One of my resolutions for 2009 is to become a more dedicated Twitter-er. I’ve just read Mike Filsaime’s post on Twitter and have been skimming through all kinds of blog posts made in the last year about the web’s favorite microblog.
If you do what I’m doing, Googling and following massive links from every major and minor blog on the web that mentioned Twitter this year, you will quickly see an entire universe of interest, arguments (over what Twitter is really best used for), and pleas for more information or help.
All This from 140 Characters?
It’s really quite amazing how a microblog that only allows you to post 140 characters per post has generated books, forums, blogs, and literally countless conversations about itself.
There are Twitter guides that purport to teach you everything you need to know to “dominate” Twitter. As if the first thing normal people want to do with anything that becomes popular is “dominate” it.
What strikes me is how the advice from different groups of people on how to use Twitter serves the purpose and inclinations of each group.
- Marketers want to dominate it – so they release guides on how to get a lot of followers really fast and, usually, leave the reason for this up to you.
- Bloggers want more traffic through it - They are busy people with far more to say than 140 characters will allow, but microblogging is therapeutic, and, everyone else is doing it so let’s not be left out.
- Regular surfers seek meaning from it – Most people still have no idea what Twitter is all about. Which is appropriate, if you think about it. Clearly no one can give a definitive answer on what Twitter is all about that suits every user.
- Corporations want to understand it – Seems like Dell has used Twitter to great advantage in 2008, reportedly pulling down an extra million or so by running Twitter-only specials. But they already have the attention of their market, so running a sale anywhere on their market stream would generate a lot of sales. So, what was their point?
- And everyone who uses it thinks they know the best way to use it – Not only that, but they feel like they know exactly what YOU want from it and are ready to tell you all about why you want to use it. There are seemingly thousands of Twitter tools. Everyone thinks the way they use those tools to Tweet is the best way, even if their favorite tools are duplicates of others with their own hugely evangelistic following.
When you really start diving into Twitter and following a mere fraction of the conversations going on around it, you learn that this little tool that organizes everything nicely into packages of 140 characters or less, has created utter chaos all around it.
It seems like the chaos of people shouting out their favorite ways of using Twitter, what Twitter is for, and the things you MUST do to use Twitter properly, would turn anyone new to the whole thing into a nervous wreck.
So I Have a Twitter Resolution
I have been an on again off again user of Twitter. I have my blog streaming to my account so I don’t look so bad for being an infrequent Tweeter. Then I get fired up about it and Tweet like mad for a few days. I’ve used and discarded tons of Twitter apps aimed at helping me use Twitter “better.”
I have over 1000 followers today and am following around 70 others. So I know a little about it. But I still haven’t made up my mind about how it becomes and integral part of what I do online as opposed to a fall-back when I am bored or feel guilty for not Tweeting in a week.
I am not offering any answers in this post as to how or why you should use Twitter.
There’s a lot of interesting stuff from marketers on why and how you should use it. But I am going to dive in and follow advice from people with much larger follower lists than mine, use my own ideas on how best to use Twitter for my business, and come back here with updates on the process.
There’s plenty information out there about how to get thousands of followers, but less on what it means to have thousands of real followers and what that can do for your business (with examples!).
I’d like to see some information on tests people have done or some stats on a single Tweet’s effect on a large following. Like increased sales, more RSS subscribers, more blog comments, etc. I’ve seen traffic increases on my blog as well as increased sales as a result of Tweeting about new products or something I wanted to alert followers to, but I didn’t really record them.
So my resolution: Take a more logical, regular approach to Twitter as if I had built it myself as a communication tool for my business. And then report back here with hard results of tests I conduct.
I’d love to hear from you as well! Please feel free to comment on your confusion, success, test results, or the tools you like to use with Twitter below…
Oh yeah, and follow me on Twitter!
