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This is a guest post written by Leonard Widrich. Leo is the co-founder of BufferApp.com, a Twitter application that helps to annoy followers less with a new way to schedule tweets. He publishes Twitter tips at blog.bufferapp.com every week, and you can connect with him @ on Twitter.
When I first came on to Twitter, it felt like stepping onto a highway. Tweets were rushing by before, behind, and on top of me so fast, it made me dizzy looking at the stream.
Getting a hold of anyone felt impossible, as everyone was already engaged with each other. Why would they ever make an effort to notice me when these streams are already so super busy? I'd imagine that if you're new to Twitter, this situation might seem familiar, so here are 5 helpful tips you can use to create more initial visibility for your business on Twitter.
1) Promote Others
Yes, at first, this must sound quite contradictory. You finally made it onto Twitter and want to get noticed, and I'm saying you should be promoting others? Yet, this is the most powerful technique you can leverage to increase your Twitter visibility. What I learned is that it is vital not to do it in a shallow way. Be sincere and genuine by finding other Twitter users that truly interest you and fit into your niche. Naturally, you will feel the desire to retweet them and read more about what they are doing. And since we are social human beings, you will be amazed at how many conversations this can lead to.
2) Participate in Twitter Chats
Another highly concentrated way to initially expand your Twitter network is to participate in Twitter Chats. This is a great win-win situation. One the one hand, you will learn a lot about the topic being discussed. Naturally, you will also get to know a lot of other people interested in that topic, which allows you to kick off more engaged relationships way beyond the chat. Here is a link to a public Google doc listing over 200 chats for you. I am sure you can find one that suits the needs and interests of your business.
3) Provide Personalized, Quality Content
Everyone is tweeting something all the time. Even a low number of followers will already give you an extremely busy Twitter stream. So if you really want to provide content that gets noticed by your target audience, try to make it as personal and filled with as much unique “you” as you possibly can. If it’s a post title, try to find a line from the post that inspired you, and make that your tweet’s headline. Or simply fit in a short comment to show you are really engaged with this content and you haven’t simply clicked the tweet button to push just any old thing out there.
4) Take Advantage of Every Opportunity to Engage
Every day, there are tons of different opportunities you will have to create engagement around your Twitter account. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
- If someone has retweeted you, thank them, check out their profile, and have a look at their blog.
- If someone tweeted your blog post, show your appreciation, and get in touch. Finding out who tweeted your post can easily be done using WhoTweetedMe.com.
- If someone talks about an interesting topic, jump in and discuss what they are talking about with them.
These are just a few options for you to create more engagement. I'm sure you can think of even more opportunities.
5) Use Tools to Be More Effective
Don’t try to roll the stone up the hill all by yourself. There are a ton of useful tools out there to make your life easier and your tweeting more effective, like auto-scheduling tweets that correspond to your editorial calendar. The only crucial thing to remember is not to over-automate. After all, you want to maintain the human element of Twitter. Furthermore, you should be tracking the effectiveness of your Twitter participation. Use marketing analytics tools to track referral traffic from Twitter to your website as well as leads and customers generated from this channel, too.
Use these tips and you'll find it a little bit easier to conquer the Twitter mountain of success a bit easier.
What other introductory Twitter tips did you find helpful when you were just starting out? Please share them with us below.
Image credit: Mark Pannell
