Basic tips and tricks for using Twitter effectively

| December 2009 Posted in Consulting, Social Media, Tips & Tricks |

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I am by no means the authority on this topic, nor am I the best Twitter user out there. I do not have the largest group of followers on Twitter, but I have a few. Some may think that I am not qualified to talk about this, but I feel like there is a lot of information out there about how to use Twitter to grow your business. In fact I think that everyone involved in the industry has written a book on it. Not that I believe this to be a problem, after all we live in the “information age”.

The only complaint I have is that sometimes we think things to be more complicated then they are. Which leads us to seek out as much information as possible on the topic, but then we are on over load thinking their is no way we can do that or we tell our selves it will take to much time and effort. I am not saying we shouldn’t have to work or apply effort, I just believe that sometimes we just need to apply a little common sense!

Using Twitter is not brain surgery and on the other end of the scope its not as easy as playing Go Fish either. However, it can be quite simple.

The first thing to do is determine way you are using Twitter

Wether you are staying hip to your friends lives, or marketing your business Twitter is a very effective tool. If you are just using Twitter as a cool way to talk to your friends then you probably wont care about the cool tips and tricks businesses and other can us to really expand this awesome tool.

I have recently been working with some unemployment centers on how to use Twitter to find work and market yourself for the job you want. A different avenue, but it works.

The second thing to do is get involved in the conversations that interest you

Here are some of the conversations that I follow, unemployment, blogging, WordPress, CRUSH IT (its a book), and social media. I do not have to “follow” hundreds of people to see these conversations. There is a couple of ways that you can watch these conversations;

Use search.twitter.com and search for those keywords
Use the built in search tool on your Twitter home page
Use a 3rd party tool like Seesmic Desktop

I prefer the 3rd option, a 3rd party tool. I can have as many conversations going as I desire and view them all at the same time. Below is a screen shot of what my Seemic Desktop app looks like.

From left to right…

The first window is where I monitor my Facsbook profile and Fan page. The next window is my Twitter account. The other windows are the conversations that I follow.

Now let me explain what I mean by “get involved”. It wont do you to much good to just watch these conversations. You need to add to them. Share your thoughts and ideas. Comment on other peoples tweets and share interesting articles, pictures, videos, podcast and what every you find that is beneficial and pertains to that topic.

The third thing you need to do is understand some of the Twitter vocabulary & how to use it

There are a bunch of articles that you could find with different vocab words and what they mean, but I am going to talk about five important ones. And really the only five that are important.

Handle aka @username
Re-tweet aka RT
Direct Message aka DM
Hashtag aka #sometopic
Backchannel

1. Handle, this is used as a username or an identifier. My handle is @chrisegg, so if you wanted to find me on Twitter you could search for me by typing in @chrisegg or find my Twitter directly by going to www.twitter.com/chrisegg which is my handle without the @ symbol. Everybody on Twitter has a handle so if you are going to talk about them or mention them you should find and use their handle.

2. Re-tweet RT, when someone says or shares a link that you find beneficial you can re-tweet it so that your followers can see the tweet too. The nice thing about using this option is that you still allow the original tweeter to get credit for their tweet.

3. Direct Message DM, this is a nice function that allows you to send a private message that is only viewable by you and the person the DM was sent to. In order send someone a DM they must be following you!

4. Hashtag #sometopic, the hashtag is used for categorizing your tweets and it also allows you to reach a larger audience. The people that see your post are typically just those that follow you. Now when you use hashtags you can also reach out to hundreds of people that monitor those conversations. For example, if I find an article that is related to social media, when I twitter about that article I am going to attach #socialmedia to my tweet so that everyone who monitors that hashtag can see the info.

5. Backchannels, these are associated with hashtags. If you go to a 360 Flex conference for example they will encourage the attendees to use the backchannel #360flex when they twitter about the show. This creates a type of group or community for people to communicate during and after the show.

The fourth thing to do, start using Twitter

Twitter is a great tool that can help you build a large network quicker than any other tool I have ever seen. It is very effective and beneficial when used properly. Don’t just start using it to promote yourself and your business. Don’t be annoying and RT everyones tweets, bring original content to the conversation. Bring useful information the the conversation. Find a way to help someone solve a problem, reach out and offer advice and support.

The sixth thing to do is copy the following text into your Twitter feed and share it with your followers

@chrisegg great article on Basic Tips & Tricks for using #Twitter effectively http://url4t.com/-hX #socialmedia #twittertips #blog4biztips

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I would love to hear some other basic tips & tricks for using Twitter if anyone has any. Just leave them in the comments or twitter them using the hashtag #blog4biztips. If you leave a comment be sure to leave your handle at the end of the comment.