10 TWITTER TIPS

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT an expert!!!

After a year of experimenting with social media I want to share my experience and tips that I've picked up.

I first started out as a blogger just doing random food reviews of Las Vegas low-budget restaurants off the strip but Las Vegas is such a dynamic force with so much happening I wanted to expand into entertainment,local news,special events and more

Twitter & Facebook offered a micro-blogging option for me that seemed a perfect way to keep my readers informed and at the same time saving me LOTS of time.

Now the trick was to get my readers to follow me on facebook,twitter and the rest of the social sites I decided to try. (Youtube,Ustream,MySpace,etc)

After a few weeks I found twitter to be the MOST user friendly medium and decided to focus most of my attention on using it instead of Facebook even though Facebook is the Big Dog.

At first, there were several things twitter needed to do to become more useful and effective and they responded-BUT the third-party apps were already way ahead. I found the website was very limiting and took way to long to get anything done

So after trying Hootsuite and Seesmic Desktop, Tweetdeck quickly became my new best friend. With all the Bells & Whistles built-in it made it easier to track my timeline in groups/now lists-add pics, shorten links, check profiles, RT,DM or @ reply all with ONE click!!!

NOW, I was armed with the perfect tool and I was ready to begin.

I quickly learned I could link twitter with several of my other social sites.I used Twitterfeed to tweet my blog posts. I found you could tweet music with Blip.fm and Twisten. Lots of great sites to post pictures like Yfrog, Twitpic and Tweetphoto and my greatest find was TWUFFER-a way to schedule your tweets so you can do them in advance and for people who tweet alot it helps prevent turning people off when you flood their timelines.

I also found a few REALLY fun twitter sites like BUBBLETWEET, TinyChat and Stickcam which incorporate the use of your webcam!!! Yes twitter video!!! Also 12 seconds & Twitvid for mobile videos!!!

You will quickly learn twitter has LIMITS. you can only follow 2000 people until you reach 2000 followers. API limits for 3rd party apps. And the SEARCH is terrible. Also...

Twitter is a pyramid communication Network like the old MLM-You tweet to your followers and your followers RT msgs to their followers to SPREAD the WORD.


My 1st tip would be to FOLLOW 2000 as soon as possible create a fun and active twitter feed to follow. Add your Favorites to LISTS.

By doing this even without tweeting anything yet you will get up to 20-25% to FOLLOW back:)

My 2nd tip would be to RT anything you find interesting,fun or think YOUR followers would find interest in to. RTing is KEY to twitter.

My 3rd tip- ALWAYS thank those that RT your message. My twitter feed is over 80% retweets and if I find myself RTing alot of someone msgs nad NEVER hear a word I tend to quit RTing their msgs all together. A simple thanks goes a long ways. Always give credit to those you are RTing too.

My 4th tip-RESPOND to direct @ replies-IF you DON'T people will think you are a BOT or just VERY unsocial and after all this is social media:)

My 5th tip-BE Active-tweet regularly-include twitpic & links when possible. Share info and be open to providing info to others when asked even if it takes a little research.

My 6th tip-BE INVOLVED-Do a FollowFriday #FF shout-out every week to your friends and favorites and of course the NEWBS!! Also #TT TwitterTuesday -Ask people in your daily life to join twitter especially businesses you frequent.

My 7th tip-BE YOURSELF-Don't let Political Correctness get in your way-the BEST thing about twitter is the REAL people!!!

My 8th tip-POLL your audience!! Ask random questions and get them involved in conversation!! A great way to meet like minds

My 9th tip-LISTEN to what your tweeps have to say!!! Just talking and not responding to what your tweeps have to say is just RUDE-join their conversations too.;)

My 10th tip-Contests,Trivia,Giveaways,SPECIAL offers and the like.EVERYONE likes genuinely FREE stuff and GREAT discounts. If your a business there's no easier way to get a loyal following than giving special offers to your followers.

Well this has been my experience but I'm NOT a business and I'm NOT selling anything just sharing great information with people who are looking to enjoy what MY great city has to offer.

Happy Tweeting!! Please leave a comment below or tweet me @offthestrip your input is greatly appreciated:)