By now, you’ve read both the intro to twitter, as well as learned why you SHOULD be using it, and how it is an effective (and free!) business tool for you.
But getting started on Twitter isn’t just creating a username and typing a few updates. I’m going to give you a few twitter “buzzwords” that you can throw around with your kids (or maybe even grandkids?) to have you sailing through Twitter like a pro, and using it to build your business.
Retweeting. Tweet and Retweet were on a bridge. Tweet fell off, who was left? (Sorry, bad joke. I blame my father.) One of the most rewarding feelings is to have something you’ve tweeted, retweeted! And if someone tweets something you like, share the sentiment. You can click “Retweet,” which posts the person’s original tweet, using their profile image, and at the bottom in small print says “retweeted by Dana Dillehunt” or whatever your account name is.
This can be a bit confusing to your twitter followers, or they might quickly skim their feed and not realize that the tweet was posted by you. If you’d rather retain YOUR profile image and just share the original tweet’s content, you would compose your tweet like this: ”RT @MarketAmerica” (without the quotes) and then paste the content of their tweet, so it looks like this:
@ Mentions. This is how you join the conversation, tag people to include them in posts, or even mention your favorite brands or celebrities. For example, “Hey @DanaDillehunt, nice haircut!” “Found the best pair of shoes at @DSW tonight!” “I just saw @CelineDion in the street in NYC! #MyHeartWillGoOn” or even “Can’t believe the horrible customer service I’m getting from @JoesAirline right now. #NeverAgain”. Companies staff people (just like me!) to monitor their twitter accounts and respond to communication (positive and negative). And take it from me, we love when you interact with us, especially when you respond to something we’ve tweeted. Try it: tweet at a celebrity or brand today and see if you can get a response! It’s always a very rewarding feeling to know someone is listening (even though it’s my job, I still get totally giddy when the person doing MY job at another company @ mentions me in a tweet.)
Coming up next, #hashtagging and trending (don’t be scared, it’s really easy, I promise!).