1. Getting Started With Twitter
A practical guide
March 24, 2010
SocialMediaRevolutionary.com
2. Overview
Why Twitter?
Things to do on Twitter
Sign up for Twitter
Set up profile
Common actions
Getting organized
Get followers
Dos and Don’ts
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3. Why Twitter?
Instead of Facebook/LinkedIn/MySpace
Because:
Fast – Only 140 characters
Interesting people talk there
Fun!
Sharing interesting information draws followers. More
followers mean more reach and more influence.
Connect with people you wouldn’t normally meet
Public – what you talk about is picked up by search
engines
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4. What Do You Want To Do On Twitter?
Build personal brand
Find friends with similar interest
Show your expertise
Drive traffic to my business
Find new readers for my blog
Share my passion
Communicate what I’m working on with colleagues
Meet my future wife/husband
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5. Sign Up For Twitter
Go to Twitter.com and click the Join the conversation! Box
Select a username
Use the shortest version of your name possible (ccondray vs.
collincondray) to free up more space in Tweets.
Avoid underscores (reduces retweets)
Find connections in your email http://twitter.com/invitations
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6. Set up your profile
Name – Use your real name
Location – Can help other local people find you
Web – For longer posts try using Posterous or Tumblr
Bio – Should be related to your goal
Picture –use a real picture. Gives you a human face that’s easier to relate to.
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Design – Change from the default one to make you unique
7. Common Actions
@ Replies DMs
Tweet - Individual
messages
Messaging Other
people
@ Reply - Public
Direct Messages -
Private
RT – Retweet
#hashtags
Trending News –
#nwastorms
Lists – groups of
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related users
8. Organizing Your Activity With Hootsuite
Post to all major social media networks from one place (Twitter, Facebook,
etc.)
Organize using Twitter lists based on location, topic, personal friends, etc.
Set tweets to be posted during the day when more people might see it
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9. Link with other networks
Facebook
LinkedIn (or by using
the #in tag)
9 Others: MySpace
11. Now that I’ve got it, what do I do?
Tweet, often and honestly.
Follow friends and interesting people
Don’t Tweet just because you want more followers!
Show people cool stuff.
Re-tweet – share other people’s knowledge
Respond to questions in your area of expertise
Block annoying people and spammers and move on
Use hashtags to organize your content
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13. Cool Twitter Tricks
Link Shorteners – bit.ly, is.gd, tinyurl.com
Bit.ly lets you see how interesting your links are to other users
Post pictures or videos with sharing services
(TweetPhoto.com, TwitPic.com,Yfrog.com)
Twitterfall (watch this during your favorite sports event)
Keep up with trends – WhatTheTrend.com
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14. Do’s and Don’t
Do
Fill out your profile completely
Be interesting
Answer questions
Follow interesting people
Don’t
Talk just about yourself. Help others.
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15. Dos and Don’ts
Don’t just say what you’re doing “I’m having breakfast” or
“I’m looking for a job.”
Do show a picture of your breakfast or a link to an interesting
article about job hunting.
Other things that can make a Tweet more interesting
Picture (Cute kids are better than actual content)
Link to a website or news story with interesting content
Location sharing (Check out Foursquare, Gowalla, Whrrl, and
the mobile version of Twitter for bonus points)
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16. Homework
Follow me at @ccondray, I’ll put you in a Joseph Project
group and I’ll tell people to follow you
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