More and more folks these days are discovering Twitter.
That’s a good thing because it’s easier to connect with more people.
It’s also bad, because the population explosion makes it harder to stand out.
So it's time to take it to the next level.
Here are my tips to make every tweet count!
- Let someone else benefit from what you've found helpful.
- Share about someone else’s success.
- Pass along opportunities.
When you compose an announcement for Twitter, keep your audience in mind and use these ideas to whet their curiosity.
- Use open ended questions.
- Bring up an intriguing point.
- Hit on a subject that everyone struggles with AND show that you have an answer.
- And don't forget to tweet regularly. Need some suggestion how - here's my personal schedule.
Don’t make these mistakes.
- Don''t hog the Twitter feed - space out your tweets.
- Don’t give away the ending.
- Don’t sum up your post.
- Don’t give them a reason to not visit your site.
And the most important Twitter Tip:
Remember, it’s a conversation—not a platform for self advertising!
Now it’s your turn. What suggestions do you have for making every tweet count? also be sure to include your Twitter name and we can follow each other!
Don’t forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie
Great post! I fell into that trap of advertising my site with tweet after tweet of hashtags. I found not many people clicked on those. But I did find, recently, if I make the tweet unobtrusive enough I get the traffic I'm looking for! Funny how that works, eh? :)
ReplyDeleteThis is great advice! Since I (@LynnHBlackburn)started following your schedule my follower count has gone from about 20 to 130. And I'm not very consistent with it! I agree about spacing out tweets...if someone consistently sends 10-20 retweets in a row, they won't stay on one of my lists. And my favorite people to follow are the ones who share great content more than they talk about themselves.
ReplyDeleteGood advice Edie. Only thing I would add is to be transparent. Someone following you over time should be able to get a pretty clear picture of who you are.
ReplyDeleteJack, you're so right, it's counter intuitive, but it holds true!
ReplyDeleteLynn, that's great!
Byron, absolutely, thanks for sharing this. It's vitally important.
I tweeted this post, but that's okay, right, because it's helpful. I get really sick of some people, constantly tweeting their book, their site, their stuff. Those people...when I see their little twitter picture in my stream, I don't even look any more. I need to clean up my 'following' I think. And many people tweeting about books they have never read? Why should I tweet a book I never read? And I don't trade tweet favors, nuh-uh.
ReplyDeleteKaren, I agree with a lot of what you said. And integrity is paramount to build our credibility. Occasionally, though, I will tweet about a book from an author I trust when I know it will interest my followers. I don't feel like this is a breach of trust and I've found some great resources through others doing this same thing. Thanks for your comments!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this very helpful post, Edie. I love retweeting information important to my readers and me. I get really annoyed with the feed hogs. I think I need to do some cleaning out, too...
ReplyDeleteYes, I totally agree with everything you said here! I tweet my blog posts, but other than that, I only really tweet links to others' blogs or articles I found helpful, etc. And like others have said, don't muck up your tweet with a bunch of hashtags (I think I've heard no more than 4 in one tweet? Is that still too many?)If someone's tweet has too many, then I just tend to pass it off as spam.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I say don't repeat your tweets a bunch. Maybe a few times, spaced out over a few days, during different times so different people will see them. But I know people who have the same advertising tweet for their book and I see it every day.
Since I don't have a book yet, I guess it's a little easier for me. But the authors I really respect are those who gain followers because of who they are and the content they provide. Then I can go to their sites and take a look at what books they have available.
Oh, and my handle is @LindsayHarrel.
Thanks again for a very informative and helpful post!
Great advice, Edie. As you and I have discussed, these are the very things that drive me crazy with social networking. I have a hard time finding a balance, so I tend to not post enough!
ReplyDeleteI needed this. Thanks...
I so appreciate your heart to help others control social media, rather than being controlled by it.
ReplyDeleteI'm still learning ... but I'm watching you and feeling better and better about it!
Great tips! Edie, you're so good at consistently posting. I'm working on that, and I'm enjoying posting links to friends' sites.
ReplyDeleteEdie, Thanks for these ideas. What do you think about tweets that are long lists of names with the hash tag "Thank You" or "FF"? Sometimes I get a stream of four or more tweets like this from one person. I find them annoying. How do you handle thanking followers when you get several new ones each day? Per your advice in your social media book, I downloaded Tweet Deck yesterday- wow, what a helpful program for managing Twitter AND Facebook! Thanks! @juliatomiak
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your comments! Julia, as for those lists of names, I don't mind them once a week from someone - especially on FF(follow Friday). But they get old fast. I do click on them sometimes and have picked up some cool folks to follow.
ReplyDeleteMy suggestion for thanking those who mention or follow you is a direct message, followed up shortly (within a week) of a tweet about their site.
Blessings All, E
I'm such a Facebooker and Twitter still seems just a place to make announcements so I may very well be one of the annoying ones. I do tweet others' good news but I don't converse. Any suggestions if I'm just stuck on FB?
ReplyDelete