Use Twitter More Effectively

While I haven’t been a huge proponent of Twitter, I believe that its emergence from a bloggers-only to mass media will help it become more useful in the long-term as a method of quickly communicating to people, versus other methods such as email and chat, which have some drawbacks.

Some people use Twitter in conjunction with their main blog, or use it separately in order to gain more followers, i.e. people who associate your name with your account.  However, there is a large percentage of people who don’t effectively use the service for what it was intended, so here are a few tips on how to effectively manage using Twitter.

Will You Be Using it To Promote Your Blog?

If so, you will want to follow the tasks listed below.

First of all, to better associate your blog with your Twitter account/name, you’ll want to create an account with the address: http://twitter.com/blogname in order to associate your entire brand together.  Much like a regular domain, a Twitter account’s address is also important - you don’t want one that’s too long for others to remember.

Already have a Twitter account for your private/personal life?  Then, it may be necessary to create a separate account just for your blog or business.  Otherwise, it’ll be difficult to separate the messages from one another.

Make the link prominent on your blog.  Once you have developed a small following of RSS readers and daily visitors to your site, you can promote it by placing the link in the sidebar beneath the subscription area or in place of an RSS feed (Twitter can be used to promote your posts, also).

When people “follow” you, they will be given the opportunity to read what you have posted, linked to, or otherwise shared on your page/profile.

Issue updates and link to new posts through Twitter.  This will allow your blog to have “return” visitors who would normally not visit your blog, even if they have subscribed - Twitter can do amazing things in terms of blog promotion.

Branding - Use a logo or image that represents your domain, closely associated in order for readers to have the greatest brand recognition, even after leaving your site.

Will You Be Using it To Promote Your Name/Larger Brand?

Depending on the approach that you want to take, you’ll have to make a different decision at this point.

If you use it in conjunction with your name or larger brand, you’ll want to use one name to associate all your accounts.  This is, of course, similar to how you would create an account using a main domain, but slightly different, as you won’t directly be marketing your blog through Twitter.

Again, associate your one account on all your projects/domains/sites in order to have the most reach.  You want to build a following in order to communicate with the greatest number of people at any one time.

Branding - Use a personal photograph or logo that you associate with your entire brand/company, rather than a single blog.

Additional “General” Tips

• Don’t ‘follow’ too many people.  Selectively choose those in your niche that you want to follow.  It is similar to choosing blogs that you want to subscribe to, as you won’t be able to “subscribe” to everyone, and not everyone will post as frequently or too frequently that you won’t be able to keep up-to-date.


• Use other methods of subscribing.  You can use the RSS subscription link in the address bar to subscribe to any RSS feed without actually “following” the person, although this deters from the main purpose of Twitter.


• Don’t spend too much time on Twitter.  Although Twitter can help you promote your content and brand, it is still necessary to spend a good amount of time creating new content for your blogs.  The main point of Twitter is to spread quick thoughts and notes, in-between chat and email, although not quite so private.



• Use it for other purposes.  There have been numerous cases of people using Twitter for non-conventional purposes, such as starting a new promotion, running campaigns, and pitching ideas to others.  What other purpose will you use for the service?


• Discover better writing through less content.  A good writer will be able to vary the length and style of posting.  Practice this through Twitter, which has a 140 character limit.

Conclusion

I realize that there are dozens of other tools available for using the micro-blogging service, but I wanted to introduce you to the service and several of the ways to use the tool more effectively and efficiently when associating it with your brand/domain.

How do you use Twitter/what are your thoughts on the service?