More Twitter Resources
- Developing a Twitter Landing Page (I really like this one and will incorporate a Twitter landing page here at FTR)
- Twitip – a “Think Tank” for Twitter strategies by Darren Rowse. Really cool stuff here. Bookmark it.
- 17 Ways You Can Use Twitter
- How to Get More Twitter Followers
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Jack,
Just wanted you to know that it was due to Twitter that I found this post (from Mike Filsaime’s post too ).
My tweeting patterns have been very similar to yours. My blogs posts get tweeted, my ezine articles get tweeted, and I also go in spurts to tweet for days in a row…then nothing.
I’ll be interested to follow your own personal Twitter results. I’m still on the fence about it myself for those of us average Joe marketers. In Jim Edward’s 2009 IM forecasts, he gave Twitter the award for “The Worst of…”.
Thanks for your own insights into Twitter,
Jane
Internet Marketing “The Way I See It”
Janes last blog post..“Take Action Today” Generate Traffic And Sales With…more Social Media
Yeah, wow do I ever here that Jack. I’ve had one heck of a time remembering to open up Twirl everyday, so I can be active with it a lot more.
Today I’ve been doing a bit of house cleaning with my computer to get ready for 2009. I have this To-Do list manager that pops up every 30 minutes which reminds me of what I’m supposed to be focusing on for the day, in case I wander!
Anyhow..the very first item I put on my To-Do list manager was to open up and start Twirl first thing in the morning. Now I just have to remember to use the list manager every day…I have it smack dab in the middle of my desk top so it’s the first thing I see every day when I turn on my machine.
I hope it works!
Cheers and a great post Jack
Take care,
Davin
Davins last blog post..Conquering Your Online Business In 2009
Hi Jack
I love my twitter community. It’s a hub of information and you find out some really great stuff that other people leave as twitter posts.
I have my blog posts going through a twitter feed but I also send messages like “its 2am and I’m still up on my laptop…. why???” and personal messages like that.
I have loads of people following my blogs too as a result of twitter or joining my Ning site.
Just please don’t become one of those marketers that don’t follow back. Too many of them have 3,000 followers and they only connect to their buddies and have 180 people that they following (as an example).
Do they think it makes them look popular because all those people “follow them” … nooooo…!!!!
It makes them look mean because they have all those people who buy their products, an opportunity to connect with them, and they can’t be bothered or don’t want to.
I know you to be a real and decent guy who “talks” to us all – well as much as you can online – so please follow back because all the really great people do, especially those in social media who understand the importance of relationship marketing.
)
Internet marketers only understand how to look good and make it look like they are the big dog (IMHO
One thing that’s great to do is to follow Mr Tweet
http://twitter.com/MrTweet
Because when you do he provides you with a list of the most influential people you should be following and you can follow them right there just by hitting the FOLLOW button. I connected to a load of great social meda experts and bloggers. The best news is there were loads of Master female bloggers amongst them so I am a very happy bunny.
Looking forward to connecting with you tweet friend
Happy new year to you and your family Jack.
Diane
Diane Corriettes last blog post..What’s Your Passion?
Hi Jack,
I am relatively new to twitter and I only have 50 followers. I guess that’s not bad in a couple of weeks. It seems to me that the main advantage of twitter is the speed of communication as well as being good fun.
You can get a message out to like minded people fast. But, the message will only be effective if they are actively following. It’s likely that any tweet will run the risk of becoming swamped by a mass of other tweets. That’s why people send out multiple tweets I guess.
If you have a large following and a percentage respond then it may be worthwhile. For someone with a high profile, and a large dedicated following it is more likely to be effective.
I have a lot to learn and I may be missing something so I will continue to explore and research twitter. I look forward to reading your test results and conclusions.
Thanks for taking the time to share this with us.
Ken
Building A Business
Kens last blog post..Link Bonus
Ken – the trick to making people follow you more closely is developing the need for them to check in with their Twitter more often to see what you’re up to, what you’re recommending, and find cool stuff. I am following Darren Rowse, Michel Fortin, and a handful of others more closely because they always seem to have good stuff to share. Thus, they get me as a frequent reader, along with surely thousands of others who feel the same as I do about their tweets.
