How-to do excellent Twitter

April 27, 2015 Stephen Waddington

Are you looking to venture onto Twitter or brush up your skills? Here’s a beginner’s guide for professional development and networking, developed as part of a workshop for students at the University of Newcastle. Use Twitter as an intelligence source and to build a professional network; focus on content, conversation and long-term building relationships.

Basics

Twitter is a conversation in bursts of 140 characters. It was one of the first social networks built for mobile #WhyAyePet

— WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Organisations don’t tweet, people do. Don’t be a dick. See @euan’s book for more http://t.co/ia1gjZsfJv #WhyAyePet

— WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Twitter usage stats: tweets posted 6k/s, 350k /min or 500m/day. 288 million monthly active users #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Getting started

The best application of Twitter is listening. It’s also the least used. People like to shout. A bit like this series of tweets #WhyAyePet

— WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

How-to Tweet: 1. Create an account 2. Add a bio/profile pic 3. Send tweet 4. Meet people and chat #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Send a tweet: type up to a 140 characters into the message box and hit Tweet. That’s it #WhyAyePet

— WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Add content to Tweets with links, photos and videos. Shorten URLs (see: bit.ly) and resize images to suit #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Networking

A follower is someone that subscribes to your tweets. Following? That’s when you subscribe to other people #WhyAyePet

— WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Follow colleagues, friends and organisations to start a network #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Build your network by seeking people and brands out directly. Use Twitter’s networking tools #WhyAyePet

— WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Add content to Tweets with links, photos and videos. Shorten URLs (see: bit.ly) and resize images to suit #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

A follower is someone that subscribes to your tweets. Following? That’s when you subscribe to other people #WhyAyePet

— WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Follow colleagues, friends and organisations to start a network #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Build your network by seeking people and brands out directly. Use Twitter’s networking tools #WhyAyePet

— WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Looking for a job? Connect with people and organisations. Listen and interact, build relationships #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Twitter is dynamic. People come and go. People follow and unfollow. Don’t take it personally http://t.co/W5sTWL6PJN #WhyAyePet

— WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Hit favourite if you like a tweet or want to save it for later. It’s a much abused function #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

The art of conversation

#hashtags are conversations around a topic, market or issue. It’s a good place to start listening. Check #commschat #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

RT to re-share a tweet with your network. Add a comment if you’ve something helpful to say #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Have a conversation and don’t use Twitter to broadcast. That'd be like walking into a room, yelling, then walking out #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Check in and out of your timeline like you join and leave a conversation. You can’t read everything on Twitter #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

But lists are a useful way to segment your network and ensure that you don’t miss someone special #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

You can join a conversation on Twitter by @replying others or by @mentioning them in your own tweets #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Here’s a tricky bit: when you @reply, people that will only see your tweet if they follower both sender and recipient #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Hack your @reply by adding a comment upfront if you want your follower to see your @reply #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Use DM to send a private message. Use sparingly and only when you know someone well. Don’t spam #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Twitter culture

Twitter trolls. Don’t feed ‘em. Ignore, report, mute or unfollow http://t.co/WAkJlnpyap #WhyAyePet

— WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Be careful with context, content, nuance and sarcasm: always be safe rather than sorry with your Twitter copy #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Twitter limits: 1,000 followers/day & 2,400 tweets/day. Aggressive usage will land you on the naughty step http://t.co/ftwPTDm3UB #WhyAyePet

— WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Check Twitter Analytics to explore the most engaging content. It’s so much more than a numbers game http://t.co/zszppQxfGP #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Applications

Take Twitter with you on your mobile device. It’s a fantastic way to interact on the move #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Avoid third party applications that promise followers. You’ll land on the naughty step http://t.co/VPlpDfBv58 #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Brands using Twitter? Employees; media; influencers; customers; and prospects. Few listen; most broadcast #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015

Thanks

Big thanks to @benphoster @busydadblog @cporten @katematlock and @mrlady for help build this course. And, er, @wadds #FF #WhyAyePet — WaddsBot (@waddsbot) April 23, 2015