A Twitter user, (we’ll call her Jane Doe), sent me an email last week because she doesn’t understand why she receives very few @replies and RT’s (retweets) on Twitter.
Just for the record, she is using Twitter to promote her craft related blog by networking with other people in her niche and announcing her blog posts.
To begin my investigation, I visited “Jane’s” Twitter landing page and instantly noticed that 65% of her tweets were related to her personal, day-to-day activities.
Another 30% were dedicated to her blog updates, and the remaining 5% were posts about random web-related tidbits.
So even though she claims to use Twitter for site promotion, you wouldn’t know it by examining the balance between her personal and site related tweets.
Be Careful of Twitter Vanity
It’s tempting to make a lot of your tweets about yourself and what you’re doing. However, if you’re using Twitter for site promotion, most people are following you because they are looking to see how you will provide value to THEM.
So if too many of your tweets are about you, it can get monotonous and people may start to ignore you.
In Ken Evoy’s first e-book, Make Your Site Sell (which is now free) Ken reminds us…
No one cares about you until they know how you can help them.
Sounds a bit blunt, but it’s true. (I love Ken’s tell-it-like-it-is approach.)
Remember, most of your followers don’t know you personally, so the mundane updates may create a “who cares” attitude among many of your followers.
Some will ignore. Others may even unfollow you.
As I’ve said in other posts about Twitter, a fun or personal tweet is fine every now and then, but balance is key.
Engage Your Readers
One thing I’ve noticed is that people LOVE to give their opinions.
Also, when you ask a question or poll your audience, it makes people feel important and connected with you.
Not to mention, it’s a great way to generate ideas and drum up a few interesting TWIT-versations. (Did I just write that?) 😉
Are Your Tweets Insulting?
Not all of Jane Doe’s tweets were self related. There were a couple that provided links to other resources. However, there was one that really caught my eye. It was a link to download Internet Explorer 8.0.
There was no explanation. No reason why you should update. Just a link to the download as if it just launched this morning.
Providing a free resource link is fine, but when it is outdated or out of place, this can be confusing or insulting.
Sure, there may be a few IE7 users who may find this useful, but as a general rule, make sure your information is current and useful to the majority of your followers.
Engage With @REPLY
This sort of goes back to the vanity point above. If you’re using Twitter for site promotion, it shouldn’t always be about you. It never hurts to reply and make conversation with the people you are following.
If someone posts something interesting, retweet it. Or take the time to tell them how much you enjoyed their post.
People take note and appreciate it when you send them an @reply or RT their tweets. These people are more likely to reply to you or even RT some of your tweets in the future.
Lighten Up
One thing I like about Twitter is that the environment is very casual. When you do post something not related to your site/business, make it fun or witty. It’s a great way to display your personality.
Don’t take yourself so seriously. Crack a joke one in a while. It reminds people you are a human and not just a 48×48 pixel avatar with a Twitter account.
Be Valuable
There are many ways to show your value as a Twitter user…
1) Give away relevant, useful freebies that are only available through Twitter. (Relevant and useful are the key words in that sentence.)
2) Post industry news that your audience will find interesting. Know your audience and keep them relevant.
3) Use Twitter to announce your new content and videos
4) Keep selling to a minimum
You Can’t and Won’t Please Everyone
Let’s face it. People follow others on Twitter for different reasons. Your follower’s expectations will always vary. Some may be OK with your mundane updates, others may not be as patient.
You’re never going to please everyone all the time. But if you follow the guidelines above, it will keep many of your followers interested and engaged.
We could sit here all day and discuss the best ways to use Twitter for promotion, but I bet most of you would agree that it starts with providing value to your followers.
Start with that, and there’s less room for error. Also, people will be much more accepting of your less desirable Twitter habits. 😉
how people can follow me at twitter??
Hello Lisa,
I was reading your post on Twitter Crickets, and I totally agree with your point on followers as well. Sure, we can have our face everywhere on Twitter, but we end up sifting through hundreds or maybe even thousands of non niche related products. We are subjected to loads of Spam, that take forever to sift out. (Spam Filters…Right!) Choosing the people we follow and the people we allow to follow us does have an impact on our time, and we all know what time is, and just like any other form of advertising, it has to be strategic by nature. Why place an ad for fingernail polish on a motorsports website? I don’t know off hand what the odds would be of someone clicking on that ad, but I would be willing to bet that they aren’t good. I think some people are just thrilled to see a really big number at the top of their Twitter account. I really enjoy reading your articles and watching your videos. Your doing a great job and please continue! Your loaded with very powerful insight. Go Girl!
Hey!
I love the title of this post!
LOVE IT
.-= Start a Site´s last blog … Crafty Syntax =-.
Thank you, Lisa. As usual, your suggestions are clear and easy to follow. Adopting good habits and providing great value are recurring themes in your teaching. I like that!
Lisa, this is a great overview of how the content you choose to share on Twitter can greatly affect the response you get. You’re right that the community is largely very casual, and that can cause a bit of confusion…people still want what’s valuable and engaging to them. Just because it’s casual doesn’t mean anything goes. If you’re on Twitter for a purpose, your tweets need to be purposefully composed 🙂 Bravo!
