Twitter is the New Black

Yesterday, Twitter celebrated 20 billion tweets. 20,000,000,000, folks. That’s about 26 million users tweeting and retweeting away every day. Spreading breaking news, random thoughts and interesting links like wildfire. My point? If you want your message heard? Tweet it.

Seems so simple, right? Well, it is….but (and you knew there was a but, right?)… there are a few dos and don’ts that you might want to consider before letting your tweets do all the talking:

Don’t mass follow. Try to follow around the same number of people that follow you or you’ll run the risk of being coined a spambot, and will surely get yourself blocked from many potential connections or customers.

Don’t mix your business account with your personal account. People follow you for business insight, not to know where you last checked in on 4Square or what you ate for dinner.

Don’t do a hard sell. Give info about your service or product, link to your website, or become a resource. People will start coming to you, and your expertise will sell itself.

Don’t DM an automated message. Just don’t. No auto-replies either.

Don’t just tweet about yourself or your business. Follow interesting community leaders, charitable organizations, and others. Retweet valuable information and let the conversation flow.

Do be creative. Two words: Old Spice. The Old Spice Guy, Isaiah Mustafa has become a YouTube and Twitter sensation, responding to tweets with funny, original videos that quickly went viral, turning into Twitter trending topics almost instantly. Check it out here: http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/13/old-spice-tweets-youtube/

Do post a photo and profile information. This may seem silly and unimportant to you if you’re a first time Tweeter, but you’ll be astonished at your follow back rates with photo vs. without.

Do post relevant and timely business articles or resource links. Think about the types of followers that you have and the information that would prove most useful to them. Be strategic- not boring!

Do Retweet! A retweet shows that you found a particular post to be of value and wanted to share it with others so that they could see the value in it as well. This is a huge compliment to the original Tweeter and will not be left forgotten. Most tweeters will respond with a thank you, or a quick reply, giving you the opportunity to build a relationship with a new connection.

Do ENGAGE! This is probably the most helpful advice that I can offer. If you’re new to Twitter, it’s ok to observe for a while before jumping into the conversation. But don’t take too long- Twitter users are forming relationships and using technology to do it every second of every day. Don’t be left out!

So there you have it, folks. Give it a try. This is a social media platform that appeals to the masses, uniting people from all different walks of life. Aside from building your business or personal brand, you might actually have some fun with it too.