As a heavy user of Twitter, I want to share with you some power techniques I’ve used to build my reputation on twitter. One key way to building your reputation on twitter is tweeting regularly and providing quality content for your followers.
One of the questions people have been asking me is:
What do I tweet about? No one wants to know about me going to the grocery store, do they?
Yes, and no. Let me explain.
My advice is you should tweet at least once per day. Let’s do some role playing here. If you went to someone’s profile, and they have made absolutely no post for the last 6 months – would you follow them? Probably no. Obviously, this is a dead account.
So, what do you tweet about? Here are some ideas:
- Join the Conversation: Follow a few people you respect. People who tweet regularly. First thing in the morning, before you check email, log into Twitter. Look at what your friends have said or asked. Then respond to their tweets with the @username tag.
- Today, I am going to…: While it is not exactly “what are you doing”…it’s a good start to building your habit. Tell people what you intend to do today. It might be obvious to you, but for your friends who are not in constant contact with you every day, this is a good “heads up” for them.
- Position Yourself as the Expert: You may be the world’s most knowledgeable Shakespeare Scholar. Or the foremost expert in worm mating habits. That’s the beauty of the internet. No matter how obscure your interests are…publish it, and others who share the same interests can follow you. Write down short tips in a pre-written document. “Did you know that…” and every day, copy and paste a new post to your twitter micro-blog.
- Write a mini-book. Another idea you can do is to write a book/poem/epic in twitter format. Write the whole thing out, and then break it in 140 char chunks. Use www.tweetlater.com to schedule out your epic. Build a saga out of your tweets.
- Insert yourself into the Conversation. Do a Search for the people you respect most in your field. They usually have a handle like @georgetran. Do a search for their @ handle. This will bring up everyone who is having a conversation about them. Join the conversation. Get involved. Offer insights, ideas, opposing opinions, etc. Of course, always add value and be respectful. But this is a good way to find new friends, clients and prospects.
As a rule, I monitor @ conversations because they are fresh. Chasing followers can be an exercise in frutility as most twitter profiles are inactive. I want to engage people who are active on twitter.
- Ask open ended questions. Try this for a week. Seriously. Do nothing but ask questions for a whole week. Make it easy for people to engage you in conversations. This way, you will have plenty to tweet about…just responding to people. ”What are you doing this weekend?”, “What did you do on the weekend?” , “What book has influenced you most in your life?”, “Who inspired you most?”, etc. You will get so many followers you won’t know what hit you.
- Mix it up. It’s OK to let people know what your are currently doing…even if it is doing the dishes. (now that will be tricky to do while washing). Just mix it up with the other tips here.
- Link your conversation with Facebook. Be sure to install the Facebook-Twitter plugin. This way, all your tweets will also appear in your Facebook newsfeed so all your friends on Facebook can also see your conversations and have a chance to respond.
I’m sure there’s plenty of other people out there with ideas…these are just some thoughts I had. If you have any suggestions to add, please comment.
Sincerely
George Tran
Author of “The Social Marketing Manifesto”
Success Strategies for Small Businesses using Social Media
www.socialmarketingman.com
www.twitter.com/georgetran
Ps. Please retweet this if you found this helpful.
{ 2 comments }
