Twitter is a mysterious beast and much misunderstood, especially by non-Tweeters who roll their eyes and write it off as a waste of time. I don’t fully understand Twitter but I do love it, use it regularly and value it highly. You‘ll find me on Twitter most days @AnnabelCandy and I’ve even written about how to use Twitter as a motivational tool.
I’ve met many great people on Twitter too, including clients who’ve hired me for copy writing on the basis of my tweets (yes I’ve earned money because of Twitter) and bestselling authors like Peter Moore (@travdude), John Birmingham (@johnbirmingham) and Alexander McCall Smith(@McCallSmith). But best of all, dear reader, it’s possible that I met you there too.
Now I want to share a few Twitter tactics I’ve noted and see what you think. This isn’t the typical list of instructions with clear cut advice. You’re going to have to read this through, think about it, tweet a bit and decide what’s right for you. Yes, work, planning, strategizing and decision-making is involved but if you’re up to that please read on.
Twitter Tactics Disclaimer
This dissection of Twitter tactics going to make me any friends, and it might even lose me some Twitter followers, but I’m not here to make friends, and I’m not here to gain a huge Twitter following. I’m here to help you succeed and make sure you win business online and these ideas will help you do that.
Twitter Tactic 1
Follow every Tom, Dick and Harry who follows you.
This is the most common Twitter tactic, understandably popular with new Twitter users. Twitter tactic 1 is the default setting. It’s what you do on Twitter if you haven’t really thought about what you’re doing on Twitter and, let’s face it, that’s the case for most new Twitter users. It was certainly my tactic when I first signed up for Twitter in early 2009.
If you follow everyone on Twitter who follows you you’re in good company. Power tweeters like our mates Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan), Darren Rowse (@problogger) and Chris Guillebeau (@chrisguillebeau) seem to use this tactic. Those gents are popular for a reason, and not just on Twitter, and it seems as if what they’re doing is the right thing. After all, if someone follows you on Twitter it is only polite to follow them back.
Please note that these gorgeous gents did nothing to artificially inflate their Twitter followings by following people at random purely so they get followed back. Some people do that but I can’t see the point. Why would you want thousands of Twitter followers if none of them know who you are or pay attention to your tweets?
Twitter Tactics: a cautionary tale
I know one man (who wishes to remain anonymous) who is famous for being followed on Twitter. Rather a dismal claim to fame really. He’s followed by about 40,000 people and follows about 42,000 people. It’s an odd ratio which doesn’t show him in a good light. Being a curious type I’ve noticed that he has on average one comment on each of his blog posts. In fact, he is unable to maintain a blog and keeps taking it up and down. It’s quite unclear what his skills or offerings are apart from the fact that he has a lot of Twitter followers and he’s even used this to get people to pay him to tweet about them.
Sorry, but I just don’t get it. Unfortunately neither did a well known publishing house who recently published his first book. It’s about how to get lots of people to follow you on Twitter but it’s not selling well. I guess they commissioned it a few years back when Twitter was still newish and having tens of thousands of followers was brilliant. It’s really not these days. Unless you have tens of thousands of followers who actually love you and enjoy reading your thoughts like the power tweeters mentioned above.
This tactic is about reciprocation – I scratch your back if you scratch mine – a concept which I fully support in real life but not when it comes to following people on Twitter.
Excuses for not following this Twitter tactic
Some people who follow zillions of people on Twitter say that’s because they started with the follow everyone tactic, then got stuck with all those people because unfollowing them all would take too long. That’s not strictly true though. You could just unfollow them all then start again from scratch. Unless you’re too scared that they’ll all notice and unfollow you. Unlikely because most people have better things to do than track people who unfollow them on Twitter although some people fall into that category. But more about them later.
Twitter Tactic 2
Be picky and only follow people you genuinely find informative, entertaining or have an on-going relationship with.
Now some of our mates who do this, like Leo Babauta (@zen_habits), who’s currently sporting an attractive ratio of around 57 followed to 50,000 followers. Leo used to follow a lot more people but then one day he dropped us all like hot potatoes.
It was sad, there were tears (from me, not Leo who was most likely running laps round his house with glee) but I understood it. After all, why follow 40,000 people on Twitter? It’s impossible to read all their tweets so anyone sane who does sets up lists so that they can just read Tweets from a select few. I appreciate Leo’s honesty and his Twitter follow/follows ratio shows that he’s a true leader.
My first year on Twitter I followed everyone who followed me. Then I had an epiphany and started unfollowing people who I wasn’t really paying attention to anyway. I certainly don’t want to snub people who follow me or make them feel unwanted and unloved. I’m inherently curious plus I’m mad about blogging and web design so there’s nothing I’d like to discuss more than why you set up a blog, if it’s getting the results you hoped for and if not what we can do to change that. But unfortunately I find that most of my blogging readers don’t stick to that topic. And why should you?
Twitter’s a great way to let of steam, chat with old mates and network with new ones. But the trouble is when I check in with you on Twitter what I’m generally hoping to find are a few clues about who you are and what you do. But mostly that’s not what I find.
Twitter Tactics: another cautionary tale
I often notice people retweeting my links or posts. This is a good person I think, a true reader and admirer. They’re supporting me in a lovely way, let me return the favor by giving them a shout out. So I nip over to their tweet stream and find…. nothing of any interest…. so I hop onto their blog and find…no tweet button to allow me to quickly tweet about them… or sometimes a tweet button that sends their link but not shortened and with no mention of their tweet handle which means they may never know that I’m on their team promoting their stuff just as they do mine.
Please please please make it easy for people to tweet your links. I’m persistent but most people aren’t and will give up if it’s too hard.
Excuses for not following this Twitter tactic
I used to feel hurt if one of the big Twitter power people wasn’t following me so I worry that people may be hurt because I’m not following them. I confess, it can be annoying if you want to send someone a Direct Message (DM) but you don’t have to follow everyone just in case they ever want to DM you.
Be adult, be flexible – ask people to follow you briefly so you can DM them or, if you DM someone you’re not following, follow them so they can DM you too. You can always unfollow them again later if the relationship fizzles out.
Twitter Tactic 3
Use Twitter to follow blogs, blog syndicates and people. rong>
You’ll find you don’t need to follow as many individual people as you think you do because most people form blogging groups and all retweet each other’s stuff anyway.
It’s not a personal slur if I don’t follow you on Twitter. In fact, it could mean that I follow you already because I subscribe to your blog by email or by checking into your blog every now and then to see what you’ve been up to because I like it.
Twitter Tactic 4
This the most boring advice ever given on social media yet we get it rammed down our throats on a daily basis: be authentic.
I don’t see what the alternative is but I do think it’s a bit odd to follow 76,000 people on Twitter when there’s no way you can read all those tweets. Following thousands of people and setting up lists so I can quietly ignore 99% of my followers, while appearing to be interested doesn’t feel right to me. That’s why I’m following fewer people. It seems more honest.
Twitter Tactic 5
Be engaged and engaging.
