How To Get The Best From Twitter

London, UK

These tips from I-Change Biz will help you get the followers you want. You ought to write with:

* Something that lets me see who you are
* Something that shows me you know what you are talking about
* Something that amuses me, engages me, entertains me
* Something that helps me
* Something that educates me

You may agree that "engages me" and "helps me" are the two most important. These rules could easily apply to your blog, Facebook page or website content.

How To Get Started With Twitter

London, UK

Follow these steps to get started with Twitter


Twitter
What is it?

A micro blog of 140 characters (this includes spaces), so one sentence. Keep it short and sweet. I would recommend you aim for about 130 characters so that there is enough space for people to quote you.
Be focused.

What do you want to achieve from Twitter? Keeping up with everyone else is not good enough. Like all marketing activity it needs an agenda, time and focus. Think SMART
I would recommend that you:

80% Free info and advice from either you or linked to great articles you know.
10% Referring and retweets
7% Direct marketing
3% Social chatter

Some tips
How many people follow you or that you follow is actually fairly irrelevant! What is important is who is reading the tweets.
I would recommend you follow the top people in your area of expertise. Comment to them using the reply arrow. This will mean that @ sign along with their name appears in your update box and you type in your reply.
If you are quoting someone then it is courteous to put RT then a space and then @name and then simply copy their tweet and paste.
When you get replies it is important to acknowledge those. It means they will be more inclined to do it again thus improving your following of readers
Remember when someone replies to you with a comment their followers see it. This is how you build your online Twitter profile.

And finally some useful free downloads

1) Tweetdeck. It is a small download. It sits on your PC and allows you to update your twitter account, filter all of the people you’re following, reply to people, and perhaps most importantly search. One of the key things about using tweetdeck is that you can search on keywords. These are the keywords that anyone in the twitter universe is using.
2) Twellow. Twellow allows you to search for people to follow. These can be based on geography, type of work etc...It is critical that you follow people. People rarely follow people, if they see that you are not following others.
3) Twitterfeed. Twitterfeed allows you to RSS feed from around the internet. So collect an RSS, send the link to twitterfeed, and then it automatically updates your twitter account when that feed automatically updates. So for example if you send a blog then that will automatically appear in your twitter account, without doing anything but set it up
4) Tweetlater. Tweetlater allows you to automatically follow others, simply because they followed you. It also allows you to send out tweets at times when you are perhaps away, doing other things. So you can seem to be updating, but you are on holiday.

Other reading:

Mashable

Twitip

How To Self-Promote Using Social Media

London, UK


If you haven't investigated communication tools like Twitter, Facebook and Linked-In then now could be a good time to do so. All three (and of course there are others) can help you connect with colleagues or customers and assist in developing your business. Before you start pushing ahead and capturing "followers" on Twitter or "friends" on Facebook ensure that you have a plan of action. Research what the social media experts suggest, read blogs on the subject, then follow a carefully defined method of building your social media profile.

Don't Forget To E-Mail

London, UK

Internet psychologist Graham Jones has written another hard-hitting post about Twitter. He points out the pitfalls of doing too much with social networking sites and not enough with plain e-mailing for business.

Jones says, "As an example, I sell five times as many ebooks using email campaigns than I do via social networking site. I'm not alone either - Tesco and Amazon produce significant returns via email marketing and only use social networking in comparatively minor ways".

Ed. I think that quote speaks volumes. He could though use a Twitter client called Tweetlater. Tweetlater sends "tweets" at regular intervals. The downside to tweets is they are limited to 140 characters. Too short, in my view for an effective message.

How To Contact A Famous Presenter

London, UK

On Twitter of course. Top presenter Jeremy Clarkson may prove to be more popular than Wossy and Stephen Fry.

Do You Twitter?

London, UK

According to this report, Twitter is the place to network in 2009. Do you agree?

Russell Brand Joins Twitter

London, UK

Russell Brand has joined Twitter. Will you be one of his followers?



Why Russell has chosen "Rustyrockets" as a screen name is beyond me. Must have something to do with his childhood in Grays, Essex.