So I spend a lot of time reading various tips on how to effectively use Twitter. One thing I've noticed is there is a lot of conflicting information out there. It's enough to make your head spin and second guess every single tweet you ever post. I've read countless articles and blog posts that will claim to make you successful on Twitter if you just follow a couple of simple rules. Some experts will tell you to follow a lot of people in order to build up your own following. Others will tell you that's a bad strategy to build a following. Some experts say to tweet as much as possible. Other say tweeting too much will annoy your followers.
See what I mean? For a Twitter user like me who has only been on the microblogging site since July, all this conflicting information gets really confusing to the point where I've found myself gunshy at times. Throughout all my reading, however, I've found some really good information that I think is valid regardless of what the opposition says. Again, I am no expert, and I will likely never claim to be, but here are five really good tips I've found to be very useful:
1. Above all, be yourself. It's a tip I've seen from multiple sources, and I think it's the most useful tip I've seen. If you're not an expert, don't claim to be one. If you're not into the topics that are currently trending, don't tweet about them. Just be yourself. Be who you are, and everything else will follow.
2. Content rules all. There is no substitute for good content. If you provide good content, people will find you. Not only that, but people you share common interests with will find you, which adds value to your list of followers.
3. The number of followers you have is not everything. Twitter is not a contest nor a race. If I had a choice of having 3,500 casual followers or 150 followers who really appreciate my content, I'd take the latter. If you want to collect friends and followers, try MySpace circa 2004.
4. Don't curse in your tweets. I used to be really guilty of this, especially on Facebook. I had a friend comment to me about two months ago that he had kept track of the amount of swears I used in my status updates. It was kind of embarrassing. Since then, I've completely gotten rid of cuss words in my social media usage. A good rule to remember is that people don't usually want to retweet something with a barrage of four-letter words. Understandable.
5. Twitter is not about you. I saw this bit of advice from @AskAaronLee, and I thought it was pretty poignant. If you want to be successful using Twitter, bring something to the table that your followers will find useful. Your schedule for the day doesn't do that. But engaging in a conversation, asking your followers for their opinions and posting useful links does. Being egotistical will get you nowhere quickly.
What about you? What tips and tricks have you found to be successful? Better yet, what do you see as things Twitter users shouldn't do?
Here's a list of really helpful links I've found in reading about how to properly use Twitter:
- Mashable's Twitter Guide is an excellent source of information. I highly recommend spending some time on this site if you want to learn a lot about Twitter.
- For those of you looking how to incorporate Twitter into your business strategy, I found this post from Neil Williams really helpful.
- Computer World's Twitter Etiquette post lays out some good rules.
- Guyism provides a humorous look at seven things you should never post on Twitter. But seriously, follow things guide.
- The Morning News has a great Twitter guide.
- SheGeeks clarifies some of the rules for Twitter.
Do you have any links that you've found particularly helpful concerning Twitter? Please share them here. I'd love to read them.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @JayAdams70.
No comments:
Post a Comment