How To Build Your Twitter Audience – Part 2

This week we are learning about Twitter and how to use is effectively to promote our blogs, our products, and ourselves.

Yesterday we read the Potential of Twitter from Vanessa who is guest blogging on the subject in a 3 Part series. She is the Owner of I Never Grew Up and Utahs Natural Kids. Don’t forget to follow her on Twitter! The following is in her words:

Now that I have talked you into Twitter, let’s talk more about specifics. A good thing to know before you jump in is basic “Twitter Vocab” although I don’t even know many of them.

Now this should get you comfortable enough to jump right in. If you are still completely lost know that it will come to you after being on Twitter for a little while. Also watch what others do, follow others that have high followers so you can learn from them.

1. Next, to receive the benefits of Twitter you need to build your twitter audience.

a. Expand your audience by clicking on names your twitter friend’s reply to.

b. Check out what they tweet about and if interested follow them.

c. Many bloggers will post on what twitter users they enjoy, you can also check out #followfriday on Tweet Search and see who people have recommended.

d. @MrTweet is an online “personal networking assistant” that can provide you with suggestions of good follows for you based on your network and tweets.

e. Go to Twellow.com and search around for people to follow using keywords that interest you.

2. Now more importantly how can you gain more followers?

The #1 way to increase the number of people following you is to follow others. Also by providing value to others through your tweets by re-tweeting messages, participating in conversations and answering other’s questions.

Follow liberally, you can always unfollow tweeters that you don’t enjoy later. Also be careful, Auto- follow-back applications may seem like they will make things easier but in the long run they can lead to spending lots of time fishing out spammers.

3. Another huge part of mastering Twitter is learning to “Master the Art of Twitter Conversation.”

You won’t gain too many followers, make many social networking connections and represent yourself well if you do things to turn people off. No one enjoys when twitterers post link after link, it comes across as being too pushy for what you are trying to “sell” and makes them feel as if they are constantly being marketed at. When fellow tweeters feel a connection personally with you they are more likely to be interested in what you have to offer business wise.

4. In other words you need to create your twitter “Persona.”

a. Ask yourself, what persona do you want to give off on Twitter? Personable, friendly, humorous, knowledgeable?

b. Do you want to make people think, help them with their problems, network with them or keep them up to date on issues relevant to them?

Work on building common interests with people even if it does not have to do with what you are “selling”. Remember to speak your mind, probably the most crucial part of being a real “twitizen.”

c. No profile picture (or a creepy one) or no profile information can send off red flags to not follow you. Consider carefully if you want to set up an automatic welcome message to new followers, many people find them to be tacky.

d. Take the time to “clean out” your twitter unfollowers. It does not look good to be following a high number of people with a low number of people following you. Use the Greasemonkey script for twitter or friendorfollow.com to help yourself keep up on unfollowing those who do not follow you.

e. Also, take the time to work on the design/appearance of your twitter homepage, you can even have one designed for you.

I recommend @paintermommy or @sethjenks, their prices range from $30 to $150 to design you a custom twitter background. It is the first thing “potential clients/readers/etc.” will see when they “meet” you on twitter and you want it to give off the right impression.

5. The #1 Tip I have for you is to Learn from the “Masters” by following them.

Immediate Influence Blog published a list of the 50 Most Influential Powerful Women in Social Media, follow them by watching what they tweet.

Notice how often they post links, reply to others, participate in conversations, learn from the “twitter stars.” When I first joined twitter back around Christmas I personally learned a lot from:

@ ResourcefulMom
@JessicaKnows
@johnchow
@jyl_momif
@ AdamUrbanski
@gwenbell
@alliworthington

Now for whatever field you are in, you will want to follow “Twitterers” in your field to “spy” a bit on them. {{wink}}

The 3 Top Twitter Questions I Receive:

1. What is #GNO?

#GNO (also known as Twitter Girl’s Night Out or GNO) is usually every Tuesday day thrown by Mom It Forward. It is a get-together is a top-trending group of mommy bloggers and tweeters that enjoy a night out with gossiping gals around the globe right from the comfort of their own homes.

They post on their website what the weeks topic is about and they have different “professionals/gurus/experts” that you can ask questions to on the subject. More importantly for you it is the perfect place to learn the Twitter ropes, meet and follow new friends, exchange blog URLs, and discuss popular parenting and women’s topics.

2. What is RT?

You need to RT and then use RT to your advantage, it is huge. When you “Re-Tweet” (RT) you forward on another Tweet for someone. If you someone posts a link you just love you simply put: RT @(the user’s name) and then the message.

You can do it to pass along other bloggers giveaways, when an author releases a new book, or when someone is looking to raise funds for a charity event. Then when you are in the need of some “RTing” most likely the RTing karma will come back to you!

When you are posting a message you want people to Re-Tweet simply put at the beginning or end of the tweet, Please RT.

3. How can I get people to respond/participate in my Tweets?

This just takes time, more followers, and having a good “Twitter Persona” for a bit. I was in need for ideas on a craft project and simply asked the question that linked to the same question I posted on my blog and in 24 hours I have over 100 answers in my email inbox!

Another morning I had only 6 hours and at 11pm at night to gather gift certificates to raise money for Autism Speaks. In that time I gathered over 3,000 dollars in gift certificates JUST FROM POSTING IT ON TWITTER.

When you want people to respond and participate in your tweets be sure to word them creatively and make them eye catching! Think about when you are standing in line at the grocery store barley skimming the titles of the huge amount of magazine in front of you. What titles catches your eye? You can learn a lot just from paying attention to how the National Enquirer words their story titles!

Just from today on Twitter these are some tweets that caught my eye:

@emihill posted this, I am a sucker for bath products and very into humanitarian efforts…
Have you heard of Basa Body? Coconut oil products that support women in Kenya. Awesome! Promotion & giveaway: http://tr.im/jCgG RT

@createdbymom posted this, who wouldn’t want to look into chocolate covered macaroons?
RT @rawmelissa: First person to email me outside of Utah gets a free package of Chocolate Covered Macaroons. melissa(at)rawmelissa.com

@MomItForward With hardly any Internet access and I accidentally left my phone at home, it was GREAT to be so unplugged! A real Vaca! #gno

@cushytoosh my kids were watching Ruff Ruffman the other day and they ate some fried bugs – I think it’s all good?

Be yourself on Twitter, let your personality shine through and it will attract others.

Stay Tuned… Tomorrow we will end our Twittering session with “Taking Twitter to the Next Level” with sites that make it easier and help you make the most of your time.

Please hold off on asking your Twitter questions until Part 3 is posted. However, feel free to leave your Twitter accounts in the comments so we call all follow each other and network.

Do you like this post? Then favorite it by clicking on these hearts.

Are you looking for more Tips on Twitter? Check out my previous posts:

1. Part 1 – How To Twitter
2. Part 2 – How To Build Your Twitter Audience
3. Part 3 – Taking Twitter to the Next Level
4. How the Heck Does Twitter Work?

If you’re looking for fabulous women to follow on Twitter, be sure to check out the comments in How to Twitter and the comments on Eclisse Creatzioni posts where fellow Tip Junkie’s have left their Twitter addresses.

Don’t forget to follow Tip Junkie on Twitter.