Twitter Pitfalls and Ladders

Twitter has rapidly become the center of our social media selves. The micro-blogging site has risen through the ranks of relevance from a select few kings of nerdom to being called home by celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher, and Demi Moore. Despite questions regarding its business acumen, or even its long term benefits, Twitter’s pop culture placement is only now becoming evident. Many questions then must be explored such as how can someone avoid looking like a fool and rather attempt to cultivate a valuable community? Well, I do not have every angle planned out, but this is what I have learned recently through personal experience or taught by a fellow sojourner of the Twitterverse!

Pitfalls

Conversation : Relegate your lengthy conversation to direct messages. Why? You may turn off some of your followers due to the fact that you are constantly speaking to others regarding issues that they have no clue about. It is as if they are eavesdropping on an inside joke or a private conversation. You begin to alienate the masses quickly, while becoming close to a select few.

Pigeonholed : Take a minute and glance through your most recent tweets. Do you find yourself pigeonholed and only revealing a specific portion of your personal or business life? You could be coming off very monotone. Or are you engaging, approachable, and informative?

Pansy : Don’t be pansy, say something! So often I find myself following a genuinely interesting person who seldom says anything out of step with pop culture topics. Engage people! Even from other points of view. I received more RT and conversations due to my one tweet regarding my pastor literally baking a cake of cow manure to illustrate the hypocrisy of the Christian church covered by a thin sweet covering of “christianese.” Make a stand for something, anything. Don’t be a pansy.

Ladders

Schedule: I was most recently made aware of “Follow Fridays.” Essentially on Friday you offer up whomever you have most recently discovered and have enjoyed following throughout that week. I stumbled across this as one of my followers was proud to announce that they had been recommending me. I was flattered, and was then able to return the favor. We had successfully introduced the other into their respective community. Its very much similar to the “grandfather phone call.”

Routine : I have created a short routine for myself consisting of topics I love to cover. I prefer giving film quotes and having my followers guess. I find my audience enjoys seeing pictures of the studio lots that I visit on a daily basis. Find out what your audience likes, and give ‘em more of it. A routine does not mean you are predictable, rather reliable.

Pictures & Hashtags : I can not recommend Tweetie enough! I love this application for its reasonable price, as well as for its simplicity. It has revolutionized how often I post pictures. Previously this was a cumbersome task for my iPhone and I to accomplish, which is why I avoided it. Tweetdeck also makes hashtags simple enough to use frequently. These simple tools enrich your audiences experience and connection with you.

Conclusion

Twitter is a very powerful tool which we are constantly attempting to better utilize for our businesses as well as our personal lives. I’m sure I missed a pitfall or two. Feel free to add to this with your own unique experiences. How do you use Twitter? How do you think you can improve your usage?