You’ve Joined Twitter. Now What?

I was recently at a conference where some entrepreneurs and business owners admitted that their primary reasons for not joining Twitter were based on two fear

1. Jumping into a pool of mindless chatter
2. Finding time to maintain their account and followers

Certainly, the payoff of reaching and building relationships with a captive audience is well worth the time spent! Understandably though, the hype around Twitter can make joining the network seem overwhelming.

Here are 5 steps to building a valuable and productive Twitter account:

Step #1: Learn the Value and Basics of Business Tweeting

Will Twitter just be endless social updates and trivial info about people’s eating habits? Not if you’re choosing to use Twitter professionally and following the right people! Twitter can become an incredible source of business news, industry facts and expert advice—all from people who share your interests and expertise! If you’re still new to the concept of Tweeting for professional reasons, check out Twitter’s own Twitter 101 for Business.

Step #2: Post Some Starter Tweets

Try Twitter on for size and show off your interests early on by posting some Tweets about a helpful article you just read or an epiphany you had this week. Don’t over think it. The beauty of Twitter is that you can share what’s on your mind in a casual, authentic way.

Whatever you do, do NOT post anything that even smacks of self-promotion this early in the game. And, certainly don’t Tweet about what you’re eating or that it’s raining outside!

Instead of answering Twitter’s question of “What are you doing?” try to answer the following:

• What new idea did you have this week?
• What question do you want to ask colleagues?
• What recent article or blog post caught your eye just now? (include the link!)

Once you start seeking followers, they’ll look at your Tweets to determine whether to follow you. If it appears that your Tweets are self-promotional or void of value, they’ll likely not follow you. Try to include a link (also considered valuable) when it makes sense. Use a URL shortening service like TinyURL to keep within Twitter’s 140 character limit.

Step #3: Build Your Following/Followers

There is a lot of buzz right now about building your list of followers on Twitter.

Let’s start with some definitions…

Following: These are the people whose Tweets you’ve chosen see on your Twitter home page.

Followers: are people who want to see your Tweets on their Twitter home page.

There are a lot of services that will try to entice you to pay them to build your Twitter following. Read my lips, “Don’t do it!”

The key to Twitter is building a group of relevant followers. There seems to be a race to paint a portrait of popularity by raising one’s “follower” number on Twitter. Get over it. Resist the temptation. Doing so will save you countless hours of having to wade through meaningless posts and weed through your list later to eliminate pointless chatter.

Search for “Tweeps” (yes, that’s slang for Twitter Peeps) who share your interests or specialize in something you want to learn more about. Pay attention to those whose Tweets actually caused you to read an article or actually learn something. That’s the value of business Tweeting…and that’s the kind of Tweeter you should strive to be!

How to find people on Twitter to connect with (updated July 2011):

When starting out, use the “Who to Follow” tool Twitter added this year. It’s quite good and rivals those that had to retire after its release.

Step #4: Simplify Tweeting

Tweeting should be easy. Now that you’ve posted your first few Tweets, you’ve probably found that Twitter is not the easiest of tools. This is why a plethora of third-party Twitter tools have been created. In fact, you can be sure that all the top Tweeters around the globe use one of these tools, versus using Twitter “raw.”

HootSuite

This is, by far, my #1 favorite, top-notch tool of Twitter Awesomeness. HootSuite combines all of the best features of the third-party tools into one. Best of all, HootSuite allows you to post easily from your browser using their Hootlet toolbar. Once you’ve got the hang of Twitter, do yourself a favor and create a HootSuite account and use the Hootlet. You’ll never go back. HootSuite

Step #5: Vet Your New Followers

Managing your followers can be the most time-consuming aspect of Twitter maintenance. Before you know it, you’ll have people wanting to follow you left and right. Your first responses will likely be “Do I know you?” or “You like me. You really really like me!”

Once you’re over the shock and flattery, check out those who want to follow you and decide whether you want to reciprocate by following them. Many people “auto-follow” using third-party tools. It’s not a bad practice, but be sure to visit your list of new followers a few times a week. Why? First, you want to avoid wading through their Tweets that you couldn’t care less about. Second, let’s just say a certain blogger, who shall remain nameless, failed to monitor her auto-follow service. As a result, she began inadvertently following a string of porn stars!

Be generous in who you follow, at first. You can always easily remove them from your list and cultivate your follow strategy with time. Just remember, by controlling who you follow, you control who you see on your Twitter home page.

Social Oomph (formerly Tweet Later)

This highly-valuable free site offers a suite of features, including “auto-follow” and “vet new follower” tools. Social Oomph will save you an enormous amount of time and allow you to take charge of who you follow. Social Oomph

By streamlining your Twitter efforts, you’ll begin building trusting relationships and a following that provides new business, referrals and a wealth of information. The list above is a partial list of tools that I recommend for new Tweeters. Soon, you’ll find your own tools and tricks that make Tweeting easy. What happens when you do? You guessed it — Tweet about it!