There are tons of Twitter usage guidelines out there. @surekhapillai’s post on tips for beginners is one of best written posts, by the way.
But, here are some nuances, out of my personal experience, that seem to help in aiding better connections. I say ‘seem to’ because these may not work for everyone exactly the way they’re explained – like most-things-twitter.
1. When you tweet/retweet blog posts that you have read and enjoyed (or detested, as the case might be, when you disagree with an opinion), you have a fantastic chance not just to point to the blog post in question, but also to add your nugget of wisdom. Yes, you could do it by adding a context to the URL, from your perspective, but what works even better is to comment on the original blog post and add a note, ‘commented’ when you tweet the URL. Regular readers of your tweet would not only want to see the URL, but also your opinion on the topic, thus opening a new channel for interaction.
2. Again, when you tweet blog posts or even news articles, it helps to spend a little bit extra time in finding out if the particular blogger or journalist (credited for the news story) is on twitter. How does this help? When you tweet the URL add a ‘by @<twitterID>. What does this do? It goes to the content’s author as a response on twitter and gets his/ her attention. When you combine this with #1 (commented), it becomes an even better callout. The other angle to this is to start following (if not following already) the said content author at an appropriate time (when he/ she seems to be active – a simple check on their twitter page would help), since it acts as the 2nd level callout.
3. You may want to stick to a particular area of expertise to build relevant content, but sometimes it just helps being err…helpful. Retweeting messages which have an explicit ‘Pls RT’ tag are top on priority, but please do check the veracity of content, so that it is not misleading. This American Airlines twitter mess is a good example.
4. When you get the attention from an influential (alleged, of course) tweeter – in the form of a follow, response or a retweet, use that attention span wisely. It could be used either explicitly, or subtly. Explicitly – tweeting/ DM’ing your latest blog post asking for opinion. Subtly – doing the same, without an explicit callout, by just using the appropriate timing. The former could backfire (annoy the other person), so the latter is a better, long-term approach.
5. If you think you’ve stuck twitter gold – when you have a hilarious/ extraordinarily useful/ awesome tweet…pause! Do not rush to tweet it. I know, that goes against the spontaneity of twitter, but, in your best interest…pause. Check timing – is your timeline at its buzziest now? No? Then tweet it when it is at its buzziest. Pause…also to recheck the size of the tweet – if you consider it highly retweet-worthy, edit, edit and edit again, so that you have adequate characters left for retweeters’ additions.
6. However annoying smileys may be to your followers, it sure helps when someone responds to your tweet with something witty. Do not force yourself to come up with an even more funny repartee – relax. A simple smiley response would be enough to denote that you have taken note – and that is bound to bring a smile on the commenter’s face 🙂
7. On the topic of self-promotion, I’ve addressed this part already, but it is perfectly fine to tweet your blog posts multiple times – remember: there are no rules here. The simple rule is that if it annoys a majority of your followers, it could possibly be wrong. But, repeating tweets on blog posts are useful in more than one way – people’s timelines are massive, particularly when they’re following a lot of people. And many people do have a lot of followers. What this means is that your first tweet announcing your blog post may have gone completely unnoticed by your target tweeters. But, while repeating your blog post tweets, please do consider those who may have seen the earlier tweet – try changing the tweet so that it doesn’t sound jaded and err…repetitive!
8. When you see a frenzied conversation on twitter – usually between 2 to 3 tweeters, it is perfectly fine to feel left out! I’m sure we all would love to jump in and (a) add value, (b) get attention. But…consider the adding-value part as more critical than the latter. If you do not extend the discussion with a unique thought, do not jump into the conversation. It’d perhaps be better to DM someone in the conversation merely saying how much you appreciate the discussion.
9. There are no rules on ‘thanking’ for twitter. What works for you, is the rule! Thanking for retweets of your funny quip? Think twice – does it help you or your followers in any way? You – it may, since you’re building a connection, but your followers, it may not look like a useful tweet and is plain noise. Take an informed call.
10. Have twitter friends who tweet their latest blog posts using a bit.ly URL? You could easily check the traffic to their (or any) posts by adding a + at the end of the bit.ly URL. If the post is worth a retweet and it does not seem to have got the traction it deserved (based on the bit.ly metric), you can help. Not just by instantly tweeting it, but waiting for your timeline’s buzziest moment and then doing it. If you want an ego massage, do check the bit.ly stats in real time, after you tweet at the most opportune time! The point is to be collaborative and not just look at your own posts’ stats.