How To Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time

Over the past few weeks I have been reading a book called Twitter Power by Joel Comm. As many of you know I am not a big fan of books, but I have to say it is one of my favorite books. Even though I already know a lot about social media it made me think about Twitter in a new way. Here are a few things I learned:

Get Started the Right Way

When I started using Twitter, I went about it the wrong way. My user name wasn't my name and I tried to create a profile that wasn't tied to my company or me. Because of this no one really paid attention to my Twitter profile and cared about what I tweeted. So if you are new to Twitter, make sure your profile represents you.

On top of that you need to make your profile is inviting. For example you want to use a picture of yourself and design your profile instead of just using the generic designs Twitter gives you. And when doing so make sure you take into account colors, because you don't want it to be too distracting and causes people to ignore your tweets.

Building a Following

When you first sign up for Twitter there are two ways you can get followers. The first is the quantity route and the second is the quality route. If you go for the quantity route you can do a few things:

Look for people you already know.
Tweet your blog, so every time you write a blog posts it goes to Twitter. You also want to make sure your twitter profile is linked to from your blog.
Offer your followers freebies and gifts. The more you offer to them, the more people will follow you. A good way to do this is through contests.
Every time someone tweets you, make sure you respond to them.
Put your Twitter name in your email signature.

If you are looking to get quality users, you can:

Identify and follow the experts in your industry.
Gain people's friendship by doing things such as replying to their tweets.
Always give more than you take by doing things such as giving other people advice and when they ask for it.

The Art of Tweeting

As you probably already know, I don't tweet too often. I have only made a few hundred tweets in a year to 2 years. After reading Twitter Power, I finally understood how I should be tweeting.

Follow Twitter etiquette. For example you never want to spam (which I have done), you want to give credits when retweeting, and most importantly you want to stick with 140 characters (don't create multiple tweets to get across a message).
You want to join the conversation. I always just tweeted what I wanted, but my profile never grew. The main reason for this is because I never joined the conversation and contributed to it.
Make sure you are interesting on Twitter. If you want to tweet crap, that's fine, but you will probably gain a lot more followers if you are interesting.

Conclusion

There is a lot more great information that you can learn by reading Twitter Power. I personally loved it so much that I recommend you get out there right now and buy a copy. If you don't you will regret it!

By the way, you should also Twitter about Twitter Power. ;-)

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Michael D, May 12, 2009

I have not gotten that book yet Neil, thought it would be cheesy, may have to check it out.

Rocky Bradley, May 12, 2009

Hey Neil,

Thanks for the Tip! I have been stumbling through Twitter myself and yes there are a lot of do & don'ts one quickly becomes aware of when you take the time to understand what is going on. Where do you think Twitter is headed and what should our focus be? What goals do you see as being important? Keep the Fire Burning and hope to hear from you soon! Cya, Rock

Rocky Bradley, May 12, 2009

Hey Neil,

Thong Tran, May 13, 2009

Thanks for useful article, very useful.

Pritesh, May 13, 2009

Neil- Just when I thought that there are enough posts about Twitter on blogsphere, I stumble upon your post. Though whatever you have written are not new, I like the way you have added your own experience for each points. Those extra miles have added powerful message to this post.

If only everyone does it instead of just writing plain blog post, every minutes of reading blog post would be worthwhile!

Thanks.. Pritesh http://twitter.com/mehta1p

Jason, May 15, 2009

Twitter is a great place to brand a website or yourself. I use twitter to promote some websites and find that when you are real people will follow you.

Jason, May 15, 2009

Twitter is a great place to brand a website or yourself. I use twitter to promote some websites and find that when you are real people will follow you.

Michael Thomas, May 18, 2009

Interesting views on how to use Twitter to help with your SEO. I am fairly new to Twitter, just out of interest how new or old is it??

