it is about perception, i.e. what people are going to associate you with. There are certainly more facets to it, but that explains it quite well, I think.

Chris Brogan is known as a helpful bloggers. His participation in Twitter, for instance, helps shape our thoughts about social media and how to use it for our business. With that association, I automatically spend more time reading his tweets than other people’s, if I only have a short break at lunch.

His brand gives him a competitive advantage over others who offer similar services. It also helps people to talk about him. Overall, his brand makes him worth talking about.

Hey, it works. At least I’m writing about him.

I bet you’ll agree that with those benefits, everyone can find at least a reason to build his/her personal brand.

Personal Branding Tips for Twitter

Now that I got your full attention, let’s get down to the business. Personal brand is certainly a broad topic. It spans multiple media from blog to microblogging, social networks, virtually all across the board.

But let’s just focus on Twitter in this post. If you’ve ever wondered how to get your message noticed and build your name online and especially on Twitter, you may find these tips helpful.

1. Content Shapes Your Brand

Whatever you tweet can help shape your brand on Twitter. If you mostly help others with business ideas, you will soon be known as the business idea guy or lady.

Tweeple who balance between their family in their tweets convey their brand as family people. Humorous individuals will be known as fun and some people will appreciate the sense of humor. Those without a better agenda and tweet promotional messages all of the time are spammers.

Twitter may bring an impact to your brand on the short term, but also remember that once you tweet, the content will be out there for others to search forever.

2. Expand Visibility

As a Twitterer, you are going to be visible if you consciously make yourself visible to the right group of people and influencers.

As much as I like Twitter, it is only one facet of the social media. If you want to build your brand, it will be far more effective if you expand your visibility across multiple platforms.

Creating a web presence is a good start. Build a blog and update it frequently. Use social networking sites to get in touch with others.

3. Listen

Newsgroup, mailing list and forum users should be familiar with the term lurkers. They are people who wander around reading and paying attention to what’s going on without actually participating in conversations.

In search and social media, ego search is common. It is nothing but searching your own name, company name and brand for your product. Recently, social media users start to add Twitter as part of the site to monitor for brand names.

Both ego search and lurking don’t sound bad at all, if your intention is to tune in and listen to what people have to say about you, your company or your product. In fact, people now expect that you hear their rant and whine if they put it out online.

Just to be fair, they also want you to know if they say positive things about your business.

4. Participate

The listening tools like Twitter Search allow you to distinguish between the signal and the noise. Once you got the signals, they are your opportunities to engage in the conversations.

You can also participate proactively by getting involved with Twitter. Send out interesting content discoveries for the day. Ask questions and answer them. Respond to tweets directed to you. There are limitless ways to get involved.

You will see companies use Twitter to hold contests. That is just another way to participate and encourage participation in this new communication medium.

5. Build Community

Whatever your niche is, chances are your market is already out there on Twitter. They are not part of your community though. Through different ways of participation, you can build your personal brand faster. One way to do this is by going out and become a leader.

Creating community that people want to be part of is a quick way to deliver your message. If your have successfully engaged influencers as part of your community, very likely your message will go viral, assuming that they are worth talking about.

6. Foster Relationships

Twitter as a broadcast tool is awesome for reaching thousands of people in one swoop. But still, the real value of Twitter for business, is to reach people and network with them.

You may know a few individuals who are otherwise shielded from the outside world but suddenly you know they are on the plane to someplace because of their tweets. You also know what projects they are currently on.

Twitter also makes people more reachable.

Sure, people who choose to remain inaccessible will stay so, but if you’ve been on Twitter for some time, you should agree that they are more likely to read what you have to say because there are more opportunities to @reply and respond to their tweets.

The fact that people decide to become more responsive in Twitter will help them build relationships with their prospects and customers too.

7. Go Beyond Twitter

Twitter is now too significant to overlook, but that doesn’t mean you should underestimate the power of face-to-face communication.

It is easier to establish trust if you directly meet with an individual rather than online. If your brand visibility is important to you, you may want to go offline and visit industry events. Talk to real people.

