Last week, I gave a talk on this at Google Campus. Here are my notes...
1 make your
twitter handle as short and simple/memorable as possible. Give’s you more chance to be mentioned/re-tweeted.
2 have a photo and description. Mention that you follow/unfollow back. Do write what you are going to tweet about but be as short as possible. Don’t delay writing your profile, people don’t like to follow “empties” because they’re usually spammers and hackers.
3 start by following everyone that you think may be interested in you. You expose yourself to them and most will follow back. You may find these people in follower lists of those similar to you. This is the key to fast, organic follower growth.
4 don’t follow if it looks like they won’t follow you back (celebs, big companies etc) you can still read their tweets by adding them to LISTS. Just create a “read” list and add them there. I have lots of lists, mainly so I can categorise contacts like: fashion, music, food etc, but I only read my “read” list, where I have news, fashion magazines, chefs, social media gurus etc…and a “friends” list where I read tweets from those I interact with on twitter: colleagues, twitter friends. Not following them but adding them to SECRET (it’s an option) lists is a good way to read what the competitors are posting, without exposing yourself to them. They know whatever they post can and will be read by anyone and everyone, so it’s not necessarily unethical. In turn remember - competition is following you too.
5 Before EVERY tweet THINK: "would I be interested if I read this?". Could someone be offended if they read this. Am I just talking to myself? Use common sense. But don’t be afraid to tweet…relax, everyone makes mistakes sometimes. If you think you have nothing to tweet about you can re-tweet something interesting, you can have conversations with people, you can send out a link to your blog/Youtube channel, promote someone else’s (twitter etiquette says: they should do it in return, which also means if someone promotes you…do it back).
6 sign up for www.justunfollow.com and easily unfollow unfollowers. Don’t unfollow just for the sake of it, or they might unfollow back. This site is to spot those who didn’t follow you back. You don’t want to be following a million and have 100 followers…keep your twitter organised.
7 follow almost everyone back – if you don’t they may unfollow you. People with no descriptions or no followers are usually spammers – don’t follow them. Also make sure whoever you’re following actually tweets…if they haven’t tweeted for more than a couple of months…they probably stopped using twitter.
8 if you tweet in another language, also tweet in English, or you’ll be unfollowed by English speaking followers and won’t gain more followers.
9 ALWAYS try to leave space of at least 20 characters in your tweets and say “pls RT” if you want them re-tweeted. Re-tweets expose you to the followers of those who are re-tweeting you…so you get more exposure, more eyes on your blog as a result etc.
10 make a list of all the people you support and all those who do #FF back (Follow Friday). Every Friday tweet an #FF (shout out/promotion) to those people for instance me ☺ @so_bfm. Keep it brief, but it’s good to tell people who they are. For example #FF FASHION or #FF SOCIAL MEDIA (followed by as many user handles as you can fit).
11 check trending topics and try to use them in your tweets – it will expose you to more people. I once mentioned a trending topic which got me a lot of new followers, it was #IfIHadThreeWishes. I said: “#IfIHadThreeWishes we would get paid what we’re worth, if you love someone they’d love you back, and all the calories girls eat go to our boobs.”
12 use hashtags (#) but don’t make them up!!! (for example: don’t tweet #failandahalf…or something…tweet #fail…that’s a real hashtag). Fake hashtags annoy people. Use #style #IT #business #ifollowback #autofollow etc. A hashtags are words someone may be looking up on twitter for news/trending topics. BUT if you’re tweeting: The Boat restaurant is amazing – don’t put #restaurant (because the word is already in the sentence), put maybe #food or #travel or something in the end, if they fit. People may be searching for those words. Use common sense.
13 never tweet that you’re bored/depressed/busy and try not to overtweet words like for sale – it will annoy and bore followers, make them think you’re just selling and they will unfollow. Don’t tweet if you’re drunk/mad …if your judgement is impaired you could annoy people with your tweets and get unfollows. Call a friend instead. Don’t be crude or swear while you’re building your career. Use your head. Be careful with irony and sarcasm. It’s easy to confuse people when not face to face.
14 remember twitter etiquette – the more you promote others the more they promote you. If you’re tweeting something about a brand or a musician…find out their handle and mention them. Good things come out of promoting. For example my photographer friend @jay_mclaughlin tweeted something about a Goodyear blimp, and they invited him to go up in one, and use it in a shoot.
15 have engaging conversations with people on twitter – other people are noisy and will start following you if you’re saying something interesting.
16 don’t overtweet on the same topic, and don’t tweet too much twitter stuff like #FF’s – dilute them with quotes or something funny.
17 location tweets are important but can also be dangerous. While you may think that no one might want to rob or kidnap you and sell your parts, you are wrong. They are not stupid and have the ability to pretend to be someone very charming. You can all think for yourselves, your safety is your own responsibility, not the platforms’…this is just a reminder to always pause and think before posting anything. The importance of location tweets is also grand. Personally, I stay safe by checking-in after I leave the venue. I check-in because I write about London, food, travel and venues. So it’s important to show my contacts that I am always checking out new places and destinations. Even better post photos and tips.
18 use Tweetdeck or other programs designed to make Twitter easier and more productive.
*Tweetdeck – a downloadable program which makes using Twitter a million times easier and more effective. Manage multiple twitter accounts, as well as Facebook and post to all at the same time, read only the news you care about, have it pop up on your screen as it happens.
19 don’t open any SPAM direct messages/tweets which say: I found a picture/video of you/gossip (and give you a link). Anything similar is spam.
20 fun tips:
- to follow someone quickly you can tweet an “f” then hit a space button and add their user name. Eg. F @so_bfm
- When tweeting someone’s address eg. @so_bfm – if you want others to see the tweet, add a “.” Or something (anything) in front of the tweet, because addressed tweets are only visible to those who follow both you and the addressee, it will still be visible on your page but it won’t come up in followers newsfeeds because conversations can be very mundane and therefore don’t appear unless you want them to. So either start it with something else (like “hello”), then add their address or put something in front of the name. Eg: .@so_bfm this is my blog …. NOT @so_bfm this is my blog…. (unless you don’t need to remind others of your blog).
- If you want to do some of your own PR, follow @JournoRequest – they post queries of what journalists are looking for, some day it could be you.
