20 ways to improve your Twitter Experience right now
I’ve been taking some time lately to scan even more carefully profiles of new people I’m following. I’m seeing people do a lot of things that in my experience will not really make Twitter seem fun or even all that interactive. I thought I would pinpoint some of those items here as food for thought.
1. Do not try to get replies from Oprah Winfrey and Conan O’Brien: This is an extremely common strategy, in part because Twitter kind of sets you up for it by recommending accounts to follow. However, the chances of you getting a mention from these folks is extremely small, and in the end, your time could better be invested elsewhere.
2. Do not continually RT the “A-Listers” either: This is another common tactic that people who are new to Twitter try all the time. When I first started, I would RT posts by all kinds of people, thinking at the very least I’d get a thank you. Don’t bank on it. These folks get so many RTs that taking note of one person would be like telling a drop from the ocean that it was super duper. Not too likely.
3. Put a smiling face (particularly yours) in that profile picture box: If I see an egg where your face is supposed to be, I’m not going to feel secure about whether you are real or a bot.
4. Fill out your bio: Tell me why I should follow you, whether it’s based on interests you have, what you’re hoping to achieve, or what kinds of puppies you like. But there should be something there.
5. Ask questions: Yes, at first you may not get any answers at all, but asking questions is a symbol of invitation. It’s saying, “Hey, I’d like your input.” It’s … social!
6. Don’t just list tons of A-listers for your follow Friday mentions: If you haven’t experienced Follow Friday yet, it’s essentially meant to be a day when you say, “Hey, I think you should follow this person because…” Instead, a lot of people do this: #ff @soandso @xyz @qrs @tuv etc ad infinitum. If you list 15 “big names,” you aren’t really accomplishing much except probably driving those folks nuts. List one person who maybe took the time to answer your questions that week. It’ll make their day.
7. When you tweet out a blog post, try to include the person’s Twitter handle: It can be frustrating to go to the trouble of promoting someone and then never get an acknowledgment of your efforts. However, if you don’t include someone’s Twitter handle, they may not see what you’re doing. Everybody wins if you include the person’s Twitter ID!
8. Try to reply to people more than sending out tweets of your own: When I was new to Twitter, I would essentially sit there and send out profound (ha ha) thoughts hoping someone would converse with me. It’s much more effective to go out and respond to other people.
9. Find someone you admire and scan their follow list: It can be hard to know who to follow when you get started. Think of someone you admire, go to the list of people they’re following, and see if any of those people look interesting to you. You already know you have a friend in common.
10. Don’t talk about business all day every day: I thought Twitter was meant to be button down serious all of the time. I was shocked when I saw someone talking about Monty Python in my Twitter stream, but noticing that also changed my entire experience. Loosen up, at least some of the time.
11. Don’t be overly vile and obnoxious: Generally, if you have inappropriate content in your bio, your Twitter handle, or a lot of your tweets, I’m not going to follow you or follow you back. Pretend that Twitter is an extension of your office. If you talk that way at work, well…that’s fodder for a different post!
12. Send out what you want to get back: If you do nothing but promote yourself, you are likely to get followers who predominantly like to promote themselves. If you engage with others, you are likely to get followers who will engage with you.
13. Interact with people in the blogosphere: This is not intuitive, but blogs and blog comment areas give you a chance to see people communicating in more than 140 characters. Get to know people better in other places and it becomes easier to interact with them on Twitter.
14. Say thank you instead of RTing: I’m not going to say that RTing something positive about yourself is a bad idea, but saying thank you shows a little more thought going into your response (typing versus hitting “Retweet”).
15. Don’t tweet about how boring you are: I really don’t understand this one. Self-deprecating humor doesn’t tend to work too well on Twitter, I’ll just say that. If you tweet negatively about yourself, the response is more likely to be, “Thanks for the heads up. Avoiding you now.”
16. Don’t try to stir trouble: You might get attention if you do this, but it will be negative attention, and that’s a pretty shaky foundation on which to build your online house.
17. Be honest: That being said, it’s okay to be a straight shooter. If you disagree with a tweet or a blog post, say so with civility. Debate can be a great way to show people who you really are.
18. Don’t worry so much about “best practices:” I know it’s tempting to think that there’s a one size fits all solution to Twitter, but there isn’t. The best overriding rule – don’t tick people off. Beyond that, you really need to set up your own Twitter reality based on how you want it to be.
19. Try to @ someone every 3 tweets: When I am looking at whether to follow you and I click over to your profile in the web Twitter interface, I see your 3 most recent tweets. This has inspired me to contemplate trying to talk to people 3x more than I tweet out things of my own. Show that you’re engaging.
20. Promote other people at least 5x more than yourself: If I want to tweet out a blog post, I try to promote at least 3 other posts first. If I want to send out my post again, I try to find 3 more ways to promote other people. You don’t have to be orthodox about the number. It’s the concept that matters.
