Twitter 101

Social media and the art of using it for marketing purposes seems to be all the rage lately.  If your haven’t considered using Twitter in your quest for expanding your online presence then, by all means, please read on.  According to Twitter “You can share and discover what is happening anywhere in the world”.  The magic is in harnessing this power to build your web presence.

If you haven’t all ready, sign up for a Twitter account.  It is very simple and straight forward. Take some time to work on your profile.  Twitter is more of a casual platform so you can write your bio in the first person. (Use “I”).  I strongly recommend that you upload a clear head shot photo to make your Twitter page more personable.  Make sure that you have your website listed along with the correct web address and also suggest that your new friends also connect with you on Facebook or any other social sites that you are on.  (*Hey, you can follow me too.)

Now you are ready to begin “Tweeting”!  There are several ways that you can tweet.  First, remember that this is a micro-blogging site, so you only have 140 characters to write your tweet.  You will need to keep it short and concise to get your point across.  Here are examples of different types of tweets:

  • Regular updates. Example: Good Morning! How is everyone today?
  • Reply to someone’s tweet.  You will type the symbol @ before their user name to specify a certain user.  Example: Thanks @shaycrider for that tip!
  • ReTweet.  Use this when you want to re-post a good tweet!  Example:  RT @shaycrider “It’s your day! Make it great!”
  • Direct Message.  You can also send a direct message to another user from your update box. This will only go to the user that you specify. Example: dm shaycrider I learned a good tip in your last article (This is also how others can direct message you, you can see if you have any message in the right hand column under Direct Messages.  Simply click on this link and it will take you to another page that has them.
  • Hash Tags.  This is something you will notice very quick.  These denote a category or hot topic that people are tweeting about. When you want to refer to a topic simply add the symbol # then the topic to your update. Example:  Sunny days are #thingsilove


One other tip.  If you become an avid tweeter you may want to download tweetdeck or another twitter helping application.  These are free and there are numerous ways to use them.  One being that this can shorten url’s that you may want to include in your tweets!  You can also integrate Facebook and Twitter together in one place.
Now that you know the basics, you can get to tweeting!  I look forward to meeting you.