5 Easy Twitter Tips

I heard a friend say "Twitter is just Facebook updates that no one reads." There is some truth to this statement, but Twitter serves an entirely different function. Your Facebook is for friends and possibly networking; Twitter is your public face on the internet. Keep your Facebook set to private and unlock your Twitter. You have much more anonymity with Twitter than you do with Facebook (no direct linking to all your photos, video, etc.) and thus you can freely promote yourself on the interents. With Twitter you can drive traffic to your blog (or someone else's), get breaking news, and stalk follow celebrities.

1. Use Hash Tags

I'm sure you've seen people using the "#" next to words in Twitter. This is a sort of a "keyword" for searching in Twitter. So for example when I wrote my article on the bAK-47 I tweeted:

Now if anyone is searching Twitter for bacon, they will find my article.  This is great for finding new friends and getting people to promote your articles.

2. Link with bit.ly

A lot of folks post links on their Twitter updates. By default most use tinyurl, which does exactly what it claims, shortening URLs (nothing else). Bit.ly will accomplish the same task, but adds the valuable feature of tracking. With bit.ly you can see:

• How many users have clicked your link.
• The users country of origin.
• If your link has been retweeted.

So using the bacon example I spoke of earlier, I checked on the stats on bit.ly and found out that my bacon article was also promoted by BaconFeed (I was just as surprised as you are that Bacon has a Twitter account).

3. Create An Account at wefollow

If Twitter had a directory it would reside at wefollow. With wefollow you can assign tags to your account to classify who you are; my tags consist of #writer, #shooter, #photographer. Now if someone is looking for a "#shooter" on wefollow, they will find me :)

4. Fill Out Your Profile

I know this seems like a no brainer, but please take a couple minutes to complete your profile. Upload a picture, fill in your site & location, and a write a few sentences describing yourself. Fellow Twitter users will be way more apt to follow you if they know something about you.

5. Basic Twitter Etiquette

Once you have followers you definitely want to keep them. If you follow a few simple rules you'll grow and maintain your following.

• Limit @ replies (if it is more than one or two @ replies, send a direct message, no one else will want to read through a detailed conversation in there feeds).
• Retweet when credit is due (if one of your pals posts something cool be sure to show some love by giving them a retweet. For example "RT @mynameisfoxtrot check out this cool site...")
• Turn off auto follow (tons of spammers lurk on Twitter hoping for followers. They follow you under the guise of hoping you will automatically follow them back... don't)
• Post interesting things (if you are tweeting lame things or @ replying every celebrity you follow you'll lose friends fast).

So in conclusion, if you follow my tips listed above you will gain some prosperity on Twitter. Note that this is something that doesn't happen overnight but be sure to build good Twitter habits early on.

Btw, if we aren't already friends on Twitter you can find me here.