How To Use Twitter - Simplified

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Do you find yourself asking “what is this Twitter thing I keep hearing”?  Let me simplify what Twitter is and some tips on the best ways to use it for you and help you move along in the process of using this great free tool to further your reach.

Nutshell:Twitter is a free web interface that is part of the social networking world. I consider it “micro-blogging” or similar to instant messaging. What makes Twitter different is how SIMPLE it is- so don’t over complicate things and follow some of my basic tips below and you’ll be up tweeting soon and seeing some business effects just as fast! Think Knowledge, Network, Partners, New Customers, so many more options… Welcome to the Twittersphere!

Why You Should Look at Twitter

Twitter is growing fast and has caught the attention of companies large and small as well as the individuals who just want a quick and easy way to chat with friends. Some companies have profiles on Twitter- such as Amazon and CNN while others have hired people to monitor Twitter for industry tweets or customer service.  TAKE NOTE PEOPLE!!!

The question remains, HOW can Twitter help you in your current day or is it just another time sucker for your already full day?

The biggest reason is NETWORK- and network fast. You hear the term all the time and you may try to do the chamber networking events or forums.. well, basically, I have found that Twitter blows these out of the water. I use Facebook and Linked in to create a network, but Twitter is just so easy- one click.

First, who are the experts or your industry leaders? I bet they are here (on Twitter) and you can follow them with a click of a button. What are the chances of you networking with your industry expert at an offline event everyday?

Why is this important? They will usually tweet useful tidbits that you would otherwise not find. They also include smaller nuggets that they may not create an entire blog post about, or perhaps you just want to know more of their daily actions so you can follow in their successful footprint.

You may note that some of them tweet about very personal things- what they are doing- right then and there- from movies to food to life events.   Note to self: They are building a relationship with their followers! Learn from this example and remember WHO do you want to build a relationship with and HOW do you want them to perceive you? I challenge you to find a way to create a relationship with so many people as quickly and easily.

What’s one of the easiest things to fit in 140 characters? QUESTIONS… People love to ask questions and anyone can answer. That means you can have a direct link to someone. They ask a question, you reply- remember that bio/picture/web link? If you reply with an interesting answer there is a high chance that they will check out that profile and find out a little bit more about you.

Second, if you follow them, perhaps depending on their own social networking strategy (more to come…) they may FOLLOW you! Yes, your industry expert can actually know that you exist and you may catch their interest.

Here is a quick list of ways you can use Twitter to benefit your day:

• Quick and easy communications with a large number of people
• Super easy to follow and be followed
• Easy to see what hot topics are
• Build relationships
• Find potential joint venture partners
• Potential customers- lots of people are looking for someone to do xyz… if you have that relationship with them they are more likely to ask you then a random google search
• Trust- double edge sword I know, but it can build someones trust in you
• Fast broadcast messages- free
• Tweet about a new blog post and someone may read your blog that normally wouldn’t have
• Tweet about a special discount just for twitterville- do this cautiously, nothing will get people to un-follow you faster then getting commercial intent messages over and over
• Spread the word of a cool tool-
• Spread the word of a cool blog or post
• Spread the word of contests, surveys or polls
• One of my second favorites? Online to Offline networking; PHYSICAL MEET UPS!  I see these posts alot, especially from industry leaders who are traveling.  They will post what city they are in and where they are going to have dinner/drinks if anyone wants to meet them. One such tweet ended up with a group of 40 entrepreneurs and pr folks meeting up in Boston- Great opportunity! Think of how you can use this at a tradeshow!

How to Start

First,  visit Twitter and sign up for the FREE account.  You will be asked to create a username, choose carefully since you can not change this!  Your username will show as twitter.com/username mine is twitter.com/TubbyBundle- add me for practice and I’ll follow you back

There are two different tactics people use for this, first is to use your actual name. This can be accomplished by using upper/lower case letters like LisaFox or by using an underscore Lisa_Fox or just LisaFox. This works well if you want people to easily find you or even if you are using Twitter at only a personal level. If you are going to be using this tool to help increase the branding of your business you may want to choose your company or product name unless your branding yourself. The key point to remember- every micro-post/tweet you send will have your username attached so this will how the world will see you.

I also suggest adding a picture. I have found that Twitter is one of the most personal social networks and it is nice to see a real picture of a person and not some strange abstract.

Don’t forget the ever important Bio- make it short, real and include your URL. People will see this and this will be your first impression. Save the Spam, please don’t use this as an advertising board, keep it real and if you can add humor people love it. You want to add points in here that make people “connect” with you.

