7 tips on being a good Twitterer

BY Roland Nov. 29, 2009 31 Comments

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I have been using Twitter now for many months and I must say that I love it, in order to appreciate that love you must use Twitter in the correct way. Here are 7 tips on how to become a better Twitterer.

There is something special about Twitter that no other social media system has yet captured. It is the brevity and simplicity of Twitter that really makes it work. It is fast, easy to use and you can get responses from people instantly. It is possible to meet people on Twitter that you would never have a chance to meet in real life and converse with them. I have tweeted with TV personalities, politicians, business people and sports stars. Twitter opens up new opportunities as well as providing fun for all.

In order to get the most from your tweets these are my 7 tips.

  1. Use Social Chit Chat. Answer the Twitter question “What are you doing?” In addition take an interest in what other people are doing. Don’t try and sell a product or shout at people from the rooftops. Simply interact in the same manner that you might do at a social gathering where you are getting to know people for the first time or catch up on news with those that you have met before. Be friendly and show a genuine interest in people that you chat with. Be a good listener as well as say things about yourself. There is no need to get too personal in the details that you give out in fact it is wise to be security conscious.
  2. Share. When you find interesting items that you can tweet or re-tweet do so. Place a web link so that people can easily  find the point that you found interesting. Share photos using Twitpic, share videos through Vidly, share files through FileTwt, share popular links through Tweetmeme. You may just tweet a positive thought, one of life’s sayings, a happy or sad moment or describe something interesting you have just seen. Whatever interesting thing it is share it.
  3. Answer Questions & Help People. Be willing to give your help and support when you can to fellow tweeters. You will gain a reputation as someone to follow and will build trust in the Twitter Sphere.You can show yourself to be an expert in a particular field of knowledge as well as a decent person to follow. There are also great directories for you to add yourself: We Follow, or Twibes.
  4. Be Committed. You must really want to interact with people and use Twitter to the full. You will not be successful if you are half hearted.
  5. Be Consistent. You should schedule time each day to send tweets and to reply to messages sent to you. This could be 10 or 15 minutes or several hours, the choice is yours but whatever you do be consistent. Don’t have gaps of days or weeks between tweeting. If you are really very busy simply spend a minute or two on those days that you are very busy rather than do nothing at all. You can even tweet saying that you are very busy and will reply to messages very soon.
  6. Be Interesting. Make tweets that others will find interesting. You will not be able to appeal to every single follower but by having a variety of tweets that are interesting you will find that followers will stick with you even if some of the tweets you make are not specifically of interest to them. Plus make your background appealing: TwitBacks or Twitter Backgrounds Gallery.
  7. Be Interested in Others. Twitter is all about interaction. Show a genuine interest in others. Read as many tweets as your time allows and respond where you can. It could be a note of congratulations for something they have achieved or ask how they are following an illness. Re-tweeting also shows that you appreciated something they wrote and this all engenders mutual respect.

When you follow these tips you will find that you will build a rapport with many people and will start to see good results from the work that you put in. Let me know if you have anything to add or feedback, enjoy!

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31 Responses to “7 tips on being a good Twitterer”

  1. Shirley Reply Nov. 29, 2009 at 1:41 pm

    All the tips you have given above, are to me among the most important things you must do on Twitter to be a good Twitterer and get many followers too.

    I do all that you’ve listed above and they’ve helped me greatly.

    One thing to make you a good Twitterer too that I want to add is that, don’t promote your affiliate links in your automated “thank you for following me” direct messages because it pisses most Twitter users off (including me :) ).

    Great post! :)

  2. Ms. Freeman Reply Nov. 30, 2009 at 10:47 am

    E. is a big stumbling block for me. I don’t interactively Tweet everyday, I will take the advice of scheduling some time to heart and try harder. Thanks for these tips.

  3. Gabe | freebloghelp.com Reply Nov. 30, 2009 at 12:54 pm

    @Ms. Freeman – There are tools out there that will allow you to schedule tweets so you don’t have to park your butt in front of your computer all day.

    I personally use buzzom to tweat my posts daily.

    • Ben Lang Reply Nov. 30, 2009 at 3:42 pm

      Great point, there’s also tweetlater…

    • roland Reply Dec. 06, 2009 at 8:15 am

      Hi Gabe. Scheduling tweets can be helpful but you dont want your Twitter account to become little more than a robot. If you know that you are going to be unable to tweet for several days, then perhaps a tweet that lets your followers know that you can not respond at the moment may be helpful.
      Twitter works best with interaction and if it just becomes robot generated tweets it loses meaning. I soon stop paying attention to tweets that are made repetitively in this way.

  4. Phaoloo Reply Dec. 01, 2009 at 3:23 am

    Nice tutorial. But don’t always ask yourself that I am following these tips. For me, just finding tweeting for fun is the best way to leverage Twitter.

  5. Lee Ka Hoong Reply Dec. 02, 2009 at 8:17 pm

    I was not a big fan of Twitter in the past, but I’m getting more excited with Twitter as it brings me quite some traffic from the re-tweet from other twitter fellow.

    These tips are good in improving our twitter profile and we would be able to build a big brand for our twitter profile though.

    Thanks for sharing these tips Roland.

    Cheers,
    Lee

  6. Sarge | BeginnerBlogger.com Reply Dec. 04, 2009 at 6:11 pm

    Good post Roland.

    I believe consistency is the key. Providing valuable tweets on a consistent basis and being sociable will get you great places in the twitter universe.

    I think self promotion is ok as long as the content is beneficial to your users and that you are always giving more than you are receiving :)

    Sarge | BeginnerBlogger.com

  7. Blog Guide Reply Dec. 06, 2009 at 3:09 pm

    I have noticed that for some odd reason some people think that twitter is only about the amount of followers you have and tweeting your own blog posts.

    In fact twitter is a place of interaction and being social. Only by interaction you can get twitter to work for you.

    By using the clever tips provided in this text people can network better and hopefully get some interested followers.

    Thanks for the post!
    Blog Guide´s last blog post: Writer’s Mindset – Think and Write Better My ComLuv Profile

  8. Uttoran Sen Reply Dec. 10, 2009 at 9:22 am

    well simplicity is surely a success mantra and has worked nicely for twitter, nice tips, i guess we all do pretty much the same just sometimes we starting posting too many links on twitter lol…
    Uttoran Sen´s last blog post: Tech Nascent Home Office My ComLuv Profile

  9. Jacob Yap Reply Dec. 11, 2009 at 10:44 am

    I like the #7 point, Twitter is about interaction. I wonder why there are people tweeting to themselves instead of interact with others. Thanks for the post.
    Jacob Yap´s last blog post: 90+ Striking Ads for the Environment My ComLuv Profile

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