Twitter Tips! Free Twitter Tips!
- Be sure to pin this for a reminder and tweet it for others.
In this series of the Boost Your Blog Challenge we’ll work to grow your blog with twitter. I LOVE twitter. It’s one of my top 3 favorite social media channels and I earn an income using it for both myself and the clients using it.
Follow people who can add VALUE to your feed that you can share with your readers. I share info that my readers are interested in and can grow with.
Ignore and block spam, ‘bots and porn. Answer questions that are addressed to you. Imagine twitter is a party. Don’t be the jerk that ignores someone because their klout score or readership isn’t over yours.
There’s no such thing as a private conversation in a twitter stream. The point is to get your feet wet and start talking. It’s not rude to jump into a conversation but if you’re uncomfortable simply start one!
Use 1 to 2 hashtags and NEVER more than 3. Because #hashtagging #multiple #words #makes #one #a #hashtag #weenie.
Comment on a retweet so it shows up in everyone’s stream.
For the love of all get rid of the tacky validation services. I refuse to fill it out. It’s like inviting someone into your house and then putting barbed wire across the door way to wiggle through. You’re missing the point of twitter if you have a ‘private twitter account’ for your business or blog.
Read through their timeline, click over to their blog, 3 tweets doesn’t tell you if they’re having a quirky moment or if they always speak about dinglehoppers. If you’re into dinglehoppers you’ll miss the fact that normally all they speak about are watchamacallits
Hootsuite is the tool that will help you separate and see who to follow that will help you grow and provide great content for your readers. It’s what I use for both myself and my clients to help grow their twitter accounts and stay engaged with their readers.
I love interacting and there’s nothing worse that a tweet that I have to edit so I can answer. So…keep your tweets shorter than 100 characters. Most people won’t edit and you’ll miss out some quality interaction.
I’m ornery and enjoy sarcasm but you don’t want to leave people wondering if you’re a jerk or you’re being sarcastic/funny. Using a smiley face 🙂 or a winky face 😉 will let folks know ‘This is funny! I’m teasing/joking/having fun!’
Tweets have an expiration date of a few to 72 hours depending on your niche. Twitter isn’t the place to see a comment and then respond back to it days or Heaven forbid! weeks or months later. Set notifications up on your phone so you can respond quickly and easily WITHOUT opening your laptop.
The one tweet that never expires is the one where you made a mistake. Now, if you ignore it…it’ll grow bigger. But, if you apologize for being ignorant or thank someone for educating you everything is good. I tend to say something like, ‘Oops! I lied! 😉 Here’s the right info from -name-!’ The smiley face shows I wasn’t TRYING to mess up and the ‘lie part’ makes it a bit funny/enjoyable but shows I misunderstood the question or my understanding of what was taught. And, mistake disappears.
Want more Boost Your Blog Challenge? Then head back over tomorrow or go ahead and sign up for the #BB100 newsletter so it comes straight to your email to read and enjoy as you will. 🙂
I’ve pinned this to my Twitter Tips board on Pinterest. I hadn’t heard the 100 character tip before… it makes a lot of sense.
Sweet! Thanks for the pin Amanda. 🙂 I think it’s pretty smart too. I learned it at Savvy Blogging last year. 😉
~Honey
Did I miss something or has this been the only Twitter post for the challenge? I keep checking back as I am curious to learn more about how Twitter works. A little confused…
Ah twitter, I still don’t get it. One day, one day . . .
Aimee you cracked me up!
~Honey
This is awesome! Thanks for all the tips! It’s so helpful. I’m definitely sharing this one. Great post!
I’m here mostly to hang out on this one. I have been doing the Boost Your Blog Challenge. However, I don’t use Twitter (and don’t plan to start). But, I do want to be informed about how it works.
Haven’t really used Hootsuite or any of the others named…LOL. I just always go to twitter.com on the old laptop to see what’s happening. I need to work on using those hashtags better.
Hey Honey!
