If I had to list my top 10 ways that I’ve grown my own Twitter network – somewhere towards the top of that list I would share this simple – yet powerful tip.
Ask Questions
The act of consistently asking quality questions on Twitter can have a massive impact upon your network. Here’s 6 reasons why questions are so powerful:
1. Questions Signal to Followers that you are Interested
So many people use Twitter purely to ’shout’ at their followers. They rarely make space for people to interact. Questions send a signal to your followers (and potential followers) that you’re not just on Twitter to have a monologue – but that you’re interested in dialogue and conversation.
2. Questions Prompt Conversation
I find Twitter to be most effective when conversations evolve on it. One of the best ways to ‘get people talking’ is to ask them a question – particularly if it’s about themselves and their experience.
3. Questions Stimulate @Replies
When you ask a question and someone replies to you publicly not only you see their answer – but so do all of their followers. This can stimulate their followers to check you out. If people who are yet to follow you see others who they respect interacting with you and having good conversation there’s a good chance they’ll want to be a part of that interaction too.
4. Questions Draw ‘Lurkers’ into Active Engagement
Have you ever looked at the number of people following you and wondered why you only ever hear from a small percentage of them? Some are likely to be just lurking – watching you but not actively responding. This may be because they’re not sure what to say, they might be intimidated, they may not know how to engage you etc. Asking a simple question is a great way to draw people into their first @reply to you. Once they do – they’re more likely to do a 2nd and a 3rd…
5. Questions (and their Answers) Teach You
One of the reasons I love Twitter so much is that it’s teaching me so much. Asking your followers questions not only about themselves but about things you don’t know can be a rewarding experience. Next time you need to know something – don’t Google it – start by Tweeting your question.
6. Questions give you Insight into who is Following you and what their Needs are
Effective Twitter users are in touch with the needs of their followers. They know what kind of information their followers want, they know their needs and problems, they know what gets them excited… etc. One of the best ways to find out this information is simply to ask a question. Over a few weeks find out as much as you can about your followers – in doing so you’ll find you can be a lot more useful in your use of Twitter.
Now that we’ve covered some of the WHY on the topic of Questions on Twitter – tomorrow on TwiTip I want to explore some of the HOW to ask questions effectively. Make sure you’re tuned into the TwiTip RSS feed to catch the next post in this mini-series.
@weemundo
Twitter is indeed a great thing , you get to know more about others , their needs and yes as a blogger i know how beneficial it is : i can tell my readers about upcoming posts , i can ask em questions – which results in big discussions and of course page views , and the best thing is that i get to know what my readers want !
Indeed a great post .
@rlscovens
I love Twitter, but sometimes I hate asking questions cause no one answers!!!!
@loyals
How did you add twitter ID to the comment is there any plugin to add this to the comment box or you just tweaked at your own ? :}
@ZenElements
Reading this made me think back over my Twitter time and I have to admit, I do not think I have spent as much time asking questions so much as answering to others or posting general bits ‘n’ pieces. I will think a bit more into asking more interactive Q’s to those who listen.
Thanks for another great TwiTip, Darren!
Alex | Zen
@AccountingElf
I think it also signals to people that you’re really hoping for participation. I found people on Twitter searches, but then felt hesitant to @ reply to them, because they didn’t seem to expect anyone else to be joining their narration of their life. I reminded myself that they probably wouldn’t be on twitter if they didn’t expect random people to be talking to them, but it’s always nice when someone asks questions and you know for sure that they want twitter to meet strangers, not just to talk to their friends.
@brentnau
The issue I find with Twitter is there is a lot of noise and it sometimes, if not most of the time, hard to break through that noise to get heard.
@Sorka
I have been able to help someone who was lost on the road find their way to where they were going by answering them on Twitter!
@AccountingElf
@ Rachel: I just opened a few links, and one of them talked–was that from your blog? It seemed to be an ad to buy text-reading software and I couldn’t find an off button
@youngistaanblog
well twitter is a most effective site for blogger. But i don’t know one thing always come in my mind. You have lots of followers and you are also following lots of. How much tweets you read in a day. If you have 5000 followers then i think you will not able to read all tweets. So i think asking question is a nice way. But i think on your blog.
@weblantis
Hi Darren.
Many thanks for this informative blog post. I’m new at Twitter and in my first week I always answered to questions. But you are right, I have to ask too.
@amabaie
With regard to item #5, that is the main value I see in Twitter. I learn a lot by following the links being shared by people I respect, such as yourself.
@SmallFishMedia
Biggest Point is Number 4 – By Far – Questions Draw Lurkers Into Active Engagement. As you pointed out at ProBlogger Darren, only 1 in 100 readers (or more) are active participants of a blog, asking questions draws in those ‘lurkers’. Loving TwiTip – yet another Raving Rowse Project. Hehehe
@areyouscreening
Nice post. I’ve found also that (and heard) that followers may start talking all around you about things you were actually looking to discuss… that is, if you don’t alert them by posing question format tweets once in a while.
I agree with one of the earlier posters though, it can be a little weird when you tweet a question and then hear the twitter crickets.
Cheers.