One of the most engaged and engaging Twitterers I know is Kiki Robinson (@kikirobinson) She hates to network in real life but is extremely active on Twitter and very giving, forever introducing people to each other and alerting people about jobs, people or links that might interest them. Another Twitter star is Ricardo Bueno (@Ribeezie), a fine figure of a man who doesn’t just tell people to engage. He actually engages with them and proved it by responding to my recent request for Twitter tips thus:
“*Engage* with others, don’t just broadcast.”
@ribeezie
Twitter Tactic 6
Provide real value.
I try to provide some real value on Twitter – it’s a micro-blogging service after all so I should be able to use it to tell stories, share tips, motivate, inspire, raise a smile, suggest further reading and connect in a useful way just like I do on my main blog.
I guess some people follow me on Twitter because they don’t subscribe to my blog by email, RSS or Facebook so for those people my tweets need to keep them up to date with what’s happening on my blog.
But avid fans will explore all ways of connecting with you so many people subscribe to my blog by email or RSS, are friends with me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter. For those people my tweets need to add value to what’s happening on the blog.
Twitter Tactic 7
Focus on your topic.
Please. Even Paris Hilton does this, her topic being vapid, random facts about fashion, music and fame in case you’re not following her. I love people who stick to their topic no matter how obscure it is. Of course I understand you’re human too and you’re allowed to slip in the odd personal tweet about your cat/kids/facial hair but if you’re tweet stream turns into a mindless stream of consciousness, a detailed account of your every movement, or a constant regurgitation of other peoples’ quotes it will become tiresome and distracting and I might have to unfollow you. Sorry.
Twitter Tactic 8
Make your Tweets scannable.
If you’ve had anything to do with me before you’ll know that one of my pet peeves is making online copy scannable and you can do that on Twitter too. I adopted this tactic from the superb Dickinson Bros guide Success with Twitter. I recommend you buy it too. It’s excellent. Apart from the fact that there’s no affiliate program of course.
Here’s a sample tip. Use capital letters to preface your tweets so your Twitter followers can instantly gauge if it’s a tweet that will interest them or not. This simple tip will save your Twitter followers from reading every single tweet. To give you an example here’s a sample of some recent tweets – I’ve removed the links to help you stay focused:
EVENTS I FIRE UP your business in 2011 – planning w/shop with @catmatson
READING I Five ways you can use a Personal Concierge by @urbanassistant
WEB WRITING TIP I Short paragraphs – 3 or 4 sentences max – will make things more readable:)
THANK YOU I @websiteweekend For your fab guest post How to Waste Time Productively
NEW BLOG POST I Successful Blogging Book Reviews and More Hot News
BLOGGING TIPS I By @jeansarauer How to Dream Up Awesome Blog Posts
Twitter Tactic 9
Be the best Tweeter you can be.
It’s nothing personal but I recently unfollowed about 300 people on Twitter. Two complained. One said I wasn’t interested in following the conversation. We had a quick chat about it and agreed to disagree. The other asked what she’d done wrong. I followed her back again.
Guilt trips aside, I follow people on Twitter because I’m really into them but there are probably people I’ve missed. If you think I’ve missed you let me know and I’ll follow you too.
Some people set up fancy systems with TweetDeck but I just want to keep it simple and following only a few people is the tactic that works best for me.
It’s a learning curve and when you get on Twitter for the first time it’s all new and exciting. It’s understandable that you want to tweet about everything including what your dog’s having for tea. If I don’t follow you on Twitter it could be because you tweet too much, but if you want me to follow you I will.
I know some people who check me out on Twitter may not follow me because they know I won’t follow them back. Shame really. But then again, if they’re only following me because they want to be followed back then it’s a bit pointless anyway.
Twitter Tactics in Discussion: Let’s Talk More
I’d love to interact with you and help you out on Twitter or wherever you like to hang out. Please follow or tweet @AnnabelCandy if you’re into Twitter and don’t be shy about suggesting your own links if you’re especially proud of them and think me and my Twitter followers would like them. Tell me your successes, share your failures or ask questions. That’s what Twitter’s there for. It might be a mysterious beast but together we can tame it.
What are your Twitter tactics?
Is it social media suicide not to follow everyone who follows you on Twitter or does it feel right to you? I’ve been weighing it all up for a while and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Hi Annabel ~ Tactic 1 vs. Tactic 2, that’s always the big question, isn’t it? You’ve chosen Tactic 2 but you don’t seem 100% certain about it. Tactic 2 feels more right to me, but I’m not sure either. The majority of people following me don’t really have a connection with me. Did you read the Skool of Life article on 150 followers avid followers is all you need?
You mention that you’ve un-followed some people who tweet too much. How much is too much in your eyes? You’ve also given a tip on twitter that said to tweet less. How much is less? I want to tweet everyone who supports me so that’s definitely not less, but is it too much?
I like the idea of making tweets scannable. I also agree about staying on focus. I don’t really need to hear about people painting their toenails, for example.
Thanks for this interesting exploration of twitter. Looking forward to other comments!
Hi Sandra, lovely to hear from you:) I am sure about it actually. Well I think I am…. I’ve been sticking to following just a few people for a while but recently decided to reduce further. Yes, I read the 150 post but think it’s too many:)
How many tweets is too much? One a minute every minute seems a bit overboard. Especially if they’re just constant retweets because it makes me think they’re not even reading those posts they tweet. I’d say tweet less means just tweet when you really have something to tweet about. It will vary from person to person and day to day. If for example you tweet @me then only me and anyone who follows us both will see that tweet anyway. I think that’s a good reason to tweet anyway.
People tweeting about painting their toe nails… do you follow Paris Hilton or something?!
I want more comments too. It’s a modern dilemma:)
Annabel,
I’ve enjoyed the comments! Thanks everyone.
Annabel, I agree with your sentiments about the 150. The amount seems overwhelming to me in terms of having sincere reactions.
Yes, 1 a minute is to much! I think we can all agree on that!!!!
I don’t get the thing about the @ meaning only our followers will see it. If you use “@” will the whole world see it?
P. S. No, I don’t follow Paris Hilton!
I have a rule of thumb for what’s too much: when I get a “wall” of tweets from the same person, I unfollow them.
A wall means that person has dominated the entire twitter stream in view, and might be anywhere from 4 to 14 tweets packed together. It’s nothing really personal, I just haven’t ever found anything useful to click on with those people, so why follow them?
Hi Sandra, you don’t follow Paris?! :) Let me give you an example with the @ thing.
Say I tweet:
@AlwaysWellWithn Hello:)
Only people who follow you and me will see that in their tweet stream. I think this is good.
But if I want to make sure everyone sees it I can put it all in quotes. Hope that makes sense. It is a bit confusing and also little known.
Dave, that sounds like a good plan:)
I think social media is about connecting ~
Its certainly not about broadcasting, which if you follow 100 and you have 2000 following you, is what I believe you’re doing – You’re indicating you don’t have the inclination to engage with those who have reached out and shown an interest in what you have to say – You just want to blast them with your message and not listen to theirs.
