Despite the fact that social networks and other social services have become an integral part of our lives, not everyone knows how to use them for good and not for harm. Starting from stupid photos on social networks, available for everyone to view (photos on VKontakte of a drunk police sergeant hugging a bottle of vodka look especially exotic), ending with being bombarded with tweets with the slightest details of their personal life. What to write on Twitter so as not to litter the virtual space and interfere with the quick search for the necessary information.
Of course, all this mainly concerns beginners, for whom everything is a wonder and wants to try everything. Especially looking at the reaction of large masses of people is so interesting. A few tips on how to properly use Twitter for your personal purposes and for work (business development, marketing and SEO) will not be superfluous at all.
Following the tips below will not necessarily lead you to success right away. But they carry with them the basic rules of behavior (banal politeness and caution) online.
We all remember well that a word can hurt much more than a fist. But for some reason we immediately forget about this when we get online. And if earlier many trolled anonymously (under pseudonyms), now the ability to comment without additional registration through a simple connection to Facebook and Twitter makes you forget about security and people continue to write nonsense, but under real names.
You don't need to be reminded that the Internet remembers everything, does it? The option “what is written with a pen cannot be cut out with an ax” works here 200%. Therefore, we separate personal from work and begin to earn both reputation and money.
To make it easier and faster to understand all 101 tips, we will divide them into several categories.
General tips on how to use Twitter
Basics
Increased difficulty level
High level of difficulty
Examples of using Twitter
Underwater rocks
Twitter etiquette
Reliability and safety
Individual items in each category work on their own.
