InBoundMarketingPR Blog

I belong to a twittering group on LinkedIn and was very inspired when I joined a discussion thread about Twitter.  I was inspired because a good amount of people were new to twitter and asking for help in navigating it.  "I'm new to twitter so I'm not twittering a lot yet as I'm still trying to figure it all out."  

 

I remember February 2009, when I first joined the conversation on twitter.  Lke many, I didn't get it and/or understand it.  But I quickly got the hang of it and haven't looked back, RMSorg.  Here are some quick helpful tips that will assist you in navigating your way thru twitter.

1) Define Your Purpose For Using Twitter!  I love this tutorial video by Chad Heffelfinger, he hits on many valid points that people tend to oversee. Twitter is used for building relationships, I can personally tell that I've met wonderful, intelligent, genuine, helpful people that have enriched my live in less than 1 year.  I have made some incredible and valuable connections, make no mistake, you will too if you work on building relationships on a daily basis!  He touches on driving traffic which is very important if you are a blogger or have  a business website etc, twitter has millions of people who are interacting on a daily basis.  The possibilities are mind-boggling.  

2) Start Following People!  Very important; you need an audience to interact with and converse with.  Be leery of those spammy tweets offering to put your twitter account on auto pilot and get you 1000 followers a day.  First of all, twitter only allows you to follow 300 people a day.  If you follow more, you will get your account suspended!  Remember, its really not about quantity but about quality. Some simple tools to find people that have common interest are:  twitter search and one I like to use is twendz.                                                    

3)  Start Tweeting Right Away! Start a conversation, ask a question, RT (retweet) something you find inspiring, interesting or you might just want to comment on.  Don't be discouraged if you don't get interaction right away, tweeples have to get to know you.  Remember, if you are a business or have a business, you are building a brand and what you tweet about is being viewed by millions! Here's a great article about Building Your Brand.

4)  Do Not send "Spammy" Tweets!  People do not like to receive spam.  They follow you for enriching content that will inspire them or teach them something new.  The key is to add "value" to peoples streams. 

5)  Upload an avatar!  Most people don't realize how important it is for you to upload a picture that defines you or your business.  More will be inclined to follow you if you have a picture or logo they can relate to, remember and connect to.  

6)  Customize your background! Here are some tools I use to customize my twitter, twitterbackgrounds and twitrounds.  If you have a business you can also customize with business logo.  Go to settings, click on design and customize to your taste.

7)  Look out for Trending Topics & Hashtags!  Get involved in the conversations taking place on the "trending topics."  Trending topics are a really good way for you to stay up to date, in real time, on what is "hot" on twitter.   Joining those conversations and posting relevant tweets is a great way to make connections, get more followers, meet new people and start branding yourself as a thought leader. If you want to follow what is being said about a conference, news event or category, tag tweets with #keyword. These can also be searched so  you can either join a conversation, start a conversation topic or see who is saying what about that specific topic.

8)  Use Your Time Efficiently!  Use twitters open API to your advantage and use time managment tools.  One tool I love to use which is indispensable to me is twitter karma.  This tool helps you filter your follower/following list in several ways: only friends or only followers, all friends or all followers, and mutual friends.  Excellent time saving tool, enjoy taking advantage of it!

9)  Twitter Lists! I recently wrote a blog about the importance of list creation, Why Twitter Lists are Important to your Brand.                     

10)  Have Fun On Twitter!  Talk to people, @reply people, thank them when they RT your content and look at your DM for connections that will change the way you look at twitter.  You will quickly begin to decipher the people who are there to truly connect from the spammers!

I wish you all the best in making wonderful connections.  I have met wonderful people globally that I would not have connected with if it wasn't for twitter.