.-= Christian´s last blog … How to Make Money Online Without Being a Schmuck or a Spammer =-.
I am just getting started with Twitter so I’m glad that I read this post. Thanks for the tips.
.-= Nikki´s last blog … The Ides of September…2 Reasons Why You Should Write a Book =-.
Honesty and integrity go a long way, in Twitter, too. Put differently, if you’re just tweeting for the sake of tweeting, while your real intent is to sell ______ (fill the blank), people will know intuitively.
.-= beatcoach´s last blog … Zigzag-Chats: Rich Hill =-.
That T word again..sigh…..
I am such a hypocrite on this subject. I don’t tweet for my personal projects but I instruct all of my clients to… LOL
I think I will just have to work harder in other areas because tweeting just seems so……ummmm………weird. 🙂
Want to know what’s going on at my site? Well then go there. If you can follow someone then you can certainly bookmark someone. No? Then subscribe to my feed… Don’t like that? How about my facebook account?…..not yet eh? Myspace? Blogger? Digg? Stumble?…….Google? Anything else!!
Just, Please, please do not make me tweet…..
I’m not into the whole Twitter scene yet but I may be in the future. I must admit, it’s still a bit of a mystery to me! I already have enough headlines from blogs and news sites coming at me… I’m not sure I can handle hundreds of tweets.
Thanks for the tips. If Twitter ever sucks me in, I’ll find them useful. 🙂
.-= Jonathan Bennett´s last blog … Search Engine Optimization (SEO) =-.
A really good read.
As you have clearly pointed out – The key thing here is balance.
There needs to good balance between business tweets and personal ones.
You don’t want to come across as a complete marketing tool, its always nice to know there’s a real person behind the tweeter[is that a word?] LOL
.-= Johnluffa´s last blog … How To Effectively Connect With Your Readers =-.
As always, you’ve presented some great points. Since everybody’s interests do vary as well as the reasons people are following you, it’s almost unavoidable that most of your tweets may fall on deaf ears. What’s more is that depending on the time of day you tweet could also matter. Play around what the time of day – try to get in during prime hours when there are more people online. And remember, if you have a particularly important promotional tweet, don’t be afraid to rephrase and retweet it again – but the important thing is the “rephrase” to keep it fresh.
.-= The Affiliate Marketer’s Help Desk´s last blog … September 11, 2009 Edition of the Affiliate Marketing and Traffic Building Blog Carnival =-.
I haven’t jumped on the Twitter bandwagon but I use Facebook to promote my site and have a separate page for this. Even though many of my fans are my friends I keep business and personal separate.
.-= Jane´s last blog … Sep 15, Old Navy two for tots Baby sale! =-.
Thanks Lisa. Like with anything new, people struggle to find their way until they get it right. Your blog is like a compass that help to steer people in the right direction. Keep doing your thing.
.-= Wayne Farley´s last blog … Stress in Air Traffic Control =-.
I separate personal and business with two different twitter accounts. Allows me to keep up with friends without allienating potential business associates.
Thanks for the tips. They’re really useful. I struggle with Twitter. I forget to use it much of the time and still don’t really get it.
.-= Lovelyn´s last blog … I Have Gas =-.
This is an excellent post as I am trying to grow my follower list.
I noticed that JC dropped 55k people he follows on Twitter and I was wondering, What your thoughts were on the “You follow me I follow you” phylosophy on Tiwtter?
.-= Ms. Freeman´s last blog … How To Control Your Follower List =-.
I don’t like that strategy. Never have. I know there’s a lot of opinions about that, but I see no point in following people just to get them to follow me (or keep them from unfollowing me) – when I’m probably not going to read most of their tweets anyway. I try to follow people who mostly tweet about Internet marketing related things because that’s what interests me.
Am I limiting my following count? Sure, but most people who only follow to get a return follow are probably not going to read your stuff anyway. How can they? They have 5,000 other people to sift through. At least I know that a greater percentage of the people who follow me are more likely to read what I tweet than if I had 10,000 followers and 8,000 of them are just filtering me in some “other” column on Tweetdeck. LOL
I know you can filter people, but what’s the point of filtering them if you aren’t going to read what they tweet? It just seems a bit disingenuous to me.
I agree with you 100% Lisa. The point of Twitter is not just to follow people for the sake of following. The point is to follow people who share similar interests as you and engage with your audience by sharing resources and information. Twitter is an excellent medium for networking, marketing, socializing and more. When used wisely.
.-= Warren Laidler´s last blog … Learn it all with Lynda.com Video Tutorials =-.
Thanks for the tips, Lisa. I have probably been erring too much on the side of personal tweets (I like to talk about my love of True Blood…) instead of relevant box-office related tweets, which is what I need to be doing.
.-= Grady´s last blog … Friday Estimates: Tyler Perry Headed For Another #1 Debut; Sorority Row Dead On Arrival =-.