If you are interested in last week’s post on Twitter and are thinking of giving it a go, check out Twitter’s own guide for businesses. It includes getting started, becoming familiar with the jargon, best practices, cases studies and links to other resources.
It’s easy to forget, what with all the media buzz, that not everyone is ‘on Twitter‘. And some people, not surprisingly, are a bit confused by it all. I mean who cares that Stephen Fry was stuck in a lift? Or that Lily Allen is on her way to the airport and needs more sleep? Surely we get enough this stuff in the tabloids and ‘celeb’ magazines?
The jargon doesn’t help either. It’s difficult to explain to someone about ‘tweeting’ or suggest that they join a ‘twibe’.
But of course there’s more to it than vanity tweets and a few vague ramblings. Much more. I’m not going to tell you that you ’should’ be on Twitter. And that it’s going to transform your life and your business overnight. It won’t. And I accept that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But if you’re curious about it and wondering what all the fuss is about, I’ll try to explain how I’ve found it to be a useful tool.
I could write a whole series of posts about Twitter. People have written books on the subject. This is just an intro. A starter for 10. It’s for people who haven’t used Twitter yet or who are wondering how it can help them / their business.
First, a brief introduction to what it is and how it works.
What is Twitter?
Put simply, Twitter or www.twitter.com is a social media tool. It allows us to connect and interact with people. You may already be familiar with blogging and it’s a little bit like that. It all began with a question. What are you doing? You then had 140 characters to answer this question and say where you are, what you’re doing etc. The 140 characters part hasn’t changed, but the way in which we use Twitter and what we write has changed significantly. You’ll often hear Twitter referred to as ‘micro blogging’ but it has evolved even beyond this. Twitter users are constantly seeking new ways to interact and share information. You can expect to find breaking news, links to sites, pictures, special offers, poetry, comments, quotes and more.
Where do I Start?
So, how do you get started? Simple. Go to www.twitter.com and click on the big green ‘Get Started - Join!’ button. Follow the prompts from there to set up your account and away you go. You may want to look round a bit first and familiarize yourself with the format. There’s also a video that you can watch to obtain more information.
Once you’ve signed up you’re ready to tweet. ‘Tweeting’ (the verb) is the act of adding a post or message. A ‘tweet’ (noun) is a post or message. You have just 140 characters to get your tweet / message across. Numbers at the side of the text box will count down as you type to indicate how many characters you have left. Your message will be added to the public timeline automatically. This means that it is published to the World Wide Web for anyone to see. But with nearly 2 million tweets added each day, how can you be sure that people see your message? This is where followers come in.
But Remember
Once you have added a tweet you can’t fully delete it. Ever. Yes, there is a delete button which will enable you to remove this from your timeline. However, it will still appear in Twitter searches and people could potentially still find it. So think carefully before you begin.
Followers
A follower is so-called because they follow your tweets. If you’re familiar with Facebook, being a follower is like being a ‘friend’. Once you follow someone their tweets are added to your Twitter page. This is one way that you can filter out the tweets you want to read on a daily basis from the public timeline.
To follow someone on Twitter visit their Twitter page and then click on the ‘follow’ button underneath their pic / icon. The good thing is that you can ‘unfollow’ at any time by clicking on the ‘unfollow’ button.
So How Do I Get People to Follow me on Twitter?
Try following them first and engage them in conversation, perhaps commenting on their tweets or retweeting something they’ve written. To reply to a tweet, hover over their message and then click on the curly arrow that appears on the right hand side. This will add ‘@’ followed by their Twitter ID at the front of the message box. You can then type your tweet in the usual way and this will reply directly to that person.
Remember though that everyone else can see your message too. Just because you’re replying to someone doesn’t mean that this is private. To send a private message (called a DM or Direct Message) you need to add a ‘D’ at the beginning of the message / tweet, followed by their Twitter ID. Therefore, if you wanted to direct message (DM) me, you would add ‘D IndieQuarter’. Note: you need to be following that person and they need to be following you in order to DM them.
The Power of the ReTweet
The retweet or RT is where you resend a tweet that someone has already sent. Why? To reinforce what they have said and to make their comment / message etc. available to your followers. This can be extremely powerful. Everyone likes to feel that what they say or do is important or useful in some way. The retweet offers this validation. It is also a recommendation. Evidence suggests that the power of recommendation through trusted networks is becoming more effective than traditional search engine marketing. Copy and paste the tweet into the message box and add RT followed by the person’s Twitter ID at the beginning of the message.
Mr Tweet
Another way to connect to people is through Mr Tweet. If you follow him he will recommend relevant people to you and will recommend you to other people. Follow @MrTweet in the usual way and he’ll send you a DM telling you how to get started.
The Hashtag #
When you start using Twitter you’ll notice a number of tweets including hashtags #. Hashtags are used to link a number of tweets with a similar theme. Sometimes events are allocated hashtags, so that attendees can share info with other attendees and non-attendees. If you search for the hashtag in the Twitter search page, all of the related posts can be viewed. Using hashtags is another great way to interact with people on different topics.
Popular hashtags are called Trending Topics and can be found on the right hand side of the your Twitter home page. Click on them to read the conversations.
Adding Images
There are a number of tools that you can use to add images to Twitter. A quick search in Google will help you identify them. I tend to use Twitpic. Though admittedly not for any other reason than that I found this application first and haven’t found a reason to change.
To add your image go to www.twitpic.com. Type in your Twitter username and password and you’re ready to go. No need to create a separate account. Click on ‘Upload a Photo’ at the top of the page. Then click on the ‘Browse’ button to add an image from your PC / Mac. Type in your tweet / message in the box and click on ‘Upload’. Your message and image will automatically appear in your Twitter timeline.
How to Use Twitter
You may have read recent news reports about Dell making over $3 million through Twitter. Therefore the temptation is to immediately begin bombarding your followers with special offers and promotions. Don’t. This is unlikely to work. What is likely is that people will begin to ‘unfollow’ you. Twitter is a social networking tool, the emphasis being on networking. It is about building relationships and sharing information. People like to know who they’re following and a little bit about them. Huge faceless corporations are out. CEOs that people can identify with and talk to are in. Include a photograph, give your name and some background info, talk about other non-business issues and events. Engage, interact, build trust.
Here are some people who do it well:
- @hunkydoryhome
- @asos
- @PRNewswire
- @TheCharmQuark
The above are all very different companies / people but they all use Twitter well and in return Twitter works for them.
How I Use Twitter
I joined Twitter over a year ago but didn’t start using it properly until quite recently. I use it mainly to keep in touch with work related people. These are people that I come across through my job and also through blogging. Some people I’ve met through industry related events but others I know only through Twitter or through blogging.
I use Twitter to keep up to date with what’s happening in the digital industry and also in the craft / design world. I follow various digital / tech people who post about new technology and forthcoming events. I follow people like @guardiantech who adds snippets of blog posts that I can click on to read the full post. When I’m busy I email myself the links to read later. I have a folder in my mail client where I keep links to articles to read when I have time.
And lastly, I use Twitter to promote our design blog. When I’ve added a post that I think may be of interest, I ‘tweet’ about it, including a link through to the article.
As I said, Twitter is unlikely to make you a millionaire. And it’s not for everyone. But it’s certainly worth a look. Even if it is just see what Her Majesty has planned for the day.
If you would like to have a chat about how Twitter can work for you, Vanilla Storm will be running some free ‘Website / Social Networking Surgeries’ over the next few weeks. Give us a call to book an appointment - 0161 282 4525.
And if you’d like to follow me on Twitter you can find me at @IndieQuarter.
