Common Sense Tips For Twitter Users
Twitter has become a worldwide social media and networking tool since it started 2006, if you have been living in a cave for the past 3 years have a peek here. The problem is, that with so many ‘tweets’ (OK cave dwellers, tweets are short messages that you send via Twitter in 140 characters or less) and so many users it is often hard to see the great messages that pop up around all the strange tosh that is spouted (and I include myself in that!).
So here are my top ‘common sense’ tips for networking using the wonderful world of Twitter.
Firstly, let’s get the bad bits out of the way!
The Don’ts!
1) Celebrity Tweeters - Don’t go following every celebrity you see and tweet them when they come online just to say ‘hello’ and reply to every one of their tweets with ‘random’ replys. Not only does it make you look like a bit of a stalker it also unnecessary. Celebs are real twitter users too, some are even human 
2) Hashtags - Many people use hashtags (#tags) in their tweets to hopefully get their message seen by people searching on various topics (trends) that are in the current news. However, this can cause serious problems, which Habitat UK found out only too well a couple of weeks ago. They were using hashtags relating to current topics such as the Iranian Election, iPhones, Masterchef competition and more, all completely unrelated to their products and services (more information on this story can be found here). If you want/need to use hashtags, make sure that they relate to you and your business or profile in some way, or to conversation you are having. There is no point having random trendy hashtags in your posts just to get in the searches, this just makes you a spammer.
3) Spam – While we are on the subject of spam (no not this kind of Spam ), don’t do it, just don’t. It’s annoying, people will block you and you will be a ‘Billy no mates’. Spammers are the people whose stats look like this ‘178937 following – 3 followers – 0 updates’. You know the sort, we all have them follow us and we all block them because we know that at some point we are going to be told that their latest ‘innovation’ that costs ‘just £49.99′ will be the next best thing since sliced bread, however, we all know that these spammers are scammers!
4) Gain Followers Applications – Every now and again you will see a message pop up in your Twitter stream saying something like “I joined ‘add twitter app name here’ and now I have 40000 followers, you could too, sign up now!” – The problem with these applications is that not only do they spam your account (yes they actually use your account to spam from!) but you have to follow people in order to get followers and the people you are following/followers are probably not the people who care what you have to say or vice versa, not because of bad quality users but merely because of varying interests in topics.
5) Constantly Retweeting The Same Post – It’s not the best idea in the world to retweet the same message over and over (and over!) again. It does make you look like not only a bit of a spammer but also a bit of a plonker. It is perfectly justifiable if you for example, you are in the UK and you are tweeting about a new blog post in the morning, then you retweet it again in the afternoon so the US users see your tweet and then perhaps once in the evening so the rest of the world users can see it, but retweeting 30 times about your cat falling off a chair, is not great!
So now that is all done and dusted, let’s get on to the good bits!
The Do’s!
1) Networking – Woohoo! Twitter is a great way to network, using tools like Twellow you can easily find people within your industry, people with the same interests and/or people geographically close to you. Follow them and introduce yourself, build up a relationship by chatting with them, reading their website/blog and perhaps even offering to help out with projects.
2) Twitter Profile – Make sure you add a bio about yourself in your Twitter profile, it makes looking for contacts so much easier. People want to know all about you when they follow you, it is human nature, so give them an insight on what you do and where you are, makes networking quicker and easier.
3) Profile Background – You have this massive space on your profile background, make the most of it! Why not get yourself a custom Twitter background that has your information, links and contact details down the side. It’s like having your own business card on your Twitter page. We offer custom Twitter backgrounds here at SBM should you want one (Just thought I would crowbar that in!)
4) Global Chat - Many projects and collaborations have started by one Twitter user in one country chatting to another Twitter user half way across the world, it is instant, real time and FREE global chat.
5) Promote Yourself/Business – What better (and cheaper!) way for you to promote yourself, your products and services, your blog and your business than by using Twitter. Go ahead, tell your followers your latest news, share your passion, let them know that you are great at what you do.
6) Ask for Help/Advice -Need a hand with something or have a question? Ask the world via Twitter, there is always someone who knows the answer!
7) Offer Help/Advice – Does someone want help with a project or need a question answered? Then why not offer to help, this could also be the start of a great networking relationship too.
Make Someone Smile – OK I admit it, I have said in the past that random posts on Twitter are annoying, but sometimes, it’s good to send a message to someone with ‘giggle factor’ just to make them smile and brighten their day!
9) Finding Old Friends – Not heard from someone in a while? Are they on Twitter? Yes? Well there you go then, instant ‘friends reunited!’
10) Being Polite – Telling someone they are an &*@!%£^ @&%£!% is really not going to score you any brownie points with that person or the thousands of other users who have just seen your message on the main Twitter timeline! Politeness and a warm friendly attitude is the best way to attract new followers and to join in with new networks and of course a great way to get you seen on the main Timeline too
There you go, these may be all ‘obvious’ tips but it is amazing how some people forget about common sense on Twitter
Happy Tweeting!
