Getting Started on Twitter

Twitter is a social media site unlike any other. You can meet people from all over the world that you did not know, but who may have similar interest.

Twitter is a place to get to know people, share information and help one another. It is about creating value & education. It is not about selling your stuff.

If you consistently advertise or send people to lead capture pages then do not expect to attract quality people. In fact most of us on Twitter call these people spammers. Just remember that no one wants to be SOLD all the time. It is called Social Media for a reason.

Think of Twitter and social media as if you were at a party. What would you do, say, or act? I hope you would ask people questions about what they like, about their job or what is important to them ? Family, friends, hobbies, movies & more.

Twitter is truly an amazing place to learn and make new friends, but it can be a little overwhelming if you are new. I found some great tools to save you time & help you on Twitter.

There are over 250 Twitter tools and applications, so I decided to save you countless hours learning about all the different tools and share some that have been a big help for me in my video & list below.

Twitbacks
Free backgrounds for your Twitter page.

Tweetlater
Schedule tweets, Automate welcome messages, Automate to follow and unfollow others.

TweetDeck
Form groups, shrink tweets & URL's, Facebook status updates & much more.

Twollo
Automatically follow people with similar interest by keyword search.

Twellow
Find your Target market by category or location.

TweetMiner (now Pluggio)

*** A new tool I just started using and it is awesome! ***

Allows you to schedule RSS feed for content from your favorite sites, RT your favorite people and either schedule specific time or add to rolling schedule. Definitely check it out !



(Click the image to get a better look a Tweetminer's features.)



(Click the image to get a better look at Tweetminer's features.)

When you see RT on Twitter it is always followed by @stacykinney (Example). This means that someone is re stating what someone else said. You are giving credit to the person who made the statement much like you would do with a quote.

You want to make sure that you always give credit. Do not ever cut and paste a tweet and make it your own. That is a big NO NO on Twitter.

You may also see people give credit on Twitter with the word...via

Examples of RT and via used on Twitter :

@eQuin2010 RT @stacykinney 5 Secrets to Running a Successful Home Based Business http://hubpages.com/t/a9737
*********************************************************************************************************************************
@ckinney 25 Things I hate about FaceBook -- http://bit.ly/ykNqb -- Too funny ! Love it ! (via @stacykinney)
*********************************************************************************************************************************
@Terry_Allison (Great article!) Internet Affiliate Marketing http://digg.com/d3q6i4 via @stacykinney
*********************************************************************************************************************************
You will also see where some things get RT/ ReTweeted by many people like this one:

@ateegarden RT @PerryBelcher RT @zaibatsu RT @stacykinney 5 Twitter tips for your company-- http://bit.ly/uZYij
*********************************************************************************************************************************
You can add your comments and position the tweet however you like as long as you remember to RT or via the person who Tweeted it.

Retweeting is a big part of building relationship and making new friends on Twitter. I make sure to RT many times throughout the day and to help promote my follows.

Retweeting is also something I use to determine if I will follow a person or not. I always look at their Tweets for the last day or so to see if they RT and are engaging. If I only see them Tweeting their own stuff then it is a one way street and I do not follow them.

If you are brand new to Twitter and not sure what to Tweet about then find some people that interest you and RT their tweets. You will not only learn this way, but your followers will LOVE you for it!

If you are truly brand new on Twitter, then you are probably wondering what in the world does # this mean? You will see it for #FollowFriday also known as #FF, #music, #jobs, #MusicMonday, #ecoMonday & much much more.

#Hashtags are used for trending topics on Twitter and as a way to make categories. These categories can be searched by using the search tool on Twitter. It is pretty cool because many people put themselves in categories like #green, #eco, #health, etc.

This is a great way to find people with like interest or participate in something fun happening on Twitter at any given time.

There is also another cool thing you can use the hashtags for if you have a group of friends or maybe you are all at a cool event ? Let's say you are at an event and you decide to use the hashtag #rock23, then you all tweet and use this #rock23 hashtag so you can see what everyone is saying about the event.

If you want to see what is happening right now on Twitter and all the #Hashtags being used then check out this site... http://www.hashtags.org/

I remember my first Friday on Twitter. I was completely confused & had no idea what was going on? Why do I see #FollowFriday? What does it mean?

Every Friday people will send out their favorite people and recommend that others follow them. Many times you will see tons and tons of tweets like this....