I’m not saying you should follow everyone back –
I seek out people who have a love of travel and once I follow them (or follow them back if they are real, and like Gabriele above are relevant to my interests and theirs) I then have lists for travel, travellers, travel_australia, travel_europe etc which means not only can I scan down these various streams (I use Hootesuite which offers columns for each list or hashtag search) but my lists also offer a service to my followers as it draws together people with similar interests – One list has 43 people following it.
I know many people says it gets too noisy following too many, but you can have a private list of those special close friends you really don’t want to miss and quietly just read those if you choose –
But, by not following back people who do have similar interests you’re missing out on that wonderful possibility/opportunity of serendipity to engage with someone from somewhere out in the world ;)
I’ve developed some amazing friendships on Twitter, including you, which if I’d whittled down the potential selection to just 100 from day 1 you may never have made the grade and we wouldn’t be having this conversation LOL
Hi Linda, the jury’s out! Re “I know many people says it gets too noisy following too many, but you can have a private list of those special close friends you really don’t want to miss and quietly just read those if you choose -” yes, but then you’re not really following all the other people you seem to be following anyway!
I guess I feel you’re missing out on the opportunity that Twitter offers if you restrict yourself to a little home group – You’re severing any possibility of a chance encounter with any of those followers that you have (that you are not following back)
If I go to a party and only stay in the kitchen with my safe known circle I’m missing out on the possibility of getting into conversation with someone that just may (hop off the arrogant horse) may… not only be interesting but could lead me off down some new unconsidered path.
I guess that why I love travel – I love serendipity and bumping into new unexpected adventures, and that’s the bit that is truly unique to Twitter and the most fun :)
Thoughtful, and thought-provoking, post. I’ve never felt any obligation to follow everyone back. I follow people who look interesting or people who I already “know” (via a blog comment). I often follow people who speak @ me.
I guess I treat Twitter like a mass RSS feed for lots of individual blogs; I wouldn’t feel obliged to subscribe to your blog just cos you subscribed to mine, and I’d probably unsubscribe if I found that yours wasn’t working out for me any more.
I think it’s really a matter of preference and how you like to use Twitter. Some people (like Linda, above) are awesomely organised with lists — I’m afraid I’m not!
Thanks for the link to Alexander McCall Smith’s twitter, btw; didn’t even realise he was on there!
Hi Ali, so strange you have a new name but I’ll get used to it. It’s my oldest son’s name too:) I think that’s true that some people like Linda make the list thing work. AMS is my new hero. I sent him a little tweet then he emailed me so must have gone to the trouble of checking out my blog and finding me email address. Talk about engaging:)
I think Scott Straten had the best advice for making Twitter a more enjoyable experience: make it a conversation. I get so tired of streams of links and RT. I want to talk to someone, connect with them on a real level, like friends would do if they were sitting in a room together. Some of that may come off as silly for other followers reading, but I rather think it shows you’re human and you have more to offer than marketing.
People who do it well are @SethSimonds, @unmarketing, @MarianSchembari, and @NaomiDunford (to name but a few).
Hi Jen, great to hear from you. I get so distracted by that though. If I see you conversing with someone else on Twitter I naturally want to find out more. I prefer to have real conversations on Skype! There’s so much more that can be said that way and it’s more natural too:)
What can I say, I like rabbit holes! :)
Skype conversations are just too much commitment and your schedules have to match. But on Twitter you can maintain a conversation over days as long as both are keeping up with their @ notes.
In the end, different platforms for different people. No harm, no foul!
I interrupt this comment to say that @NaomiDunford (Ittybiz) ROCKS!!
#thatisall #carryon ;-)
Jen – don’t you mean different strokes for different folks?! :) Great point, it is handy, especially if there’s a big time difference and real time conversation is tricky.
Ricardo – I always like her yellow shirt:)
Annabel, this is excellent! I’m actually quite new to Twitter after having only signed up ~3 months ago (and I’m a blogger, too!). I realized I was missing out on social media connection and a very useful, simple way to get out quick bursts of new information and/or new posts on my blog.
This an extremely useful guide, thanks for sharing your expertise and providing multiple ways to maximize our Twitter effectiveness!
Best,
Nina
Hi Nina, glad you got this info at the right time and happy tweeting:) It’s great to connect with you here.
Hi Annabel, great tips here, I think I agree with most of them. I didn’t do this by design but my Twitter has grown dramatically (for me) in the last 3 months. I have 400 more followers and I only and only follow those who interest me to the point of investing my time. This is awfully harsh but we can only scale so much. I don’t think it’s fair to give anyone the guilt trip. After all, you unsubscribed from my newsletter because you were arranging your stuff in RSS. I am fine with it (for the most part ;))! – No but seriously, how many people can you really follow? Anyway, I don’t have a strategy or a tactic. I have conversations, I form relationships, I say what comes to my mind and I like to think it adds either a laugh, a tip or some value to someone’s day. If it stops being fun, I am not doing it anymore :)!
Hi Farnoosh, 400 new followers in 3 months sounds good. Why do you think that is? Maybe because you’ve been blogging about blogging, BlogWorld etc so getting interest from a more tech savvy audience?
No, enough guilt trips. That’s a great message here. If someone unfollows you on Twitter, FB or unsubscribes from your blog it’s probably their problem, not yours. At least they loved you enough to subscribe in the first place;)
Hi Annabel,
Super post!
I’ve found tons of interesting people to engage with and carry on conversations with, which is a critically important thing to do if you want to be viewed as an outgoing, friendly and engaging person. As you’ve pointed out, it’s not all about RTs and blasting your own posts.
The entire Twitter experience is multi-faceted and requires a mixture of tactics to extract the most from it. Too often some users allow themselves to fall into a certain tactic without mixing things up.
I love Twitter but, it’s an interesting community that keeps you thinking about what some are really thinking. Like those that follow you only to find out when you visit their profiles, the have not a single Tweet. They are already telling me that no conversations are going to be happening so why bother? :-) Then we have the “Hi, buy my stuff” crowd. At least they are easy to ignore.
But on the positive side there are genuinely interesting and engaging folks who share a community spirit and are willing to contribute to the advancement of others who seek to do so.
Many of these individuals will be outside of the niche you have chosen, and that’s a good thing if for no other reason than the fact that it broadens your horizons.
Hi Jimi, I love your name, have I told you that before? I’m a sucker for alliteration:) Great to hear your thoughts and love the last tid bit about getting outside your niche. Fully agree. Ideally I’d follow one social media expert, one style guru, one blogging hero, one travel tweeter etc. That way I could guarantee no boring repetitions:)
Annabel, I really like what you’ve said about Twitter, especially the @ribizzie tweet about engaging, not simply broadcasting. There are all kinds of people on Twitter that are not promoting a blog or business or like myself, are (blogging) but relatively new to Twitter and finding their way by trial and error. The main thing to remember when using Twitter, or blogging, or running a business *and* blogging is knowing – really knowing – what your purpose is for being there. Sometimes, for me, I am looking to connect with people who can help me with my writing projects. Other times it’s to check in and connect with friends I otherwise wouldn’t be able to communicate with due to distance etc. Other times it’s because a guru blogger (not you : ) has pissed me off and I want to say something about it. I have said some stupid things on Twitter, and I have said some astoundingly intelligent things there…But, I’m not going to spend too much energy on being concerned about Twittiquette at this stage. I’m just going to be me, engage most of the time, broadcast accidentally some of the time (when I forget ; ) and walk tall eagle eye the rest of the time. The people who dig my vibe will stick around. The others? Well, they are more than welcome to unfollow. I don’t have the time or psychic energy to lend to guessing the motives of unfollowers. I got some big fish to fry.