Basics
1. Use an avatar.
2. Set up your Twitter page.
3. Briefly describe in your bio who you are, what you do and your interests.
4. Be brief.
5. Shorten your links.
6. Tweet every day, but not every hour.
7. Reply, retweet.
8. Tell others not only about what you eat.
9. Add a link to your blog (or LinkedIn profile).
10. Don't follow more than 1,000 people if only 5 follow you.
Increased difficulty level
1. Use Firefox apps (eg Echofon).
2. Subscribe to your tweets via RSS.
3. Select the URL shortener that you like best.
4. Use # for hashtags.
5. Tweet important things 4 times a day in 4 different time zones.
6. Create a Twitter Landing Page.
7. Monitor tweets with keywords that are important to you (Twilert, etc.).
8. Ask questions.
9. Use Twitter on your mobile phone.
10. Add pictures to your tweets (TwitPic, imgur, etc.).
High level of difficulty
1. Use the TweetDeck or Seesmic desktop apps.
2. Use a custom URL shortener with your own URL (bit.ly offers one for free).
3. Follow your best friends' tweets via RSS.
4. Use social CRM applications to save all your Twitter contacts (cotweets).
5. Don't repost every tweet on Facebook or a friend's social network.
Social media
1. Don't follow everyone.
2. Follow people you are interested in.
3. Don't follow bots and RSS mashups.
4. Mix tweets with links, @replies and “what’s happening now.”
5. Retweet your friends.
6. Retweet posts from rare resources, not just from the main general thread.
7. Don’t clog up the airwaves, Twitter is not TV or radio.
8. Practice #followfriday.
9. Share memes.
10. Follow people who reply, retweet, or tag you in their tweets.
11. Start a conversation with phrases such as: I’m surprised how much people pay... etc.
12. Arrange meetings of Twitter users in a real place (park, cafe, going to the cinema).
Blogging
1. Don't replace blog posts with tweets.
2. Add a Twitter button to your blog.
3. Display your tweets in a sidebar.
4. Add a “follow me” badge to your blog.
5. Announce your best posts on Twitter.
6. Add a column with @twittername to the form of your answers.
7. Engage in crowdsourcing (crowdsource).
8. Tweet if your plane crashes.
9. Mention Twitter on your blog.
10. Tweet about your blog.
Business
1. Tweet as an individual, not just as a company.
2. Offer discounts to your followers.
3. Be the first to announce special offers or promotions on Twitter.
4. Give gifts.
5. Respond to dissatisfied customers.
6. Set a social media policy for your company.
7. Monitor mentions of your brand.
8. Create your own Twitter team.
9. Follow and report @usernames who use nicknames related to your company name or brand.
10. Use apps like Hootsuite for corporate Twitter.
Marketing and SEO
1. Tweet links with interesting content related to your industry.
2. Add yourself to Twitter directories (Twellow).
3. Add your Twitter (@username) to your site.
4. Add your Twitter to your business cards.
5. Use Twitter analytics (Tweetreach).
6. Create Google Analytics campaigns for your Twitter.
7. Use a lot of hashtags (#).
8. Use keywords in your Twitter names (@username).
9. Follow everyone if you can.
10. Upgrade to a dedicated server or cloud hosting to track Twitter activity spikes.
11. Use “RT: @source” at the end of every tweet with “via.”
12. Use exclamations like “OMG”, “WTF”, “FAIL”, etc. (Russian-speaking Twitter users use these exclamations with pleasure, especially WTF and OMG, sometimes LOL is included in this list).
13. Use numbers in headings.
14. Use breaking news.
15. Use sexy avatars.
16. Reach out to famous and experienced Twitter users.
17. Ask people to follow you and explain why they would be interested in doing so.
18. Use funny nicknames.
19. Wear a funny hat.
20. Make people happy.
Twitter etiquette
1. Don't follow (or unfollow) the same person multiple times.
2. Don't send messages to people you don't follow - they can't answer you.
3. Don't swear on Twitter.
4. Don't automatically follow based on name alone.
5. After the 3rd reply on Twitter, it is better to switch to communication in direct mail, Skype, e-mail, etc.
6. Don't expect to get an answer if you fall on others like a bolt from the blue.
7. Tweet only very important information more than once.
8. Don't tweet the same information several times in a row.
9. Don’t switch your work from Twitter to full automation.
10. Before posting a tweet, read it again.
11. Don't offer your site every time someone mentions you and your products (services).
12. Don't use URL shorteners that cut off the essence of the message.
13. Don't try to sell something on Twitter.
14. Disclose affiliate links with or.
Reliability and safety
1. Do not tweet with scam links, even in the form of the question “Is this a scam?!” You will be banned immediately.
2. Never tweet email addresses! Spam bots do not sleep and actively collect them.
3. Never tweet about your vacation plans with dates or periods. Thieves can track them.
4. Don't tweet while you're driving.
5. Refrain from complaining about your partners, clients or company.
6. In countries such as China, it is better to tweet anonymously.
7. Don't use your Google or online banking password on Twitter.
8. Don't tweet about where you are now.
9. Don't post personal photos of your children on Twitter.
10. Only tweet about things that you would be able to say on television.
And just briefly about the overall picture of the tweets:
1/3 answers
1/3 retweets and links
1/3 of tweets are about “what am I doing”
On my own behalf, I can add that you always need to be careful on the Internet, be it Twitter, Facebook, VKontakte, LiveJournal or your personal blog. Sometimes we relax and let our guard down, or anger clouds both our eyes and mind. Once upon a time (when there was no Twitter yet), an acquaintance was fired on the same day that he wrote an angry post about the company for which he worked. Exactly 20 minutes after the publication of the LJ post, the director of the department came running to the department. The outcome is dismissal and, nevertheless, correction of the shortcomings about which the complaint was received. Moral - if you are very angry, write a letter and then delete it, but do not publish it publicly for everyone to see.
And remember that all your records are still saved, even if visually no one else sees them. You don’t immediately rush into a fight when communicating in person at work, with friends or in a store, do you? Usually you think things through (at least partially) and only then speak. The network gives us a feeling of permissiveness and impunity. The times when you could write anything anonymously and without damaging your reputation and your work are long gone. Millions of eyes are watching you ;)
Is Twitter already part of your social media marketing strategy?
If not, then it's a waste :)
Twitter is the only marketing tool you can use to market in real time. More and more small businesses are using Twitter because it is a completely free and effective promotion tool.
Below is a list of all the Twitter features you can start using for your business and get amazing results.
About Twitter
Twitter is a short messaging system that allows you to send messages (tweets) of up to 140 characters to the people who follow you (readers).
Messages can include links to any resources (blogs, Internet pages, documents, etc.), as well as attach photos and videos. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then you will gain significantly more from posting it than from posting a message limited to 140 characters.
People read (follow) your Twitter account, and you can follow others too. This allows you to read messages (tweets), reply to them, and easily share tweets with other readers (called retweeting).
