Social media 101 Twitter Basics
Twitter is the most powerful social network because of the speed in which it can spread messages to the world related to business and social issues.
When subscribing to Twitter be aware of what you use as a name. Do you want people to find you? Or would you prefer to use your company name in case you decide to sell your company? Keep a short name so it’s easy for someone to find you and easy to spell. You can add your name in your profile for example which will help with key word searching when someone is looking for you if you use your company name.
When we tweet out our message the max is 140 characters. There is some special software which will shorten our URL’s like Bit.ly to enable more text in our message.
Twitter can be run from a mobile device and you cannot see all conversations unless you add or “follow” others. When we follow others they may follow you which is how you build your connections.
You can have public conversations which can draw others to you. If you find that some people are not following you it’s best to delete them as if not following you, you cannot provide conversation and content to them. There is a threshold of followings you are allowed which is 2000 and if the ratio of followers verses followings so deleting the people you aren’t able to interact with will enable you to add others who will. Please note The only automated following behavior that Twitter allows is auto-follow-back (following a user after they have followed you).
Here are some Twitter rules…
- Direct Messages: 250 per day.
- Updates: 1,000 per day. The daily update limit is further broken down into smaller limits for semi-hourly intervals. Retweets are counted as updates.
- Changes to Account Email: 4 per hour.
- Following (daily): Please note that this is a technical account limit only, and there are additional rules prohibiting aggressive following behavior. The technical follow limit is 1,000 per day.
- Following (account-based): Once an account is following 2,000 other users, additional follow attempts are limited by account-specific ratios.
The more you interact, the more conversations or viral power you will have
Tweet good content that people can use and don’t tweet out the same message over and over because people will get bored.
RT – you can Re-tweet others content which you want to share and those followers will love you for it.
DM – Direct message Tweets are prefixed with the letter “D” to indicate a direct message this means it is a private message and not everyone can see it. You can only send if that person is following you.
Any messages that people send to you will be in your email box or an application like Tweetdeck or Twire, but it can get crazy with a lot of people tweeting.
When people start to follow you, you will also receive a message in your inbox to let you know.
- Email Broadcaster
Auto responder services such as Aweber allow you to send messages directly to your Twitter account.
- Tweet Later is a web site which you can monitor topics which interest you. Simply type in keywords or phrases and it will keep you informed of related tweets that you have an interest in.
- Twitter Search – Search key words and find anything that you have an interest in. Perhaps people you’d like to follow
Twitter is excellent for viral marketers. They can create content worth sharing and twitter is one of the most rapid and free distribution network on-line.
Twitter is the no. 1 tool to keep your finger on the pulse in any market or niche.You can become part of the community by sharing and syndicating others and your own content. You will get massive exposure if you do it properly and not spam people.
You can advise customers and clients based on the latest trends and info available on the web. Social media is all about people and their business becomes secondary.
You can monitor what people are saying about you or your company on Twitter which is critical if you have a business as you will be able to address satisfied or non satisfied customers openly. You’re response can be positive or could harm you so be aware of your responses. You cannot ignore any negative comments nor positive comments. You can block followers with negative comments or aggressive behaviour.
To get started on Twitter it’s best to talk to people you know, start with just 2-3 people then build your group. You’ll be amazed at how fast you can grow your audience. Remember to tweet great content, be a trusted advisor and monitor your market to see what others are doing.
When tweeting, express yourself and your own personality, interests or business goals. You want to attract people who are interested in you so BE Yourself.
Keywords
Using names (keywords) embedded in your twitter name is a good way to get found.
Get a dedicated email address with yahoo or Gmail – so you can forward tweets to other accounts after you are set up.
You can follow celebrities if you’d like to. You can follow anyone. It’s good to follow people or companies and groups that is relevant to your business if you have one. Connect with the experts in your field and have conversations with them as others will see what you are tweeting.
When setting up Twitter
Adjust your settings and add your profile along with a picture
You can change your profile any time
Fill out important details on this page to make it easy for people to find you using key word searches (for twitter directory) In your profile use key words relevant to your business, for example if you have an interest in dogs and you are a dog walker for example you could use those specific words in your profile.
When entering your information in On-Line Bio…you have 160 characters to impress someone ALSO you will want to use keywords in your Bio if someone is searching for your type of content or service.
You will want to set the Time Zone for your country as well.
You can also link your Web site or blog directly from your Twitter account (link to where the best content is) for Free giveaways etc. to your sales or squeeze page.
Some companies create dedicated landing pages for their social media profiles so they control what new contacts see.
You could create a personalized welcome video to introduce yourself and have links to other web sites or social media like FB or Linkedin.
3-5 seconds is all the time you have to impress someone with your website
Don’t tweet too much on Twitter in the beginning.
Important – don’t try to sell anything in the first meeting (first Tweet) – introduce yourself – research the people and make at least 5 contacts with them before selling anything – solve their problems for them for nothing – they will keep following you. They’ll love you.
Add a photo – crop of face with a smile
Sending a Tweet
Compose an on-line message using 140 character limit into a box at the top of your twitter page
There is a software you can sign up for and use to shorten your URL’s automatically at http://budurl.com or http://bit.ly that way the URL is not counted in to the 140 characters and you can add more content to your tweets!
Happy Tweeting!!