Twitter 101

I am so happy to know Shama Hyder (thanks, Mari Smith for introducing us!) because she writes great and useful stuff about marketing and gives permission for others to use it in their blogs, as I’m doing here! Her e-zine this week included a great article on 101 Ways to Rock and Be Rocked by Twitter and is packed full of great tips and insights about the fastest growing social media platform out there. Did you know that approximately 2000 new users sign up for Twitter EACH DAY???? Whoa.
Enjoy! And if this article convinces you to get in the Twitter game, be sure to connect with me there!

1. Use your real name. Save the company bit for the info section.
2. Use a picture that shows your face. Skip the silly goggles, hats, and political stickers. Show me who you are!
3. Create a twitter background that gives people a quick synopsis of who you are. Learn how to create your own here.
4. Share a link to your own blog posts.
5. Find a cool new tool? Share it. My latest find- The Jing Project.
6. Show gratitude.
7. Ask for help. (Anyone know why puppies love peanuts?)
8. Start a discussion!
9. Re-tweet important tweets. Re-tweeting is when you repeat what someone has already twittered. Best example of re-tweeting I saw was when a Portland twitter buddy’s daughter went missing! The twitter board lit up with re-tweets. She was found.
10. Share a pic. http://www.TwitPic.com
11. Post updates during conference time!
12. Report earthquakes and other natural disasters. Seriously-Twitter is faster than the Associated Press.
13. Help a Reporter Out. Just follow @SkyDiver for relevant tweets.
14. Brag about your clients. When they deserve it of course! One of our clients, K9Cuisine, personally delivered 24k pounds of food to the Houston SPCA after Hurricane Ike hit. Remarkable. Video here.
15. Build relationships with people you only run into once or twice at conferences.
16. Create an informal mastermind. I once heard of a few school teachers who used Twitter to share lesson plans and get feedback on challenges.
17. Quick Surveys! What do you like better? Posts with lists or paragraph type posts?
18. Make predictions.
19. Perform an act of kindness. When @Dalbee heard my twitter pleas for help navigating Boulder, he quickly asked@laurenpreston to pick me up from the airport. She also dropped me back!
20. Give and get Free stuff? No, seriously. Just ask @Aruni who scored a printer. And @DaveTaylor who scored free tickets to a Cirque show in Las Vegas.
21. Find product reviews. I never buy any big tech gadget before asking the pundits on Twitter to weigh in. Just don’t ask MAC or PC.  The responses shut Twitter down!
22. Movie reviews! Just go to http://www.search.twitter.com and type in the name of a movie you are considering going to. Tada! Real time reviews. Also you can follow @FilmBuzz
23. Share a recipe! You can’t share food, so might as well share the recipe.
24. Review a product.
25. Find an intern!
26. Hire a new team member.
27. Get the scoop on a potential hire. Just search for their name at http://www.search.twitter.com.
28. Get the scoop on a date. Never done it myself but boy have I heard stories!
29. Find a great new restaurant. Just ask a local…or do a search!
30. Tweet-Ups. Meet up (physically!) with the people you twitter with.
31. Vent.
32. Get customer service help- quicky! Network Solutions, Comcast, Zappos, Whole Foods, and Dogster are just some companies that come to mind who have a presence on Twitter. It’s ALMOST as cool as having a fairy Godmother.
33. Find JV partners.
34. Brag about a job well done by another company or individual. They WILL work harder for you, and appreciate the remarks. @MariSmith is one of our greatest fans on Twitter, and we adore her for it!
35. Find a job or a contract position.
36. Establish expertise by providing your expert opinion when called for.
37. Use it as a virtual water cooler. A lot of people on Twitter telecommute, and appreciate the virtual water cooler.
38. Share hope and pride! This was a common theme during the election period.
39. Share tips. Swallowing a tablespoon of peanut butter cures hiccups.
40. Find new blogs to read and explore!
41. Connect with people across the globe.
42. Don’t post spam links. This serves no one. Remember, it’s just as easy to un-follow someone as it is to follow them.
43. Find speaking engagements. Definitely stalk @BlogWorld. Just kidding! Rick is just a fun guy to follow.
44. Find speakers for your events! Both speakers and event planners hang out on Twitter.
45. Share book reviews.
46. Find book reviews. More accurate than Amazon in my opinion!
47. Use cool tools like http://www.TweetLater.com to automate direct welcoming messages to new followers. Much like an auto responder. Use wisely!
48. Ask top bloggers your questions! @ProBlogger @JonathanFields @LizStrauss @BlogSquad are all on Twitter!
49. Get the scoop on local events. If you live in the DFW area, be sure to follow @LizMarshall @MarbleHead@Veribatim@CharlesMcKeever
