Here’s some great advice about Twitter from someone in the States whose been on Twitter for 5 years…
When I first saw Twitter my reaction was the same as everyone else’s. I did not “get it.” It took six months of trial before I learned to appreciate Twitter and to stop overthinking it.
There isn’t anything to “get” about Twitter, and because it really isn’t for marketing in the old-school, in-your-face kind of way, no complicated strategy is needed …
Here are some tips to get started
1. Find people in your own area to follow on Twitter.
2. Follow the local media. They tweet the news and are usually pretty social.
3. Spend more time on Twitter reading than tweeting.
4. Turn off Twitter and Twitter alerts when there is work to be done, and never use it when you are with clients.
5. Promote businesses in your community by mentioning them on Twitter and by checking in on Foursquare.
6. Use the lists function to filter out the noise. Use Tweetdeck or Hootsuite to look at certain tweet streams that interest you.
7. Practice safe tweeting: Never drink and tweet or drive and tweet.
Local businesses love it when I mention them on Twitter, and they are the reason I use Foursquare to check in. Promoting the idea of buying local has also been good for business.
Twitter does not have close to as many users as Facebook does and is not about reaching the widest audience — that is what Google is for.
Learning how to use Twitter means being able to network anytime and maybe even connect with people that you wouldn’t get to meet any other way.
Don’t worry if the cool kids are using Twitter or how they are using it. Try it out again for the first time and if it isn’t right for you just stop using it. If you are not interested in what others have to say, Twitter isn’t for you at all.
If you think people all over the world care about everything your business is selling or promoting, please delete your Twitter account now so you won’t be tempted to use it!
– abridged from Teresa Boardman’s Inman post
– Image from Business2Community, which also has great advice on how to increase your followers the right way
