What is this “Twitter” everyone is talking about… er, tweeting about?
Twitter is rapid fire communication in 140 characters or less. There is no time for sidebars and verbosity, it’s get your message said quickly and clearly. It is an easy way to get your words out to a lot of people at once. You can also reply to someone else’s tweets, retweet something notable or send a private BRIEF message. Add your thoughts to a trending topic, report on a breaking news development and update your own status easily.
While Twitter has proven benefits for simply staying in touch on a social level, it has been a terrific marketing tool as well. In order to use it effectively as a marketing tool there are a few “musts” #1, Set up your Twitter account. Use a name that is as close, if not exact, to the name you want people to remember. (My Twitter account is @ChelleCordero) Cutesy names or aliases that have nothing to do with your brand will only cause confusion and not help your promotion efforts. #2, Build your profile. You want to build a following so it is important that you look like a legitimate account. List your website link and a few brief words about yourself. Post a relevant photo or logo avatar to go with your account. #3, Make it easy for folks to follow you. If you have to “approve” each follower, many people will walk away. #4, Make sure you create a tweet thread. If you follow a thousand people, have zero tp a fe followers and no tweets, people will not be interested in you.
Once you’ve got your account set up, begin tweeting, but don’t use your account only to hawk your wares. Interact with other tweeters. Tweet in the language you want to do business in. Don’t be argumentative or vulgar. And again, limit the advertorials – allow NO MORE than one-fifth of your tweets for marketing and promotion. Use the search feature to find other tweeters with similar interests, common locations, and trending topics. Every time you respond to someone else or retweet their message, your name gets out there and hopefully your responses will garner interest. While it is tempting to automatically follow back when you are followed, use your discretion – association does make a huge difference; look at the tweeter’s profile and read their tweets.
Finally use applications that will allow you to post your tweets on your other social media sites, and update a widget on your blog or website. Hooking a blog application into Twitter is also useful when every new post is tweeted so that people know to come read your latest posting.
Writing exercise: Write the following in independent tweets of 140-characters or less: 1) hat is the most important thing that happened to you today? 2) What kind of a childhood did you have? 3) What is your long term career goal? 4) What are your plans for tomorrow?
Writing prompt: Invent a new word (ONE word) for each of the following: 1) Your job description. 2) Your preferred method of cleaning. 3) An ideal vacation spot. 5) Describe the last traffic jam you were in.
