Twitter is a social network designed to get a message across to friends, family, colleagues and other users in a short fashion. The site allows users to send messages in 140 characters or fewer, including links. Many businesses use this site to connect with users and draw attention to their merchandise, events and purpose. There’s a number of ways you can build a following on Twitter, allowing many followers to see your tweets.
Add Followers
Add followers on your account. A variety of people will follow you back if you follow them first. Click their name followed by the “follow” button on their profile. Once someone follows you, your tweets will appear in his feeds as you send them. Choose people to follow who are most relevant to your business or organization. For example, if you are travel blogger, use Twitter to network with travel publications, other travel blogs and most importantly other travelers. If you have favorite travel blogs or publications you visit regularly online, click the link to their Twitter account on their websites. You can also find people to follow based on keywords. Type “travel” or “blog” into the “Search” box and look at the people talking about that topic. Click their name to start following. Don’t forget to talk with them to engage in conversation and build an online relationship.
Ask for Help
Type “Pls RT” after the tweet. This means “Please Retweet.” When your followers see this tweet, they will retweet to their followers. Not only will other Twitter users read your tweets then, but they may begin to follow you as well. When writing a tweet keep in mind that popular topics with solid information will grab the attention of your followers. You want to write a tweet that stands out. For example, share your opinion on the latest news out of the White House, tell a joke about something going on in the news or tweet news as you see it happening. Twitter is a gateway for getting news to people fast. When a celebrity dies, people on Twitter know before others because the news goes out directly to Twitter uses immediately who then retweet the news or comment on it. If you are first to report news, others will see it and retweet.
Retweet Between Accounts
Retweet your business tweets on your personal account. You are likely to have different followers between the two accounts, so retweeting the tweet will show it to additional users that may not otherwise see it.
Connect Your Networks
Set up your Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace accounts to also receive your tweets. When you add these applications, different friends who may not be on Twitter also see the message you send out. Add a widget to your blog that feeds tweets from your account to your blog. These widgets are found through Twitter’s website or through your blog service. Sign in with your account and any time you tweet your blog readers will also read your tweets.
Trending Topics
Use trending topic phrases and words in your tweets. People click these topics to see why they are trending, so they will read your tweets even if they do not follow you. Trending topics are located in a box on the right side of the screen.
Hash Tags
Use hash tags in your tweet. A hash tag is “#” followed by a word or phrase. For example, if you write a blog about traveling use the hash tag #blog and #travel to draw followers to your tweet. These are common hash tags that show the subject of your tweet. Watch your feed to see hash tags people are using, or create your own that may catch on. Look on the side bar to see the “Trending Topics” which often include hash tags.