OK, I’m on Twitter … Now What?

These are the first 5 things you should do once you join “the Twitter”

#1 – Complete your profile with a photo, bio, link and background. The photo is an absolute must before you do anything, give people a nice line or two about you with the bio, give them a link to find out more (if you don’t have your blog or website up and running yet link to your Facebook or LinkedIn profile) and create some sort of background wallpaper – you can use a photo or one of the many free backgrounds available, but use something! The background is your billboard to the world, use the space wisely.

#2 – Search Twitter to find interesting folks to follow in your niche. Twitter search is useful as are list sites like wefollow where you can follow the top folks in many categories – and then follow the people they interact with that are interesting to you. Search using keywords to find tweeps with common interests and subject matter.

#3 – Listen, learn, then participate. Step one in any form of social media is the same as step one in social anything; listen for a while so you figure out what’s going on and can actually participate in the conversation by adding some value to it. Learn the vernacular, I thought twitter-speak was awkward and juvenile when I first saw it, but the reality is, you have 140 characters to make your point, using the abbreviations where appropriate makes sense and shows that U R paying attention 4 real and get it. This doesn’t mean your language skills get traded for an emoticon directory – use a little until you discover what’s comfortable for you. Then get in the game; answer some questions, reply to some tweets, re-tweet (RT) what you find of value.

#4 – Learn the tools. Twitter as a social media platform is great, twitter.com as an interactive website is less than perfect, and in fact most people are using their smart phones or desktop applications like TweetDeck or Tweetie. Search around a bit and learn how the machine works. Got a question about Twitter? Search Twitter or use Twitter to search (and, like most tech questions, there are a hundred videos out there that will show you how to do what you don’t think you know how to do).

#5 – Get into the Game. Twitter is a habit, make it one of yours – the more you play, the better you get. Learn how #hashtags make it easier to find and be found, watch what other people are doing and start tweeting. Contribute interesting and relevant content and you will be rewarded with the same. Keep in mind the 80/20 rule is always in play – don’t over promote, add value, reply, RT 80-90% and talk about what you do about 10%, 20% when you learn to do it gracefully.

There are millions of people on Twitter, most of them are wasting their time talking – some of them are not; find them. Don’t hesitate to unfollow someone who is a spammy self promoter or who just clutters up your page with worthless junk. Stay focused on building real relationships and engaging people in real and genuine ways – that’s the “social” part of social media.