Twitter is all about two way interaction –you follow people, they follow you back, you communicate via 140 character sentences and you network, successfully it seems. As of March 2011, there were 140 million tweets sent out each day. When it comes to breaking news, this number explodes – 456 tweets per second (TPS) were recorded the day Michael Jackson died (June 25 2009). The current record for TPS is an unbelievable 6,939, which was set 4 seconds after midnight in Japan on 1st Jan 2011!
While it’s easy to find people to follow on twitter, marketers will tell you that it’s quality, not quantity that really counts. How do you engage with people who matter on twitter?
Step One: Find Your Audience
Twitter’s ‘Who To Follow’ feature: Twitter itself decided to help when it introduced a ‘suggested users’ list for new users, similar to what LinkedIn offers. In 2010, they expanded that and twitter product team member Josh describes how it works in his post, The Power of Suggestion. According to him, Twitter has created a number of algorithms to identify users across a variety of clusters that tweet actively, and are engaged with audience. These then are suggested to new users to get them started. Since then, twitter has created a ‘Who To Follow’ button (top right hand corner of the menu bar), which all users have access to.
However, twitter is not the only source when it comes to finding people. There are a number of other tools to help you define your target audience and refine your search. Here are some popular ones to engage with:
Listorious: The very fact it incorporates the word, list, in its name suggests that listorious is an easy option to create useful lists. You can search over 2 million twitter users and the lists are under headings like activism, art, charity, climate, sports, writers, science, and health. You can add yourself and add a list, and the application is able to read tweets, see who you follow and post tweets for you.
Tweet Grader: Hubspot users will already know this one. It’s a free tool which grades your profile and compares it to others, so you can see how much you influence others. However, it also has a search functionality and a list of Twitter Elite, those users who have high grades based on their followers and updates.
Twibes: Twibes is another tool which allows you to create twitter lists, search from thousands of lists on topics such as career, home and garden, and pets/animals, or lists like social media, business, and photography, add yourself to a list, or browse active twibes, those who tweet actively.
Step Two: Follow Wisely
It’s only fair to follow those people who follow you –or is it? In an article on Mashable entitled, The Top 10 Reasons I will Not Follow You in Return on Twitter, author Atherton Bartelby says he does not follow those who do not have an avatar, website, or bio, as well as those who do not post regularly and those who self-promote.
All very valid reasons. However, it is nice as a courtesy to respond to those who follow you and take the time to view their website or services before making a decision. Use a tool like Tweepi to help you manage your list.
It also makes sense to check out the list of influential people, see who they are following and follow them as well.
It doesn’t help your image or reputation to have a small following if you are following a lot of people. In the event you see this happening, it’s time to clean out your list. You can easily unfollow those who don’t return the courtesy by using a service like Tweeter Karma.
Step Three: Go Offline
That’s correct –you can use your offline contacts to influence your online networking. At conferences, trade shows and networking events, you’ll be collecting a lot of cards, brochures, and contact details. If you have their twitter address, that’s great; if not, you can locate their handle by replacing their username in the following URL: http://twitter.com/USERNAME
Don’t Forget This!
Gathering followers is fairly simple, but to keep your contact list intact, it’s important to respond to those who communicate with you, direct message those who interest you, retweet topics that are useful, and take the time to comment on articles you’ve found useful. Within no time, you’ll see your list growing, your circle of influence widening, and your business blooming!