This kind of interaction will often lead to many great things in the future.

Conclusions

Your existing influence in Twitter certainly matters. However, if you have to start from scratch, the tips above will give you a head start.

A business owner with a good number of followers may be more successful to get people retweet their message, but if you go out and network with people, join in the conversation and post interesting content, I’m not surprised your tweets will spread further.

I witness it everyday. It’s that powerful.

Personal branding is an interesting topic. Chances are different people have different opinions about it. What do you think about personal branding using Twitter? What have you learned so far? Please share your experience so others can learn from it too.

Hendry Lee helps bloggers overcome strategic and technological challenges in starting and growing their blogs.

He also writes about social media on his blog Blog Tips for a Better Blog – Blog Building University. While you are there, download your free eBook and subscribe to the blogging e-course where he reveals his blogging and writing secrets!

Follow Hendry at Twitter: @hendrylee.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Personal Brand – How to Build Yours In Twitter

If you’ve ever raised the hackles of the Internet trolls before, then you’ve had the “Narcissist” word hatefully tossed your way. According to the trolls, the infraction of talking about yourself too much is worse than any other.

So you must understand just how courageous this is of me to admit this deep dark narcissistic secret. It’s this: I like narcissists, especially the ones I follow on Twitter.

Not all of them mind you. I, of course, could do without the folks who feed me those boring facts of their lives – going to the bathroom, drinking a cup of coffee, eating toast, writing my blog, posting my blog, thinking about my blog, wishing other people knew about my blog …

Come to think of it, that last tweet would make me laugh, and I like to laugh. So let’s put that in the “narcissistic tweets I like to read” category.

The point is that you don’t have to be helpful every single time you tweet. You don’t have to constantly tweet tips, a cool quotes, or links to cool sites that are not your own. You really can and should talk about yourself. There is room on Twitter for self-reflection, and there are people, like me, who will embrace you for it.

Here’s the important caveat: to gain followers on Twitter, you need to post something narcissistic that people actually care about. Don’t tell me you just went to see a movie. Tell me what you thought of it. Don’t tell me you just had toast. Tell me that you accidentally forgot you were making toast, burned it, and then learned that you had no Earthy idea of the location of your fire extinguisher. A tweet like that, my friend, would make me feel good about myself. I know where my fire extinguisher is, and I like to feel good about myself.

You will become endearingly narcissistic if your tweet:

• Makes people feel normal. I like to know about the hard day you are having, how overwhelmed you feel when parenting, and about the hot fudge brownie sundae you just had to eat even though it’s not one of the permissible foods on the diet you are following. I do because I’m not perfect, and I like to know that you aren’t, either.
• Makes someone laugh. Laughter feels good.
• Makes someone feel connected to you. If I feel chummy with you, I just might click through a read that blog post of yours, leave a comment, and hit the “I like it button.”
• Helps someone in some minor, but endearing way.

Here’s a good rule of thumb. If you would not say it out loud-because no one in your real life would care-don’t say it on Twitter. If it’s one of those self-absorbed things that you could just spout off in the middle of an office meeting and see an immediate smile on everyone’s face? Definitely tweet it.

Below are some endearingly narcissistic tweets from some of the people I follow. Note: I did not post my own tweets here. Although some of them may very well be endearingly narcissistic, posting them here would just be just one thing: annoying.

@penelopetrunk Changing clothes for a workout after a washout date. The locker room is empty. I hate when a good underwear day goes unnoticed all-around.

@writingroads Pet Peeve: people that have cell phones, but never turn them on – much less glue them to their bodies like me.

@momfluential My dd is engrossed in a project that she is calling: Passover! The Powerpoint Presentation! I am LMAO.

@JBRabin To the lady in front of me, your false eyelashes may be a tad too much for the post office. But they do go *great* with your sweatsuit.

@nandoism It’s so windy in NYC today-good thing I come from Texas where we learn about tornado-resistant mousse from an early age!

@teamvagina Not sure if I did these things, but the line between thought and reality got blurry last night. Plus I woke up on the couch. Bad sign.

