As a small business owner and mompreneur, no matter where I turn, I am bombarded with emails, webinars, seminars and blog posts on the importance of being on Twitter.
Well, I am on Twitter – Are You?
In addition to having your own business website, writing a blog, managing a Facebook page, and participating in groups on Linked In, Twitter is a fabulous and efficient way to establish a brand, niche, and a following. This is especially true as an emerging brand or service, and would you ever say “no” to a free way to get your name out there? Not only can you connect with others in your vertical, build rapport, and position yourself as a brand expert on Twitter, but it is now speculated that tweets will become integrated into search engines more and more.
I do not hold myself out as a Twitter expert, but after using it fairly effectively for a while, building a following, and taking full advantage of the possibilities of Twitter, I can share my Little Book of Twitter Etiquette. There are thousands of articles on Twitter How-To, but today I thought that I would give my little cheat sheet on Twitter good behavior.
So, you are on Twitter? Right? Now what? Just for you:
Rachel’s Little Book of Twitter Etiquette
- Always give credit where credit is due. If one of your tweeps shares an article they found, and you re-share it, give them credit. Just because they did not write it… they found it and shared it first. This is a fabulous way to establish rapport among your Twitter community.
- If you are Retweeted or Receive a Shout-Out, thank the giving tweep. It does not have to be immediate, but don’t forget to get on twitter and say “thanks.” You could take it one step further and RT one of their posts in return. I especially admire @Rieva Lesonsky for this….it is hard to get more of a small biz twexpert than Rieve, yet she always takes the time to say thanks.
- If you want to share a link with just one person, put it in a Direct Message. Thanks to the fabulous @JohnAguiar, I learned way back in the beginning that tweeting someone with a link is spamming, and does not reflect positively on you. If you want someone to check out your link personally, simply put your link in a DM with a little “would love for you to read this.”
- In my personal opinion, automatic Direct Messages are extremely impersonal. A generated DM signals someone who is not really into engaging, but possibly collecting followers.
- Be authentic and true to your brand. Tweet about what matters to you and to the audience/vertical that you have gathered on Twitter (whether it is 100 followers or 1000’s).
- Another matter of my personal opinion, when doling #FollowFridays or any following recommendation, say a few short words about the person. I do not want to follow someone just because you say to follow them, but let me know why that tweep is a good follow. For example, I would say “#FF @startupnation the place where I turn for info on starting & running a biz.”
There you have it! My quick little guide to being a good tweepie.
Want to learn more? Follow my blogpost on What’s the Deal with Twitter?.…. we are going to examine a new Tweep’s use of #hashtags soon.