What makes Twitter unique?
In the world of social media, Twitter falls under the category of microblogging because it allows you to send short, unrelated messages.
Twitter is partially similar to other popular social resources (for example, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, VKontakte and YouTube). However, there are a number of features that distinguish Twitter from the following sites:
Facebook (Facebook). The length of a tweet is similar to the length of a Facebook status. However, on Facebook there is a filter, and on Twitter, every tweet appears in the readers' news feed.
Pinterest (Pinterest). Twitter allows you to upload photos and comment on other tweets. But on Twitter, the discussion function for a posted photo is much clearer than on Pinterest.
LinkedIn (Linkd-In). The length of the tweet is the same as in the Linkd-In status. However, if Linkedin is based on a trusting relationship (or mutual agreement), you can follow anyone on Twitter, even strangers. This is convenient because you can find potential buyers there.
Google+ (Google Plus). The length of the tweet is the same as in the Google Plus status. On Twitter, you can group readers and conversations in the same way as Google Plus.
YouTube (YouTube). You can add video to your tweets. However, Twitter doesn't have the ability to create an entire video channel or group videos together for easy searching and commenting.
Now let's find out How can Twitter be useful for your business?
#1 STEP ONE: Present your brand
Creating a Twitter account of your own profile is the main step in mastering Twitter. This gives you the opportunity to spread the word about your business to everyone on Twitter.
It is important that the appearance and design of your Twitter profile be the same as on other sites. This will make it easier for people to identify and trust you. Choose the same Twitter account names and brand images as you do on other websites.
1) Selecting a Twitter username
Nothing is more important to your Twitter business than having the right account name. It appears next to all your tweets, and is how all Twitter users identify and find you.
Example of a Twitter business page: The brand name is the same as the name of the website on the Internet.
Choose either your own name (ideal for individual entrepreneurs) or the name of your company. Avoid punctuation marks to make your company name easier to type on mobile devices.
If your company name is already taken by someone else, choose a similar one.
2) Profile picture
Twitter offers two different images to create your profile image. For your business, you need to use both of these options. Upload photos in your profile settings.
Your Twitter user photo is square and appears next to every tweet sent from your account. You can use either the company logo or your own photo.
An example of a profile using the user's personal photo.
Note: Most small companies do this: they create an account under the company name, but add a personal photo as the user image. This will make your Twitter account more individual and unique.
3) Header image
The header is a huge background image where you can also provide information about your company. Just like the Facebook page image, the header photo appears at the top of your page.
An example of a header image that reflects the essence of the company's brand.
It is also possible customize background, which readers will see when they visit your Twitter page. You can create a graphic image that is in harmony with the brand logo. Upload this image in the Appearance section of User Settings.
An example of a small company page with a brand in the background of the Twitter profile.
#2 STEP TWO: Build a Strong Foundation
It is very important that you fill out your Twitter profile completely. Each option gives you the opportunity to provide more detailed information about the company, which will have a positive impact on your business.
Be sure to take note of the following three options in the Profile section of Settings.
Location, website address and information about yourself are an important component of your business, interesting for all Twitter users.
Location. Tell people where they can find you. But do not forget that you can also be visited by people from other cities, regions, countries who do not necessarily know your region. Provide them with information so that they can find you easily.
Website address. Share a link to your website with readers. Give them your website or blog, and don't forget your dedicated Twitter home page. This is a great opportunity to provide additional information to those Twitter users who have shown interest in your company.
Personal information. You only have 160 characters to tell people who you are and what you do. Leave the company's mission and tell us better about the benefits that you can bring. Write lively, add something personally “from yourself” so that the page takes on a life of its own.
Twitter has strict rules against so-called "aggressive followers" and "aggressive follower flows," so be careful and take your time. You don't want your account to be blocked in the first week due to suspicious activity.
Note: Your impression of Twitter is shaped by those you follow, not by those who follow you. Be careful when choosing the pages you read, and then the experience will be more than pleasant.
your customers,
Your business partners, suppliers, customers, manufacturers, etc.
Your competitors or analogue products
Trade organizations in your industry
Companies in your area
Companies of your friends and acquaintances (your professional circle)
Twitter will help you find them by verifying their email addresses.
