subject: For Beginners - Do You Tweet? [print this page] For Beginners - Do You Tweet? For Beginners - Do You Tweet?
I completed two Social Media classes a year or so ago. My first thought was: "who has time for this?" I also thought that if you are always on the web, when will you have time to do your work?
Well, I decided to try Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook. I had accounts since 2005, but never put them to any real use. When the economy took a nose dive, I had to get out "there" and market my services to try to earn a living. Online marketing can be free and it's a great way to stay present on the minds of potential buyers or to stay well connected to achieve "presence of mind" when it comes to getting referrals.
I spend a minimum (and usually maximum) of 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes at night each day.
Here's what I do with Twitter:
You get followers by following others. If someone does not follow you in about a week or so, then stop following them.
How to find followers:
Ask your LinkedIn and Facebook groups: "Do you tweet? If so, what is your twitter address". Next, use the search tool in twitter to find them. Be careful - don't click on any links because they could be a dangerous to infiltrate your computer with worms, viruses, trojans, etc. Instead, type it into twitter search and if the link shows up, click on it and then click follow. Then, then follow them (click Follow).
You can also type keywords for topics that interest you in the twitter search box. Then, check out folks' profile pages. If you like their tweets, then click follow to follow them.
Use Twellow or other directories to search for folks to follow using keywords for topics that interest you. Also, follow other folks' followers if you have similar interests - eg find the coaches that follow me and follow them.
How to get folks to follow you:
Usually folks will follow folks that follow them (reciprocal following). You need to have a balance of followers (ie your followers number) and folks you follow (ie your following number) - or you will be viewed as a spammer. So be sure to check weekly or monthly if the folks you follow are following you back. If they are not following you back, then stop following them. But bare in mind that trade orgs and news outlets may not follow you back. Nevertheless, I keep these because I want their content.
What to do if someone follows you:
You'll get an email. Use the Direct Messages feature in your twitter Home page (off the right) to thank the person who is following you...be careful about not posting your personal messages for everyone to see...I love Direct messaging because only that one person will see it.
Usually if you reply and acknowledge a follower, that will solidify your relationship and they wont stop following you. I post "Thank you for the follow (or follow back)! I look forward to your tweets! You can learn more about me at (and I post my webpage).
Always try to get them to visit your website...you can also direct them to a free gift or a blog post on your website.
What and How to post:
Each post can only be 140 characters. It might be best to post 100 to 120 characters since you will want folks to be able to retweet your post. They will need room for the retweet characters (RT) and the characters in their twitter name.
DON'T post hard sales "buy this" or "hire us". DO try to get folks to your website.
Send a notice when your constant contact newsletter is available. Send a notice with each new blog post or new published articles on your website. Send notices about videos on YouTube. Send notices about freebies. Send notices about events.
I use ping fm to post once each morning to twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook by email. Ping fm will give you an email address. Email your message to the ping fm email address and the message will get posted wherever you want it to.
You can also preset posts to automatically go out using tweetdeck or hootsuite. I have not tried this yet. I still do everything customized and manually. I actually get praised for not using auto tweets. But, the truth is that your preset posts are truly your own anyhow.
Be sure to give to get. Share content. My preference is to share content related primarily to strategic planning. So, find a common denominator and go for posting on just one main topic. This will help you position yourself as a passionate expert in your area of expertise.
I post famous quotes. I just Google "famous quotes" for websites. Search with keywords. Collect the quotes in a word document. I use this listing to pick and post 2 or 3 a day.
I also post my events, awards, and articles I have read. If you post articles, use tiny URL to convert the longer URL where folks can find the article. To have a readily available source of articles, I signed up to get articles emailed to me. I use:
1. NAWBO (and other trade organizations)
2. Forbes and Forbes woman
3. Entrepreneur.com Small Business News and Updates
4. Inc mag
5. Smartbrief on Social Media
6. Smartbrief on Entrepreneurs
7. Smartbrief on Leadership
8. NFIB Smartbrief
9. Businessweek's Small Biz Insider
Happy tweeting! It is a great way to achieve online promotion for free!
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