Great Diane! Going to see Mr. Tweet now. (And you of course.)
You may also want to check out yonkly. It’s the first “create your own” microblog to integrate with Twitter: http://yonkly.com
Multiple sites appealing to different groups of people – one twitter account or multiple twitter accounts? Your recommendation.
Jack
I agree with Diane about the importance of following people. Is it just the big dogs so to speak that people follow because the little dogs have nothing important to say? Is it just big dogs following other big dogs?
My opinion and that is all it is most have jumped on the twitter bandwagon like Filsaime just to reach people they might not be reaching. He is not the only one but all the so called self anointed gurus are doing it. My question is are they doing it to really connect to people or because they want to market to them. There is a difference in connecting to people for the sake of connecting to them and out of that comes the possible result of selling something than connecting to people under the guise of connecting with the real reason being to sell them something. There is nothing wrong with selling just be upfront about it. There is something wrong with connecting under the guise of connecting to sell something. Twitter was setup I am sure for people to connect with other people, not for gurus to market their wares.
That is part of the overall problem in our world is people don’t really connect with people except on the surface.
Personally I love tumblr more than twitter.
Scott – I agree 100% Liberal use of the “Unfollow” button when people fail to come through with things you are interested in is in order. I like to keep my tweets clean as much as possible and will only follow people who strike me as interesting, helpful, or otherwise important for me to follow. That’s why my follow count is currently under 100. It’s going back up, but most people have nothing to say on Twitter that I want clogging up my twit stream.
You can miss some really good stuff by following too many people. Therefore, connections are not made and the conversation becomes pure noise, IMO. Maybe I’ll find a way to follow more people more efficiently, but for now I am enjoying following a smaller group for the fact that I CAN make connections and not get overwhelmed.
J – One Twitter account if you have one focus. Multiple accounts if you must keep them separate. But every account you have needs TLC, otherwise it would be better to just have one that is active, engaging, and useful to people even if some Tweets are not appealing to the entire group.
If you have an account under your name you can do like everyone else does and simply Twitter what you want. I don’t care about everything Scoble tweets, but some of his stuff is good enough that I continue to follow. Develop that kind of account and you can get away with one account for multiple interests. Everyone has more than one interest.
I agree…
I do use Twitter and my blog posts are streamed there, but I’ve also recently added Twitter to my list of Onlywire accounts. Since I bookmark (on OW) anything I find interesting (genuinely interesting, not just on IM) my Twitter account gets Tweets on all sorts of subjects.
I’ve seen a noticeable up tick in people following me since I did that (not altogether surprising, I suppose!) and I also get to see a whole range of other interesting stuff (mixed in with an even wider range of purely promotional tweets).
I’ve also noticed a general increase in traffic to my blog, although I haven’t been able to discover whether that’s from Twitter or not!
Cheers,
Martin.
Martin Maldens last blog post..10 SEO Steps For a New Website
Jack,
I just found your site. It is great with lots of good info. I’m trying to add a link on my WP blog to “followme” in twitter. I haven’t found a plugin or widget that offers that feature. You have that on your blog. Would you be kind enough to tell me how you did it?
Thanks, Betty
http://www.bettyfellows.com
Betty – You can click on my Twitter follow badge and put your Twitter username in the field on the resulting page. Once you do that it says something like “Put this on your site” on the mid-right side and they give you the code. Just open a text widget in Wordpress widgets and place the code there, then wherever you want in your sidebar.
For the Follow Me badge, I just found that by Googling Twitter graphics or “follow me graphic” and found someone giving them away. I just grabbed the one I liked and opened a text widget and put the html code in to make it clickable. I’m sure there’s a service out there that will give you the code ready-made with a larger selection of buttons. I just got impatient and did it myself.