Use the Find Friends option on the I'm Following page to find friends through your address book.
#4 STEP FOUR: Start writing
Twitter has a slightly different style of communication than other social networks. It's a sort of buffet where ideas and sentence snippets are served up quickly. A little chaotic, but fun.
Don't grab everything at once, test the waters. Look at others. And start when you feel confident. Start writing only when you understand what’s what.
There are five types of messages on Twitter:
1. Tweet. A message that is sent to everyone who reads you. This is the classic way to communicate on Twitter.
A tweet is a short message that you send to all your Twitter followers.
2. Answer. A message that is sent in response to a received message. The response is public, including the Twitter username. This message will appear in your tweet feed and will be available to everyone who reads you and your interlocutor. It will also appear on the mentions page.
An example of a reply is a message written in response to someone else's tweet.
3. Mention. A message in which you mention another Twitter user. 
The mention tweet only refers to a Twitter user's name, but is not a reply to that user's previous tweet.
4. Direct message. A message that you send personally to another Twitter user. You can only send it to one of your readers. 
This is a private message sent to someone who follows your Twitter.
5. Retweet. A message written and posted by another Twitter user that you share with your followers. Sharing tweets on Twitter is very easy.
A retweet is a message sent by someone else that you share with your readers.
#5 STEP FIVE: Write wisely
Once you understand the different types of tweets, the question will inevitably come to you: what should I tweet about?
The answer depends on the type of company you are. It is usually better to find a middle ground between what your target audience wants to hear and what should help promote your business. For most entrepreneurs, the best response will be messages that highlight how your product or service can benefit consumers.
There's a whole science to writing Twitter headlines. Experiment, write the same thing in different styles and see what resonates more. With only 140 characters, you have to give weight to every word you type.
Over time, the quality of your tweets will improve and you will be able to build a strong following on Twitter. In the meantime, get ready to take a step back and decide on a Twitter communication plan. You need to decide which topics will help attract potential buyers. Also post your tweets at times when the most users are logged in.
If you have already mastered Twitter at the user level, then go ahead, in which we will tell you how to promote a company using Twitter tools.
This material is an expanded translation of the article
A Twitter post is only 140 characters long. It seems easy to leave short posts all the time. But in reality this is quite a difficult task. Especially in cases where you not only need to write the required number of letters, but also attract an audience to your account.
How to tweet
Do you have a personal profile on the social network Twitter? Do you want to attract traffic and delight your audience with quality content, but don’t know how to create useful and interesting posts? We bring to your attention some effective tips that you need to apply in your work. And it's very easy to do!
Write briefly and in accessible language
On the social network Twitter, users have the opportunity to create posts of 140 characters. But few people know that the “free window” should not be filled to capacity. The shorter the text, the greater the chance that it will be noticed and studied with genuine interest.
It’s even worse when a novice user or inexperienced marketer expresses himself using abbreviations and abbreviations. It looks terrible. Forget about this habit once and for all. The reader wants to perceive information easily and naturally, and not Google incomprehensible symbols at every step. State the essence of things as briefly as possible.
Short tweets are:
- The opportunity to distinguish yourself from the “gray mass”;
- A great way to generate interest among the public;
- More retweets, since network users will be able to add a comment to the post.
Contact your target audience
The message to users can be contained both in the tweet itself and in the title. What's the point? Your message begins with a direct address to the public. It is noteworthy that this should be done not in general (addressed to all subscribers), but personally to the target audience. If you have published a book about tourism, reach out to travelers with this news. A person will immediately recognize himself in this and will be much more willing to read the text.
Businessmen! Don't make the same mistakes as Bill Gates (link)
Who said you can't use little tricks to grab your audience's attention? Dilute your text with words that will intrigue and make people concentrate on your tweet. “The long-awaited news!”, “Hurray!”, “It’s finished!” And so on.
It's finished! Copywriters shared their secrets of success (link)
Hooray! The ABC company is organizing an unprecedented draw! (link)
Show your surprise
Also use words that express feelings of delight and genuine surprise. “Wow!”, “Wow!”, “I’m absolutely delighted!” And so on. Agree, such tweets are excellent “food” for all curious people. They simply cannot remain indifferent to the records of jubilant authors.
