Five Steps to Success on Twitter

Posted on Posted in Marketing Techniques and Philosophies, Marketing Trends/News, Web 2.0/Social Media Tagged with , , ,

People are always telling me they don’t “get” Twitter. I took to it immediately, maybe because I’ve been doing social media marketing since 1995, and writing about it since 1991. In honor of being named one of the Top 11 blogs covering social media, here’s a 5-point Twitter success strategy.

1. Post some really worthwhile links, good commentary, etc.
2. Follow a few influential people and then send an appropriate @ message to them once in a while
3. Keep the signal: noise ratio high, but engage in human dialog–don’t make it all about you–pick a few people to engage in meaningful sustained conversation
4. Retweet when you find posts useful
5. Post often enough to keep active, not so often that you annoy people

Bonus tip: Your profile page should have a real photo, real name, web links, and perhaps something else of interest (I have my book covers). Here’s a link to mine.

And it takes care of itself. I joined in August and have nearly 1200 followers, haven’t chased them, just used the above method.

BTW, my new e-book, “Web 2.0 Marketing for the 21st Century” (which I include as a bonus with either of my Grassroots Marketing books, or sell separately for $12.95), goes into Twitter and Facebook strategies in much more detail.

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About

A lifelong activist, profitability and marketing specialist Shel Horowitz’s mission is to fix crises like hunger, poverty, racism, war, and catastrophic climate change—by showing the business world how fixing them can make a profit. An author, international speaker, and TEDx Talker, his award-winning 10th book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World, lays out a blueprint for creating and MARKETING those profitable change-making products and services. He is happy to help you craft your messaging and develop profit strategies. Learn more (and download excerpts from the book) at http://goingbeyondsustainability.com

55 Comments on “Five Steps to Success on Twitter”

  3. Virginia,

    Signal-to-noise is an old concept from I think two-way radio that originally referred to how much static was interfering with the conversation. It’s been expanded to mean the percentage of useful material versus mindless or irrelevant chatter. On Twitter, it’s very easy to fill your profile with stuff no one wants to read, such as “I found you on MrTweet” or a conversation that’s very meaningless without context and should be taken private after one or two tweets. You want mostly “signal” on your page: links to useful stuff, answers to people’s questions, good retweets…

    Your page is actually a great example of high signal-to-noise ratio…and I just followed you!

    We share interests in writing, marketing, and the natural world.

    With the kind of high quality posts you’re doing, you should be growing your number of followers pretty quickly, especially as you do a lot of @ messages to and retweets of people with large followings.

  4. Virginia,

    Signal-to-noise is an old concept from I think two-way radio that originally referred to how much static was interfering with the conversation. It’s been expanded to mean the percentage of useful material versus mindless or irrelevant chatter. On Twitter, it’s very easy to fill your profile with stuff no one wants to read, such as “I found you on MrTweet” or a conversation that’s very meaningless without context and should be taken private after one or two tweets. You want mostly “signal” on your page: links to useful stuff, answers to people’s questions, good retweets…

    Your page is actually a great example of high signal-to-noise ratio…and I just followed you!

    We share interests in writing, marketing, and the natural world.

    With the kind of high quality posts you’re doing, you should be growing your number of followers pretty quickly, especially as you do a lot of @ messages to and retweets of people with large followings.

  5. Virginia,

    Signal-to-noise is an old concept from I think two-way radio that originally referred to how much static was interfering with the conversation. It’s been expanded to mean the percentage of useful material versus mindless or irrelevant chatter. On Twitter, it’s very easy to fill your profile with stuff no one wants to read, such as “I found you on MrTweet” or a conversation that’s very meaningless without context and should be taken private after one or two tweets. You want mostly “signal” on your page: links to useful stuff, answers to people’s questions, good retweets…

    Your page is actually a great example of high signal-to-noise ratio…and I just followed you!

    We share interests in writing, marketing, and the natural world.

    With the kind of high quality posts you’re doing, you should be growing your number of followers pretty quickly, especially as you do a lot of @ messages to and retweets of people with large followings.

  6. Virginia,

    Signal-to-noise is an old concept from I think two-way radio that originally referred to how much static was interfering with the conversation. It’s been expanded to mean the percentage of useful material versus mindless or irrelevant chatter. On Twitter, it’s very easy to fill your profile with stuff no one wants to read, such as “I found you on MrTweet” or a conversation that’s very meaningless without context and should be taken private after one or two tweets. You want mostly “signal” on your page: links to useful stuff, answers to people’s questions, good retweets…

    Your page is actually a great example of high signal-to-noise ratio…and I just followed you!

    We share interests in writing, marketing, and the natural world.