Thanks for the twitter tips and reminders. I love twitter and have been using it for a while. In fact, I think Twitter is how we met 🙂
Hootsuite; never used it. I got hooked on Tweetdeck a while back and just haven’t expended the brain power to switch.
What do you think about Buffer for scheduling across multiple platforms??
I am new to Twitter and like others, still in the dark about it. I do want to use it as a way to get the word out about my website. (And not come across as someone desperate for followers.) I am looking forward to finding out more.
I think when you start using twitter you have to think as it’s a new place you have moved to. You can’t be fake or desperate because you’ll draw the wrong friends (followers). But, friends like followers are something that happens when you’re interacting and talking with others. It’ll happen. You just have to put in the time to grow a relationship. 🙂
~Honey
I have to admit that I have only used my twitter account for entering giveaways. It’s still pretty foreign to me. Please tell me, when you do a hashtag, such as #BB100, is it only for a kinda recognition thing? Or does it do more? I’m sorry to be so ignorant of it, but it has never been explained to me. I hope I’m not the only one.
Hey Julie! I’m going to go more in depth over hashtag use but the quick n dirty answer is yesnnobutmaybe. (That’s a highly technical term there. 😉 )
Basically the #1 reason for a hashtag is as a recognition as you’ll pull up everything and one that’s tagged with it. But at the same time it is not about recognition but the ability to search and have information that’s about a topic.
Using hashtags are a way to cross social media channels without losing meaning or information. An easy way to see what’s being said about a topic and to also see who is saying something about a topic. It also does cool things for brand awareness too as folks connect someone like #BB100 with improving your blog and community building. Name brands also use their name as a hashtag on twitter, instagram and Facebook for this very reason.
I hope that helps! If not holler at me.
~ Honey
Great tips, Honey. I had to giggle at the hashtag comment. It’s not instagram, where the idea seems to be to string as many hashtags together as we can, right? I have never used hootsuite, but I guess I’d better start.
@Julie – I’m by far a twitter expert, but I know you can click on a hashtag and see what other people are saying about it. It does help get recognition. You can click on #giveaway for instance and see tons and tons of giveaways.
Oh…Instagram drives me crazy with all the hashtags! 😉 I see it on twitter too. It’s not as bad on twitter because of the 140 character length limit (Thankfully!) but I’ve seen where folks will have a tweet with nothing BUT hashtags. er. But, that’ll be ‘discussed’ all in the posts.
I love your hashtag! THAT’s a funny and good one if you ask me! And, you’re totally right about clicking on a hashtag and finding everything surrounding that hashtag. 🙂
~Honey
I have a couple questions I forgot to add – can you explain hootsuite in more detail? And how do I comment when someone retweets? I sometimes try to go in and thank a person for retweeting – but I can’t figure out how to do that. #menotsosmartontwitter. 🙂
Hey Michelle! 😉 I have a post coming up about hoostsuite and how to use it. There’s also going to be a post over etiquette and twitter how tos.
~Honey
Thanks for sharing this! Your timing is perfect because I just started using my twitter account yesterday. I really feel lost when it comes to it, and overwhelmed when I think about all of the social media I should be using and how frequently. Oi. Anyway, I really appreciate the tips and will be putting them to use as I actually start being active on Twitter.
I’ll be sure to share this though 🙂
#BB100
Ah thanks for sharing it Yuliya! 🙂 I saw it on twitter which tickles me to death! I always get excited knowing I’ve been able to help someone come to the dark side…. (Insert Darth Vader voice) Yuliya….come to the twitter side!… 😉
Now, don’t burn out on social media. Take it as you can. I’m not saying don’t work your butt off but don’t get so overwhelmed you quit all together. I’ll let you in on my secret weapon over how I handle social media too this week. I only wish someone had let me in on it sooner.
…wow…and I’m making you wait too…pot..meet kettle. 😉
Holler if you’ve something specific you have questions about. The point is to help and share because information should be shared and never hoarded.
~Honey