a geek’s guide To PromOting Yourself and Your Online Business in 140 Characters or Less with Twitter by
Introduction
contents
What is Twitter? 6 Becoming a Tweeter 7
I n t ro d u c t i o n
1
Why You Need to Join Twitter Right Now 8
2
How to Use Twitter as a Mini Blog 20
140 Characters or Less 8 So why do you need to join? 9 Promoting Your Twitter Profile 13 Getting your own unique badge 14 Getting people to follow you 15 Follow other people 16
What’s the difference between a blog and ‘twittering’? 20 Writing great tweets 22 Will Twitter Replace Blogs as We Know Them? 25
How to Use Twitter in Conjunction with Your Blog 26
3
Using Twitter to Enhance Your Online Business 30
Using Twitter as a Business Tool 31 Branding your business on Twitter 32 Generating Traffic 33 Using Twitter as a Linking Tool 36 Play the Long Game 37
4
Twitter Tools 38 What are Twitter Tools 38 Making the Most of Your Twitter Tools 44
Conclusion 46 Get Twittering! 46 How will you use Twitter? 47
What is Twitter?
introduction
What is Twitter ?
I n t ro d u c t i o n
Perhaps the question should really be—do you twitter? And if you don’t you soon will do. This guide is going to show you exactly what Twitter is all about, and how to make the most of it. You may well have heard of it before, but you may not have realized just how useful it can be when it comes to spreading the word about your business online. Twitter is based around a very simple concept, and once you’ve grasped that concept you’ll be well away. Some people reckon Twitter is too limited in its uses, but it’s the very fact that you are limited in what you can do that makes it a very creative medium to work in. Twitter is based on one question, pure and simple: “What are you doing now?” All you have to do is tell as many people as possible what the answer to that question is.
Becoming a Tweeter This book will reveal all you need to know to use Twitter to boost your profile and your business. Every message—or ‘tweet’—that you send out has the potential to reach even more people. You’ll gain followers and an audience that is all your own. And you’ll be in good company when you join and become a ‘tweeter’. Even Hillary Clinton tweets on a regular basis (or more probably gets an aide to tweet on her behalf). The more you discover about Twitter, the more you will realize that it has been called micro-blogging for a reason. It combines all the best parts of blogging with the best bits of getting in touch with people. And when it is used properly it can become one of the best marketing tools in your online armory. So what are we hanging around in the introduction for? It’s time we got down to business in Section One and found out why you absolutely must join Twitter.
What is Twitter?
1
Why You Need to Join Twitter Right Now When you visit the Twitter website, you’ll soon see that it’s all about staying in touch. But this isn’t the kind of website that gives you free rein to say whatever you want and spend as long as you like on every post you make. Twitter is all about brevity. It’s all about giving people the basics without bogging them down with the ‘too much information’ syndrome.
140 CHARACTERS OR LESS . . . That’s it—that’s all you’ve got to play with on Twitter each time you want to get in touch with your followers and tell people what’s going on with your business and your life. To put that into some kind of context, the title of an eBay auction can’t be longer than 55 characters so you’ve got less than three times that amount to make an impression on people. You’ll soon find yourself becoming very adept at using the English language to get in touch in the shortest way possible.
S e c t i o n 11 Section
But don’t panic. There’s plenty of advice coming up on how to write the best tweets possible, so stay tuned.
So why do you need to join? It seems like the whole world belongs to two groups—those who are thinking of joining Twitter, and those who already have. If you are in the first group you’ll want to know what all the fuss is about, so here are some reasons.
Twitter home page
Quick and easy We’re not just talking about how easy it is to actually join here; it’s all about the updates. We know how long—or short—a tweet can be, and that’s exactly what makes the site so accessible. If you have got your own blog you’ll know what I mean. Blogs are a great way to get in touch with people and build a following over the course of time, but if you don’t write posts
Why You Need to Join Twitter Right Now
of a reasonable length you tend to feel like you’re shortchanging your readers. You almost get to the stage where you’d be better off not posting at all than posting a short message.
Twitter makes it easy to put yourself and your business in front of the kind of people you want to get in touch with.
Twitter takes all that worry away instantly. You are limited by their 140 characters or less rule, so it’s super speedy to jump on and write a quick sentence to tell people what the latest development is in your business or on your website. In fact, you’ll probably have to restrain yourself to keep from posting too often!
Getting connected Twitter makes it easy to put yourself and your business in front of the kind of people you want to get in touch with. Every time you send a fresh tweet it will appear in the public timeline, which is basically a scrolling record of every single tweet sent out by all the members of Twitter all over the world. There are plenty of other ways to get people to notice your presence on Twitter too, and we’ll cover that in just a moment. The good news is that the website gives you all the tools you need to draw attention to your profile. But there are other ways to start using Twitter. You don’t just have to tell people what you are doing; people are also using the site to ask questions, ask for advice and even network with other like minded people with the intention of forming a business relationship later on.
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Section 1
Are you starting to see that there is a hell of a lot of potential wrapped up in those 140 characters?
Staying in touch Twitter isn’t just about letting people know what you are about and what you’re up to; it’s also about finding other like minded people and following them too. Staying in touch couldn’t be easier as you can follow those Twitterers you are interested in and receive updates as and when they post a new update. Once you have found someone you like, all you need to do is hit the Follow button and wait for updates as and when they post them. Of course, the more people you can get to follow you the better. This book will help you to write the best updates you can and reach out to exactly the kind of people who will be interested in you and your business.
Raising your profile If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to get your name out there and spread the word about what you’re doing, Twitter certainly fills that need. You can pick any username you like—as long as someone else hasn’t already taken in—so think about using your business name if you are mainly going to use the site to promote your business.
Why You Need to Join Twitter Right Now
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