Twitter Tutorial: Start Making Valuable Connections Online NOW!

Is it just me, or does it seem like everyone these days is talking about Twitter? Broadcast news stations, talk show hosts, friends, family and colleges all seem to be jumping on the Twitter band wagon. Still there are many bloggers and other online businesses not taking full advantage of what this social media platform can do for their businesses. Hopefully this tutorial will help provide more focus on how to use Twitter to boost visibility and traffic to your blog.

What Exactly is Twitter?

Twitter is a micro blogging platform allowing you to communicate with others via 140 character messages. These messages appear in real time, sort of like instant messaging but slower. You can send these messages through mobile messaging, instant messaging and the web.

What Can “Tweeting” Do for Your Blog?

Twitter can be an important part of your brand management strategy. It’s an online social tool that makes it easier to connect with others and build important relationships. Even thought the Internet makes it easier to reach out to a global market, you’ll need to build recognition in order to stand apart from thousands of other businesses out there attempting to do the same thing. Networking with others via Twitter makes it easier.

Let’s Get Started

Setting up your account is really quite easy. Go to the Twitter website and click on the yellow box on the right hand side of the page that reads: “Let Me In.” You’ll be taken to a sign up form asking for your full name, a user name and password for the account.

If you are using your account to create brand recognition for your business, it’s a good idea to consider using your domain name without the “.com” as your user name.  If your goal is to build recognition, make sure to use your own name.

Next, add your email address. You can use your business or personal email for this purpose; it doesn’t really matter. Type in the two codes words in the box that follows, and then finally click on the green arrow at the bottom of the page containing the words “create my account” and you’re all set.

Setting Up Your Profile

The profile you create on social networking sites like Twitter is an important part of your online business reputation. Consider it your bio.  In just a few words it tells the world about yourself. Twitter only gives you so many characters to create a brief description, so make sure every word counts. My own profile is very simple. Feel free to take a look (and feel free to follow) at @avidwriter.

To begin setting up your profile, sign in and go directly to the bar located at the top of the page and click on “Settings.” Make sure to add the URL for your blog, Your Twitter background design (you can upload a custom design or choose from one of Twitter’s available designs) and you’re all set.

IMPORTANT: Some people using Twitter will not even consider following certain accounts. They include:

• Having no clear profile
• No URL
• Those with protected updates

You can opt to have your updates protected through the “Settings” application. I don’t recommend activating protected updates for your account if you’re serious about promoting your blog.

Finding the Right People to Follow

Now you’re ready to mix and mingle. I should warn you that you’ll come across all sorts of social media experts claiming to have the perfect strategy for maximizing Twitter’s virtual networking potential. Personally, I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all solution that will help every businesses using Twitter succeed. Your blog is unique, so what works best for one established blogger may not work as well for you.

You will have to take the time to find new people to follow, engage in conversation with others, retweet important information and pay close attention to what works and what doesn’t.

A few tips to get you started:

Follow those who have similar interest. For example, if you are a clothing designer, you might follow others in the fashion industry including other clothing designers, jewelry designers, local celebrities, local shop owners, publicists, marketing professionals and so forth.

Use Twitter search and find people to follow by searching for relevant terms. Example: someone looking for homeschooling resources my search using keywords like “homeschooling mom” or “unschooling.” Narrow the search even more by adding your city to the keyword terms: California homeschool ; Atlanta homeschool. Search for people within your niche, but also include people with the same type of businesses, professional goals, specializations, etc.

Engage  in genuine conversation with others. Solve a problem for someone, retweet (resend) important and helpful messages for others, share valuable information that others in your network may find interesting.

Try to update daily. Twitter can become a distraction if you don’t establish time boundaries. However, it’s important to try to post an update since some people will “unfollow” you because of inactivity.

Stay up to date on the latest news and share it with others; especially if it’s a topic that will interest your niche. As you contribute more to the conversation, you will notice that others will from time to time retweet your messages resulting in more followers coming to you from outside networks.

Add a Twitter application to all of your social networks. This includes adding a link or button to your website, blog, Facebook, squidoo, etc. Be sure to add a link to your Twitter profile in your business email signature as well.

Whatever you do, don’t just show up to post links to your website, your blog post, your products for sale. This is considered very self-serving on Twitter and can backfire bigtime. Twitter is very much considered a community. Interestingly, when others
see you regularly contributing to the conversation sharing valuable information, they will help promote and support your business efforts.

You will notice that many times when you follow someone they will automatically return the favor; not always, but sometimes. Some people on Twitter are very preoccupied with numbers. They seem to constantly worry and tweet about how many people are following them and how many people have stopped following them (this is also known as “unfollowing”). Many even use applications to find out exactly who is unfollowing them. Don’t fall into this trap. It’s a distraction that will keep you from meeting your networking goals.

Avoid randomly following lots of people all at once hoping they will automatically follow you back. This is considered spamming and could cause your account to become suspended due to suspicious activity. Follow these simple steps in the beginning and you’ll be off to a great start.

photo credit: playerx