@soundtrackgeeks
Hmm, problem is that no one answers. Maybe if I am lucky I get 1 response. I think this tip only works for famous people like you Darren
@deccaden
I’m new to twitter; guess you need a few followers before it’s worth asking too many questions. Good post though.
@jenniferhartman
Great thoughts…..I do try to answer questions myself because I have noticed that many go unanswered. Maybe we all should start answering some ourselves! See you in tweetville!
@nickdaws
Another great post. I’m going to ask my followers a question today!
Btw, wearing my writing teacher’s hat, can I just point out that it should be ‘Why asking questions IS a powerful Twitter technique’, not ARE.
The best questions to ask are ones that clearly are on the edge – thought provoking and personal. Last week, I found a Twitter user who posted what to me was a tasteless video about Hitler. I simply asked “Does anyone else find this video offensive?” Lot’s of people had personal opinions about the video, so they chimed right in.
@sweetsfoods
Hi Darren!
Totally agree with the post but obviously it depends on several factors also: how many people follow you, the difference in hours of your followers and the more important thing: if you begin a conversation, stay tuned and answer the replies to you if possible! Sometimes I see a tweep made a question and suddenly vanished for a lot of hours or days!
Gera .:. sweetsfoods
@rlscovens
@AccountingElf nope, that was someone else!lol
@dpritchett
Darren,
I don’t always get responses when I ask questions on Twitter. I’m much more likely to get a response when I ask a question on FriendFeed. Inspired by your post I asked folks on Twitter and FF to share their experiences on getting feedback from the two services.
Here’s the FriendFeed thread on feedback rates. I’m not sure what the right place to collect the twitter responses might be though.
@websinthe
Fantastic post, I want to use it straight away. What kind of response rate do you get to questions?
@ChipperDave
If ever I’m stuck for an idea for my next blog post, I ask an open ended question. Normally I’ll get at least a couple @replies and usually something will spark my brain for an idea. Once your follower numbers exceed a couple hundred people it gets much easier to get replies. Sometimes they don’t come in until a day later, but they do eventually come in. Best way to get replies is to reply to others similar queries. Show them that you care about them and they will tend to reciprocate.
@FreelanceTwins
“Questions Draw ‘Lurkers’ into Active Engagement” This is very very true. When I ask questions on Twitter I get responses from people I’ve never seen on Twitter before, but it ultimately leads to a few new friends and great conversation.
@daxdesai
Amazing site you’ve created in such a short time. Best of luck
@hectorhenry17
Yes you are right whit thi spots, in my case it funtion a lot to tell me how its looking of in touch whit my updates.
@MillerMosaicLLC
Number 5 is my favorite. I ask questions about things I want to know. Recently, I’ve been setting up two WordPress blog. People on Twitter have been helping me with the issues I don’t know: coding, custom setups, etc.
It’s amazing the generosity of people on Twitter. Someone actually walked me through the steps, including making the code, for inserting a banner into a WP theme. This person stayed with me until it worked. Although, this hand-holding took place off Twitter in emails.
@AmySueNathan
It’s a mixed bag for me…sometimes I ask questions to bring on some blog traffic and it has down that tremendously. I hope people will chime in through the comments and some do. I also ask questions when I’m, well, bored. I’m a single mom, I don’t live with any other adult, nor do I talk to other adults too often because I work from home (I’m a writer). So, when I plug “What’s for dinner?” into Twitter and list the meal being made, and hear from other moms, I feel connected. Totally different than drawing in readers or potential clients or fans for my work…but it all fills the need to gather information and connect.
@digisteps
That’s a great tips. As many active twitter users are already in Questioning. You are presenting The uses of Questioning on twitter. Thanks Darren. You rock.
@graemehunter
One good way to encourage people to answer your questions, is to have answered theirs first. People can be more inclined to answer if you’ve participated in their conversations too.
@joshfinnie
I find it tough to ask questions. I really want to try and pull people in with questions, but many go unanswered. I only have 250-ish followers, so I know not everyone wants to answer my questions, but it is disheartening when no one responds!
I think if you are starting off and don’t have 1000’s of followers, I think the best way to stimulate converstation and get followers is to respond to people comments. I have really been making an effort to reach out to people I follow, and I have found that my follower numbers are growning!
@fbpda
I agree that Tweeting questions is a great idea to get others involved but it really is frustrating to have no one answer.
Honestly, I think that it all comes down to numbers. If I ask a question with 600 followers and, let’s say, 5% are “listening” at any given moment then I’m going to be very surprised if I get more than 1 or 2 answers. If @chrisbrogan asks a question, he’s going to get at least a couple of dozen responses within 5 minutes or so.
Sometimes there’s just a lot of “noise” on Twitter. I don’t see any harm in re-tweeting your own query a few times over an hour or even a day.
@parboo
Asking questions is generally under-rated in life, so agree entirely. I’ve only just started twittering and had the same fear as @rlscovens . Blogged my first proper blog on the subject http://parboo.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/hello-world/
I htink the more you ask, the more people will respond to – it’s the law of averages.
@JacobCore
Very informative and useful information, very simple yet effective. I began implementing it as I read throughout the article. This would have to go with some of the basic fundamentals in understanding how to use twitter.
Thanks!