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I was sceptical about Twitter. I’d had a couple of false starts because I didn’t really understood it. I followed something on the Guardian newspaper and Brian Clark on Copyblogger. I didn’t engage with it so it didn’t engage with me.
In October 2009 I met Claire Sloane. She probably can’t remember the conversation we had about Twitter, she’d just started and she doesn’t know to this day that she was the catalyst to me getting involved. The rest, as they say, is history. I was involved and I learnt things. I was converted. Far from being the plaything of kids, used properly, Twitter can be a powerful (and free) tool for promoting a business.
Engage with people and they’ll engage with you
Imagine walking into a party where you know no-one. If you’re anything like me you’ll be a little intimidated because there’s all these people getting on really well and you have to break into a conversation.
You’d be surprised how many people you already know on Twitter. Using the “Find People” function on the home page, go through your address book to find your first people to follow. Then take a look at their followers and the people they are following, there’s a good chance either you’ll know them or they’ll be useful for you to know. I’d be surprised if you don’t find your first 50 followers that way.
It’s not all about followers
At the recent LikeMinds conference in Exeter, Chris Brogan pointed out that influence on Twitter and social media in general is not about how many “followers” or “friends” you have but how you interact with them, how much value you provide and how they view you. It’s better therefore to have 100 followers that are relevant to you and your business and with whom you have strong relationships than 10,000 with whom you have no real relationship
Twitter is about people, not about selling
One thing’s a dead cert, if you start sending sales pitches to all your followers, they’ll unfollow you straight away. Be helpful, be nice, tell people what you’re doing. Don’t tell people what you had for beakfast, tell them about interesting things. I can hear a chorus of “I haven’t got anything interesting to say”. Of course you have! Just like at that party, listen and learn about what people are saying and you’ll find you’ll be able to chip in.
Who are you?
Don’t be surprised if random people start following you either. The Twitter search facility and other directories enable you to find people based on what people are “tweeting” (hate that word!) about. Follow them too. It’s all good for your profile and you never know, they may proove to be useful or interesting contacts. If they start spamming you, hit the unfollow button.
Twitter is a community
Social media is above all networking. I’m not trying to kid you that it can replace all the things you do offline, cyberspace friends are less tangible than real ones and you should interact with them first and foremost. Twitter though is a great way of building credibility and trust. Use it as a platform for getting real life prospects and clients. It’s (almost) free to use, it’s certainly cost effective and you’d be mad not to have a go.
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