Last year I wrote a blog post about harnessing the power of Twitter for your business. It is a great introductory tutorial for Twitter and if you're still not on the Twitter bandwagon, you may want to check it out to see what the fuss is all about.
If you ARE on Twitter and are doing your best to rock it and utilize it for your business, this post is for you. Don't read further if you're not currently using Twitter - you'll only be confused. Click here to go to my original post, get your butt on Twitter, use it for a couple weeks then come back and read this post. Sorry to boss you around. But that's really what you should do :).
Like anyone, I go through phases where I have relatively little to say and then other times when I have loads to share. One day I think I tweeted 16 times. That got me to wondering if my followers might be thinking "ENOUGH already. We like you but not THAT MUCH." So the other day I tweeted asking people how many times a day they want to hear from the people they follow. I was curious if there was a consensus on a magic number of tweets per day. These are some of the replies I got:
-Totally depends on if the content is interesting; not interesting = self promotion
-More than one/hour is too much
-It's annoying when someone tweets 5 times in a row
-The magic number = 2.134 tweets/day
So there you have it. Just post 2.134 time a day and you're golden :).
I thought it would be fun to continue this conversation thread here on the blog. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. In addition, I wanted to share some Twitter tips that go beyond what I shared in my original post.
#1 - If you want everyone who follows you to see your tweet, don't start it with an @reply. Only the people following you AND the person you mention will see that tweet in their feed. This is a feature Twitter changed since last year and many people don't realize it yet. I think it's a great change. It makes me feel more free to @reply away because I know I won't be filling up everyone's home page feed. But on the occasion where you DO want all of your followers to see a tweet, make sure to start it with something other than "@".
#2 - For goodness sakes, if you're going to link to something, use a link shortening service. Here's a good one: http://bit.ly. With only 140 characters to use, link shortening is a must.
#3 - Don't brag. It just isn't attractive. And RTing your compliments or your #FFs counts as bragging.
#4 - I would tend to agree that right around one tweet/hour is a good amount. If you are suddenly inspired with multiple brilliant tweets that you MUST share, use http://hootsuite.com to schedule your tweets out into the future. It's a free service and you can space your tweets out so your followers are able to read your brilliance at digestable intervals.
#5 - If someone tweets something and you're curious what everyone might be saying in reply to that person, you need not ask. Just put their twitter profile (i.e. @melissajill) into the twitter search field. Wa-la! You will instantly see all the replies!
#6 - I mentioned this in my first post on Twitter, but it bears repeating. One of the quickest ways to lose followers is to use Twitter exclusively for self-promotion. Don't think of Twitter as a giant megaphone. Think of it as a telephone. It's for conversations. Be helpful, generous, responsive and make it about relationships.
#7 - By way of being helpful and generous, use the tweet and share buttons below to pass this post on to your friends and followers! And share any additional tips/thoughts in the comments below!
If you found this post helpful, click here to learn about other resources I offer photographers!
If you ARE on Twitter and are doing your best to rock it and utilize it for your business, this post is for you. Don't read further if you're not currently using Twitter - you'll only be confused. Click here to go to my original post, get your butt on Twitter, use it for a couple weeks then come back and read this post. Sorry to boss you around. But that's really what you should do :).
Like anyone, I go through phases where I have relatively little to say and then other times when I have loads to share. One day I think I tweeted 16 times. That got me to wondering if my followers might be thinking "ENOUGH already. We like you but not THAT MUCH." So the other day I tweeted asking people how many times a day they want to hear from the people they follow. I was curious if there was a consensus on a magic number of tweets per day. These are some of the replies I got:
-Totally depends on if the content is interesting; not interesting = self promotion
-More than one/hour is too much
-It's annoying when someone tweets 5 times in a row
-The magic number = 2.134 tweets/day
So there you have it. Just post 2.134 time a day and you're golden :).
I thought it would be fun to continue this conversation thread here on the blog. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. In addition, I wanted to share some Twitter tips that go beyond what I shared in my original post.
#1 - If you want everyone who follows you to see your tweet, don't start it with an @reply. Only the people following you AND the person you mention will see that tweet in their feed. This is a feature Twitter changed since last year and many people don't realize it yet. I think it's a great change. It makes me feel more free to @reply away because I know I won't be filling up everyone's home page feed. But on the occasion where you DO want all of your followers to see a tweet, make sure to start it with something other than "@".
#2 - For goodness sakes, if you're going to link to something, use a link shortening service. Here's a good one: http://bit.ly. With only 140 characters to use, link shortening is a must.
#3 - Don't brag. It just isn't attractive. And RTing your compliments or your #FFs counts as bragging.
#4 - I would tend to agree that right around one tweet/hour is a good amount. If you are suddenly inspired with multiple brilliant tweets that you MUST share, use http://hootsuite.com to schedule your tweets out into the future. It's a free service and you can space your tweets out so your followers are able to read your brilliance at digestable intervals.
#5 - If someone tweets something and you're curious what everyone might be saying in reply to that person, you need not ask. Just put their twitter profile (i.e. @melissajill) into the twitter search field. Wa-la! You will instantly see all the replies!
#6 - I mentioned this in my first post on Twitter, but it bears repeating. One of the quickest ways to lose followers is to use Twitter exclusively for self-promotion. Don't think of Twitter as a giant megaphone. Think of it as a telephone. It's for conversations. Be helpful, generous, responsive and make it about relationships.
#7 - By way of being helpful and generous, use the tweet and share buttons below to pass this post on to your friends and followers! And share any additional tips/thoughts in the comments below!
If you found this post helpful, click here to learn about other resources I offer photographers!
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