Always keep your target audience in mind when choosing these “tricks.” Some slang expressions may not be clear to adult users. We'll have to replace them with something else.
Ask and intrigue
You can’t even imagine how much modern social network users love easy and original questions. Learn to be interested correctly, and success is guaranteed.
Do you make these ridiculous mistakes when speaking English? (link)
Can you call yourself a happy person? (link)
Add bait words to your tweet
In this example, the tweet contains the word "Why". It encourages the user to be curious. It can also be used in the affirmative form. Other options: “this”, “these”.
Why you shouldn't have an office romance (link)
This decoration will win the heart of the most discerning lady (link)
Be an expert, share useful information
The World Wide Web is teeming with articles like “5 mistakes”, “10 habits”, “15 ways”, etc. But the Internet is oversaturated with such articles for a reason. They are really interesting and are in great demand among readers. Write unique articles? Share them with your audience.
How to learn English in 2 months (link)
10 healthy habits that will make your life brighter (link)
Use the power of reviews for good
If a huge number of people say that a product is of high quality and practical in everyday life, you will probably believe them. Is not it? And if an influential and successful person recommends something useful, the audience will definitely pay attention to it. Reviews can work wonders. Don't leave it out of your tweets.
We already have 30 thousand subscribers! Join us! (link)
8 thousand people have already tried the new treatment method and received results (link)
Create an effect of urgency
People can weigh this or that decision regarding the purchase of a product for a long time, since the demand is great, but there is even more supply. To speed up this process, remind the public that there is very little time left until the end of the promotion. There is no need to stretch out the validity period of tempting bonuses. Otherwise, you will have to stock up on superhuman patience.
Only today! Two books for the price of one! (link)
Urgently! Read this now if your hair health leaves much to be desired (link)
Last day! Take part in the car draw! (link)
Warn of danger
Don't be afraid to tweet like this. Yes, they are a little scary at first. But showing concern for your audience is a commendable thing. Alert the public about the danger that awaits them. Just remember that any information of this type must be verified. Otherwise, you risk being branded a balabol, and this won’t work in the future.
Write in 1st person
Tweeting in the first person is fine, especially if your persona is of genuine interest to the public. Share your experience and your point of view on various issues, give advice. But remember that you are responsible for your words and actions.
This is the best album I've listened to this year! (link)
How I got 1 million followers on YouTube (link)
These tips helped me get rid of depression (link)
Use copywriters' favorite words
There are times when it is very difficult to come up with something of your own. Even if we are talking about writing a tweet on a social network. Having a creative crisis? Then use words and phrases that are popular among copywriters. Templates and clichés, used with a sense of proportion, have never harmed anyone.
- For free
- New
- Secret
- Effective
To explain this, entire “schools of bloggers” are created, various kinds of specialists are attracted for master classes, and as a result, bloggers and microbloggers are released onto the Internet with a diploma from Harvard University...
All you need to know are these simple tips))
Quotes without quotes, maximum retweet,
swearing and other quirks of microblogs:
This guide does not aim to teach the basics of using Twitter; there are official guides for this and does not promise to make you a “popular microblogger.” Cats and stolen jokes work flawlessly on all social networks.
1. Write a lot
You need to write a lot on Twitter. This is probably the only thingsocial media (micro-blogging service, if you're being picky)
to terms), where you can not restrain yourself in volumes, n while receiving accusations of flooding. If anyone is unhappy,
short-term ban, but some people don’t like to wait and start for such cases, a second, backup account
2. Hide the excess
However, sometimes even the most persistent and habitual people are forced to make restrictions. For example, you can turn off the display of retweets from individual users in your feed. This helps a lot when some good person suddenly becomes too passionate about one topic and believes that you are obliged to share his obsession with him. You can also mute (that is, “hide” - from the English mute) all tweets using keywords. This is vital when your entire feed has been competing in wit about Depardieu for the second day or is once again conducting a collective investigation into the death of the Dyatlov group.