These are 20 recommendations I have on how to make Twitter more enjoyable, especially if you’re new to the whole Twitter world.
What would you add?
Image by Graham Briggs. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/getwired
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These are great tips!
I would say, if you are trying to catch the eye of an A-lister, you have to approach them on all fronts, not just Twitter. My main suggestions are blog comments (be first if possible), Twitter (not just retweeting their posts, but answering their questions or interacting with their comments), Facebook (like their page, comment on their posts), and if possible, get into a private group with them, such as the membership forums .
#16 is also very important. You don’t want a potential new follower to come to your profile and see the last 10 tweets were part of an argument! 🙂
Heya Kristi!
Absolutely a great point. Although you have to find a way to show up in all of those places while not creeping out said A-Lister. That can be tricky 🙂
And yes, I always maintain that if you get in an argument, your followers may only see your side, they won’t see what you’re reacting to. Even if you’re 100% justified, it just makes you look bad. Gotta watch that!
This is a great post. I would add to be patient It took a while to get to 100 followers. Show up everyday, be nice, be helpful.
Thank those who help you. It matters a lot to them.
Biggest thing is just be yourself. I say it all the time because it is true. I can’t be anyone else but me anyway.
Thank you for all you do Margie. I certainly appreciate it.
Patience and Persistence. Yes indeed!
Thank you for your kind words, Nancy 🙂
Thanks for the great list of Twitter tips!
My two sense would be that when you tweet something that you want people to go read or do, rather than put all the info in the tweet, use the tweet as a teaser. For example, look at any newspaper article. 9 times out of 10, all you really need to know has been summed up in the headline of the article. “Marjorie Clayman heads to NYC on Monday for a fundraiser at X” does not compel me to click through the link to read more. “Guess where Majorie Clayman will be on Monday?” is much more compelling and will increase your click through rate.
Great point. Leave the story a bit of a mystery so people have a reason to click to your post or to the content you want to share. Well said!
Thanks Margie, love your common sense approach to building your followers.
What I try and do every day is ensure that I use a selection of broadcast tweets, engagement tweets and a re-tweets.
Broadcast tweets are where you are sharing information on your industry that will add value in some way to those who are following. Make sure it’s educational in some way
Engagement tweets are basically you socialising with people – respond to someone’s tweet that you find interesting, share your views with them, ask questions.
Re-tweets are when you acknowledge someone else’s tweet because it’s informative or humerous and you pass it on to your followers.
By using all three of these tactics – you don’t swamp people with news just about you!
Hi Jacqueline,
Balancing that way is a great idea. Like I said, the counting isn’t something you need to do but it helps you kind of stay on top of the general concept. As you say, it’s good to share valuable information and it’s also good to promote yourself, but you also want to let people have an idea of who you are and what you’re about.
Thanks for the comment!
Personally, I’d just say:
– Be yourself
Simple.
– Tweet whatever you want
People will either dig what you tweet and follow you and interact with you. Or, they won’t and they’ll move on.
– Stop worrying about who is following you and how many people are following you. Oh, and definitely don’t bulk follow Twitter accounts in hopes of getting tons of followbacks.
People worrying about their popularity on Twitter is really high school. Following people just to get their followbacks, I think, is kind of disingenuous.
I agree, Jose. I only follow or follow back people whom I feel I can really connect to. I’ve never been a fan of the “follow me and I’ll follow you” concept, although I’m afraid we are in the minority on that one 🙂
Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for posting this Marjorie. Having been away from Twitter for at least a couple of years (before it was as popular as it is now), it’s good to have the reminders. I appreciate everyone else’s input as well. It’s all very helpful!
Thanks again!!!!
Brilliant blog Margie. I have never met a number 15 person so laughed a lot at that one. I couldn’t believe someone would do that but I do know people who tweet when they are bored.
My kids tweet funny things I say as a mum all the time which drives me nuts. I say something to my 16 year old daughter and she tweets it before replying. Where does that fit? 🙂
[…] for the last year and a half, I am just starting to get the hang of it. @margieclayman shares 20 tips that can turbo charge your Twitter experience. blog comments powered by Disqus […]
Thank you Margie, this is probably the most useful list of effective Twitter tips I’ve read. (And I’ve read a LOT.) Common sense + sincerity + Twitter etiquette = HELPFUL!
Good call Margie. Reached my breaking point today…I just launched the new handle so I’m not following that many people, but so many are just retweeting everything they see. Finally I had it and started pruning down who I follow. People who just tweet their blogs (but whose blogs are good) I simply RSS instead.
You, of course, are ALWAYS interesting to follow 😉
Thanks Marcus. You had me worried there! 🙂
There is a site http://tweet-studio.com
I found it as enhanced features for a better tweeting experience.