Top Ten tips for effective tweets

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making an impact in business social media is a challenge. All the comments below are associated with communicating with a closely defined target – this isn’t just about numbers! Here’s a top 5 for getting noticed in Twitter

1. Tweet regularly. As the blog below highlights, volume makes a difference. Few business people have the time to monitor Twitter all day long. Increase your chances just by upping the activity level. This also allows people to get to know you more – amazing what your tweet stream will reveal about your background, knowledge and personality.

2. Use hashtags. Increase the audience for your tweets by labelling with searchable hashtags. Think carefully what you choose and make sure it is appropriate – remember the Kenneth Cole lesson of using hashtags inappropriately and creating an adverse reaction (I’ll not repeat it here…look it up if you want to)

3. Take advantage of #ff and #ww to recognise twitterers you enjoy and try to earn some yourself. These are recommendations and should be done individually and personally to show you have thought about it. Absolutely don’t use an application for this.

4. Interact with individuals. If you enjoy something or have a comment engage with the twitterer involved whether they follow you or not. This brings you into view of other people with common interests.

5. For linked tweets (i.e. ones which are then displayed in Facebook, your blog, LinkedIn etc) make sure you understand what the feed looks like – it may not include the whole text. I’ve made a few mistakes here particularly with retweets and blog updates. If you think about the resulting tweet you may change the title to ensure you have more impact but also that it tells a little bit about the full content if it becomes cropped.

6. Choose your words carefully. You don’t need to use all the characters but think about using an unusual adjective, occasional capitalisation etc without becoming twee with smilies. A single word can stand out and draw the eye in. Use url shorteners so you don’t waste characters

7. Research shows that the one of the first things Twitter and Facebook readers look at is the image associated with the account. Many images are too small to have an impact.

8. Hunt down interesting articles in your target area and properly retweet/tweet links with your own comments. Become known as someone who regularly retweets interesting stuff but always, always make sure you credit it properly. Some Twitter clients are less able than others in dealing with retweets. If the originator has used all the characters there’s not going to be a lot of space left for you.

9. Manage your follows. Following someone else is easy but Twitter has a limit at around the 2000 mark unless you match with followers. If you follow everyone in your target area and hit the limit you may not have room to follow back people who follow you. Out of courtesy you should follow back people in your target area. Look for a tool which allows you to regularly review your follows and followers and unfollow those who don’t follow you back within a reasonable timeframe. You can always refollow later.

10. Maintain your integrity. People only want to follow genuine posters anfd its not a race. Social media users don’t want or expect to be sold to and badgered constantly. Play your part in the community and the rest will follow naturally.