Thanks Annabel!
Hi Elana, lovely to hear from you and thanks for the fabulous long comment:) Sometimes I wonder why we torture ourselves with the trial and error method when we can just get a book or course for a few dollars and save ourselves a lot of angst and wasted time!
Great point that we use it for different things at different times. Blimey, I’m dying to know what guru bloggers do to piss you off and how you tackle that!
You sould interesting with your mix of stupid and wise tweets. No one can be a sage all the time and often we love people for the silly things they say or do.
Darling you’ve got it sorted. Go Elana:)
Hi Elana,
Thanks for the kudos on the Tweet! My general rule of thumb is: Seek to be helpful first. And have some fun a long the way.
If more marketers and businesses did that first, I think they’d build faster, stronger connections with customers and potential customers. I think it has always been “relationship before the sale” so real connections are what matter.
Great to meet you Elana!
I don’t understand what’s the big deal about following…
I mean, why would you follow someone just because they ask you to? You won’t be interested in their tweets anyway, so what’s the use for them?
Some people want to have thousands of followers but don’t have anything interesting to tweet about.
For me, it’s fine if I have very few followers, I’m not interested in tweeting anyway (just reading other’s tweets).
Hi Carolina, you have the right attitide and maybe, like Elena, bigger fish to fry:) Another interesting perspective that you don’t want to tweet anyway just read them. Sometimes I’m like that. I really have nothing to say and it bothers me but why should it really? Silence is good too.
I started Twitter by following absolutely everyone back. I thought it was the way to go simply because people like Chris Brogan did that.
Lately I have become a bit more picky, meaning that I spend a minute to see if the Twitterer who just followed me is a “real person” rather than if its topics interest me. Ok I admit if the topic is really out of my interest, big time, I tend not to follow back, but I really have no business to do with renting houses in Florida or buying stock options, if you know what I mean.
I use lists a lot, it’s a good way to focus 20-25 minutes of your time on a single topic and read more about it, engage, interact, share. It doesn’t feel *totally right* but I find it too useful to just let go.
Hi Gabriele, great to hear from you. Yes, I wonder if there is some misinformation going around. I used to spend a lot of time checking people out too and definitely agree – some people instantly come across as spammers. It makes me sad that I don’t follow all my readers. But it also makes more sense to me to just follow the readers who really read and enjoy my blog so I can find out more about them.
I have a lot of lists going on but in the end I don’t use them much. But my bloggers list is very handy and it even picks up people I’m not officially following. So in a sense I am following them…
Hi Annabel,
Thank you for these tips – they’re obviously a result of you really having explored what works for you. Truthfully, I still don’t naturally ‘get’ Twitter – though I’m sure this will come the more I use it.
I observe what’s going on a lot in the hope that I’ll get more of a handle on it. I enjoy coming across new links that I probably wouldn’t come across otherwise.
I find it a little difficult to find interesting people to follow… I tend to look behind fascinating retweets to discover the original source and follow them if I like their other tweets.
I must say that I like how you preface your tweets to make them scannable.
Hi Scott, I don’t think anyone has it totally sorted but in the end that works best for me. I tried other people’s tactics and didn’t like them:) Tweet you later:)
I think some of your points are spot on and prompt really good thoughts on how to make Twitter work. However, I can’t but think that Twitter needs to be looked at for its strategic relationship with Website, Blog, and FB. How much value can you cram in a short line? Or should value mostly be delivered through the blog (since most people have RSS feeds from their blog into their Twitter account anyway) and framed through the casual one liners that bind a network to your Tweets and status updates. Again, good post. Cheers, Colin
Hi Colin, I think you can deliver a lot of value in 140 characters. Sometimes things will spill over and you can fill a blog post but it’s interesting given that we know people want info that people don’t use Twitter to give info out, more to sign post where you can find the info…. I don’t automatically update my Twitter feed with the RSS feed unless I’m away. I’m old-fashioned like that and like to make things a bit more personal if I can:)
What I’m thinking about is a recent converation with a fellow mummy blogger who talked about people wanting the easy conversation. Sure Tweets can sign post blog entries. But you only get the presence of the blogger or the tweep if they use Twitter to banter with the audience. It is by mirroring their content on their blog or website through banter that I think Twitter finds its finest hour. Vary your tweets this way and find a receptive audience that will enjoy those blog announcements, those RTs, and your personality.
Annabel, thank you, thank you, thank you! Finally someone other than myself who thinks it makes no sense to follow everyone back. First of all, I use twitter very infrequently. Primarily because as hard as I try I still don’t quite ‘get it’. I’m learning more about lists, which will help I hope.
When someone follows me I immediately look for their bio. I’m amazed at the numbers of people who don’t have a word there. If you tell me nothing about you, why would I follow you? If your bio tells me you’re raising small children and share parenting tips, we have nothing in common.
We are all so busy and working so hard to stay on top of social networking to promote our blogs and business that you have to be selective. I much prefer facebook. You can actually have an interaction with someone in complete sentences and really learn more about each other. I view twitter as a kind of necessary evil. I keep trying to like it, but so far I’ve not succeeded.
Thanks for putting this out there!
Hi Barbara, Lol about seeing Twitter as a necessary evil. It’s odd isn’t it? I used to love FB when it was just about catching up with my far flung mates but now I have FB friends I don’t really know it’s taken the edge off that. Maybe that’s why I’m enjoying Twitter more.
Incidentally I wonder if the mums with smsall kids follow you because you’ve been there done that. I’d prefer to get my parenting and life advice from you than someone who’s only just starting out on the journey.
Hi Annabel,
Some very insightful suggestions. I would think you’d gain rather than lose friends and followers taking the time to explain why some of the strategies you mentioned just don’t work that well.
I do see the benefits of Twitter for getting the word out about one’s blog to a wider audience–and I agree with the fellow you quoted about engaging with people not just broad casting about one’s own recent posts, accomplishments, etc. My challenge is that I intensely dislike having my communications limited to 140 characters and writing in tweetspeak and abbreviations. I’d much rather have an authentic and engaging conversation with someone by email– or better yet in person. Hmm, I think maybe I sound like an anachronistic old dinosaur. :-)
Have a great day!