@Helencurry Burglar alarm going off in neighbour’s flat. Since yesterday morning. You do kinda get used to it…

@MadisonMitchell I heard if Jesus sees his shadow when he rises from the dead, we’ll have another 2000 years of guilt.

@girlontrack Scratching my first mosquito bites of 2009; having sweet blood is not all it is cracked up to be. (Spike’s been a no-show, so far.)

@fraizerbaz Ack! Sometimes I wish I had a remote control for the other person in this house.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



How to Be an Endearing Narcissist on Twitter

Twitter can be a great space for building community around your membership-based organization, whether you work for a professional society, trade association or a cause-related nonprofit.

Here’s a quick eight-step rundown of how to set up a Twitter account for your “.org”. This isn’t the only way, of course. But if you are starting from scratch, this is what we’re finding works the best.

1. Set up a main “umbrella” account for the organization – e.g. @ORGtweets or just @ORG (“ORG” being whatever your acronym is).

Why? So people can find you easily. In the description, put in a nutshell what the organization does. A mission statement in under 140 characters, for example. (Be pithy – people like that. There are lots of other places you can be boring). For the website link field of the profile, create a Twitter landing page on your website which says, “Welcome to the Twitter page for [ORG]! We’re glad you’re here. Here’s what we’re all about. Here are some of the things we tweet about. And here are our team members, should you be interested in following them too.” Then list your staff on Twitter as per #2.

2. Give your staff their own individual accounts – e.g. ORG_Bob, Maggie@ORG, etc. If you have several staffers already on Twitter with their own followers, allow them to use their accounts for tweeting on your behalf, assuming they are willing to do that.

Why? because people want to see individual people representing their organizations. There can be backlash when that doesn’t happen. Presumably each staffer will have their own personality, their own things they like to tweet about personally and professionally, and they will also have their own content that they are responsible for – namely PR, or marketing, or advocacy, or publications, or events. Each person will grow their own followers independently – and can share them under the umbrella account as they go along (see #5.)

3. Use a multiple Twitter account client to manage your accounts.

Why? Because it’s MUCH easier than signing in and out of accounts all day. SplitTweet works great, as do HootSuite and CoTweet (currently in private beta).  All these services allow you to monitor multiple accounts at the same time – so your team can choose to tweet something to their individual accounts and the umbrella account, or just to one at a time.  SplitTweet has a cool “track your brand mentions” feature; CoTweet allows you to tag your replies as being from a particular person, and allows you to assign responses to team members. HootSuite has great analytics and intelligent search for Twitter conversations. All three are always improving and evolving as professional Twitter use grows, and there may be a new multiple account application on the scene by the time this post appears, so just find the one that has the functionality you need.

4. Ask each staffer to follow people who tweet regularly about your industry or cause, as well as actively Tweeting members, donors, or other stakeholders.

Why?  Because Twitter is about conversation – and directed conversation can build community.  Find those other interested Tweeps simply by using Twitter search for your particular industry keywords, your organization name mentions, even competitor or sister organization mentions.  Twitter directories like Twellow , We Follow , and Twibs allow you to find people based on tags or types of business.  Each staffer should find their own relevant people to follow, based on their particular interests or area of expertise.  If you have members, or an email list of any kind, use Twitter’s own import function to import emails and find those members already on Twitter (only do a few at a time).  Look for names you recognize, or clearly active Tweeters (you can tell by the number of updates, friends and followers they have).  You only need to find a few key active stakeholders – others will come with them when they start to interact with you.  Ask those you have a good “real life” relationship with to help you spread the word about your new presence on Twitter.

5. Under the umbrella account, periodically retweet items from your team members as well as from their followers/friends.

Why? To show a coherent stream of content where visitors can immediately see what you’re about and that different people speak for you in different ways. If managed well, you can follow relevant public conversations between team members under the umbrella too – conversations that might draw people in to whatever topic you are discussing. Retweeting good stuff by people who are part of your network gives them an ego boost and shows them that it’s not all about you, that you’re paying attention to what they are talking about, that you’re interested in learning from them too.

