Twitter Guide Cheat Sheet

Editor's Notes

• #10: When creating your account make sure your description and handle are clear so users know what they get if they follow you. P opulate your stream with tweets before beginning full-scale out-reach to show those checking out your profile that you are a valuable follow. The profile avatar (picture) should be a person if a name is attached and a logo if it’s a brand.
• #11: Make sure you use URLs so you don’t take up too much room It’s about the VALUE. All Twitter handles should have a clear personality. Keep in mind the overall personality of Honey Can Do as you tweet and make sure you are providing valuable information to your followers. • As you identify conversations and start to follow your customers, you will be able to get an idea of what they are looking for. What do they want to know? Are they asking for product information? Looking for tips? This should be the guideline for your content.
• #12: 12 to 1 rule - offer at least 12 tweets before asking anything in return – if someone comes to your page and all they see is you asking for stuff they won’t follow you Product Promotion and Sales: Engage The idea behind a sales and promotion strategy may seem like a one-way conversation but check your replies and direct messages frequently. Failure to reply to a customer’s question, concern, or praise will make you appear to be a spam machine. Be aware that by putting your brand out there you are opening yourself up and people will inevitably contact you with a non-sales-related issue. Don’t allow this to scare you off; embrace it as a new way to talk to your customers and give them what they want- this aligns nicely with your sales goals. You are connecting customers immediately with info and links, thereby increasing the chance that followers will click through for more information or to make a purchase. Better to have more followers than follow In the beginning you’ll have to follow more than you are followed. Follow a lot of people for your first few months – then use one of the tools listed at the end of unfollow those who haven’t followed you back – or have no value in their tweets Don’t spam. Use less than 140 characters If you want to be RT’d (say for a promotion) then make sure you leave enough room so that the RT’er doesn’t have to edit the tweet. Most people won’t edit – so shorter the better
• #17: Tweetlater can help spread out the tweets Twitter only exclusives reward loyal followers & give them a reason to stay Shhould you fall in love with Twitter and feel the urge to update every hour on the hour, please create a personal handle.
• #18: Tweetlater can help spread out the tweets Twitter only exclusives reward loyal followers & give them a reason to stay Shhould you fall in love with Twitter and feel the urge to update every hour on the hour, please create a personal handle.
• #22: Follow people talking about your brand, your product/service, and even you. Listen and Learn. • Follow other thought leaders in your industry, see what they are talking about. Think of how you can join the conversation and be a thought leader, yourself. • Follow those who are talking about similar interests. If your brand has a vested interest in a specific topic, make sure to follow others talking about the topic to get insights and new ideas/information, and to establish your brand within that conversation. • Follow news and media handles. This will help to keep you up to date and in the know of current events, new research, etc. Use this to your advantage as conversation starters. The 140-character limit forces you to cut to the chase and just tell your followers what they need to know (none of that corporate speak here). • Become a thought leader in your industry, share interesting and new information, insights and ideas around relevant topics. (You can throw in company updates and news in there too, every once in a while) • Just like a popular website or blog, if you continue to guide people to helpful, funny, or insightful content they will come back for more. • As with everything social media, the most important thing is to be authentic. Do not try to push an agenda without being transparent. • Be yourself and update often. The more you update the more Google crawls your page. (Good for Search Engine Optimization)
• #24: RSS feed for Honey can do searches makes it easier to scan and see what people are saying about the brand. Don’t have to watch it all day. “ Lusters” - (those interested in Honey Can Do but not yet customers)
• #25: Following ppl with similar interests to establish a brand presence within conversation
• #26: DON’T publish 2 million tweets at once on tweetlater (or whatever service you are using). DON’T use Twitter to push ads or brand messaging. Don’t just Tweet but also follow others to join in or start a conversation. • DON’T use Twitter to tell your everyday tasks, make sure your Tweets are resourceful, entertaining and/or valuable to your followers • DON’T be boring! • DON’T panic if you are “Twitter-Jacked“, where other Twitterers use your identity within their Twitter handles, instead contact the Twitterers and find out their reasoning before taking action (they could turn out to be your biggest fans) • DON’T I REPEAT - DO NOT Tweet anything about clients, co-workers, friends, etc. that you would not want them to see - this is a good way to burn bridges and lose customers (not to mention make a bad name for yourself)