To Twitter or Not to Twitter… Should I?

Recently I have been asked by a lot of friends, customers and colleagues if I Twitter .

Yep!!! I do.

At first I was slow to start and it took me a while to figure out what the big deal was, but every day I am finding new reasons to Twitter . In fact it has become my most productive social media form.

Need some money?

Twitter about a new product you like. (Make sure you’re an affiliate first.)

Want to grow a list?

Make lots of Tweets that have value and invoke interest. This is important , do not market constantly on Twitter . That list will wither up and die. You need to listen to Tweets and respond to them. Become friends with those who touch you in some way, because beautiful relationships can be formed this way. When people know and trust you, they will follow you and do what you do. Treat your Peeps like they are your family, with love and respect.

I want to share the way I Twitter with my readers, so here is my step-by-step method and checklist to quickly help you be successful on twitter. Whether you  are new to Twitter , or you’ve been around awhile, this stuff  is important.

What is twitter?

Twitter can be a fun way to keep in touch with your family and friends or to find new friends and business associates. So twitter is kind of like a personal blog, only with shorter and more frequent posts. It’s a "microblog," a communication tool you can access and use on the web. It can also integrate with text messages on your mobile phone.

When I see someone new following me, I want to know more about them. So I check out their Twitter profile, I read their bio, and click on their website. Sometimes I get a follower that is new to twitter and who doesn’t know how to set up their profile information. Some of these people are following lots of other folks, but not many follow them back.

One problem is Twitter’s instructions for setting up a new account. It’s missing something important, setting up your profile information. This needs to be done before following anyone, before your first Tweet. Your profile needs to include your photo, bio and your website.

I usually advise people to use their real name and photo. (I’ve been using Carolz_place a long time, so decided to keep it, as lots of people know me on Social Sites that way.) To make your name more readable, capitalize your user name, as in DenisFoley. (If you already have a twitter account, you can fix the capitalization in your account settings. As long as you only change the capitalization and don’t add or delete characters, you won’t hurt anything.) If your twitter ID is your company name or product name, you might want to use that.

Here is the checklist you need to follow.

Even if you have a Twitter account, double check each step to make sure you’ve done it completely, as they are all important.

✔ Step 1. Create an account at http://twitter.com using these guidelines.

• On the signup page, capitalize your first and last name, as in DenisFoley.
• Skip the next invitation page, which is… are your friends on Twitter? You’ll do it later in step 4.
• Skip the next page, the home page. You’ll update your status in step 3.

✔ Step 2. Set up your information for people to see.

• Click on the Settings link at the top of your twitter page.
• Fix the first text field (Name) so it is First name, space, Last name (with capitals).
• Set your time zone, URL, bio, and location. (Make sure your bio is interesting and attracts attention.)
• Click on the Devices tab if you want updates to come to your mobile phone. Enter your phone number.    (You can do this later if you want.)
• Click on the Picture tab, and upload your photo. (If you have one saved on your computer, click browse.)
• Click on the Design tab, and select a theme you like. (You can change this anytime, and we might learn how to do that in another post.)

✔ Step 3. Create your first status update.

• Click on the Home link at the top of the twitter page. It asks, “What are you doing?”
• Update your status so your future followers will know you are real. You can type anything; perhaps “Signed up for twitter. Setting up account.”
• Enter one or more updates.

✔ Step 4. Find your friends and new people to follow.

• Click on the Find People link at the top of the Twitter page.
• Then click on each of the tabs to find your friends by their name or email address, your address book, etc.
• Another tool for finding people you know or want to follow is http://search.twitter.com . Try typing their name or nickname, their website, or something you know them by.
• Now go looking for other interesting people. Read their profiles and check out their website before deciding to follow them. Then click follow, and send them a tweet that lets them know who you are or why you’re following them. Look for some who are "gurus" in the area you’re interested in. You’ll learn a lot from them.

✔ Step 5. Start engaging followers in meaningful conversation.

• Ask for advice. Ask questions. Ask how they’re doing.
• Offer tips and advice when you see someone asking for it.
• Be open in your conversation. Go with the flow. Don’t agree with everyone, dare to be different, be a leader.
• Talk with people, not at them.

OK, now your Twitter profile should be up and running and people will be able to get to know you quickly. Have fun with Twitter! And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, cause I’ll follow you back. Please let me know if this information helped you by leaving a comment below. Be sure to include your Twitter @UserName. Thanks for stopping by.

One Response to “To Twitter or Not to Twitter… Should I?”

1. Kha Ton says:

   February 1, 2009 at 3:46 pm

   Hi Carol,
   I do love Twitter because with Twitter I can share information, ask questions, share opinion, share links, make new friends and much more….Great post.
   Thanks
   Kha

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