Tweeter Than Wine...How to Have A More Purposeful Twitter Experience

by Tammy de Leeuw
Grouchy Marketing Lady.Com

1. Lame is as lame does.. Resist lameness in your Tweets.

At first, Twitter might seem a bit silly to you; a jumble of meaningless ramblings and links to God Knows What, but there is a method in the madness. When you Tweet, try your best to offer exceptional information in 140 characters or less.

Answer questions that are posted, link to useful websites, and give solid advice. In short: be a useful chit-chatter, not someone who Tweets constantly about being at their doctor's appointment, or standing in line for a gourmet glazed donut, etc. There is just too much of that already on Twitter, in my opinion. Be different and try to pack some substance into your 14o characters.

2. @Replies

Responding to other peoples' posts is one of the best ways to develop relationships via Twitter. All you have to do is key in the @ sign followed by the person's username (without spaces) and write your response. Your response can be as simple as a show of support or thumbs up to a suggestion, to sharing a similar story you may have. When you show other people you have an interest in what they are tweeting ,they tend to suddenly become interested in YOU.

3. Blog Posts

If you don't have a blog yet- you should get one. (a different topic for a different day) The reason is simple: If you're a blogger, you can grow your blog following by automating the process of letting people know about new posts. This is easy on Twitter: just tweet the title of your post and the link to it. Tweets about blogs are some of the most popular Tweets.

You can make the process simpler and more automated by having a site like TWITTERFEED do it for you.

4. What the heck are Retweets and Why Should I Use Them?

Retweets can help you in your quest to be a useful and popular Twitter. When you see posts that you think are particularly good or helpful , key in the letters RT or the word RETWEET then @USERNAME. Retweeting shows people you really do read what they post and creates a good feeling between users. CAVEAT: Don't do this too often... you can irritate people if you never have anything original to contribute.

5. Ask a question..

You would be amazed at how asking a simple question such as "where can I find a part for my antique Widgetmaster?" can get you a flurry of activity on Twitter. People who Tweet often pride themselves on being sources of helpful info.

6. "Blow By Blow" Accounts

If you are doing something particularly interesting, why not give a minute by minute account of the goings on? I've seen fascinating live updates from concerts, lectures, college classes, Renaissance fairs, etc. Be your own NEWSWIRE and people will start paying attention to you.

7. Photos and Graphics

Find a funny photo? Go on vacation to a cool place? People LOVE photos and graphics, and if you use TwitPic or a similar application, you can upload a photo and send a Tweet at the same time!

8. Reason to celebrate? TWEET it!

If you just acquired a new contract, made your sales goals, got a new client, or your boss gave you a great big ATTABOY!, you can let people know about it on Twitter in a celebratory, non- boastful manner.

9. Make dynamic videos and podcasts and advertise them on Twitter.

I always enjoy finding out about a new source of information. And..good news- it doesn't have to be about insurance, finance, or business- your internet discoveries can and should be ecletic and diverse. Don't you want to be viewed as an interesting person?

10. Make "mininars" with Goldmail voice over visuals (www.goldmail.com).

The Goldmails are like short powerpoint presentations with you doing the narration. I have made dozens of them and used them successfully in my marketing. Take the URL's generated by Goldmail, make them tiny at tinyurl.com and post them.

11.Find exceptional quotes and post them.
I enjoy the funny ones myself, but I have seen some excellent inspirational ones as well.

12. Build up other people.

Don't always post about your own website or blog. Brag on your friends, co-workers, and associates every now again. It creates a good rapport with your followers.

13. Don't push products...or services... or discounts, etc.

If you want people to know all the great things you have done for people, direct them to a link where you have posted the stories of those who have been helped by your products or services.

10: Don't use automated direct messages.

Yes, you can send out automated messages every time someone follows you on Twitter. I bet you have a bucketful of those kinds of messages yourself. A lot of marketers disagree with me here, but I am opposed to those kinds of messages simply because they seem insincere. Direct automated messages make me feel as if I am being treated like a number on the stat sheet and not a real person.

11. Follow back.

This seems pretty logical, but I am astounded at the people who complain about having few followers, yet they themselves never follow back. You shouldn't have a situation where you only FOLLOW 27 people but you have 34,000 FOLLOWERS. Balance things out a little and follow back. Use www.mytweeple.com to help you manage this a little better.

12. Show a sense of humor.

You don't have to be rude and crude, but it is perfectly OK to stretch and show that you are indeed a human being. Tweeting a funny quote, humorous or weird website URL, or loading a photo to Twitpic is a great way to attract more followers.

13.Write a series of special reports and give them away on Twitter,
You don't want to be pushy in the social media world- you want to GIVE. If you want to connect with your target market in a more meaningful way, give them information they can use. Consider writing a series of white papers or e-books, put them on a special website where you can collect data, and post links on Twitter.

14. Make a good Facebook page and invite people on Twitter to "friend you."

15. Organize a meet and greet for the local community and tweet about it.
Need to connect locally? Why not hold regular live meetings (for coffee, lunch, brunch, etc.) for your local Twitter and Facebook friends? Keep it consistent ("every Wed. at 3PM we all meet at Marty's...")

These are just a few of the ways you can leverage the power of emergent social media to build your relationship-based business.

Don't think of Twitter or any other social media for that matter, as an end-all, do-all- be-all marketing tool. Instead, integrate your other marketing tools into it and you will be pleasantly surprised at how fast your personal network grows.