Hi Sue, lol, I have gained a few actually, but problaby dropped others who just noticed I unfollowed them:(
I think the 140 characters is a good exercise for me. Look at how long my blog posts are. Sometimes there’s too much detail so the Tweet can be a kind of sneak preview, a trailer to whet people’s appetite for the full length post:)
Dinosaur? We should start a blog about that:)
Annabel, you have so much valuable information to absorb in this post, that I did the easiest thing first. I went back to eliminate those people I followed in the beginning, that I never knew about. Two of them were French marketers, and I have no idea why I clicked on them, except that I did what you did, “My first year on Twitter I followed everyone who followed me. ” After reading your post tonight, “I had an epiphany and started unfollowing people who I wasn’t really paying attention to anyway.” Thanks. I’m too tired to think, so I shall reread your tips tomorrow and ask more intelligent questions. Thanks for tackling this Twitter stuff. Sonia.
Hi Sonia, lol, sometimes it helps to have someone else do the thinking for you:) No need to tackle it all in one go but it’s good to be aware of what you’re doing. Bon courage!
I’m going to print this article and make it my “Twitter Guidelines for 2011.” This philosophy resonates with me much more than going for the masses. I’ve listened to the big gurus so I’ve felt kind of bad for not following everyone who follows me (not that there’s a lot … I’m still finding my way in the Twitter world) and not posting a ton of Tweets each day. I try to go for quality so it takes me longer to find/create quality Tweets. You’ve confirmed a lot of what I was feeling, I just needed confirmation by one of the big gurus :) I predict this fresh perspective will become the next wave of Twitter guru guidance!
Hi Denese, yay, I’m glad you feel that way too:)
Could have used your insights when I started on Twitter a years ago…but it’s never too late. I’m glad that I was conservative to start, not wanting to treat Twitter connections like a shoe fettish! Loved your examples and the use of CAPs. You’re one smart cookie! Thanks for taking the time to share so much! ~Dawn
Hi Dawn, sorry I didn’t come up with this earlier! I think that the conservative position is natural to people like me and you so we should be able to run with that.
Hi Annabel,
Great post! I’ve been on Twitter for almost exactly a year, and I’m just finding my feet. Like you, I learned a lot from the Dickinson brothers (anyone reading this who hasn’t purchased that – please do so now). The main thing I took away from that was to un-follow loads and loads of people. I’d reached the point where Twitter was a huge chore for me – scrolling through hundreds of tweets to find… well, not much. Now I follow less than 200 people and it’s positively JOYOUS to go into Twitter… I see stuff I want to see, I can engage to and relate with people so much more easily. I spend less time in there and get so much more out of it.
Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions… for me, Twitter is an ever-changing beast, so it’s good to see some different perspectives, and the positives and negatives of different approaches.
Claire
Helping you live your dream life
Hi Claire, thanks for stopping by and commenting:) Totally agree with you re the Dickinson Bros course. It’s a great way to learn everything you need to know all about Twitter in under an hour. I love the result you got from following less people too “I spend less time in there and get so much more out of it.” It makes sense:)
That’s exciting feedback, Claire. I love the way you are making Twitter work so hard for you and your business.
Well done!
Robin :)
Helping YOU succeed in business
Hi Annabel,
Yes, Twitter is one of the great mysteries in my life :). I think the best I can do with Twitter is to offer my own unique way of saying things (rather than just tossing quotes back and forth). Aside from Retweeting blogs I like, I try to engage folks in an interesting or challenging way. Most of the time the logic behind the whole thing is baffling to me.
Hi Rob, lol it is and where will it all end? That’s what I want to know:) I’ve noticed you spend time giving tips on Twitter. I like that.
Annabel,
Nice honest post. Very much appreciated.
I recently imploded my social media strategy and started fresh. Among other huge decisions, I zapped my Twitter account (with about 700+ followers) and started a brand new one, trying to avoid the newbie mistakes I had made, such as following tons of people just to get more followers. Just like you described, I realized I was broadcasting my tweets to a bunch of folks who couldn’t care less.
This time around, I still have the option checked to follow everyone who follows me, but I take 10 minutes each night to run through who’s come on-board, read through some of their stream, and decide if I want to keep following them.
I try to stay as open-minded as I can, because I’m assuming if they followed me, we must have something in common, but I find it very easy to catch the spammers this way, and I nix them quick as I can. Sometimes, after I’ve followed someone for a few days or a week, if I’m not engaged in what they’re regularly tweeting, I’ll unfollow.
So far, no hard feelings.
Thanks again for the refreshing post!
@justinplwrites
Hi Justin, great to see you hear and thanks for the comments and leaving your Twitter handle:) I used to check out all my new followers but I don’t have time for that any more. I try to randomly pick a new follower, check out their blog and send them a little tweet:) I like to think it’s a nice surprise for them.
I can imagine with almost 2700 followers, it would get too laborious. Hopefully I’ll have to change tactics soon! :)
Thanks for the awesome shout-out Annabel, much appreciated! I truly believe that people will have a much more pleasant experience on Twitter if they take the time to engage and interact with other people in their network. Often times, brands (unfortunately) skip this simple but important step and that’s why they have an unpleasant experience. It’s not just about touting your message. It’s about connecting first and letting your message spread naturally through the relationships you build rather than trying to force it.
Love the rest of your tips too!
Hi Ricardo, ah, there you are:) Your tip’s going down a treat and glad you like mine too;)
Dude.
Thanks, you are gnarly!
hee hee – it’s Summertime – practicing my surfer-talk. Whaddya think?
Seriously, you make me blush.
@ricardo – thanks for hooking up on Twitter – love to know more about life in LA and Irvine (I’ll be looking up Google Maps later!)
Kiki
Hi Kiki, lovely to see you here – the lengths I have to go to to get some people to leave a comment here;) That’s beautiful I’ve introduced two super tweeters to each other. Glowing I am:)
LA can be hectic but if you know your way around, there’s some real hidden gems around town. Irvine is amazing! Lots of relaxing beautiful things around :-)
Great to connect with you Kiki!
P.S. My friends call me Ribeezie, you can call me that too ;-)
I think it’s SocMed suicide if you DO follow back everyone who follows – You just may choke to death on the glut of inane garbage clogging your stream!
Not to mention most followers are actually scammers, spammers, fakes and frauds – and, while they’ve gotten quite crafty at the game, they’re still pretty easy to spot.
My criteria is simple: If someone’s choice of topic interests me (or if their unique personality is apparent their tweets), I will follow back.
I don’t own a TV, so I use Twitter as my main source of news, education, and information. I mostly enjoy links to informative blogs and articles.
As for using Twitter for “conversation,” I don’t buy it. It’s too fragmented a medium for cohesive interaction. Plus, it makes the rest of your followers feel like eavesdroppers to view one-sided bits of back-and-forth that has zero relevance to them.
This post strikes a chord, Annabel, as I’ve been finding plenty of things that peeve me about Twitter lately. But, I’ll quit while I’m ahead…
Cheerio! @nikolas_allen
Hi Nikolas, I tend to agree plus, and I hate to say this but it makes you look a bit sad if you follow more people than follow you. I’m with you on the Twitter conversation too. Probably just paranoid but I do feel left out if I see people having lovely conversations without me. I keep my conversations short and if there’s more to be said move to DMs, email or if I’m really lucky Skype:)
Don’t quit Twitter! We need you there:)
Oh, well that’s OK then:)
Thanks for the reply, Annabel. Glad we can agree to agree :)
As for quitting, I meant my ranting & raving ;) While there’s plenty to complain about, Twitter is still a great source for info and connections.
