Making The Most Out of Twitter

Why do I want more Twitter followers?

In an effort to increase traffic to my newly revamped website I began stepping up my Twitter efforts. Why is this important you might ask? Well with the advent of Google Live Search it makes more sense now than ever to get on board with Twitter. As Google Live lists the most current updates returned from the social networks this was a no-brainer to step up my tweeting.

Not only that, but like Facebook and the rest of the social networks; notifications are sent out to all of your followers every time you post a status update. Increased awareness = increased traffic. Click here to find out how to automate your social networks every time you make a post to WordPress.

With that said I try to follow people who share common interests with me or my website. As it can get hard to follow multiple users I use a program called Tweetdeck. It’s a great way to follow your favorite social networks. As you begin to follow more people obviously you begin to get more updates. Following people with like interests increases the chances that they’ll make use of your tweets.

Be Specific When You Tweet

I always include the title of my article along with any url I tweet. As people often don’t take the time to read if they don’t have to it helps to have specific or provocative titles. For instance a tweet of this article would look something like this.

Making The Most Out of Twitter –> http://bit.ly/6CVwIf

Make It Easy To Find You On Twitter

If you’re looking for more Twitter followers you need to make it easy for people to find your twitter page. There are a few effective ways to do this. First and probably the easiest step would be to add your Twitter address to your email signature. In addition to that, it’s a good idea to list your Twitter url on Facebook. And if you’re using WordPress you can install the WP FollowMe plugin which adds a follow me button to the side of your website. Look to the immediate left for mine.

Set Up An Auto Responder

Setting up an auto responder for people who decide to follow you is a must. This way you can use Twitter to promote different parts of your website. As my gmail address is associated with my Twitter account I had to come up with a way to auto respond when new followers added me to their lists. You don’t want to overdue it with your response as people are more apt to delete your email if you send them something that looks like spam. Below is a sample of my Auto response text.

Hello Fellow Tweeter,

Nate Balcom
Come on in the web is fine.

This message can be changed at any time if you wish to promote a different section or post on your website so be creative.

How to set up an auto responder in thunderbird, using your gmail account

1. Associate your gmail account to Thunderbird.

To associate your gmail account with thunderbird click on Tools > Account Settings > Add Account > and select Gmail.

2. Set up your auto responder text.

To set up your auto responder text select your gmail account from the list in the left hand pane and then click on, “Write”, as if you are sending out a normal email. Add the Subject and text here you want to send as your automated response. Then rather than sending that email choose File > Saves As > Template

3. Set up your message filter.

To set up your message filter go to Tools > Message Filters New. I use the criteria, “Subject Contains”, and ,”following you on Twitter!”.

How To Create Your Own ReTweet Button

What does RT Stand for? The answer is ReTweet. So why would you want to get your site rewteeted?

Getting your site retweeted is a good way of diverting traffic to your website. Making it as easy as possible for your site or posts to be retweeted only make this that much easier. There are a couple ways of doing this. If you have a wordpress site a very good plugin for retweeting is Tweet Meme. Not only will this provide you with a handsome widget, but it also has support in the back end for placement of said widget.

If you’d rather create one your self you can copy and paste the code below.

<a href="http://www.twitter.com/home?status=add+your+text+here" target="_blank">ReTweet My Site</a>

After, “?status=”, in the code above you can add your own personalized message. make sure to separate each word with a, “+”. You can add urls here as well.

Twitter Directories

Incoming search terms for the article:

• What site is most like Twitter?

About Me:  Nate Balcom is a web designer and social media guru with over 11 years of experience in the web industry. He specializes in web design and development, SEO and social networking. You can follow him on Twitter here.