The one thing you really need to concentrate on is your profile and your one line bio. You have to make yourself sound exciting in 140 characters, as this is what many people will read in making their decision on whether to follow you or not. Twitter is best described as a micro blogging platform. You are limited to 140 characters each time you do an update, which initially, may seem a small amount. However, as you become more experienced, it’s just amazing what you can fit into 140 characters.
I’ve read mind-boggling stories with less than 140 characters.
You might also want to consider creating a background in order to differentiate yourself and offset yourself from other Twitter users. Some people create backgrounds that have all their contact details on so that their followers know how to get in contact in other ways than just using Twitter.
Now you are ready to tweet. Before you start looking for followers, make sure you have at least a few tweets to your name as an empty page is a turn off when asking people to follow you.
Tips on Tweeting
A quick warning here! Do not send out too many promotional tweets. A good ratio to have is 9 informational tweets to 1 promotional tweet.
This way you will not lose too many followers and keep attracting new ones.
To establish yourself on Twitter, you will want to post lots of good content on your Tweets. You can send your followers links to other articles, press releases, blog posts etc. to get even more visitors to your websites.
Try to keep your posts interesting and personal as this will let people find out more about you and your business. People do business with people they know and trust – and Twitter helps us achieve this.
Ensure that you regularly post tweets, as the more you tweet the more traffic you can send to your websites. Followers are more likely to stick with people who twitter regularly, so set up some kind of tweeting schedule.
A good way to convert followers into customers is to send tweets about free seminars, or video training that they can attend, with a small sales pitch at the end.
Re-tweeting is a good habit to get into as well; as this will help you get followers. Re-tweeting is where you tweet about another tweet that somebody else made. By re-tweeting what you find interesting it provides value to your followers, and if they like what you refer them to they will begin to trust you.
You will also start to build good relationships with the original tweeter, who may very well return the favour and re-tweet your interesting tweets.
Finding Followers
Next, we need to find followers.
Over the long term, the best way to do this is to post great content. If your tweets are interesting enough, people will follow you without you having to do too much work.
But in the early days how DO you get people to follow you? Each tool listed helps to expand your presence while establishing your authority. Most respected online entrepreneurs use these to find prospects, spread their message and make connections with their target market.
A good strategy is to look at the other people who are operating in your niche.
Find them and then look at who their followers are and follow them. You should find that quite a few people will return the favour and follow you back.
Once you have got a few followers, you become more credible to other users. Post good content and make your Tweets interesting and you can easily start to build a loyal following.
Twitter Tools to Help
In an ideal world, we could easily spend hours on Twitter, but this is not always possible and there are tools available to help us make the most of Tthis site. Some people send tweets every day, and although this is a good idea we don’t always have the time.
A tool called Future Tweets (found at http://futuretweets.com) means we can automatically post prepared tweets at predetermined times.
HootSuite (http://hootsuite.com) is free, and it’s the most professional Twitter client I have used. It’s packed with features and the interface is awesome.
There are so many tools available for Twitter – way too many to mention here, so do a Google search for “Twitter Word press plug-in” and “Twitter tools business” to open your eyes to the amazing variety of what is available.
Twitter Checklist
Here is a little checklist that you can keep next to your computer to help you make the most of Twitter as a traffic generating tool:
Shout to the world that you are on Twitter
Send informational tweets regularly. (Remember the ratio – 9 informational:1 promotional)
Re-tweet any good tweets you come across
Reply to the tweets addressed to you, as this builds relationships
Pay attention to the kind of tweets you are sending (make them personal and sometimes talk about every day stuff. People love gossip.)
Listen to what people are tweeting – can you help?
Build relationships
