11 Twitter Essentials You Need To Pimp Your Blog

There are many ways to use Twitter and we are still figuring out the rules. What I really like about social media is that it is still so new that you can make up your own rules as you go with an eye on what works and what doesn’t and I like that because I have a problem with authority.

The other cool thing is that if what you are doing is highly annoying you will be informed either by losing followers or public or private messages that can be either very direct and blunt or very politely mentioned with a smile. I have experienced them all!!

One rule which is more along the lines of a preferred etiquette on Twitter is the very quaint but very powerful tribal custom of “I follow you and you will follow me back“. Now it is not hard and fast rule but I think that it is part of its charm. It allows you to join a gang of like minded people, get followed back one at a time and tweet links and content that everyone in the gang enjoys. You can also go and join several gangs without anyone taking umbrage or becoming socially violent. It is like tribes of the past but without the knives, guns and spears.

So what are 11 Twitter essentials that you need to keep in mind if you are wanting to use it as a business and marketing tool?

1. Start Building A Follower Base In Your Niche

This is maybe the most important place to start if you want to use the full power of Twitter to promote your blog, website or content. There are a few ways to do this but a tool that has come back into favor with me is Twellow (it used to run like a dog) but it seems they have tweaked their software and decided to get hosting servers that actually have some real processing horsepower behind the website and it now seems to perform quickly and efficiently without having to go away and make a cup of coffee. On Twellow.com you can look up all sorts of  categories and then start following the top people in that category from within Twellow itself.

Read more: How To Get Targeted Niche Followers

2. Engage with Top People In Your Niche

This is important as you gain some credibility in the gang and the Alpha geeks might even start tweeting your content to their vast tribe and give you a leg up in the content distribution game. There are many ways to do this  but one sneaky way to do this is to retweet their posts another is to write glowingly about them in a blog post and then tweet it it to them.

3. Select A Twitter Tool To Manage Twitter

Now managing the stream of tweets that can turn into a torrent is important as your follower numbers build. The tool I did use was Tweetdeck but I found it became slow and started freezing on me ( by the way I have heard that is working well now) so I have changed over to Hootsuite which I think is a smarter platform after having used it for the past few months.

4. Promote Your Content To Your Twitter Gang

You have taken all the effort to write, video or record content that is intelligent and insightful. As the old book says “Don’t hide your light under a bushel”  get your content out there so you can be discovered. So start pimping!!  One tool that I have found useful that schedules my content promotion is Socialoomph.com professional version.

5. Place A Link On Your Twitter Page

I don’t know how many times I have gone to a Twitter site and tried to find where their home base is and their is no link on their Twitter account. Even if you don’t have a blog or website yet put in your LinkedIn or Facebook site

6. Include Your Location

Social media is about being yourself and being transparent and real so knowing where you are from is important too help people connect.

7. Upload A Personal Photo

I see a lot of  bizarre images as Twitter images that front a personal brand that makes it hard to let people engage with you. Unless you have an image that only a mother would love or built for radio it is important to use a personal photo.

9. Tweet Relevant Content

Content that is relevant to your followers is essential if you are wanting to provide value so tweet content from your own blog and content sources as well as others is essential.  Tweeting about how to bake a cake when your followers are keen on golfing is going to leave your tweets friendless and untouched.

10. Learn To Write Headlines

You have 140 characters to get someone’s attention so they will click on your link. It can be learned so spend some time boning up on the essentials.

Read more:

• How To Write A Mind Bowing Headline For Twitter
• Have You Been Making This Huge Mistake On Your Blog

11. Don’t Change Your Photo!

Changing your socks on regular basis is good for maintaining friendships but changing your photo gets me confused in fact I have not recognized people on Twitter for months that I felt close to because they changed their photo. It is your Twitter brand so think twice before rebranding.

So what have I left out?

Image by larrykang