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I dragged myself kicking and screaming into the world of Twitter. For the longest time, I just didn’t get it. Follow people around that I didn’t even know? Really? With 140 characters worth of what they were doing? More importantly, why on earth would anyone care about what I was doing? Well, I gave it an honest try and now I understand.
Twitter is part of my daily routine. I see the light and the advantages are obvious. Twitter referrals to my website are trending upward and I’ve had opportunities present themselves that otherwise would not exist. My strategy has been pretty simple: Use the medium as it was intended.
Image by Essjay is happy in NZ
Sales or Snails
There seems to be a couple of schools of thought in terms of making the most of the Twitter experience. One camp employs a strategy of following as many folks as possible. For these Twitterers it’s all a numbers game. It’s a lot like sales. Anyone who has been there will tell you that sales is all about numbers. The more faces you can get in front of you, the more sales you are going to make. I guess that’s fine for some people, maybe that strategy works best for their Twitter goals.
I think the slow and steady road will lead to long term success. For myself, I figure I’m in it for the long haul. Dad always told me that anything worth doing is worth doing right. That’s worked for me so far.
Slow and steady wins the race
And it wins every time. You have to ask yourself, “Am I in this for short term gains or for building a community?” Common wisdom says if you want to be successful, focus on sticking with your game for the long term. Here are some tips for the slow approach:
- A strong community is built on a solid foundation. Determine your goals. What do you hope to gain from your Twitter experience? When you are clear on what you want you can then develop a strategy for moving forward.
- Start with people who are already in your community. Follow the folks who you already know and interact with through your blog or web site.
- When you are considering a follow, visit the profile. Are your interests similar? Do they have a web site you can visit? What do their recent tweets look like? You want a community of like minded folks as much as possible. With that said, don’t be afraid to take a chance now and then, especially if their profile speaks to you for some reason.
- Don’t worry so much about the numbers. The idea here is to have meaningful interaction. It’s not a race to see who can have the most followers.
- Your community will grow. Let things move at their natural pace. Forcing the experience will reduce the effectiveness.
- Treat your community well. Pay attention to what folks are doing and saying. When you are able, answer questions that are asked. If you find something helpful, tweet it for your community. It’s not always about business, so try now and again to keep it real with a “how is everything going?” tweet. An engaged community is a healthy community. It’s easier to have an engaged community when the focus is on the people – not the numbers.
Following these tips will lead to a more satisfying experience for you and your followers. By taking the focus off of numbers and putting it back on the people, you will find that your community will grow at a healthy pace.
So, in which camp do you plant your flag? Are you thrilled by following and followers or are you working your community to its full advantage?
© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.
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