Don’t waste your time on Twitter

The more you use Twitter, the merrier. Though this opinion may not be shared by your manager if you spend thousands of hours on it.

In general, I see companies many companies doing nothing with social media while others are making really interesting stuff. I like the stuff that has resulted in me buying stuff again and again, for example the wine crates of Naked Wines.

Let’s get into some Twitter tips gained from personal experiences and some social media gurus around the web:

• Twitter is like your mobile phone and it is the best way to contact people that have more than 500 followers. Those people love Twitter and are usually very active. You would first need to know before how you can approach them.
• When you reach a certain amount of followers (maybe 200-500), people start to think you are an authority.
•  If this is the case, you will begin to get a continual flow of new followers.
• Chat with people on Twitter if you have the same interests and you will gain followers.
• Spread your content on Twitter including hash tags or mention some of your followers. While some users use hash tags to add followers, your currents will re-tweet you and this is an opportunity to amplify your reach.
• Get back to those who follow you with a sincere “thanks for following” and follow back if they sound like an interesting contact for your business. Many times I found myself collaborating with those that have added me.
•  Be strategic in your head shot and description – that people get to know you more.
• What you tweet is what you are responsible for that’s why Marc Valeri writes in his bio ‘Work at TSN–opinions don’t reflect that of the company. Don’t blame them for my stupidity’.
•  You can get in contact with editors/bloggers/CEO etc. relatively easily on Twitter for PR or other purposes, just Google the full name of the person, company and ‘twitter’. Surprise! Please don’t try to get hold of Boris Johnson, this may be too difficult and you may have to study its Twitter behaviour deeply.
•  Try to read everything written by Dan Zarrella, the social media scientist that works for HubSpot here http://danzarrella.com.

As with many social networks, Twitter is addictive, has internal rules and ways to share, contact fellows and create mass and viral successes and mistakes. Are you aware of any tactic you would like to share? Leave a comment below and please Tweet this!