Making Twitter Work for You
Even if you’re a veteran, making the most of Twitter is an ongoing challenge. Tweets seem to flow by the billions like water drops in the rain forest, drowning some and nourishing others. Dealing with this daily deluge, we’ve received many questions about Twitter, a few of which we’ve answered below.
Why is Twitter Worth my Valuable Time?
First, use Twitter to learn about anything interesting. Search topics and follow people whose opinions you respect. The knowledge gained in just five minutes will amaze and inspire you. We used Twitter to field a survey last week and quickly received over 120 responses (see our Twitter Study on Slideshare).
Can I Build My Personal or Corporate Brand on Twitter?
We wouldn’t rely on Twitter as the only arrow in your marketing quiver but it certainly has a strong place in your overall plan of attack. Assuming you have a well-conceived follower strategy, Twitter can certainly extend your brand footprint by building awareness, generating PR, and driving web traffic. And, if you are out there listening, you may acquire good leads.
What is the Simplest Way to Succeed on Twitter?
Be interested. Be interesting. And ideally, be both. Be interested in what others say about relevant topics. Be interesting in how you talk and what you share. If you share a link, precede it with pithy patter. Don’t just retweet without adding a touch of personal commentary.
When Someone Follows me, Should I Follow them Back?
It depends. If your goal is to have a large follower base, then yes. Many tweeters use power tools that will auto-unfollow if you don’t follow back. If you don’t care about your follower count, then only follow those who truly interest you.
Who has theTime to Follow Hundreds of Tweets?
Frankly, we don’t know anyone who has this much time, so even active tweeters don’t try. Instead, they create “lists” of core people to track and let the rest fall in the forest unheard. Creating lists is easy on Twitter.com and with tools like Tweetdeck.
What Free Tools do You Use to Monitor Twitter Conversations?
Tweetdeck, either the desktop application or the Chrome version, easily monitors and broadcasts your tweets to multiple accounts. HootSuite has a free option that is particularly helpful if you want to schedule some tweets in advance. Both Topsy and Social Oomph provide helpful key word tracking of Twitter feeds hourly, daily, and weekly.
How do you Dramatically Increase Your Number of Followers?
Funny you should ask. This is the very subject of a recent MediaPost article called “Cynics Guide to Increasing Your Followers,” and an upcoming roundtable at The Social Consumer conference being chaired by some dude named Drew Neisser.