See you in the Tweet-o-sphere! @nikolas_allen
Annabel, I Use Twitter to follow blogs, blog syndicates and people. This is something that I find very useful with twitter. This helps me to engage and also spread word of articles being published by my fav bloggers. I enjoy reading articles specially if they are tech or marketing related.
Hi Eddie, I love that you use Twitter to find and and spread articles you enjoy. Wonderful:)
What plugin do you use to encourage people to tweet your post (the icons at the bottom)? I don’t have those, and after reading this post, I realize I should probably add them.
Hi JoAnna, yes, you must – tweetmeme.com will see you right:)
Thought provoking stuff Anabel
The fun is that everyone is doing things differently. Heard Cat Matson speak on Twitter on Tuesday and while we have pretty much the same philosophy we are doing Twitter in a vastly different way.
Number of followers and who follows who is pretty irrelevant since lists came out 14 months ago isn’t it? When I was able to just follow lists I switched to autofollowing back everyone who follows me.
If they all think I read all their stuff they are pretty naive. But I do read the stuff on say 4/5 of my lists including right now Queenslanders and People I look for (which I just added you to)
As for focus you have to have this to be added to lists in the first place or to be able to be recommended.I used to tweet too much about the environment in my main account but now stick to tweets about twitter there.People know what they will get from me now
Hi Michael, lovely to see you here, esp as you’re instantly recogniseable from Twitter:) Definitely think it’s a case of each to his/her own and like you I’ve changed course too. I can see the point in following people even if you don’t read a word they say but not keen to go that route myself.
Lovely to hear I’m on one (or 2!) of your lists, I’ll check them out. I’m sure you’re on my bloggers list too which is a great one. Great that you’re focused on tweeting about Twitter. You’re very popular so it’s obviously much in demand. Well done! I’ll see you there:)
Hi, Annabel —
Reading your tips makes me realize how far behind I am! Gonna take the Dickinson Bros. course and little by little work my way to awareness:)
In your reply example to Sandra above, you said that if you want to make sure everyone sees the tweet @AlwaysWellWithn Hello:) that you put it in all in quotes — Did you mean actual quotation marks? I haven’t seen too much of that among my tweetpeeps so I’m wondering.
Thanks again for sharing your wisdom!
Hi Carla, lovely to see you here. I’ll tell the Dickinson Bros to look out for you, I think you’ll enjoy their insider info and winning attitude.
Re your question. Yes, I’ve never done it myself but another Tweeter suggested it to me:)
Thanks, Annabel! Appreciate you getting back so quickly. Have a great night!
That’s excellent news, Carla. Please don’t hesitate to tweet any questions you may have to @Robin_Dickinson.
Good luck!
Robin :)
Helping YOU succeed in business
Here’s my web-link and avatar! :)
Wow Annabel, this is really comprehensive. I love the descriptions – very clear and concise and wonderful food for thought – I am retweeting this now – this is definitely a post that everyone on Twitter should be reading and considering :) Francesca
Hi Francesca, “a post that everyone on Twitter should be reading and considering.” Wow! That’s a wonderful recommendation. Thank you:) I love that you put your name here not just the biz name. How can we combine them both. I comment as Annabel Candy, Get In the Hot Spot. Maybe you could be Francesca, Bangalow Accommodation @SummerHillsBB to get everything in there?!
I like that suggestion :)
Great! It always bothers me when there’s no name, even though I know yours of course. It’s quite long though. Is it poss to shorten it further to Francesca, @SummerHillsBB in Bangalow ?! See – give me an inch and I take a mile!:)
I sort of fall off twitter every now and again – did so pretty drastically last month when all my computers were virused… So I don’t follow a huge number of people – about 250, which is still quite a lot, I suppose. I tend to ignore companies who follow me, unless I know the person behind them. And I don’t unfollow people, mostly, because I’ve never had reason to, and because when you’re not following huge numbers it may feel a bit rude. I like to think about twitters as circles of friends – some I’m close to but don’t see often because they live far away, some just pleasant acquaintances, some really fun to listen to, and some who always have interesting news to share. The only criterion is that I actually like them and wish them well. Otherwise I would feel that my personal space was being invaded, I think. Oh, and I wouldn’t be offended if anyone unfollowed me. I don’t think I’d notice !
Bonjour Sandrine:) Great to hear from you and I like your circle of friends analogy. Glad to hear you wouldn’t notice if someone unfollowed you. I used to have a thing going on where I got notified every time someone did (looks like those people I unfollowed had that) but after a while I realised it was a pointless exercise. It’s OK to unfollow people who aren’t tweeting any more – they definitely won’t notice or care:)
hi annabel this is a mega-post…. but great…. :-)
I’m also a huge fan of Success with Twitter by @robindickinson & bro…
It’s packed with commonsense that you can implement in minutes.
I think twiter is an enigma sometimes… you know on the one hand I want to stick to using it for a business tool but occasionally you jump on and you see tweets in your stream from people you know or care about or who are just having a bit of fun and it can very quickly turn into a virtual party….
I’ve noticed that if I can stick to a regular schedule it’s better too because I might see the same people at the same time of day…. and form stronger more meaningful connections with those….
Regaring followers/following… someone asked me how many followers I had this morning and I said “10,000 and something” and I swear she nearly fell on the floor…. but then I had to point out that I have no idea whatsoever what that number is made up of…. so many of them could be dead accounts… people who signed up to see what the twitter fuss was about then disappeared… some could be ‘bots’….. I really don’t know…
I’m starting to pay a bit more attention to klout and I’d recommend that as a tool to investigate further in terms of who is what on twitter…. (I see it says you and I are both ‘specialists’…. which is not a bad thing)..
I am incredibly grateful to the way twitter has extended both my professional and personal social networks… As a solopreneur I feel less isolated, more connected and totally enjoy being able to help people out when I have the opporunity. I also do enjoy meeting people for the first time and hearing them say “I follow you on twitter… I really enjoy your tweets’… it makes it seem worthwhile to know that I’m possibly adding ‘value’….
I find the twitter lists valuable. I don’t follow accounts that I need to scan to kep me up to date with technology and productivity – I just put them on a list and scroll through 2-3 times a day. Likewise I have people on lists that I don’t follow but I want to keep an eye on and if someone has made the effort to engage with me by offering comment or help or answering a question I will follow them for a while to test the water.
Twitter’s a zoo… but zoo’s are educational, entertaining and fun…. there are lots of different ‘strategies’…. what works for some might not work for others so it’s great that there’s a huge selection of strategies laid out in your excellent post.
thanks Annabel.
Helen
Hi Helen, wow, and a mega comment from you too. Thank you! I almost fell off my chair too when you mentioned you had 10k followers. That’s huge. And I had never noticed:) Which is nice, it shows I’ve been following you for you, not for your following! It also shows that maybe you’re the one that should be sharing your Twitter tips and many thanks for taking the time to do that here!
