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Using Twitter

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CP Bialois
CP Bialois

Good morning everyone!

Okay, this has been a post several friends have been asking me to write, so here I am with my somewhat organized (disorganized?) thoughts on using Twitter.

One of the first things we often hear as authors is marketing and the power of social media, especially sites like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and websites.

Out of all of them, Twitter has been my drug of choice. Why? Well, that’s tough to explain. Mainly because I can link my blog and Facebook page to it, so anything I post on either of those goes right to twitter. Pretty cool and handy, if you ask me.

First off, I want to be clear that anyone can learn to use Twitter or other sites. I was dragged onto social media kicking and screaming like a demon when I got into network marketing. It forced me to learn how to work the different sites or starve. Believe me, if I can figure it out, so can anyone else. All you need is the willingness to do it and learn.

What Twitter offers is the ability to connect with anyone with an account to sell/offer services or chat with friends. You just follow people you want to network with and, with luck, they’ll follow you back. That’s it. How you use Twitter is a whole other thing.

To be honest, you’ll mostly see “buy me” links. It doesn’t matter if it’s jewelry, books, Twitter followers, Facebook likes, or other services. I’m not a fan of spamming, so I post a blurb in the morning and pin it to my profile (It’s similar to Facebook page pins. You’ll find the option by clicking on the three dots at the bottom right of your tweet and opening up a menu. It also makes it easier on anyone coming to your profile to retweet something of yours.). I also tend to only retweet in the morning or early afternoon and leave it at that.

Now, it’s only fair to say most people selling something are tweeting their “buy me” links. Some will only post those. As with everything, everyone is different and has a different way of doing things. We’re all looking for that one thing that’ll separate us from the rest.

My thing is simple: I do shout outs. I thank groups of people for following and retweeting me after I wake up each day. People love shout outs (Tweeting a group of people in the same tweet), but it can be challenging. You have to be diligent if you choose to do shout outs, especially if you have a lot of either one.

Another thing I do is retweet anyone that retweets me. To me, it’s simply common courtesy. More than that, it’s what makes Twitter an effective tool. It takes time, but you can and will develop a large following and core group of retweeters. Just be patient and kind and never, ever, call someone out for not following you. That’s just wrong and one of my pet peeves. It’s easy to lose someone in the shuffle, but you could be on that side of it someday and calling others out will just earn you a reputation you don’t want.

On that note, you’ll also attract various accounts offering to sell you Twitter followers, Facebook likes, blog/website followers, and so on. I block them as soon as I see them for the simple reason, most of the follows are fake accounts that’ll just dilute your amount of followers that are interested in what you have to say. Remember the old phrase, “Quality over quantity”. It’s great to have both, but going for higher numbers that won’t help you won’t, well, help you.

By: Andreas Eldh
By: Andreas Eldh

Also, don’t be discouraged if you are retweeted but don’t make any sales and so on. An old marketing fact is one percent. Basically, one out of a hundred people will buy something and that’s after they see your blurb five to twelve times.

With each retweet, you’re being shared with their followers, just like you’re sharing them with your followers when you retweet them. Make sense? (Sorry, I had to ask since I sometimes confuse myself Lol)

The biggest thing to keep in mind is you never know who will see the tweet and like it, so keep plugging away. Like anything else, you’ll eventually get out of it what you put into it.

Have you learned any tips or experiences you’d like to share?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.