6. Got an annual conference or big fundraising event? Use hashtags to enable your registrants and anyone else to find you through your event promotion.

Why?  Because the buzz leading up to and during face-to-face events can bring your organization into focus and can attract new people to your cause. Tweet lots of good stuff about how cool your event will be and use and promote a specific designated hashtag for it. Remember to publicize the hashtag in your other promotional materials too. We’re often asked about whether it’s a good idea to set up a separate Twitter account (as opposed to a hashtag) for a conference – this can work too, but a hashtag is more easily found in search, will trend if you have lots of people Tweeting the event, and allows you to differentiate between annual conferences from year to year – e.g. #Tech09 versus #Tech10.  Also, the staff members who have built a following on Twitter will stay visible and won’t be hidden under a conference account. They will each be enabled to add their own personal takes on the conference, by talking about the particular sessions they are attending and the things they care about from their individual (professional) viewpoints.If you set up a new account for each conference, you are basically starting from zero friends and followers each time – and it takes time to build those networks.

7. Bottom line:  Share great content.

Why?  Because great content sparks word of mouth, and word of mouth (you guessed it!) builds community.  Ask each staffer to take responsibility for sharing links with interesting and useful information relevant to their specific areas of expertise.  Encourage them to engage in conversation with their Twitter networks, respond to things other people are tweeting about, retweet links and tweets from people outside your organization as well as your own; don’t be afraid to actually converse about topics of interest. Find champions within your networks to help you spread the word about specific issues. Use your umbrella account to corral it all in a place where people can find it easily. Community builds around shared interests, but only if you nurture it and feed it, which means listening as well as talking.

8. Bonus: Benchmark and measure!

Why?  So you can see how it’s all going and know when it might be necessary to put in a bit more effort or move up to the next level of awesomeness. Benchmark and measure your progress using whatever metrics make the most sense to you.  Number of followers, organization links retweeted, new registrants to your events, etc.  There are lots of specific Twitter analytics apps out there, but measure engagement in other ways too.  Building community online is all about building community offline.

That should be enough to get you started!  Here are a couple places to find examples of associations and nonprofits on Twitter, as well as three related posts from Twitip that dig a bit deeper into Tweeting for organizational use.  Tweet on!

Associations on Twitter
more associations on Twitter
Nonprofits on Twitter
more on nonprofits using Twitter

TwiTip Resources:
Building an Effective Business Profile on Twitter
Tips for Brands and Nonprofits
How To Handle Multiple Users Within Your Company

[Image by Maggi_94]

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



8 Steps For Building Community On Twitter: Tips For Membership Organizations

Leo Dirr is a freelance writer. Follow him @UtahNewsGuy.

When I began using Twitter a short time ago, I had no idea how much strategy could be involved in a simple tweet. You only get 140 characters, for crying out loud. How much thought could go into that, honestly?

A lot. And once I started to figure that out, my tweets got a lot more traction. I’d like to tell you about my most successful tweet to date and the strategy behind it.

Let’s begin with the tweet itself:

Will newspapers survive? Interviews with @typeamom, @pgillin, @standardex, @atompkins, @pottsmark http://tinyurl.com/ctxufw #journchat

Pretty sweet, huh? Now, let’s break it down:

Headline: Will newspapers survive?

That’s a decent headline because it conveys the story’s meaning in a small amount of space. It leaves me enough characters to accomplish my other goals.

Retweet bait: Interviews with @typeamom, @pgillin, @standardex, @atompkins, @pottsmark

In this story about the newspaper industry, I interviewed several industry experts. Many of them have Twitter accounts. How convenient! So, I included their Twitter handles in the tweet.

This improves the odds of three things:

1. The people named in the tweet will read the tweet.
2. The people named in the tweet will retweet it to their followers.
3. Their followers will read the tweet and possibly retweet it.

Linkyloo: http://tinyurl.com/ctxufw

The link is essential if you want anybody to read the content on your blog or web site. But it’s also worth noting that I used a tiny url. Tastes great, less filling.

Hashtag: #journchat

I added that hashtag mostly for fun. It accomplishes two things, really.

