In my last couple of blogs, I introduced my experiences with Social Media (SM) and some of the techniques I use. Many people commented or contacted me wanting to know more about it, hence this post.
So what is Twitter?
Start off by going to www.twitter.com and checking it out. Essentially, you have 140 characters to express your thoughts, share links, start a fight, slam your enemy, promote your business, change the world, etc.
Twitter is used by millions of people in the U.S. and millions of others across the world. It is an easy to use, simple platform that allows you to make connections with people from a variety of demographics.
Setting up an account should take you about 60 seconds, unless you are on dial up, in which case you should probably put a record on your gramophone, pick up your rotary telephone, and start scratching your last will and testament onto a scrap of birch bark. Or carve it into a stone tablet. There, did I beat that dead horse well enough? I hereby cordially invite you into the 21st Century.
To get the most out of Twitter, you're going to need additional software, such as TweetDeck or TweetGrid. There are lots of platforms out there, and I personally use TweetDeck. Play around with a few, and see what works for you. With TD, you have the ability to create groups within your pool of followers, making it easier to track comments and replies. TD will also save the replies, and you can you can view hundreds of Tweets at once.
Most of the time, when people tell me they don't "get" Twitter, I find they are trying to use it as is. Get a platform, and you'll see the benefits. You can get TweetDeck here: http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta You will also need to download Adobe Air 1.5, which you can get at the same location. It'll only take a few minutes, and it will be worth it.
OK, now you have the platform, you're tweeting, and are on your way to being a true Twit. Now how do you use it to get results? In a word: Network.
Start talking to people. Engage in conversations. Comment on others Tweets. When you do, you will start to connect with people, and they will recommend you to others. You're following will start growing like mad. Follow others back. This increases your sphere of influence. There are programs out there that will gain you thousands of followers "instantly", but I won't use them. It's like tying a pork chop around your neck to get the dog to spend time with you. Be good to people, and they'll be good to you.
Once you have your following started, begin throwing out a post with a link every now and then. Link to your blog, link to your website, link to pictures of you on TwitPic, whatever. This is how you spread your name through the search engines, and traffic starts spiking for you. Whatever you do, DO NOT be the person that ONLY posts links about themselves.
Become known as someone who provides useful, interesting, and/or fun links. I have a friend on Twitter that posts a lot, and every once in a while she catches me with some spam, but it's ok, because the majority of her posts are fun and interesting.
TweetDeck has a built in URL shrinker. This is cool because it shrinks the URL, and you don't know what it is. Let's face it, if you tell me to go to Iamaboringrealtor.com, I'm not gonna go there. But if you post:
How to get 10 listings, TODAY! http://bit.ly/14UHKr
you will get a lot more hits. Give them a reason to want to know more, and they'll take the bait. Then when they see that extremely attractive, professional looking, obviously stellar performer profile you have set up, they'll just have to read all about you.
BE YOURSELF! Don't try to walk the middle-ground. If you have feelings on an issue, throw it out there. Be interesting! I said earlier there are millions of people on Twitter. The downside of that is that you need to make yourself stand out. Being a wallflower is not going to reap you the results you desire. If you want people to get to know you, you have to put something out there.
TweetDeck also has an easy button for ReTweeting. A retweet (RT) is simply sending someones tweet back out to your followers. When you tweet, it is visible to your followers only. I currently have about 700 followers (in two weeks!). So, say you have 300 followers. You tweet, and 300 people see it. I RT it, and now 1000 people have seen it. One of my followers (AKA Tweeps) sees it, and RT's it to their 1000 followers, and so on. Now at least 2000 people just saw your link to your site.
The key to getting RT's is to RT others. Help other Tweeps out, and they'll help you. Become known as someone who gives more than receives. You just might pick up a referral out of it!
It's viral. It's hot. It's easy. It works!
OK, this is getting lengthy, so I'm going to leave off here. Let me know if you want more info on a certain aspect of Twittering. If I don't know, I'll find out for you. Why? Because then I'll learn something, too. At the end of the day, that's my goal.
As always, thanks for reading, and please follow me on Twitter, and keep me smiling by subscribing to my blog!
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