The Well-Rounded Twitter Persona

The other night I taught a “Twitter for Beginners” class for a group of local small business owners. Most of them weren’t on Twitter at all and just wanted to learn more about it to see if it might be something they could use. A lot of the conversation centered around how we as business owners should approach Twitter. One of the questions I hear often is whether it’s best to create a Twitter account for yourself, or for your business, or some combination of the two. Somehow included in that question are two more questions:

What should I tweet about (and how often)?
Why would people want to follow me (and who should I follow back)?

I’ve always felt that those who are most “successful” at using Twitter are those who get on Twitter as themselves first, without the pretense of using it as a marketing tool. Using the common Twitter analogies of it being a 24/7 water cooler or cocktail party, this makes complete sense. You don’t go to a cocktail party (do people still go to cocktail parties? I’m not sure I’ve ever been to one) in order to market or sell your product. You go to socialize. If you go for the purpose of selling/marketing, you very quickly become “that guy” and you’ll find you aren’t invited to future gatherings.

So if you’re going to be on Twitter, using it effectively, and getting people to follow you, you need to be rather well rounded.And by that I mean don’t be one-dimensional. This is one of the mistakes that people make when they decide to approach Twitter from a purely mercenary perspective. They sell Thingamajiggies and therefore all they do is talk about Thingamajiggies. “We sell Thingamajiggies! Different sizes, different colors, different features. Get your Thingamajiggies here!”

No one is that one-dimensional, or if they are…how boring! For me, Social Media and marketing are a big part of who I am and what I do, but it’s certainly not all I talk about. If you follow me on Twitter (and bless you, if you do!) you’ll see me talking about the things in which I’m interested: friends, family, baseball, music, books, food, coffee, Lancaster, and yes…Social Media. And I’ll follow people based on all of those interests. The real fun comes in when I follow someone who shares more than one of my interests. The more we have in common, the more likely we are to hit it off and develop a relationship.

Your followers (or potential followers) aren’t one-dimensional, so you shouldn’t be either. Converse. Engage. Talk about the things you would talk about at that aforementioned cocktail party or water cooler moment. Share your interests and passions and jump into conversations with other people if you like what they are talking about.

I asked my followers on Twitter and Facebook to tell me what compels them to follow (or unfollow) someone on twitter. Here are a few of the tips they have for you and me:

1. Complete your profile – Even if you are Tweeting as your company, have a full name, location, and description of who you are and what you do. Don’t make us guess.

2. Get a picture – Preferably a picture of yourself and not just some random image. We like to see who is on the other end. But by all means, do NOT just leave the default picture up there.

3. Post interesting content – If you post the same boring stuff over and over again, people won’t be interested in what you have to say.

and perhaps the most important factor:

4. Engage! – Twitter is not a broadcasting platform. If I reply to you and get no reaction in return…ever…then I know you aren’t there or aren’t listening. Or, you’re just rude. Whether I talk to you first, or you initiate the dialogue, it doesn’t matter; just make sure you engage. If I look at your Twitter feed and see no @replies, I probably won’t bother following you.

In short, be well rounded. Talk about a lot of things and don’t just talk into the air. Talk with people, not at them. And, well…just be interesting!

Do you have any other tips for being a well-rounded tweeter that other people want to follow?

Tagged as: small business, Social Media, Twitter

leahpendorf 8 pts

I guess what I have trouble with is that I'm used to facebook where I only engage with people that I know in person, so it's a bit of a mental block for me on twitter to jump right in and start engaging with people that I don't really know. Especially b/c I'm very shy in person and certainly wouldn't start talking to a stranger out of the blue in person and feel just as weird doing so on twitter. What's the "twitter etiquette" of engaging with people that you only know via Twitter?

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fraygulrock 5 pts

leahpendorf I have starting twitter friendships by just replying to the annoying foursquare check ins.. One person I talk to regularly now checked in at a coffee shop, so I tweeted at him my order. It is that easy. Basically any tweet sent out is a conversation starter, people want you to reply to it. Otherwise they are talking to themselves.

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skeetle 7 pts

leahpendorf Think of it like this - if people are posting something on Twitter - they don't mind if it's out in the open. If you see something that interests you, reply to it! I randomly replied to a tweet about "hockey" a few months back - didn't know the person at all, and now they're one of my good friends (in person)!

Twitter is one big conversation, it wouldn't be a whole lot of fun if people didn't interact with each other. Soon, you'll find more & more people joining in your conversation & more & more people replying to your tweets.

Don't be afraid to jump into an "already existing conversation" if you think you have something relevant to say!

Typically, people on Twitter *encourage* interaction.

Lots of "in-person" friendships are made solely because of Twitter -- & they had to start somewhere!

Hope this helps!

My one thing to add would be: be findable. Use hashtags properly for locations and interests, so that other people who talk about the same things can find you. When I see people who are doing it right, for the most part, complain they don't have followers, the most common thing I see if a feed full of posts, replies, etc that are on target but without hashtags. They are pretty much making themselves invisible.

All good ideas which those who are new to Twitter should heed! (& maybe even some who aren't "new" to Twitter!)

BbeS 5 pts

Great pointers Ken, especially about engaging. I still here marketers, particularly from large agencies, that think Twitter is just a broadcast platform. I've even heard pitches where they call it "Twitter advertising"..

KenMueller 1741 pts

BbeS I hear ya, Brian. So many agencies with their roots in traditional media feel the need to shove the square peg of what they are used to into the round hole of social media.