Yes, I’ve been meaning to sign up with Klout. There was lots of talk of it at BlogWorld! Someday:)
Hello Annabel, fab post! These all seem so common sensical but people aren’t doing them. I started on Twitter about 11 months ago and quickly read up on how it works and how to be friendly and engaging using rules like this. I found a few people who I thought were successful and watched what they did and tried to glean from them. They many not have been mentoring me but I sure was watching. It’s sad that you actually have to tell people to be authentic. And I know many people use Twitter to talk about their business, but even in my short time I’ve tired of people filling my stream with ‘buy me, buy me, buy me’ tweets.
I also discovered twitter karma so I can go in and clean up my following list to make sure I’m following people back and also unfollow people who have not tweeted in 30+ days. If you’re tweeting once a month, I don’t feel I need to follow.
Thank you so much for sharing these.
Hi Sara, lovely to hear how you’ve been approaching it. Sounds very methodical compared to my kamikaze approach but looks like we both came to the same conclusion in the end:) I’ve used Twitter karma too!
Intriguing post, Annabel!
My decision to follow someone or follow someone “back” on Twitter hinges on one very important (personal and selfish) factor. I’ve got to instantly fall in love with their blog. And if I click the link in their profile and it takes me to some landing page or sales page and not to their blog – I’m gone in a flash! Not the least bit interested in following someone who’s trying to sell me something when we haven’t even gotten to know one another yet. :(
Helen Clozier mentioned “Klout” in her comment here – two thumbs up! She’s right. It’s a great tool to use as a benchmark.
Hi Melanie, ooh, love that feedback. I mentioned I use Twitter a lot to follow blogs and I often hop on to someone’s blog via their twitter profile link to see what they’ve been up to and feel annoyed if I get their profile. A sales page would be really icky.
OK, I’d better check out Klout right away:)
Hi Annabel,
I read this post days ago when you put it up but couldn’t comment then and have only just made it back. I love this post. You raise so many good points. When I first started out I didn’t get Twitter at all, like many I suppose, so started trying to find people to follow. At first I followed anyone who followed me because I was so excited! Now I do a quick scan, if they’re an obvious “marketer” I don’t follow. If they look authentic, I check them out, blog, web, tweets etc, and if they look interesting then I try to engage. If they respond, I add them to a list. If not, I continue to follow until I do a purge, but they aren’t really visible to me because I use Hootsuite streams and only see my lists.
I just went into Twitter (rather than Hootsuite) to see how many followers I have – only about 500 (I’m impressed with numbers like Helen’s at 10,000!!) . You see, I have no idea how many I follow or how many follow me. I’m more interested in connecting with people I’m interested in and who are interested in me than counting numbers.
I’ve also purchased the Dickinson Bros fantabulously, funky, video PDF and put in place many tips – particularly for business related tweets. Hootsuite lets me tweet across Twitter, Facebook – personal + page and LinkedIn and I tweet slightly differently to each. i.e. more business like for LinkedIn. I learned so much from “Success with Twitter” course. It’s a great practical guide and I use it like your Successful Blogging course, referring back to it for fresh ideas.
Broadcasting is an interesting one. I follow a couple of people (my stepson included who has posted nearly 30,000 tweets) for whom Tweeting is a stream of consciousness but I follow them because they are funny and articulate and engaging – even though they broadcast – a lot!
Thanks for a great post Annabel and also to your subscribers for some very interesting comments.
Hi Suellen, thanks for coming back and trying again. The comments somehow got turned off when I launched this post! It’s so interesting to read how people decide if to follow people. Those first impressions really matter and I love the info on how you make up your mind who’s the real deal and who’s just in it for themselves. Hehe, some people can get away with broadcasting but only real mates, family or the famous:)
I am a Twitter user with at least 1400 followers, but my problem is 90% of my referrals are ‘in-active'(They doesn’t read on my tweet). I need your advice which Twitter Tactics is/are suitable for me to become an ‘active’ followers ?
Hi Nic, how do you know they are inactive? To get more engaged Twitter followers I suggest chatting with people on Twitter and finding hash tags related to your topic.
Hi Annabel,
Hope all is well! I’m relatively new to Twitter but I have two things to ask/say:
1. I thought you could only follow 2000 people max?
2. You can also follow thousands of people *with* related interests, so they can find you and your blog. I for example follow my max of 2000 people but they’re all people I found in twitter searches on acting or as followers of acting schools I know. It got my blog some traffic and some comments and even subscriptions. Moreover, I got to know very interesting people that I would love to meet up with when I make it to LA.
Granted, I unfollow non-followers daily and plan on eventually just following about 150 people that I’m really interested in. But for finding people with similar interests and promoting a fresh, new blog I think the mass follow tactic is quite useful :) What do yo think?
Hi StarsintheEyes,
1. No, you can follow as many people as you like.
2.Great to hear how you searched for people with related interests and it’s working to build traffic and subscribers to your blog.
Yes, the mass follow sounds as if it’s been useful for you and you’re using Twitter well:)
Really? Hmm, Twitter only lets me follow 2000 people! How odd :| Maybe I’m doing something wrong? But yes, I’m still not so savvy about how to get more traffic to my blog, so Twitter and FB are still my main referrers. Although I really liked your idea of guest posts etc. so i’m doing that soon. Hope you’ll enjoy and thanks for the advice!
Say hello to the kids!
x Evil babysitter
Hi Annabel, finally I got a chance to read this post! I’m always interested reading about your cyber experience with social media. I stopped doing twits not so long ago, but your article has given me inspiration to try again!. Problem was, whenever I posted something about design, I got lots of followers that never really engaged with me, but I believe they wanted ME to follow them! So I didn’t really see any good interaction there. I love sharing content and learning what other designers are doing. But it seems a lot just go for the ‘advertising’ kind of nature, which is not the goal of tweets… well, it’s not for me.
So I hope I get to do my tweets better, to attract people who would like to share they design life with me!
xxx Taty
After finding you via @mqtodd, I looked at your Twitter account, read this blog post, and wish to throw you a few ideas:
1. To my blog post, “#JpQuake: Better Info From Twitter,” also forwarded to a few LinkedIn groups as a discussion (something to do with a blog post, BTW), I got this reaction to someone who, noting your Twitter Tactic No. 4’s “…I do think it’s a bit odd to follow 76,000 people on Twitter when there’s no way you can read all those tweets,” I am reminded of:
“Better info from twitter ? Twitter isnt always exactly a source of factual logical reporting in these situations. Bashing Tepco ? Does iwaisan have any constructive comments that could help the situation ? Twitter should be renamed the arm chair quarter back network. I stopped twitter 20 min after the quake.”
I replied:
“People are sharing some great sources of news, as I am, when I come across them, and they’re not all CNN or NHK. Live updates, and when you have the sources I do, you get more from Twitter than the TV, etc. Just look at what @good_people has tweeted (Jason Ball’s timeline) the last few days. Much of it, I would have never found otherwise. And thus, I retweet the most important items. After all, that account has just under 800 followers (lists are another story) following it. I retweet, and 17,600 get it – @osakasaul. We help spread what’s important in this way.”