3. Quote without quotes
One of the most insidious rules that constantly confuses newbies: on Twitter, it is customary to quote without quotes - both what you agree with and what you want to ridicule. How then will readers understand that you are not writing from yourself? If the reader has been following you for a long time, then he understands: a liberal cannot suddenly write that, for example, the Jews sold Russia, and a socialist cannot write that pensions need to be abolished, this is an “ironic quotation.” Of course, after the publication of an unquoted quote from KP columnist Ulyana Skoybeda, there will definitely be beautiful-hearted people who will call you a terrible person and even wish you a slow, painful death. You can explain to them that “it was a quote,” but it’s better not to—hardcore does not tolerate curtseys.
4. Quote in series
The more difficult case is when they quote what they agree with. How to understand where the quote is and where the words of the author of the tweet are? The first is usually taken out of context, while the latter still has a more or less complete form. One way or another, nothing prevents you from entering a questionable phrase into Google. Advice: in the first minutes of the release of a resonant interview or column, you can quote the most striking passages from there and collect several retweets. In this case, it is acceptable to provide a large piece of text, divided into several tweets: at one time, services were popular that allowed you to artificially increase the volume of characters in a tweet, but they did not catch on and it is better not to use them.
5. Beware of RT
tweet in your feed, and done manually, the old fashioned way, when you quote a tweet, and before the text put the author’s username and a special mark “RT”. The fact is that, technologically, such a publication is completely your tweet, and after RT you can write anything, pranking inexperienced readers. Hundreds of people are ready to believe even the most incredible nonsense, allegedly said on behalf of famous microbloggers. Finally, retweet or quote people who praise you or the result of your work in measured doses - narcissism is annoying; share when you are scolded - it always goes well.
6. Never ingratiate yourself.
Don’t write “please RT” or “maximum retweet” - if you reported something truly important or made a good joke, then you will be noticed in any case. Do not tag famous people or popular bloggers through the “mension” in the hope of attracting their attention - this is bad manners. An example of incorrect behavior: “I met Boris @b_nemtsov in the metro. he’s still cute))” or “Sergei @s_udaltsov is a mediocre politician!!” It’s another matter if you tag your friends or acquaintances in a tweet, inviting them to have a drink in the evening, or asking a serious, justified question, for example: “Alexey @navalny, why didn’t you go to the Russian March?” This is fine. Well, if you need a shameful but free retweet, then you should write something like “I searched half of Moscow, but finally found the latest number of SNC @xenia_sobchak. the best magazine in the world!))". It seems that Ksenia Sobchak's Twitter is half made up of such retweets
7. Don’t litter replays
If you expressed some interesting idea in a tweet, then one person may comment on it, then a second person may disagree with this person’s opinion, so a third person will join the discussion, then a fourth... At some point, all of these tweets will be almost entirely will consist of listing the usernames of the participants in the conversation, because on Twitter there is no separate place for them, like, for example, the addressee field in the mail - usernames take up full space in the meager 140 characters of a tweet. Moreover, it often happens that the participants in the discussion forget about how it all began and begin to discuss completely abstract topics, for example, they argue about the latest high-profile film or, as a result of the conversation, they send each other back and forth for a long time. Your replay feed continues to be updated (after all, your username was there at the very beginning!) and prevents you from seeing truly important answers. Therefore, make it a habit to immediately delete people’s usernames from correspondence if you understand that now replays definitely don’t concern them anymore
8. Don't be shy in your expressions
Don't spend too much time formatting the text. The gold standard is to not start sentences with a capital letter or put a period at the end of a tweet. But if you suddenly do everything according to the rules of the Russian language, it will not be a big crime. They don't pay attention to commas on Twitter, but God forbid you make an obvious spelling mistake like "tsya/tsya" - you will be crucified. Obscene language deserves special attention. Mat is the flesh and blood of Russian Twitter. It can and should be used in any quantity, and I am experiencing real moral suffering while compiling this guide without swearing (the author of these rules writes). The only ironclad rule is never replace letters inside such words with asterisks, this is terrible. It is also better not to use exotic, sophisticated modifications and be content with the simple monosyllabic classics of the mat. It is especially well suited for commenting on the news picture of the day: instead of 140 words - one. (this item is not for me)
9. Be natural
There should be a "Don't tweet while drunk" rule here, but no hand is raised. Of course, if your parents, boss, or God forbid you are a politician, you can seriously harm yourself. But drunken Twitter is literature in its own way. Reading drunken insights and confessions, people realize that they have much more in common than they thought.
Thank you, Roman Fedoseev!