#FollowFriday @Terry_Allison @ckinney @mmangen @williger @David_Kaufer @MirrorFinish @Mastocytosis @westham999 @AnthonyTilghman @Msbbp404

#FF @DeanBenninger @MyGreenSide @billbudgets @teamarete @EcoFan @amous @eQuin2010 @ArwenTaylor @davorado @AmericanWomannn

After a few Friday's I felt like my eyes were going to roll back into my head. Friday's had now become chaotic & almost stressful for me. I had so many followers and it was too much to try and recommend them all & how was I ever going to keep up with it?

I found an awesome tool to make Follow Friday so much easier. The Twitter Tag Project, which allow you to scan the last 200 tweets, count the dups, and return your most active friends.

The results will display: (you hit tweet and that is it) - So Easy!!

Latest update & breaking news about Follow Friday:

Many more Friday's went by before I started to realize that my eyes were still rolling in the back of my head. The tweets all day long looked the same to me. It all looked like a bunch of noise & was not really following any new people on Friday. That is when I decided to do things very different then everyone else on Twitter.

I decided that it is all about creating value & that each person deserves to know a little about that person & why they should follow. I also decided that I would make #follow recommendations every day of the week & not just on Friday. This way the recommendation would really stand out apart from all the noise.

Now my recommendations look like this..... (Some of my Favorite peeps )

@Terry_Allison Great friend who does Joint Ventures w/ Authors, Speakers, Trainers, Real Estate and Niche Experts for Promotion/Profit.

@ckinney Good friend. Always engages- very helpful here on Twitter & She markets a Carwash Magazine. Take time 2 get 2 know her..

@mmangen Great girl - My friend. Does Bookkeeping & Property Management Virtual Assistant. QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Excel Queen.

@williger Darren is a tea drinking, guitar playing, low-carb eating, wine making sales maker who writes 4 MyLowCarbPages.com - Luv it !

@David_Kaufer awesome guy -good friend to follow - Great Tweets - He is a marketer, entrepreneur & Passionate #Green advocate

@MirrorFinish Frank is super guy. Always here to help & he tweets to help keep your car and boat like new. Mobile detail biz

@Mastocytosis An incredibly brave women & great person who is always helpful. Follow her & learn about her cause to raise awareness....

@westham999 Really great guy who always engages and is very helpful to me. He mixes it up with music & fun.. Be sure to follow

@AnthonyTilghman He is a great guy who always engages & here to help.

@Msbbp404 Awesome - always engages and RT's - truly a wonderful person!

@DeanBenninger He is a great guy to know. Always engages here on Twitter & very helpful person. check him out ! :-)

@MyGreenSide She is awesome lady... Mother & wife -- I am learning great #green info from her... check her out

@billbudgets Jessica is very cool girl. Good friend to have. Always helping others & she takes the stress out of bill paying...

@teamarete He is Entrepreneur, Bringing 25+ years of business development experience to the home business industry. Super guy to follow!

@ecofan Super guy & father. Always engages. He is an Entrepreneur that LOVE's Alternative Energy. check him out

@amous He is a super guy who really helps out & engages on Twitter. He is holding the famous bunny on twitter #amousbunny - check him out!

@eQuin2010 He is super cool & helpful. He engages and RT's. Great friend to have. Check him out! :-) Has new #green biz too!

@ArwenTaylor She is great & engages. She also writes articles for people & does SEO. Internet savvy girl.

@davorado Great guy who does magazine design, media, & publishing. He is all about Sharing, learning, and meeting new people. #follow

@AmericanWomannn My fun & passionate friend & the lady who started #Hunkalert & #babealert. She is always on here & will engage! :-)

Those were just a few of my favorite peeps on Twitter. There are so many wonderful people that I have connected with that I wish I could name them all.

I now keep a word document with all the people I feel deserve to go on my list & then I will recommend them throughout the week & even promote their business. I continue to add more and more people that I feel add value & are worth tweeting about on Twitter.

I think people deserve to know why they should follow others and those you recommend deserve to be in the spotlight!

Stacy Kinney is an Internet Network Marketing coach. She teaches the most effective methods for lead generation on the Internet today. She provides tremendous tips and value for free like the "Home Business Success Checklist".

She is a firm believer that with the right tools & Leadership, that anyone with the desire can be extremely successful.

Stacy realized at an early age the importance of continuing education. She is consistent with her own personal & professional growth.

She is also very passionate about making a difference, not only in the lives of others, but in helping our environment. Stacy is learning and taking steps to be more eco friendly so that she and her family can live a healthier lifestyle.