As I dove into the micro-blogging world of Twitter and experimented with tweets, re-tweeting, and finding information on Twitter, I found after a while that it is quite easy to secure Twitter success if you are ready to:
1. Humanize your presence. Use your name so that people know you are a real person. If you have something to hide, Twitter is not for you. People can feel it based on what they see and read on your profile. Use your photo instead of a cartoon character or an image of a monkey. I found that I avoid following people that don‘t have their photo on Twitter. Do you?
2. Provide useful information on a single topic. Decide what you are best at and twitter about it to build your brand online. Stay true to your subject matter. I found that I lost a ton of followers when instead of social media strategy I brought up “So you think you can dance” show or the tallest buildings in the world. It is OK to once in a while bring up your favorite books, sports, and hobbies, although it may cost you a few followers. Experiment for yourself!
3. Quality over quantity, please. Would you want to get more than 10 e-mails a day from a person that you don‘t know or hardly know? Would you read them all? You might be perceived as a spammer trying to rack up followers, if you send multiple messages almost at the same time. It is especially true with the RT feature that people use to send multiple tweets.
4. Listen to what others are saying. search.twitter.com is a powerful tool to hear about what is going on with your industry, competitors, partners, customers, and products. Use it! Twitter group allows you to follow anyone you want, and they can’t unsubscribe you from the list.
5. Invite others who provide useful information to you and those who can potentially become customers and/or partners. Don‘t give in if someone you are interested in is not following you, especially if they have more than 1000 followers. They may not have gotten messages you sent them. Try DM (Direct Message). The best way to get noticed on Twitter is to repeatedly promote other people.
6. Participate in a Twitter chat. What can be better than an organized discussion on pr, writing, web design, social media, small business, etc. without leaving the comfort of your room! You can still learn things while being with your family after the long day at work. There is a spreadsheet of Twitter chats that can be used to find a chat based on your interests and needs.
7. Twitter about and at the event. If you are going to a conference, you will want to send a few tweets about it and connect with other participants via Twitter and in person.
8. Manage your time to avoid frustration. Decide how much time to spend and what to accomplish on Twitter prior to logging in.
9. Measure results. I wouldn‘t focus solely on the number of followers. It‘s about knowing what you are using Twitter for – customer service, PR, marketing – and response from your audience.
Anything else? What is your take? What works for you on Twitter? Let me know by posting a comment here or on Twitter @AnaMilevskaja
Tagged Blog, Blogging, social media, Twitter
Separating your identities on Twitter is like pulling your teeth. I am generally reluctant to do either. As a marketing and business development professional and most recently founder of Fashion Vortex, an Italian leather handbags boutique, I have struggled with this decision. I have come to conclude that I cannot use the same Twitter account to talk about social media and Italian leather handbags. Here is why:
ount. Why use 