Stefanie Hartman, May 19, 2009

Glad that books on Twitter are finally coming out. With more and more people adopting it it's important to have good resources.

anyup, May 21, 2009

Hi , see you again . thanks for share

anyup, May 21, 2009

Hi , see you again . thanks for share

SEO Service, May 30, 2009

I made the same mistakes too. Although, I haven't opted for having my name on Twitter, still have the company name. I did start joining in more and tweeting about you know less formal stuff and the followers have increased quite a lot. Twitter is definitely and art :)

SEO Service, May 30, 2009

replica watches, June 5, 2009

useful artical.thanks

SEO Melbourne, June 7, 2009

Hi Neil,

Joel has created some insightful books in the past. I read an excerpt from his Adsense book and found it very useful.

Thanks for your opinion on this.

Regards, Arnold

Alex, June 8, 2009

Hi Neil ,

Thanks for your Tip .

Malik S. Muhammad, June 10, 2009

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Malik S. Muhammad, June 10, 2009

Jason, June 10, 2009

Twitter is a great place to use social media for business and friendship. I have met many deals closed due to Twitter.

Jason, June 10, 2009

Twitter is a great place to use social media for business and friendship. I have met many deals closed due to Twitter.

Jason, June 10, 2009

Twitter is a great place to use social media for business and friendship. I have met many deals closed due to Twitter.

Leigh, June 11, 2009

Thanks so much for this piece. I'm still navigating my way through twitter, as a way to see what's out there, reinforce my brand, and connect with customers and colleagues. Good tips!

caryil, June 11, 2009

Twitter means understanding not powder. Read the briefing note, however, let me some interest in this book. Generally tend to promote certain things, not to pay attention to itself, will only increase the awareness of product introduction. However, for those unfamiliar, he may be the first to take into account the issue of trust. As identification. If everyone is easy to use web tool. This is, then these things are more or less the same? That one I would like to see as the main choice. The answer is do not know. If I can better understand the identity of the parties cognition, it is indeed impressive. Perhaps because more people believe that the face, as well as convincing. I can explain it discharges into the charm of a person do?

Jack Zufelt, June 15, 2009

Great points. It's so important to join the conversation, other wise, you appear to be off in your own world not caring about the community around you.

how to write a writing, June 17, 2009

When I joined twitter, I saw every one tweeting about cts and dogs and kids where I was looking for quality content. So, I stuck to only post stuff for which I joined twitter in the first place.But then it was such a mumble jumble for me as I thought maybe I should be posting cats, dogs and bla bla ...

Thanks, your verdict just closed the case :D Regards, Amy Dyslex

how to write a writing, June 17, 2009

Thanks, your verdict just closed the case :D Regards, Amy Dyslex

how to write a writing, June 17, 2009

When I joined twitter, I saw every one tweeting about cats and dogs and kids where I was looking for quality content. So, I stuck to only post stuff for which I joined twitter in the first place.But then it was such a mumble jumble for me as I thought maybe I should be posting cats, dogs and bla bla ...

Thanks, your verdict just closed the case :D Regards, Amy Dyslex

Suz Stewart, June 17, 2009

Still trying to figure Twitter out for myself. One problem I've having is that there is so much info out there abut Twitter, I haven't a clue where to start. The book suggestion may just be the thing I need to bring it all together in one place.

Thanks for the review! Suz

Javier Echaiz, June 28, 2009

I don't have a Twitter account yet... even when I participate on other social nets. Anyway your post have full sense so perhaps some of these days I start twitting and take my photography blog to more people.

Thanks for sharing this info, Javi

E Cigarette, June 29, 2009

Great post. Just shows the way that social media is moving. There is a lot to be gained from a well organised Twitter strategy, many companies are thriving with this medium.

E Cigarette, June 29, 2009

Great post. Just shows the way that social media is moving. There is a lot to be gained from a well organised Twitter strategy, many companies are thriving with this medium.

Affordable SEO, June 29, 2009

Nice piece of information, realy useful...... Thanks buddy!

Nate Holland, July 9, 2009

Thanks for the post. I find that you can really do a lot with this, provided that you have a good strategy on how it can work for you, or how you can benefit from it.

reach4dstars, July 12, 2009

I started twitting about 2 months ago and found it interesting since people are so generous in giving out ideas and business leads. Your tips are great for new twitters. How do you change the background? twitmeback!

reach4dstars, July 12, 2009

Nick Stamoulis, July 14, 2009

It is always important to have a fully optimized and branded Twitter page if you are looking to generate business in any sort of way.