50. Favorite tweets (by clicking on the star button to the right) that you want to follow up on later. Especially the ones that contain relevant links you think you don’t want to forget.
51. Tweet out your newsletter or eZine. Courtesy of Aweber! (Just one more reason I love them!)
52. Get new subscribers. Do this by sharing relevant and useful information.
53. Don’t ask people randomly to subscribe to your information.
54. Monitor what is being said about you and your company.
55. …Then join the conversation!
56. Find sponsors for your blog. No kidding!
57. Break news. If you follow me on twitter you know that After The Launch will soon be Click To Client. You did know that right? = )
58. Learn to become POWERFULLY succinct. If you can’t say it in 140 characters, well…then you just can’t say it!
59. Keep your Twitter name short whenever you can. Your twitter name counts within the 140 character limit.
60. Promote your conference or event. Keep it classy!
61. Showcase your work. Either by linking to it in your information, or providing a link in your twitter background.
62. Learn from people you admire. I do this on a daily basis, and it helps our business greatly!
63. Play a clean and fun joke. Wait until April fool’s day.
64. Get fitness help. I cannot begin to thank @fitbizwoman for all the help she has given me! I didn’t realize virtual physical training was doable. It is.
65. Find inspiration. Follow @InspireMeToday
66. Promote your new product or ebook. Again-be classy. Content marketing! Follow @JuntaJoe to learn more.
67. Host contests.
68. Participate in contests.
69. Find and pitch bloggers who cover what you offer.
70. Build relationships with bloggers (this is priceless if you own a business of any sort!).
71. Getting votes. Again, no kidding!
72. Get flight information and travel tips. Follow @Southwest @JetBlue.
73. Redistribute content.
74. Take questions from the audience whenever you participate in a teleseminar or conference.
75. Build a fan base! Better yet..build a community. You do know how to do this right? Just to be sure follow @ChrisBrogan.
76. Direct traffic. A huge percentage of traffic to this site comes from Twitter alone.
77. Online Visibility! Twitter is a GREAT way to build your personal brand. An entire persona can be created just by following someone’s tweet.
78. Find new people to follow just by following those you respect and trust. This is powerful networking at its best!
79. Share tips that further establish your expertise. If you follow me, you will often get online marketing tips and Facebook tips.
80. Say please and thank you. Yea, I know you only get 140 characters but a little politeness goes a long. Pls = please. TY = thank you.
81. Don’t use questionable pictures of yourself. If there are kids in the background, parents twittering may un-follow you.
82. Don’t feel like you have to respond to every tweet. In fact, don’t. Only respond to tweets that you have something genuine to add to.
83. Get comfortable with the fact that there IS a lot of noise on twitter. What can you do about it? Don’t add to it! : )
84. Get your particular group members to sign up with Twitter. Then use it to keep in touch with them and trade quick updates. The groups don’t even have to be formal. Neighborhood carpool, PTA, and office mates all fly! Check outhttp://grouptweet.com/ to keep it organized.
85. Raise funds for your non-profit. Follow @JohnHaydon for more tips and tricks!
86. Evangelize. Anything. Do it in the proper spirit. Please.
87. Track packages from major carriers. @trackthis
88. Reminders – @timer
89. Toot your own horn. Go ahead, you deserve it!
90. Don’t toot your own horn too much. Keep it classy, remember? : )
91. Let others toot your own horn for you. Keep in touch with your clients on Twitter.
92. Be careful what you tweet. It NEVER goes away-even if you hit the little trash icon.
93. Don’t tweet what you wouldn’t want your boss, your mother, or your kid to see. You get the idea.
94. Be there for someone having a rough day. Empathy made easy courtesy of Twitter. Watch @EvansDave to learn how to do it well!
95. Get ideas for your next blog post. Just sit back and observe!
96. Get ideas for a new product or service. A marketplace full of people just talking! All you have to do is listen and observe their pain. Then come up with a solution!
97. Share! If you find great links, great articles, great anything- share. More often than not, your followers will appreciate you.
98. Don’t worry about your status update count or your follower number. QUALITY over QUANTITY!
99. Un-follow freely. You don’t have to feel bad about un-following negative people…or spam bots!
100. Don’t be a spam bot. Be a person! Let your personality shine through.
101. Strive to provide value in every tweet. Think before you tweet!

© 2007-2008 Shama Hyder. Online marketing expert, Shama Hyder, publishes the praise- winning ‘Online Marketing Tips’ weekly e-zine with subscribers around the world. If you’re ready to get more clients, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.AfterTheLaunch.com