Twitter – The Absolute Basics

I just saw a new user on Twitter asking for help! The tweet was simple: “teach me how to use twitter” (I’ll assume he meant to say ‘please’)… Well, it doesn’t surprise me that new users don’t ‘get it’ so here’s the basics:

Step 1 – reveal yourself.

Don;t hide away all shy behind the default Twitter icon / avatar. Anyone can take a quick head-shot and upload it. It is so easy I’m not going to draw a picture of how to do that – but it is sooooo important to let other Twitter users actually see YOU.

Step 2 – tell us about you.

Use the bio. Go into Settings and check out all the things you can edit and edit them. Give us a summary of what you do, what you’re into, what makes you tick. What floats your boat?

Step 3 – include a link.

Many Twitter users, when they are followed, like to checkout the new follower before deciding to follow back (or not). The best ways to allow them to do this are your bio (see above), your recent tweets (see step 6 below) and a link in your bio to your personal blog or Facebook page. Everyone has something they can link to. No link and people may think you are not as real as you say you are.

Step 4 – search for conversations.

Use search.twitter.com to find people discussing things you’re interested in. Follow the people in the conversations and follow the actual conversations too. You can save your searches in various ways to keep up with topics or current trends using apps like TweetDeck, HootSuite (my preference), etc.,

See step 6 – very important!

Step 5 – follow people regularly

Using step 5 is the best way t find ‘like minded’ people. But, you can find people to follow just be watching the trends or following ‘lists’ and hashtags etc.,

There are so many ways of following conversations and therefore there is nothing in the way of finding people to follow – do not wait to be followed!

You can follow anyone on Twitter (unless they block you which is unlikely unless you say or do anything unpleasant) – regardless of whether ‘they’ follow you. See what the trends are and follow the threads, follow the participants if you like their tweets and – so long as you follow step 6 you will find that many of these people will reciprocate the follow.

Step 6 – join the conversation

This may seem pretty bloomin’ obvious but it is overlooked very often. Many think they can just follow thousands of people – never contribute to the conversations and people will follow them back. Well, unless you are a famous celebrity, a super star blogger or household popular brand – this will not happen.

Get involved in the conversations and people will

• Believe you are real
• Follow you
• Connect with you
• Converse with you
• Notice you via other followers
• Become interested in you
• Click your bio link
• Etc.,

So – to sum it all up: Use search.twitter.com to find people discussing things you’re interested in. Follow them and join the conversations. Regularly find new people to follow. Get involved in conversations. Post interesting snippets, links and updates. Be patient.

See how simple that is? See you on Twitter. Oh yes; I’m on Twitter too @MartinKoss.

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