Maximizing Social Media Tips: Twitter

Posted on 13 October 2010 | by Ryan Battles

Tweet with a Purpose

Just like with any publication, you need to have a purpose and an overall theme to your tweets.  They must appeal to a certain group of people in order for you to gain followers.  There are several people that I have unsubscribed to their tweets simply because they wrote too much extraneous information that I didn’t care about, amongst their professional tips and tricks.

This isn’t to say that you can’t sneak in some random stuff here and there, it is what makes Twitter so personal.  For example, a web developer friend of mine just tweeted what music he was listening to and how it was nostalgic.  It gave me a little glimpse into who he is and what he likes.  If he kept tweeting every half hour what he was listening to, I would probably unsubscribe to his feed.  So find the balance, keep things with a purpose, and slide little extras here and there to keep it interesting.

Follow with a Purpose

I recently started my list of people to follow by clicking on every notable web developer with a twitter account.  My twitter stream had quite a bit of posts, several every minute.  Over time, I have pared this down by unsubscribing from people who post mostly about their families, where they are (foursquare), and constant complainers.  The resulting list is people who offer tweets that I find interesting and relevant.  Tweets that are worth pausing from work for a moment to catch up on.

Search for Hashtags

My community is the ExpressionEngine community, so I often search for #eecms in order to see what people are tweeting in regards to ExpressionEngine.  This helps me to find new people to follow, and to see at a glance what is being discussed in relationship to this tool.

Post Valuable Web Resources

Whenever I come across an article that I find interesting and relevant to my general list of followers, I post a link to it.  I always appreciate when other people that I follow do the same, as it helps me to find valuable resources across the vast Internet.

Ask and Answer Questions

Once you’ve build up a substantial list of followers, you can start to ask questions and perhaps even get some answers!  If you really want to build relationships, help others with their questions that they post.  It is a great way to connect with others and to help them along.

Be Creative with Searching

 I once had dinner with a fellow who stated that Twitter is the new Google.  He searches twitter for things before he searches Google because it has more recent results.  Now this won’t work for everything, but I have started using this more and more, say for when one of my favorite websites goes down, a quick Twitter search will confirm that more people are experiencing the same issue.

Another creative tip is looking for jobs by searching “looking for a [insert job]” You will now have access to a slew of people looking for people who need your services.

Keep Self-Promotion to a Minimum

It is good to announce new product launches and newsworthy items, but don’t get carried away.  People will unsubscribe from your feed as soon as they cease finding value in your posts.