1. It might help the tweet get found by somebody who does a search specifically for that hashtag.

2. It helps define the Twitter community the tweet belongs to. People interested in journalism-related discussions might be more inclined to pay attention to a tweet marked #journchat.

Or they might not.

But again, this was my most successful tweet yet.

Strategery! That’s just fun to say.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Anatomy Of A Successful Tweet

Twitter has no doubt altered the entire landscape of blogging. It’s accessibility, immediacy, and wide availability to anyone with a working Internet connection have made it the fastest thriving online application ever, currently growing at twice the speed of Facebook.

I myself was late to the Twitter party. Though I did have an account, I rarely used it until recently, vastly preferring the broader canvas my own blog provided. It wasn’t until I finally realized the true benefit of what Twitter offered that I fully embraced its almost limitless possibility.

What does Twitter offer above all else? Twitter allows you to show a more immediate version of yourself.

When I am drafting a post to be later published on my own site, I can take all the time I need to sand the rough edges and make my prose and personality glow. This is not true with Twitter. Whenever I am truly engaged in Twitter, I am responding to information at the speed in which it appears. I have 140 characters to make my thoughts count, and a never ending stream of information to first access and then act upon.

How I respond to what is in front of me says a lot about my personality. It is the immediacy of Twitter that allows me to reveal a more sincere slice of myself. Not only am I able to display my random thoughts, likes, and dislikes, while sharing my favorite links and personalities with a select group of followers, I am also swimming in a wide stream of never ending conversation where I can chime in at any time and join an occasional exchange as fast as my fingers will fly.

Once I clued into this essential fact of Twitter, I was also instantly plugged into the application’s deepest value.

Here’s what I learned:

Twitter is the place to be my online me at my most unguarded. My blogs are a place to follow a more carefully considered set of rules. Twitter is a place for me to fly as if by instinct. The less I think, the more genuine I will be. I prefer my banter to be immediate and my exchanges swift.

Conversation is key. Whether or not to follow someone is often a split second decision. After being alerted to their follow, a quick click on their profile will tell me enough to prompt my instincts. If the person isn’t a spammer (they cannot mention a free laptop anywhere in their stream) with interesting things to say, a follow is almost a sure thing. However, conversation is important and if a couple of weeks pass without engagement I will probably unfollow. This is the only way to make sure everyone in my stream gets my best attention.

Twitter is a place to be generous. Because of the nature of my primary blog, links have always been a bit hard to hand out. This has been a source of guilt for me as I often wish to reward my loyal readers in any way I can. Twitter is different. Because of the construct of the community, passing valuable information is part of the game. By associating with those who traffic in quality, I am helping those I follow while providing value to those who follow me.

Twitter might now be the most valuable tool in the blogger’s toolbox. Wield it with consideration and it could easily move your blogging to a whole new playground.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Tweeting Your Best Self

OK – so asking questions is important – but are any questions OK on Twitter? What kind of questions work best?

Photo by Macarena C.

Here are a few tips for asking questions effectively on Twitter.

Keep Questions Relevant

The types of questions you should ask will depend upon the way you normally use Twitter. If you use it in a personal way then almost any question will work but if your use of Twitter is more focused upon exploring a topic or niche, or if you’re using it for business – you’ll want to keep your questions at least somewhat on topic.

Acknowledge Answers

Simply asking questions and ignoring the answers is something I’ve seen a number of Twitter users do as a strategy for building up follower numbers. The problem with this is that it can leave those who answer feeling a little ignored. Of course it is difficult to respond to every person who answers (last time I asked a question on Twitter I had 100 responses – it would have taken over my day to personally respond to each). A few ways of acknowledging answers that go beyond replying individually include:

• a general ‘thanks for your answers’ type tweet
• picking a few responses to retweet and highlight as key answers
• use answers publicly – for example you could pull the answers together and use them (or at least some of them) in a blog post (see below for an example of this)
• summarize findings – for example if you ask people a ‘yes or not’ question tweet the results – eg: ‘13 people said yes they’ve tweeted from the toilet and 16 said that they hadn’t’

These types of responses and acknowledgments show your followers that you value their replies, will help them to see how their responses fit into the overall conversation and will increase the chances that they’ll respond again to future questions.

