- Be a Twit, but don’t be a jerk about it. If you don’t already have a Twitter account, sign up for one at Twitter.com. Yes, do sign up for an account if you don’t have one – this will become important starting Sunday, when I beg—er, ask for your help in winning the We Blog Better Guest Posting Contest. I promise, Twitter will not invade your mind, your privacy, or your bank account and it will not steal your firstborn – unless you ask it really nicely. No, it won’t do that even then. I’m kidding.
- Upload a profile photo lest you want to go through life looking like an egg. Okay – I get that Privacy is important to you. So wear the Groucho glasses and a fedora – I don’t care. Draw on the egg – give it a face. Upload that. I don’t care. What matters is that you have a personality and are not mistaken for a Spambot. I’m not kidding. The only people who go through life on Twitter looking like an egg are Spambots and n00bs. You do NOT want to be lumped in with the Spambots, and you can only fake being a newbie for so long before people start rolling their eyes and thinking you’re just stupid. So before you follow or tweet or do anything else on Twitter, click Profile from the top menu bar, right of the Search box. Click Edit your profile –> (it’s the link right under the egg) and click the Profile tab. Click Change image and pick something that better represents you. I know you’re a good egg and all, but be your own egg.
- Be generous (but not spammy) with the RTs (that’s re-tweets, if you’ve fallen into the hole and can’t figure out which way the bluebird of Twitterness flies). Just hover over a Tweet (text message from someone – someone other than you) and you should see a little link that says “Retweet” – just click that, and you’ve “re-Tweeted” someone.
- Be generous (but not spammy) sharing links to your favorite content. See the “Share and Enjoy” link down there under this post? Or the Tweet button? Click it. Go ahead and practice on your favorite posts from this blog, but please wait a minute or two between each. Now go try it on other blogs (and newspaper articles) you enjoy – look for those “sharing” buttons, and click, click, click. If it comes up with a canned message, consider customizing a bit (but leave the link EXACTLY as it is). Easy, isn’t it? People like it (a LOT) when you help get a wider audience for their content.
- Follow, follow, follow (but don’t DO this until you’ve added a profile picture and do not follow more than about 10-15 people until about half of them follow you back, lest you look like a total Spambot). Being a follower doesn’t mean you have to be someone’s groupie – it just shows you’re interested in what they have to say. Don’t be surprised if they follow you back – the real beauty of the Internet is when it becomes less of a broadcast medium and more of a two-way conversation. By following someone, you’ll see their Tweets more easily.
- Do not beg folks to follow back. Instead, begin your Tweets with @[Twitter-name] and talk to people. Compel them to follow back by being a good conversationalist.
Try it now. Click the link above. Send me a message on Twitter after you’ve joined and followed me. Be sure to start it with @HollyJahangiri (almost guarantees I can’t miss it – I can easily miss a general Tweet at 4:00 AM, or something, but adding @[Twitter-name] is kind of like saying, “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejui—“ well, you get the idea). Follow that with some clever text (not just “hi I followed u” please – tell me why you followed, or what you’re reading now, or something about your day). If you do this for me, I will follow you back. Don’t say (or “Tweet”) anything really private. Save that for email or phone calls, okay? Twitter is like an updated version of the old “party line,” only for text – and if you use cell phone text messages, you understand the 140-character limit. For extra fun, see if you can Tweet a grammatically correct, properly spelled, halfway interesting message in exactly 140 characters. - Don’t follow back just because someone followed you. I know it’s tempting to stalk the stalkers, but at least make sure they’re somewhat interesting stalkers – there is no rule that says, “If I follow you, you have to follow me!” That’s just so kindergarten. Everyone hopes you’ll follow them back, because they have something to say and they’d like to think you care. But go check out their Twitter page first. If everything they post is profanity, and you feel like you need to wash your eyes out with lye soap, don’t follow back. If everything they post looks like a spammy affiliate link and you notice they never, ever seem to engage in real conversation with anyone, don’t follow back. If they pester you to buy something before they even say “hello,” you can report them for spam and/or block them.
- Don’t “protect” your Tweets. Okay, sure, if you’ve ONLY joined Twitter to have a little chat with your closest family and friends, go ahead – protect your Tweets. It’s in your account settings. But that’s not really what Twitter’s for, and it takes all the fun out of it, really – for most people. If you protect your Tweets, it’s like being in the woods and there’s no one around to hear – do you make a sound? I don’t know, but there’s really no point in clicking the share buttons – because there’s probably no one around to notice you sharing.
