Quick Tips for a Twitter Newbie

·       Develop a relationship with followers or customers before selling your product. When I first started using twitter, I would send direct messages to my followers and tell them about my products. Unfortunately, I lost some followers because of that mistake. Most twitter users want to learn more about you over your product.

·         Be respectful –this should be a given but I have received twitter replies from strangers who say, “Girl, you are right.” This is not respectful because we have not developed a relationship. Instead state, “I do agree with what you are saying about…..”

·         Research- Do not follow every celebrity, or business guru on twitter. Find out how the individuals you choose to follow will be an asset to your business goals and how you can contribute to their business.

·         Twitter posts should count-Not everything we think should be posted. I remember as a twitter newbie I would talk about my day as a mom, what I planned to cook for dinner and my plans for the next day. Honestly, most of my followers were more interested in my inspirational quotes.

·         Embrace trial and error- Let’s face it, everyone encounters errors on twitter. Learn from your mistakes and move on. When I first started using twitter, no one would reply , comment or retweet my posts. I realized that my posts were at odd times of the day, so I started posting 2x a day and realized that more replies came in the evening time. This led me to post most of my comments later in the day.

·         Let someone else do the work for you! Signing up for Hootsuite or twuffer allows you to schedule posts ahead of time and focus on other important things.