Twitter – first recap
Hello All,
The phenomenom Twitter. What is it? A social network? A mini blog as you are limited to 140 letters? I am not sure yet.
You remember me talking about it in August? I thought this network is all about people saying what they have for breakfast, lunch, when they take a poo, how much they had to drink on a Friday night etc.
You remember this parody? Yes, I remember it well. Actually more funny since I joined Twitter. How come? Why did I join?
I thought, why not give it a go? First, I used it for updating my Facebook status. Using Twitbin, an add on to Firefox, I can update what I am doing whilst checking my emails or surfing the web.
And, a lot of other people do the same. This is the interesting bit about it. You not only find me and others serving the web and sending links to new topics of, in my case, online marketing, search marketing and Buddhism, but you also find news sites sending you breaking news with links. So, I am always up to date what is happening.
I can see our competitors announcing new services, or I can see the Google linking to new add ons for Gmail. How awesome is that. It replaces some RSS feeds and it also gives me up to date information what is happening. You can use it on your smartphone or blackberry too.
How does it work? Simple: you get an account and start following people. I only follow 74 people and already think that is too much to read and follow, but there are people out there following well over 10,000 others.
Then, get engaged. Twitter to others, make comments, join the discussion:
- @Twitterfriend I liked the link you send and I think we should meet for beer
- Anyone else at Hong Kong Airport, why not go for diner
- @Twitternofriend Your link is boring, but check out this one
And soon people will follow you. 41 followers I got. But, I am not twittering that much really. And, most of the stuff I twitter about is not that interesting for others.
Who can help you with twitter? The guys from Hubspot have done some awesome webinars on it and can tell you a lot about social media marketing.
So, join Twitter today and don’t forget to follow me!
Volker
Man, we’ve got to get you going. I’m up to 466 subscribers now, which is a relatively low number in comparison with other people I know. But I’m not out there recruiting followers; it’s all organic. And all you do is just start talking and sharing, and followers will come.
Hi Mitch,
I know I know. We need to spread the love … and the word of course. For a hobby it ain’t bad but for a professional you want to get to a couple of thousands – at least.
Any tips?
Volker
Well, the first tip is to start making sure that you post links from your blog onto Twitter, so people who might be following you can find them. That was something I started doing after I’d been on Twitter for a couple of months, and it helped bring a lot of new people to visit my blog.
The other is to, every once in awhile, comment on something one of your followers says, because there are people following them who might, on occasion, either see that, or see the response you get from that person.
In a way, it’s all about finding new ways to network with people.
Hi Mitch,
I agree but at the moment I don’t have this as my highest priority. Then again, why synchronise all of your social media? Normally I sync Twitter with FB, but am contemplating whether to change that and use them as 2 different tools. Not sure.
Keep us posted though, Volker
I don’t synchronize all of my social media. I like keeping it all separate, though there are some websites that would allow you to do it. But I like to have all my blogs automatically post articles to Twitter; just so much easier to do, and one less thing I have to remember to do.