Who needs another blog post about Twitter, right? I kind of agree with that sentiment, there is a ton being written about Twitter. But I also think that if you are not an early adopter of Twitter, you may be out there trying to gather a lot of that information and make sense of the phenomena. What is Twitter? How do I best use it? That is ultimately up to you, but I have some ideas that I think you should consider.
Much like when you join an organization or get a new job, you are presented with rules, or a brief orientation…and your expected behavior is, or should be, fairly obvious, but it’s not until you become an active member of that group that you get a good sense of the unwritten rules, what flies and what has the others talking about you when you aren’t around.
Anyone can Tweet, but no one else has to read it. Keep these five suggestions in mind and you should be on your way to a better Twitter experience.
1. Approach it as a community. We are not a captive audience who grudingly came to hear about your time-share opportunity because you offered us a free steak dinner. If that is all you have, I promise you we will leave. I know you could make an argument that even though we call it social media, everyone else is selling something. That’s true, but it also does not mean you should tweet us repeatedly with your pitch, or try to solicit business from unsuspecting people. Don’t be one sided. Don’t let me see that the only thing you ever tweet is links to your site. I want to see some @replies, some interaction. Be helpful. Offer us some insight. Let us get to know you, and once we do, maybe we will think of you when and if we need your service.
2. When people follow you, follow them back. Notice I said people. I consider people to be those who regularly tweet, and interact with others , and have a functioning profile. If they fail on any or all of these basic tenets of Twitter, you are well within Twitter etiquette to not follow them back. And ultimately you get to make this decision however you want, but I feel like not following someone that followed you should be the exception, not the rule.
3. When you follow someone, make sure they follow you back. This one is dicier. We give the so called Twitter celebrities a pass on this one. They are allowed to have 50,000 followers yet follow no one. Whether we should grant them this pass is a matter of opinion. But in general, if you follow some average Joe, he should extend you the same courtesy in return. Think of it like this: would you go to a networking event and just let this average Joe speak at you constantly, especially knowing he was deaf? He literally can not hear you. That is what following someone without being followed in return equates to. I use the rule of thumb that if I would listen to the person give a speech, I don’t care if he follows me back. You can always raise your hand and ask a question with an @reply. Otherwise, you aren’t too fancy to not follow me back.
4. Engage people. You are going to have to reach out. People are not just going to come over to you and ask about you. You aren’t going to go to a networking event and just stand around by yourself are you? So why sit and watch the Tweets go by? Start a conversation, ask someone a question, get to know people. Notice I did not say try to sell them anything.
5. Turn off the Auto stuff. Repeat, do not auto-DM. You know when you follow someone and suddenly you get a direct message that says something like “I am looking forward to your tweets” or “thanks for following me, now go check out my blog”? Turn off your auto direct message to new followers. I don’t think you set that up to annoy people, but that is what you are doing. (And for the sake of all that is good and holy, don’t do an auto @reply either.) It’s as if that attractive person you have been checking out all night finally comes over to you, smiles, sticks out their hand and says, “Hi, I am Greg, it’s nice to meet you” and in response you immediately take off all your clothes, lay down and shout “take me right here!” And as it turns out, you have a giant wart on your ass. It’s just simply too much too soon. I don’t want that information, and I am not ready to know it. Maybe in time I will change my mind. Maybe I can undress you with my eyes by clicking on the link in your completed profile, but that is my choice. As for the auto-DM’s, the really attractive people might get clicked once, but in all likelihood, you are probably not that attractive and besides, it’s not an effective way to start a meaningful relationship.
5.5 (bonus) I say don’t even auto follow your new followers. When you get a message saying someone has followed you, having to click over to their profile is a great chance, maybe your only one before they get lost in the stream of Twitter, to see who they are, maybe say hello, and then decide if you want to follow them back or not. It’s also a great way to find new people to follow, if the person’s profile is interesting, you can see who they are talking to, and following, and follow those people as well. If you auto follow, you miss all this opportunity, and I don’t think you ever get a good sense of who has taken the time to follow you.
So there you have it, keep these ideas in mind and maybe you will become a more thoughtful user of Twitter.
I would love to know your thoughts. Leave me a comment, and/or follow me on Twitter here.