Be willing to Answer Your own Questions

When I ask a question on Twitter I find that among the answers are usually quite a few ‘what do you think?’ replies. Sharing what you think, have experienced, or what you know is a great way to give your followers insight into who you are. Plus…. being willing to answer your own questions is just polite.

Don’t just Ask them and Run

I made this mistake a few times – a question came to mind just before I was heading to bed so I tweeted it and then signed off for the night. Doing this says to your followers that perhaps you’re not as interested in their answer as they thought. It also means that if people want to clarify your question or unpack it in some way that you’re not there to have a conversation with them.

Next time you consider asking a question on Twitter ask yourself if you have time to interact with your followers for a few minutes (or longer if you have a lot of followers). If you don’t – make a note of the question and ask it later.

Leave Space for Answers and Conversation

This relates to not asking questions and running but the strategy of asking questions to follower becomes so much more effective if you extend the questions into an ongoing conversation. One way to kill this conversation is to follow your question tweet up with another one on a completely different topic.

Some Twitter users I follow tweet so often and on so many different topics that it can be difficult to know how to respond because they’re onto a different topic before you can reply. Take your time, pause, let your followers submit their answers before you move onto a different topic.

20 tips on asking Questions from My Friends:

I asked my followers to my @ProBlogger account what tips they had on asking questions on Twitter. Their responses included a lot of great tips, many of which I’d not considered myself. Here are 20 of their responses:

1. KarenRussell offered – “repeat it several times throughout the day to get different time zones”
2. jpostman suggests – “I like to use hashtags and twemes to gather and display responses on my blog when I ask Twitter questions”
3. incslinger advises – “Ask the question but also ask members of your Twitter circle to retweet it so it gets more exposure”
4. wolfcat suggested – “make sure the answer can be done it a single tweet ”
5. reedracer offered – “I notice Scoble posts a link to the convo. Another trick is to retweet some answers”
6. Bradinator wrote – “offer a cash prize to winning answer.”
7. tonyadam suggests – “asking questions at the right times…i’ve tested this …its similar to publishing blog posts during “prime times” ”
8. BJ wrote – “Don’t be afraid to repost your own questions” – Sometimes there is so much noise, you need to build a taller signal ”
9. mcawilliams wrote – “I have set a time that I do it but then again its for fun at 6pm GMT on tuesday and Thursday. People have now got used to it!” – he followed it up with – “I call it tuesday/thursday twitter question time, ttqt for short, and its amazing the response that people give, a break away!”
10. JohnChowDotCom advises – “I get tons of replies to my Twitter question if I say that I’ll post their answers on my blog. ”
11. styletime suggested – “Dont be pissed off in no-one answers you but retweet it a couple of times in a day!”
12. simontsmall wrote – “giving options in answer’s helps, and adding some controversy or spice gets more passionate answers & debate”
13. JoshAnstey tweeted – “I find if you start it with: QUESTION: it gets more attention and people respond”
14. CraneFactory offered – “make it easy (ie a poll) so they don’t need to write out long answers, or offer enticements (ie a prize draw) to get answers”
15. misosouper suggests – “Give and you shall receive: the more questions you answer (the more helpful the better), the more likely you get answers back.”
16. BtotheEtotheN wrote – “I think it has to do w/ asking questions and then twittering back about the answer or where we can find the research and results”
17. diablogue_chat wrote – “Timing of Twuestions counts. Lead up to question helps. And asking for help never hurts.”
18. scottbird suggested – “consistency. If people are used to answering your questions, they’ll expect them and look for them.”
19. cyberpunkdreams tweeted – “I ask questions that are direct and succinct, to get a focused answer that can be written in the twitter limit. Nothing fluffy!”
20. YuliZ offered – “one great trick is asking your tweeps to finish the sentence, example: “I’m still twittering at 2am because…”"

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



How to Ask Effective Questions on Twitter