    With the kind of high quality posts you’re doing, you should be growing your number of followers pretty quickly, especially as you do a lot of @ messages to and retweets of people with large followings.

  20. John, absolutely right. Most of the people I’m following are non-celebrities, and influencers only within their niche communities. Really great people! Still, I do suggest following a few who are very influential–*because* they have something to say worth hearing. I have chosen not to follow some well-known Twitterers because their profile didn’t interest me. Some are quite famous in the real world.

    Karen, with 527 followers, you’re certainly talking to an audience of more than one. But I understand that it can feel lonely if you don’t get feedback. Oh, and if you feel out of your depth on the presentation, I do speak on this stuff, and I’m driving distance from NYC.

  21. John, absolutely right. Most of the people I’m following are non-celebrities, and influencers only within their niche communities. Really great people! Still, I do suggest following a few who are very influential–*because* they have something to say worth hearing. I have chosen not to follow some well-known Twitterers because their profile didn’t interest me. Some are quite famous in the real world.

    Karen, with 527 followers, you’re certainly talking to an audience of more than one. But I understand that it can feel lonely if you don’t get feedback. Oh, and if you feel out of your depth on the presentation, I do speak on this stuff, and I’m driving distance from NYC.

  22. John, absolutely right. Most of the people I’m following are non-celebrities, and influencers only within their niche communities. Really great people! Still, I do suggest following a few who are very influential–*because* they have something to say worth hearing. I have chosen not to follow some well-known Twitterers because their profile didn’t interest me. Some are quite famous in the real world.

    Karen, with 527 followers, you’re certainly talking to an audience of more than one. But I understand that it can feel lonely if you don’t get feedback. Oh, and if you feel out of your depth on the presentation, I do speak on this stuff, and I’m driving distance from NYC.

  23. John, absolutely right. Most of the people I’m following are non-celebrities, and influencers only within their niche communities. Really great people! Still, I do suggest following a few who are very influential–*because* they have something to say worth hearing. I have chosen not to follow some well-known Twitterers because their profile didn’t interest me. Some are quite famous in the real world.

    Karen, with 527 followers, you’re certainly talking to an audience of more than one. But I understand that it can feel lonely if you don’t get feedback. Oh, and if you feel out of your depth on the presentation, I do speak on this stuff, and I’m driving distance from NYC.

  24. Thanks, Shel. I sometimes feel that I’m tweeting to an audience of one, and I’m certainly learning as I go. My company has been asked to give a presentation about Social Media to a large organization. Although I feel like I’m a mere neophyte myself, it’s amazing how many people really don’t know aobut this stuff. I will use your tips in the presentation.

    Regards,
    Karen

    PS, I’m ksperl131 on Twitter

  25. Thanks, Shel. I sometimes feel that I’m tweeting to an audience of one, and I’m certainly learning as I go. My company has been asked to give a presentation about Social Media to a large organization. Although I feel like I’m a mere neophyte myself, it’s amazing how many people really don’t know aobut this stuff. I will use your tips in the presentation.

    Regards,
    Karen

    PS, I’m ksperl131 on Twitter

  26. Thanks, Shel. I sometimes feel that I’m tweeting to an audience of one, and I’m certainly learning as I go. My company has been asked to give a presentation about Social Media to a large organization. Although I feel like I’m a mere neophyte myself, it’s amazing how many people really don’t know aobut this stuff. I will use your tips in the presentation.

    Regards,
    Karen

    PS, I’m ksperl131 on Twitter

  27. Thanks, Shel. I sometimes feel that I’m tweeting to an audience of one, and I’m certainly learning as I go. My company has been asked to give a presentation about Social Media to a large organization. Although I feel like I’m a mere neophyte myself, it’s amazing how many people really don’t know aobut this stuff. I will use your tips in the presentation.

    Regards,
    Karen

    PS, I’m ksperl131 on Twitter

  52. Good points. I’d just like to add. Don’t just follow influential people. Follow interesting people. I’ve found almost 5,000 such people so far. Always interesting to see my Twitter stream when I glance that way. Always discover something new.

  53. Good points. I’d just like to add. Don’t just follow influential people. Follow interesting people. I’ve found almost 5,000 such people so far. Always interesting to see my Twitter stream when I glance that way. Always discover something new.

  54. Good points. I’d just like to add. Don’t just follow influential people. Follow interesting people. I’ve found almost 5,000 such people so far. Always interesting to see my Twitter stream when I glance that way. Always discover something new.

  55. Good points. I’d just like to add. Don’t just follow influential people. Follow interesting people. I’ve found almost 5,000 such people so far. Always interesting to see my Twitter stream when I glance that way. Always discover something new.