Nick Stamoulis, July 14, 2009

It is always important to have a fully optimized and branded Twitter page if you are looking to generate business in any sort of way.

fruitionMedia, July 16, 2009

Bravo. Thanks for this comprehensive, pithy overview!!! Excellent information

Marcy, July 19, 2009

"Make sure you are interesting on Twitter. If you want to tweet crap, that's fine, but you will probably gain a lot more followers if you are interesting"

-- True that! You hit the nail right on the head! I couldn't have said it better.

Kruti, July 20, 2009

Thanks for sharing these useful tips Neil! I have been studying on how one can use twitter for marketing purpose. It goes like, if you have a company profile up there, you can ask all the employees to register and follow the company profile. Initially, you can start building your network in this manner, then slowly expand it by following twitters who follow thought leaders and gradually get involved in thoughtful conversations.

Kruti, July 20, 2009

Annette, July 28, 2009

Hi,

Thank`s for great advise about Twitter. I have been struggeling to get followers and your article will help me a lot to get a better profile on my Twitter page.

Thank`s

Annette.

Annette, July 28, 2009

Hi,

Thank`s for great advise about Twitter. I have been struggeling to get followers and your article will help me a lot to get a better profile on my Twitter page.

Thank`s

Annette.

marcy, July 29, 2009

i believe that book is really informative but for me i think that tweeter is for famous people to be follwed. i have lot to learn about it. i know

marcy, July 29, 2009

i believe that book is really informative but for me i think that tweeter is for famous people to be follwed. i have lot to learn about it. i know

marcy, July 29, 2009

i believe that book is really informative but for me i think that tweeter is for famous people to be follwed. i have lot to learn about it. i know

Media Chandler, August 23, 2009

Thanks so much for great information about twitter! Twitter seems to be a powerful tool in on-line marketing and if you used properly can bring in tons of footprints to your site. Figuring out how to do that is so tricky, I will let you know when I figure it out! Hopefully these great tips will help! Thanks Johnny

Ronald Morgan, August 26, 2009

Thanks for such a informative piece of work, accepting more knowledgeable article from you.

Corporate SEO, September 8, 2009

Thanks for the article, I found it to be very useful.

Corporate SEO, September 8, 2009

Thanks for the article, I found it to be very useful.

Web 2.0 Tools, September 18, 2009

It is my first time @ this blog and I really enjoyed your articles, great work :)

Ashish Roy, September 21, 2009

How about the ROI angle if I think it that way? Does twitter helps you in selling?

Ashish Roy, September 21, 2009

How about the ROI angle if I think it that way? Does twitter helps you in selling?

Tampa Seo, September 24, 2009

Does Twitter allow bots to follow its links?

Micah, September 27, 2009

Nice post... I have learned a lot about tweeting. Anyway, I can see that you have put hard work through your contents. I'm sure I'd come here more often. By the way, you might be interested in some FREE Marketer Tools. You might wanna check it out. Thanks!

Micah, September 27, 2009

Rick, October 9, 2009

Thanks for sharing an invaluable information. Re-tweeting important twits is a good way to spread information. Also take note that RT only important messages and not spam, or else you might lose followers.

Rick, October 9, 2009

Sir Neil,

I apologize for the double post above, when I clicked the post comment button, I was taken to a blank page http://www.pronetadvertising.com/mt/mt-comments-pronet.cgi

I think it was because I refreshed the page that's why the 2nd post appeared.

If it helps, I use Firefox 3.0.11

(I also apologize for the off topic post)

Goweb Enterprises, October 12, 2009

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Some body can give the best way to do so that www.goweb.co.in,http://www.goweb.co.in,http://goweb.co.in/at-a-glance.html, http://goweb.co.in/vision-a-mission.html, http://goweb.co.in/why-goweb.html Of my website get popularity in google,MSN,Yahoo,and many more search engines

Home Business Leads, October 22, 2009