10 Tips for Successful Tweeting

Posted on July 20th, 2009 by Keith Ferrazzi

twitter-birdThe book tour has given me a great opportunity to learn how to use Twitter, and I must say – I like it. It offers a whole new way to communicate and integrates pretty well with my frenetic pace. (More on that in another post... the 24/7 constant stream can also be exhausting!)

Here's a list of some of the top lessons and tips I've picked up over the couple months of heavy use. My community manager Ryan has been the one to help get me set up on all the best apps, and that's SO IMPORTANT to making Twittering, especially on the tour when I'm rarely at a computer, possible.

1. First of all, what I've noticed about content: The 140 character restriction DOES MATTER! It significantly changes the style and content of everyone’s communication. It also means that twitter is great for soliciting questions, but only OK for getting answers. Many people can’t express their thoughts in 140 characters, so answers lack any teeth. Facebook is PHENOMENAL for getting answers to questions.

2. Hashtags have been most useful during events, to create adhoc groups and spontaneous meetups. Using a hashtag over an extended period of time doesn’t seem to work so well since people have to constantly remember to tag their Tweets. However, during an event, the hashtag is on everyone’s mind and allows people to have a conversation with the other participants in the event.

3. Use Ubertwitter for Blackberry – it’s better than Twitterberry

4. Do NOT send all your tweets out over FB - there's no better way to irritate your FB crowd quickly. If you install the Selective Twitter app in Facebook, you can simply put #fb at the end of a Tweet and it automatically updates your Facebook account. Great way to have precise control over your updates without any hassle.

5. Seesmic Desktop is the best desktop client for Twitter, according to Ryan.

6. Twitter is a great way to ping people on the fly and (bonus!) you get to give them props for the whole world to see using @replies - a small act of generosity and one that really builds the conversation.

7. Insightful comments and relevant links as well as questions are the most likely to get retweeted

8. To be truly engaged, tweet an average of once per hour (10-16 tweets) everyday to stay on people’s radar; use @replies make it a conversation.

9. The quality of your tweets is paramount, assuming you're tweeting the minimum recommended quantity. Actually, it's always paramount.

10. Use twitter to solicit questions from people. (i.e. – “I’m interviewing David Allen in a few minutes. What questions should I ask him?”) This works so well because questions are typically short and sweet. It’s not hard for people to write good questions in 140 characters.

I'd love for more tips from all of you - I guess my most ultimate insight is that Twitter is a learning process for everyone, all the time!

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11 Responses so far | Have Your Say!

  1. This is a great blog post for people who want to practically use Twitter!

  2. Like your book "Never Eat Alone" you give concise examples. It was interesting way for you illustrate your conclusions --gained while on the fly. I came pretty much to the same conclusions being pretty much tied to laptop here in my home office while working a special project.
    I'd also like to add--keep your tweets short of the 140 stokes -- that way it will be easier for people to retweet.

    Kathy Condon, Executive Coach, Speaker, Trainer and Author of the Award-winning Author: It Doesn't Hurt to Ask: It's all about Communication." http://www.kathycondons.blogspot.com

  3. Keith,
    How often do you check the Tweets of the people you follow?

  4. Keith,

    I love Twitter! I have met some awesome people, and made many new and valuable relationships!

    However, many people use an automatic Twitter client called "Tweet Later" My thoughts on this are that if you have automated your tweeting, then you don't really care about relationships. You've got to spend time "listening" too.

  5. It took me a while to "get it" but once I did Twitter has been a great resource. Just yesterday I told someone "I've stopped watching the news and now I do very few Google searches"; it all just comes my way.

    I've had personal contact with people I never would have found that will benefit me both personally and professionally. I find using Twitter the right way to be very beneficial. The one caveat is it can become a time waster. Follow Keith's suggestion of fewer throughout the day and you'll see the benefits.

  6. Regarding the hashtags and remembering to use them - here is a great resource for conventions so you won't have to worry about leaving a hashtag off a tweet: tweetchat.com. This app allows you to sign up to follow a specific hashtag and when you tweet from tweetchat it will automatically put the hashtag on to your tweet. It also allows you to follow the conversations about that hashtag without the distraction of other non-related tweets. Great for when you are fully focused on one event at a time. AND it's pretty phone friendly! I use it and have loved having it for the #NSA09 convention.

  7. Hi Keith,

    Great comments here on how to use Twitter! Bang on with # 4 - your Facebook friends might not want to get overloaded with updates... Relevance is paramount to keeping your audience engaged.

    Twitter is great for giving props to a person like you mention in #6, but we do also need to keep in mind that not everyone wants their twitter community seeing what a "great time in Vegas" you had together... Know your audience, and respect the audience of others.

    #8 of an hourly tweet is good, but we do need to be relevant to our followers... I would air on the side of fewer tweets and more relevant ones. A play by play of your trip to the zoo will quickly result in me "unfollowing" you, but if you are like Keith and provide insightful and useful tips - tweet away!

    Kent Speakman

  8. I find #8 interesting. I don't think I've ever seen a recommendation as to how often to tweet. I think once per hour might be too often, as it creates too much to sift through to update yourself on who you follow. That is my biggest problem with Twitter, that it takes forever to read through all the new updates since the last time I checked it. I think they should make a way to temporarily 'ignore' messages from certain people, rather than unfollowing them altogether.

  9. @Sana - thanks!

    @kathy - great point! I often think about the "ReTweetability" of my tweets, and I keep that in mind. However, I find it REALLY HARD to keep my thoughts short of the 140 max, especially when using hashtags... I actually also made the decision that I would use Internet shorthand, which I know many other people don't use in their tweets. I don't know how they do it - suggestions?

    @Andrew - I wish I had more time to read other people's tweets. I regularly monitor my @replies, but sometimes even they escape me as I usually monitor my Twitter from my Blackberry, and I can only see about the 20 most recent Tweets at any given time. I do try to sit down about once a day, usually in the evening, to review my Twitter more extensively and peruse the tweets of the folks I'm following.

    @Wendy - Good point. I use TweetLater in a very limited fashion. I think it's OK to use TweetLater as part of your "Twitter Mix"... maybe have it produce 10% of your Tweets or so. I also sometimes automate links as I go through my Google Reader and read my blogs I push my favorites out over Twitter. Most of my tweets - about 80% - are authentic and original content from me. I think having a good mix is important. Thoughts on my current mix?

    @Rick - you're telling me! If I responded to everyone in real time, I would never be able to leave my computer. I have to batch my responses - the only way for me.

    @Raeus - great tip! Were you at my breakout session at #nsa09?

    @Kent - great point about privacy. Brings up a larger conversation about "is there such a thing as privacy" when any individual can have incredible power to distribute information via social media - especially Twitter. But I agree - if you want to keep your friends, know when they're "flying under the radar". RE: status updates, I believe that updating people on what you're physically doing is OK sometimes - again, it's part of the "mix". As long as I don't start tweeting exclusively about my trips to the airport, I think I'll be OK.

    @CJ - great suggestions re: "ignore". I say once per hour so that you stay "top of stack" on people's Twitter feed. I actually don't tweet that often, so maybe I take it back! But I still try to tweet maybe 10 times a day or so. Twitter is an "in the moment" form of social media... so I try to contribute in the moment.

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