As the Social Media marketplace continues to expand and increasing numbers of people decide now is the time to join platforms such as Twitter to establish their personal brand, understanding how to use these platforms effectively can be overwhelming. Today, we will look at some tips on how to build a community on Twitter.

There are many guides, points, etc. on the web to help you build your Twitter community, but above all, make your Twitter account personal. Your first step should be to ask yourself why you are building a Twitter community. Is your objective to connect with others who share a personal interest in a topic, such as advocacy for disabled people, or do you want to connect with others who share similar business goals, or do you want to focus on people who could use your experience and knowledge to promote their own business? Whatever your focus is, remember that it can evolve as you build your community and it does not have to be limited to a single objective.

Make it Personal

Twitter is about making connections and about establishing trust with others. When you are setting up your Twitter account, you will want to follow some simple ideas in creating your user name and establishing your brand. You may be tempted to create a catchy user name that you think will make you stand out in the crowd, but Sarah Evans in her post HOW TO: Build Community on Twitter suggests using your real name, or at least something close to it to create a user-friendly name.

Your Twitter ID is part of your personal brand. Plain and simple. Your first choice for a Twitter ID should be your name. There is nothing stronger for creating your personal brand. If your name is taken, find a way to keep it as close as possible.

There are only 140 precious characters available in each Twitter post. The longer your Twitter ID, the more space it takes up, thus limiting your interactions. If possible, stay away from numbers or an underscore.

A second step you will want to take is to add a current photo or avatar to your profile. If you are promoting a business, you might decide to use your corporate logo instead (The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter ). You may see accounts that have the generic Twitter graphic instead of a photo, but other members usually dismiss these as lacking value and choose to not follow faceless accounts.

A third step to make your site more personal is to complete as much information about yourself in the bio section to spark the interest of others in you or your business. Are you an entrepreneur, a mom, a world traveler? Put in whatever will draw in the groups you have defined in your objective and make them interested in following you. In addition, adding your personal or corporate website is an easy way to convey more information about yourself.

Followers and Following

Twitter is all about followers and following people. When two people follow each other, your updates are seen in each other accounts. Twitter does not stand on formality for following people. Unlike Facebook, you do not have to wait for an invitation to follow someone. It is viewed positively that you actively seek out people with common interests, hobbies, or businesses. The choice is up to you.

You can start your search for people to follow importing your contacts from your e-mail, but this Twitter function only supports a few email programs. Twitter has a search feature that will lead you to some people to follow based on common interests, but you may wish to try some programs suggested by Janet Fouts in Finding Quality Followers on Twitter that will enhance your searches.

Check out TwitterPacks in particular niches. Use MrTweet to recommend people to follow based on your activity. Look for Tweeple in your city on chirpcity.com, which lists top tweeters talking about or mentioning your city in their bio.

The latest addition to tools to find good followers is twibs. The site lists businesses participating on Twitter in a searchable interface that makes it easy to see who’s there, get an RSS feed for your query or tweet it to Twitter. With over 3700 tags to search with, you’re sure to find the niche you’re looking for and find even more interesting people to talk to. Check it out, and make sure your company is on there too. It’s good for SEO as well as for finding new followers.

Read more: http://janetfouts.com/find-quality-followers-twitter/#ixzz0EpiAyKT5&B

Tweets

Tweets are simply the messages you write and send on Twitter. Tweets are limited to 140 characters.
This can be challenging, but it does become easier with practice. If you want to include a website in your tweet, you will most likely need to shrink it to make it more user-friendly. There are a number of programs you can use to do this including tinyurl.com, Tweetlater.com and Tweetdeck.com.

As in any network, there are specific abbreviations and terms used all the time in Twitter. Observe what others are doing and ask if you are completely baffled. Chances are other people are too and you will be their hero for having the courage to ask the question. Some of the abbreviations you will see are:

• DM = Direct Message
• @ = Used to reply a specific tweet or follower. Make sure that you include the user name following the @
• RT = Retweet, used in front of a tweet that you find particularly interesting, useful or that mentions a cause that you want to promote. Start the tweet with RT and then copy and paste the tweet in the message box.
• Tweet = Sending a message on Twitter

Building Trust and Relationships

On the right-hand side of the screen, you will see a field called @messages. Until recently, @messages only included replies made to you, and keeping track of those you needed to respond to was manageable, at least when first establishing your account. However, Twitter now includes in that category all posts that mention @user name. Since you want to make sure you are continuing your conversations and acknowledging comments and questions, there are a number of tools you can use as suggested by Sarah Evans:

It may not seem overwhelming at first, but soon after you gain friends on Twitter, conversations tend to move quickly. How will you keep up with it? My personal favorite is Tweetdeck (however it can slow down the functionality of your PC), I recommend a combination of the following:

• Twitter search – If you use Twitter search, also subscribe to the RSS feed. I set up two searches, one with the “@” in front of my Twitter ID and one without. You will get different results for each query.
• Tweetscan – I use Tweetscan as my quality check to see if I’ve missed any replies. You can also see a trends search cloud before you type in your search query.
• Google Alerts – Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google ( ) results (Web, news, blogs, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

A simple good morning or a question about what others have planned for the day will do a lot to establish that you are a real person. While you may be there to promote your product or business, you want to establish personal relationships before all else. You will be very surprised at the relationships you develop. When someone engages with you, look at their bio, website, photos, etc. and make a comment on something you have seen. This is another way to promote a conversation and develop your community, and it is fun!

A great principal to keep in mind when using Twitter is that of “paying it forward”. Retweet when you see a great post, respond to someone’s comment using an @reply, participate in #followfriday. #followfriday is a relatively new phenomenon on Twitter. Throughout the week, keep track of those who have retweeted your comments, commented on your blog, or the pictures you posted, and recommend that others follow that person. By “paying it forward”, you will also reap the reward of being considered as someone that is valuable to know.

Another important point to keep in mind is the etiquette of the direct message (DM) versus the @reply. You can only DM (direct message) someone who is following you. If you need to DM someone and they are not following you, send them an @reply stating you can’t DM them and request they follow you. Sarah Evans has comprised an easy to follow list of some situations in which a DM should be used rather than @reply:

• Sending personal information like a phone number or email address. (It may seem like common sense, but I encourage you to NEVER post personal information like your social security number over ANY public forum.)
• A conversation which will consist of multiple “tweets” or a lengthy discussion with more than three posts. (Many people on Twitter will “unfollow” someone who sends multiple “tweets” in a row. Trust me.)
• Asking multiple questions to the same person or the same question asked to multiple people. (Your content becomes less valuable when people see the same thing repeated too many times…especially right in a row.)
• Correcting a mistake you’ve identified in someone’s blog post or “tweet.” (This isn’t required, but it is considered a common courtesy. The person who made the mistake will thank you.)
• Thanking each of your new followers. (It’s a nice concept to thank each of your new social media connections, but keep in mind how many responses you’re sending out each day or within a 10 minute period.)
• Making a request to someone. (Want to ask someone to write a guest blog post or partner on a project? Don’t put them on the spot in a public forum. Once you agree on a partnership, then by all means, tweet away!)
• Constructive criticism…this is your call. (If you have some pretty serious feedback to give someone, consider the most appropriate venue.)
• Getting someone’s attention! (Want to make a connection with someone, send them a direct message to get things started. A lot of people on Twitter get direct messages sent to their email or mobile phone.)

Now that we have shared some ideas on building a successful community on Twitter, it is it’s your turn to share with us. Are you already on Twitter? How have you built your community? How do you manage your account? What are some other do’s can you offer to others?

  • Share/Bookmark