Samples: disclaimer: If I stole your bio as a sample, please don’t curse me, just enjoy it…

Brian Clark is well known in the blogging world his bio “I run Copyblogger.com and other sites that won’t fit here.”

Random Follower “Blogger, rancher, all around great gal to know. ;)”

Random Follower “Dang passionate about helping people start & grow a business while maintaining life balance (somehow)”

Get the point? They are all descriptive, but not spammy.. hint hint… if there is ever a place NOT to push your business this is it. I’ll show you tips for integrating your business coming up.

Definitions

A couple key terms:

Tweet- I’ll explain further below, but a tweet is a micro-post that you enter

Followers-Readers who add you and follow your tweets

Following- Other Twitter users that YOU are reading and following

Direct Message- a private message you send or receive from another Twitterer

Devices- You can add your phone or hand held to your list of devices and have Twitter available all the time.

All words with Twit…. I love to come up with new words …Twitterer, Twitteractic…who ever came up with that brand name should be given a very hefty bonus..it’s just a fun word to play with!

Public or Private

Next- Private or Public - “Protect my Updates”. This is a feature that allows you to choose if you want the world to see your tweets or only those people you have added as “followers”. If you are trying to use this as a networking tool I advise you keep your tweets public.

Don’t forget to set up your phone or IM. Word of caution; Twitter is VERY active and there are those that tweet from what they are eating for lunch to earth breaking news- literally, I first heard of the massive China Earthquake on Twitter before it even hit the Media. So with that said, beware of your phone updates. You can choose to be only notified on your phone when some Direct Messages (DM) you and this is the better choice in my preference.

Once you have your account and you are logged in you will see your home page. The box is pretty clear, enter your message and click update. Simple.  The four tabs are just as simple:

Recent: These are going to be all the tweets of who you are following and any messages you send.

Replies: Are just the tweets that have gone back and forth direct

Archives: are well, archives

Everyone: This is where you can see what is happening with anyone on the system. If you see something of interest you can click it and decide if you want to follow them.

For the most part, you will spend a majority of your time on your home page just seeing the messages of those that you follow.  Depending on how many people you are following will determine how active this page is and how often it changes. Some people are more active then others.

OK, Checklist:

• You created your Free Twitter Account
• Uploaded a picture
• Created a Crafty Bio
• Decided if you want the world to see your tweets
• Set up your phone and IM

Publicize

Next you will want to send out a Tweet- KIS- KEEP IT SIMPLE. You only have 140 characters- spelling and creative abbreviations count. Until you get the hang of it, you may wonder “WHAT am I supposed to say” and my response is answer the question “What are you doing?”  You can simply enter “My first Tweet, How am I doing?” and see if anyone shoots a reply.

However, don’t hold your breath, you can fly under the radar screen until you get some followers. Let’s start with some basics. Once you create a relationship and know your followers this will work itself out.

Who to Follow

• Visit some of the blogs or websites that you enjoy and see if they have a link to their Twitter account and you can add someone that way.
• You are given the option of adding through your address book
• Watch the Everyone page and you can see if anyone catches your interest.
• Start clicking on names and profiles. Then click on people that are in their profile.

I personally found that the first and fourth bullet allows me to find the most targeted individuals that I want to follow. This way I’m only seeing messages from people that I think I have some sort of connection with parenting, business, dogs, humor- ohhh there are some very funny and creative people around! And when you work from home it’s nice just to have someone that can make you laugh during the day when you need it.

OKAY we now have the basic points covered. I don’t want you to get overwhelmed, I want you to get in there and poke around maybe just be a silent observer for a little bit.  But I want to make one more point. Strategy.

Your online media strategy

Depending on what your business is or your purpose of online networking will depend on your following strategy.  Unless you are uber well known already, and you have a regular following of fans you most likely will need to start building your network by following others. Then when you get a new follower you’ll have to decide if you want to follow them.

There are some people that want to follow as many people as they can while others choose to keep their network small. Don’t be surprised if you send out a couple good tweets, hook to a couple good urls or posts and you wake up in the morning with another 20 followers.

I hope this was a good general overview on why you should take a look at using Twitter. Especially for mommy bloggers, it’s a great way to connect fast and help spread the word! Remember to add me to your network!

I would love to hear what you think of Twitter- leave a comment if I left out any details you or if you have any other questions on how to use Twitter. I’m thinking of creating a second level post on a few more advanced and detailed techniques.

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