- Be real. Let your fun shine through. Life’s not so serious all the time. Even folks who are using Twitter for business understand that it’s about people – not mindless automatons.
- Be brave enough to try new things. I know, strictly speaking, this is not a “Twitter tip.” It’s a life tip. But trust me – it’ll make life (and Twitter) more fun.
About the Author Holly Jahangiri
Holly Jahangiri has decades of experience in tech writing, freelancing, fiction, poetry, and editing. Writer, wife, and mother, Holly is the creator of Trockle and instigator of the Puppy-Guppy Rebellion.
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#6 and #7 are big ones for me, too many spam or sales pitch accounts will follow others, don’t follow just because they follow you, the 1:1 ratio doesn’t look good for advertisers either if you use something like SponsoredTweets. I often use a tool like ReFollow to dig through my followers, find out who tweeted in X days, and look at what they tweet about before I make a decision to follow them. I also try to put my followers into groups since once your each too many you can’t effectively follow the communication unless you have groups.
Justin Germino would appreciate your reading Tips for Social Networking
Twitter: HollyJahangiri
says:
I don’t watch my ratio in order to “look good to advertisers” because the folks who do that (noticeably) are usually the ones following everyone to see who automatically follows back – only to dump them once they do, to make their ratio look better. May they rot…
I should take the time, one day, to group my Twitter friends. THAT would be sane. I know I miss a lot. Of course, I miss a lot because I have to work and sleep – that’s not going to change. You specifically want ME to notice a Tweet? Put an @hollyjahangiri in it.
Hi Holly. Simple and sweet.. #1 is definitely important, but yeah.. all of them actually are and these tips should really be called “best practices”
Can’t wait to see your post on WBB. Do you know when its coming up?
DiTesco would appreciate your reading First Four Steps To Write An Outstanding Blog Post
Those are some great tips. I have to do #5 more since I really don’t follow a lot of people at the moment. I’m not one to beg for a follow, but have just let my followers list grow naturally.
Paul Salmon would appreciate your reading Best Strategies for Marketing Your Business Online
I love your rule #7. Lately it seems I am being followed by boatloads of copy/paste social media “experts”. The ones who are following 80K people. ROFL. (And no, I’m not following any of them back;)
Alan would appreciate your reading Winning- Christopher Baccus- Jane Fonda and Shannon Morgan
Nice tips Holly!
I am guilty with #7 as I indeed follow back everyone who followed me. Before it feels like it’s an obligation for me to do so. But now I came to my realization and cleaned my follows with friendorfollow.com.
Thanks for the tips! I will keep that in mind. Everything is noted.
Chiao!
JeD Chan
JeD Chan would appreciate your reading How To End Well
I love Twitter. Your tips are right on.
I’d add that it’s okay to block people from following you if you don’t like their profile or their tweets — I feel creepy having those porn babes stalking me, so I shut them out.
Patricia Stoltey would appreciate your reading Y is for Yuck
Twitter: HollyJahangiri
says:
I have a confession to make, Patricia – when the “porn babes” start following me, I not only block them, but report them as the spammers they are.
I don’t report the quotation junkies as spammers, but I feel no particular need to follow someone who never tweets an original thought of their own, either.
Each of us needs to figure out what we want to put into Twitter, and what we want to get out of it. Or what we want out of it and how much we’re willing to put in to get it. One thing you’ll get out of it real fast is how to spot a phoney a mile away.
Holly Jahangiri would appreciate your reading 10 Twitter Tips
I’ve reported a few spammers, too. That flurry directed at writers was just plain annoying.
Patricia Stoltey would appreciate your reading Y is for Yuck
Hi, nice tips. That “follow me on twitter” button works great, however you should have it open in a new window. When I clicked I ended up leaving your website. You don’t want those kinds of links leading people away from here!
Twitter: HollyJahangiri
says:
You are so right, Daniel! I just had to beat up on Akismet for dumping your comment into the spam bucket – you might want to look into that. This is good info to have – not spam at all. Thank you.
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I haven’t got used to twitter as much as I am a Facebook addict. The days I use twitter I derive benefit from it; but 140 characters seem too less for me at times!
I don’t understand people protecting their tweets. I said this some place else and I will say it here too; it is like shouting from your rooftops and not wanting people to hear anything! If it is a personal account, then understandable but not when you are running a blog!
Hajra would appreciate your reading Will they call you over for a Bloggers Party?