I know there’s a lot of talk about Twitter these days. According to a Nielsen survey, it’s the fastest growing social networking site on the Internet today. Individuals, businesses, and celebrities alike are using it to communicate and connect with others. Back in June, I participated in a workshop called Twitter for Business 101 (sponsored by Team and a Dream).I explained the benefits of signing up, basic usage, and covered some Twitter etiquette (what and when to “tweet”).
A big part of my presentation was about searching for people to follow on Twitter. I focused a good bit on how to qualify the best people to follow. Knowing your target audience is a good first step in figuring out whom to follow. Know the topics and issues that they are interested in and ensure they align with your own. Use that as a foundation in order to start a conversation and build a relationship with them.
Note: it’s important to read people’s Bios as well as scan their most recent tweets before following them. Take this extra qualifying step so you’re not just randomly following people. It will also assure you that their tweets are of value to you. Are they frequently sharing news, links or other information that interests you? Are they actively engaging in conversation with others?
5 Twitter Follow Tips
1. Finding People on Twitter – Twitter allows you to search for people you already know or based on keywords. You can also invite people to Twitter. http://twitter.com/invitations/find_on_twitter
2. Real Time Twitter Search – this seems like a no-brainer. Write down a list of keywords that you’re interested in or that describes your business. Plug those words into Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com/) and you will immediately get real-time results of people who are using those exact words in their tweets. Real Time Search also includes trending topics which are the hot topics at any given time.
3. Friend Followers/Following – Scan your friends’ following/followers from time to time. It never hurts to see who they are following or who is following them. Chances are you will find a common thread in which to start a conversation.
4. Twitter Directories – Directories are like Yellow Pages on the web. On most Twitter directories, you can submit yourself to the directory listing that's most relevant to you – usually you will be grouped by categories/keywords or interests. Great Twitter directories to get listed on and find people are Twellow, WeFollow, and TwitterGroups.
5. Tweet Alerts – set up a tweet alert on your keywords so you can have conversations emailed to you. It is essentially like Google Alerts for Twitter. Good examples of online tools that can do this are Tweetscan and TweetBeep.
Let us know how you find and follow people on Twitter!
By: Marilyn Moran
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