Twitter?

[lisamariemary]

Hey Steve - read this post from Lynn - it is from the day after she joined Twitter. She very soon after became a Twitter cheerleader, like so many of us. In this post, however, at the very bottom - she includes some links to some good Twitter how-to articles: http://www.clicknewz.com/1385/twitter/

And here's an interesting article from Jason Falls, that he just posted yesterday: http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2...ng-on-twitter/

[ChristineCobb]

Steve,
Pretend that Twitter is a big social event that you are attending. Think about the conversations you would have with people at the event, especially people you don't know.

You most likely would not start the conversation by saying, "Hey my name is Steve. Go look at my blog". You would chat about news of the day, topics of interest to the particular group, etc. etc. Eventually you would get around to what you do but that wouldn't be the discussion for the rest of the meeting.

My suggestion is to build your follower list and your reputation for a couple of months. Find someone in your niche that is respected and has lots of followers and then follow their followers. Many of them will follow you back if you have a friendly picture, an interesting bio and tweets that don't look spammy.

[Coronado Cookie]

Hi Steve,

I agree with what Chris has said. Also, you are going to want to get quality followers. First you need to find people to follow. Second you need to post quality tweets to draw people to follow you. Here are some tips to help build your community:

Step 1 = Finding Followers ~

Step 1 - Method 1:

Look at who is following you – make sure you have the e-mail notification on for new followers.

When someone new follows you, click through to their profile > look at their bio, their website if they have one and at their tweets. If they align with your niche, follow them.

Next, look at who they follow. From that list click through to anyone who seems like they may be interested in your niche and follow them. Do the same for their followers.

Step 1 – Method 2:

This actually can be used for both steps - finding people to follow and finding items to tweet.

Set up a Twitter search by either going to http://www.search.twitter.com
or at the bottom of your Twitter home page the “Search” link in the footer. Enter your primary keyword phrase and click on “Search”. Once the results are displayed, click on the orange RSS feed icon where it says “Feed for this query”. You want to then follow the steps for adding this feed to Google Reader.

Repeat this step for as many related keyword phrases as you want to follow, but don’t go crazy.

Using your Google Reader in list view, you can quickly look through the tweets. If you see an interesting one, click it so it opens in a new tab. Click through to their profile > look at their bio, their website if they have one and at their tweets. If they align with your niche, follow them.

Here again, look at who they follow and who follows them. From that list click through to anyone who seems like they may be interested in your niche and follow them.

Step 2 = Posting Quality Tweets ~

Step 2 – Method 1:

As mentioned above, setting up a Twitter search in Google Reader can also give you things to tweet. Re-tweeting a good tweet does two things; it gives your followers information and it makes the person who originally posted the tweet have good feelings about you. You are establishing a relationship with them.

Step 2 – Method 2:

The second way to get good information to tweet is to set up an RSS feed in your Google Reader for Google news about your keyword phrases.

To do this, go to Google and click on the News option in the upper left hand corner of the Google window. Type your primary keyword phrase into the box at the top of the page and click on “Search News”.

In the left hand column, click on the orange RSS feed icon. Follow the steps for adding this feed to Google Reader.

Repeat this step for as many related keyword phrases as you want to follow.

When you see a news item you think would be interesting to your followers, tweet the link with a comment about it.

Step 2 – Method 3:

Monitor your Twitter stream and re-tweet interesting tweets. Also, tweet or direct message your follower if you have a reply to something they tweeted. Enter into a dialogue with your followers.

Step 2 – Method 4:

Tweet…that’s right, just tweet. Tweet something original – an experience you’ve had, a thought you have about something to do with your niche, a link to a photo or video you’ve posted, whatever.

You want your followers to get to know you, to trust you and what you tell them. You want to build a relationship with them.

I hope you find these tips useful to helping you grow your Twitter following ~ good luck!

[Clay Franklin]

Hey Steve,

Good question.
There is good advice already posted here for you.
Twitter is one of my passions.
Post your twitter name here so we can check it out.
I suggest using keywords in your bio.
start communicating with people.
find followers.
You may enjoy some of the articles at my Twitter for newbies blog.
once I see your twitter account and blog I can advise you better.

[Jackie Lee]

You could also use your blog posts for tweet ideas. I like to use some ideas from my posts as tweets and then link to the post. for example. "having trouble creating content for your blog?" [link] to a post about creating content. These go in the middle of all the other tweets that have been suggested. But building a group of followers that are looking forward to your tweets is definitely the first step.

[PDX Guy]

A really good resource to keep handy is http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/