He then added:
“Hear what you are saying Saul. Specific linked in threads are for better sources . Twitter uselessness varies from 90 to 100% . There is just too much panic nonsense to filter. Googling is far more efficient . That being said, how do you filter through the nonsense?”
I replied:
“I would wholeheartedly agree with you, Dan: the Twitter uselessness you describe, I would estimate it to be 97-98% just for my OsakaSaul acct. However, that is based on all accts my OsakaSaul follows. There is a good way to reduce that 97-98% down to about 30% which, since tweets are brief, skim-readable, is easily tolerable for me: make lists of your real go-to sources of info for this topic, that topic, and then column those lists in Hootsuite. If you would like to SKYPE with me, I will gladly screen-share and show you what the results are – before you go about doing so yourself.
** Should we speak, be sure to ask me about the value of those I follow who are not in those lists that I look to, and how I get anything done, if I read each and everyone of @mqtodd @good_people @fransgaard… and all of my “go-to” people’s tweets.”
You sure get a lot of interaction on your blog, and so I commend you on this. I trust you will find Twitter increasingly valuable as well.
Thank you Saul, you have a lot to add:) I love Twitter but I love my blog more. That’s the focus for me with Twitter as a nice little sideline.
In all of these things there’s only one thing I’m really interested in and that’s people. Maybe that’s why I get a lot of interaction here:)
Great to have you join our merry team and hope to see you here again:)
Hi Annabel,
If someone follows me I’ll follow them back (it takes no time and I don’t needlessly offend someone) and keep a separate list of those that I’m truly interested in engaging with. My strategy is just to tweet when I have something to say. My financial welfare isn’t tied to blogging so I guess I don’t have to view strategies from a business perspective and that is very freeing.
Riley
I still feel pretty new to the Twitter game, and I’m learning as I go. One thing I’ve already learned is not to auto-follow everyone who follows me. Some people aren’t saying anything of interest to me personally or my blog topics.
I welcome followers, especially if they want to keep updated on new blog post, RTs of valuable articles from other bloggers, and daily doses of inspiring quotes related to the topics I blog about. I can see reasons to follow without a follow in return.
I am currently following more than follow me, and I’m okay with that. I have found some more properous bloggers don’t auto-follow, either, and will eventually follow me back after I leave several comments on their blog and/or RT tweets I find valuable.
I really love your idea for making tweets scanable and will pick that one up.
What’s your feeling on hashtags and “please retweet” messages? I’ve read both can increase blog traffic- so far the hashtags haven’t been effective for me.
I’ve only done the “please retweet” twice and honestly I felt a little dirty doing it. It may be effective but I’m not comfortable doing it. On one hand I’m an advocate of asking for what I want, on the other hand I’d rather give something before asking for a favor. Is my content truly so awesome that I am giving something before asking for a RT? Perhaps, but a tweet with a blog link is not content, is it? I’d prefer to ask for a tweet at the end of the blog entry.
Hi Chrysta, I know what you mean but tweets that say “Please RT” do get more RTs:) I usually add “Please RT if you like it” to new posts that I tweet out. You should add it to the bottom of your blog posts too;)
I HATE TWITTER. I don’t get it. I’m reading your tips .. because I’ve only known you for about 24 hours and already think you are awesome. But, I don’t get it. I can’t wrap my head around all the @ and # and one word or 2 words and re-tweet versus tweet and ……………………………… I give up.
Thanks for the tips, though. They LOOK awesome :)
I find Twitter a hard beast to tackle. I know I need to engage, but I also need to comment on other posts, make friends, write quality blog posts, and like you I also used to make websites for other people (giving that up now so I can focus on blogging) and be a mother. How do you do it all Annabel? Since I believe you have 3 kids!!! Been following you for a long time on RSS but just followed you now on Twitter as well.
Hi Annabel – I agree that Twitter is one of the most successful social networks ever till date. I do employ many of these tactics mentioned by you, I couldnt imagine writing the same in such a detail as you have done here. Great writing skills you got. Glad to have made to your blog.
Many people use Twitter, few understand it, how to filter the noise, and derive real value from it. This doesn’t keep too many people from marketing themselves as a Twitter Tipster (if not designating themselves the local rockstar/guru and mayor of the coffeeshop nearest them). Please don’t follow in their footsteps, Annabel.
“Is it social media suicide not to follow everyone. . . ?” This is a great question. I tried Twitter in early 2007 and somehow people just followed me. It would have been rude to not follow back, right? So I now have about 2200 followers but I follow about 2300 people, including the ones I find interesting. Maybe not so impressive, but here is the thing: that is just the way it turned out. If I unfollowed scores of strangers then I would likely end up back at zero. Twitter is going to be a different experience for everyone. This has sort of worked for me, maybe. If I had done it differently and only followed my interests it may have not worked well without a lot of blogging that I did not do. And oh yes I am a lazy man, very lazy. I suspect that by not following back but working hard and blog posting regularly I would probably have a couple hundred “authentic” followers. This might, or not, be worth as much as the total followers I have collected passively following back. How would you measure it in comparison? Sometimes though, I happen to read a tweet from someone who is really a total stranger that just astounds me, moves me unexpectedly and deeply. So for me it has not been social media suicide. Honestly, I would not have had much connection otherwise. I enjoy the loose, easy contact that follow-back has brought. @geoffinsd
I’m pretty new to Twitter, but I already see that I cannot follow everyone who follows me because I really want to get value out of Twitter, learn and connect with people who are in my industry, (like you Annabel) and hopefully get some paid writing clients. I cannot have my tweet stream filled with stuff I’m not interested in. I also cannot waste my time tweeting meaningless nonsense! I guess whether you follow everyone who follows you or not depends completely on your purpose in using Twitter.
Its nice to know reading your post. Some of the tips are really good to follow. Thanks for the advice.
Personally I find the whole Follow-Unfollow tactics on Twitter, blogger, Instagram, etc. quite annoying. Yes, annoying!
I ‘met’ a few fine examples of serial follow maniacs and people who follow 10,000 other people then unfollow 9,990 of them to get that magic ratio. That is NOT influence or being popular, that is cheating.
If someone follows me I check their feed and see if I like what they say – if yes – I follow them, if not then I won’t. Simple. I’ve been on twitter for about 1 year now and have about 1400 followers and following 400. I don’t see it as some kind of ratio of my own popularity. its simply a number of how many people want to read my tweets and how many people tweets I want to read.
Be genuine, that’s the main and the only tactic on Twitter. All these manipulations are quite obvious. Manipulators and all these amazing twitter geniuses with 10:10,000 ratio can have a rest… I will never ever follow them back even if they RT my every single tweet.
p.s.
Excuse my grammar. English is my second language. Hope my point is clear though.
Great list Annabel! I think that connecting with followers on a personal level has helped me. But I still have a longgg way to get to 40,000. Thanks for the write-up!