The best way to look at Twitter is to see it as like a room full of people having different conversations.
The trick is not just to send your own Tweets (post your own message) but also to engage with others(reply and comment on other people’s posts).
Imagine you are at a party standing in the corner talking to yourself ! Would anyone come over and listen ? Well maybe the men in white coats but you see what I mean .
Finding who to follow is really quite easy .On sign up Twitter will ask to scan your email address book to find any of your business contacts already on the service.It also suggest people to follow based on the areas of business you list .These people and businesses will be tweeting and retweeting (a bit like forwarding an email) interesting tweets .If you read one you like then you can click on the account holder and follow them.
Another good source of accounts to follow are competitors and lead industry figures .You can find their accounts using the Twitter search box.Once you follow another account quite often you will get a follow back and quickly gain followers back .Once you have followers you have others who are listening to your conversation too and thats the first stage of making an impact !
You can also learn how to make your messages go viral .You do this by getting your tweets retweeted by others .If an account is followed by many others and they retweet you then very quickly your message can be relayed to millions of followers (potential customers).
The secret of getting retweeted is to tweet interesting and relevant things perhaps re news stories and hot topics in your industry.Using a # (hashtag) in front of your the topic name ( e.g. #twitter) within the message body will help other users find your message within a search.For example #superinjunction will make sure your tweet reaches anyone searching on that topic.
People don’t like to be sold to so I recommend to business clients that if you follow a 1:6 ratio of sales:generic tweets thats will gain you better quality followers who will happily buy from you when they are ready.Make your non sales tweets about your business and your area of expertise (what you want your business to be known for).
Finally a few words about Twitter Etiquette:
1. Its best not to use it for personal conversations as its a public medium
2. If you read a witty message don’t pass it off as yours retweet it – don’t commit Twitter theft !
3. Don’t repeatedly tweet celebrities you’ll look like a stalker !
4. Don’t take people/businesses personally if they unfollow you
5. Don’t tweet in the heat of a moment -sleep on it
Twitter brings your business to a huge audience.and that could be the making or breaking of it
Digital Excellence Experts 