Twitter is a social media platform that is here to stay. Many people poo-poo
Twitter claiming it’s a colossal waste of precious time and no one wants to hear what
other people had for dinner. Others claim Twitter has helped them land jobs. Still others
say that because of their Twitter use they’ve seen a surge in income. Which is true?
All three.
Yes, Twitter is a social tool. It’s a way to talk to your friends as well as make new
friends and talk to them too. People do tweet about what they had for dinner. Twitter has
also helped people find 9 to 5 jobs and given some contract workers more than enough
work to do. Marketers have made money with Twitter by tweeting about their blog posts
and selling their products to those in need.
But…. Twitter can eat away at your time. You can blow hours just b.s.ing with
your new friends - cracking jokes and retweeting some excellent one-liners. In order for
Twitter to work for you while you still get the important things done during your day,
you have to go about it smart-like.
Have a purpose before you log into Twitter. Obviously you can’t just tweet your
promos and leave, or when people look at your Twitter stream they’ll going to consider
you an almost-spammer. No, you need to have a plan.
Let’s say you want to promote your ebook about xyz. Start off in the morning by
saying hi to your friends, some individually, the rest in mass, and answer some of the
tweets you see.
You don’t want to read every single tweet - that could take hours and hours and
hours if you have a lot of followers. Look at maybe the first two pages.
Next do a search using Twitter’s search function to look for any comments or
questions regarding xyz or similar. Answer any of those tweets that you can. Now you
have several tweets under your belt for the day and you can go ahead and tweet your xyz
promo. Then leave!
Come back midday and again read the first one or two Twitter pages and shoot off
a few answering tweets. Retweet any great quotes or other tweets you find informative.
Don’t forget to check the @yourname mentioned function to see who’s talking to you so
you can answer them. Send off a few tips about xyz that are useful information to others,
including a link to your new blog post. Then leave!
In the evening, repeat the process of answering tweets, sending out a few more
xyz tips, and retweeting. Send yet another xyz promo. Then leave for the night. Your
promo tweet will stay for the night.