1. Tweet great content 3-4 times a day – Follow people who always find great
stuff, subscribe to blogs that feature great links and reviews of new tools, scan
weekly and daily email news digests such as SmartBriefs, cruise over to the
delicious popular page and read print publications of interest. All of these sources
(most of which can be scanned in a 15 minute sitting once you have them set up)
are rich with content that your followers and the twitter world in general wants to
read. One of the most valuable services you can provide is to be a filter for the
information overload your prospects, customers and network are feeling. In a
way, your twitter stream can become that valuable filter for pointing out the best
content, but do it consistently and watch your follower count grow
Referance: ohnjantsch.com
2. Reply to conversations (@ducttape) – One of the best ways to get engaged
with those you follow is to join conversations where appropriate and offer
answers and suggestions. Many common tweets come in the form of a question
from someone looking for help. When you offer the solutions to these forms of
tweets you automatically become more engaged and demonstrate some of your
own knowledge, expertise and willingness to help. Obviously, you can’t sit
around all day answering questions, but by focusing on addressing conversations
that are related to your industry and field of expertise, you can build a reputation
around topics that matter to your business objectives. Use 3rd party tools such
as Seesmic Desktop (make sure you look at their browser based tool if you are
having resource issues with desktop tools) or Tweetdeck so that you can easily
scan conversations and be ready to reply to conversations that are directly
related to you
3. Retweet other people’s content – Another network and follower building
practice is to retweet other people’s tweets. This is simply the act of taking
someone’s tweet and tweeting it in your stream – with full credit to the original
tweeter. This has become a very standard practice on twitter (designated with a
RT) and can be overdone, but you can also use it for two purposes. If you are
following people who tweet what you find to be very interesting content you are
doing your followers a favor by sharing that content with them. In addition, you
are, in effect, acknowledging the person whose content your retweeted. This is a
nice bit of the culture of sharing and usually comes back in some form to help
you build your following. People generally pay attention to the folks that are
retweeting their content. However, this can become a crutch as well – make sure
you are pushing your own content out in a nice mix. You can use tools like
tweetmeme to track the most popular retweets. This can be a way to find new
content for tip #1
4. Use search to meet objectives – For many twitter power users search in the
most important feature of twitter. You can use the twitter advanced search tool to
create very elaborate searches that can filter out only the tweets that address
your specific industry in your specific geography. Or you can find people talking
about your expertise, whining about a problem you can help with, or proving a
solution you need. Searches you create on twitter also produce an RSS feed so
you can set your searches up in a way that deliver the results to your RSS reader
on a daily basis. I would also include the use of the #hashtag function (I wrote in
greater detail about hashtag use here) as a search tool. Get in the habit of using
it to promote your events and promotions and while attending events, in person
or online, as it’s a great way to find and connect with like-minded folks attending
events. People who follow the event tag from afar will bump into your content this
way as well. Once again, 3rd party tools like Seesmic Desktop and Tweetdeck
allow you to monitor your searches, including hashtags, on your desktop.
5. Be easy to retweet and follow – This one is both on twitter and off. Sharing
great info is the first rule, but you can do other things as well. While twitter allows
140 characters, if you aim for 120 your tweets will be easier for someone to RT.
This way people can add their handle and a bit of commentary. Use tools, such
as the Tweetmeme Wordpress plugin I have at the beginning of this post (go
ahead you know you want to click that green retweet), that make your content off
twitter easy to tweet. Add your “ follow me on twitter” button to web pages, email
newsletters and email signature. Add your @name to your business cards,
stationary and invoices.
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