Now that you have learnt the basics of Twitter and (hopefully) have built your Twitter profile, its time to build your Twitter network. In case you still have some confusion in using Twitter, here are the links to Day 1’s posts:
Now getting down to the task, the process of building an effective twitter network can be divided into four stages:
- Make sense when you tweet
- Find people whom you like
- Let people find you
- Repeat the above three
How to make create an impact on Twitter?
Twitter is another form of communication and like other ways of communication it needs to be effective to make any impact. Twitter is like a huge classroom without a teacher, so some people are talking to each other, some are talking to themselves and others are talking in a group – without any moderation.
Imagine yourself in such a classroom and try to emerge as one of the popular students. The same approach will lead you to a more effective Twitter presence.
Some important things to remember that will help you in conquering the attention of Twitter users worldwide are:
- Look Good: Looking good is very essential. Just like shabbily dressed students would often go unnoticed in class, similarly a shabby looking twitter profile will largely go unnoticed. In order to look good follow these steps:
- Choose a nice twitter handle: Choose a twitter username(called handle) which identifies with you or your work/niche or something which stands out of the box.(this is immaterial if you are Lance Armstrong or Al Gore, but cool_guy_10 sounds too lame to make any mark on Twitter
- Put a profile picture: Putting a profile picture goes a long way in connecting with your visitors. Adding a profile picture makes a profile more genuine and adds a personal feeling to it. It also tells the visitor about your creativity and personality(avoid putting a celebrity’s picture, unless you are a celebrity yourself, or your account is a fan account)
- Complete your bio and profile: Complete your profile and add a link to a blog/website/profile on a social networking site which has more details about you or your work. This tells the visitors about your interests, field of work and other social parameters. It is very difficult to read someone from his tweets, but a good profile, or a blog can change the mind of any visitor who was just about to ignore you.
- Get a good Twitter background: Twitter provides you with some custom backgrounds, however there are several services available on the internet which will help you in making a customized background(they are lined up somewhere down this week, we hope to see you here). By doing this you can add a lot of creativity and information to an otherwise wasted background. Some Twitter profiles with amazing backgrounds are:
- Make sense while talking(tweeting rather): As we earlier said, Twitter attracts a lot of noise. You can either add to it or convert noise into useful communication. Successful tweeting is an art to be mastered by yourself, there is no one-size-fits-all thumb rule, but we did cook up some recipe for you. The important components of a tweet are:
- Quality(error free, friendly, focussed, non-abusive, lucid language – NO ALL CAPS here)
- Quantity(the more you tweet the more your chances of staying on the public timeline, however do no overload or spam, we don’t want to know a ball-by-ball update of a game, we really don’t! – Quality precedes quantity here)
- Timing(tweeting in peak times, during famous launches for example, is better. its easier to start a conversation when such an oppurtunity strikes)
- Information(links, images, quotes, news – these tools add value to your tweet and often have the privilege of being re-tweeted)
- Use @replies so that your tweets show up when people search for their @replies(you might get a reply from Kim Kardashian and some retweets too if your tweet is really good)
- Use hashtags to classify your tweets and make them searchable
- Simplicity is often important too. The KISS(Keep It Simple Stupid) principle rules here too.
- Using abbreviations like BRB, LOL and more are also advisable to breach the 140 character limit
- URL shorteners come in handy too – expect to hear more from us on that soon!
- Make good conversation: Make sure you engage in useful conversation by:
- Helping people out if they are looking for help(but avoid telling people things you’re yourself not sure of)
- Retweet if you like someone’s tweets, retweet links and @replies
- Reply to people who talk to you and send direct messages once in a while for a private greeting or piece of conversation
- Don’t talk about petty things, avoid discussing bodily functions(eating could be an exception)
- Share some insight or personal experience or some useful link(from your blog or anywhere else) once in a while
- DON’T SPAM
- Shut up if people are not in a mood to listen to you – accept that everyone has bad days
- Avoid racist remarks
- If you have auto-responses, make sure you follow them up once in a while with a more personal direct message
- Don’t be wary of forming relationships – you can always unfollow people later!
- Don’t just talk – take out some time to listen, space your tweets, read past tweets – there is a very thin line between noise and conversation
- Vary a bit – some emotional talk from a geek can be a good surprise and can get you many followers and conversations.
- Know what you are using Twitter for: Understand what you want from Twitter, whether you’ll use it for personal or professional use or both. Understanding your Twitter Goals can take you a long way in building a superb network on Twitter.
I read somewhere that Twitter is better than email in the sense that it is more open and public. You need not think twice while tweeting someone, while sending an email can be tricky business, something very personal.
We’ve talked at length about how to talk or rather tweet effectively on Twitter. Once you understand the basics of this communication, you are ready to search for people, which we’ll cover in the next post.
At the end of the Twitter week, will publish loads and loads of links and resource, replete with articles to help you master everything that you’ve read here today by one of the best in the business. Till then keep learning and keep twittering.
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