Because I
have over 45,000 Followers on Twitter, I’m asked all the time how one can get
more followers. From what I have learned, the most important thing bottom line
is that people have to like what you stand for, what you’re about, and what you
have to offer.
I don’t
believe in one size fits all because we are all different and that’s part of
the fun of the adventure. I always tell people to experiment with their content
and approach until you find something that sticks and resonates with you….again
you. What may work for @skinnyjeans or @garyvee or @foodimentary may not work for
you and vice versa.
However, if you enjoy these tweeting folks and they have similar kinds of attributes and Followers you’d like to attract, then do learn from them. For insight on what has helped me be successful on Twitter, here are 10 of my habits:
- Be yourself: People are attracted to genuineness and that can only come through if you are yourself. For years, I wore different masks and “played” different roles being who I thought people wanted me to be or what I thought would gain me popularity, affection, or status. And yes, to some degree it worked and I got what I wanted but the price was constantly being a façade 24/7. It’s tiring and empty, and after awhile I didn’t even know who the real Stephanie was anymore.
Because of this learning lesson, I have deep conviction about living authentically. Being who you are is being an original. But mainly, it’s so much easier and rewarding to just be you than to pretend to be or act like someone else.
- Stand for
something: A really good salesperson once taught me that people are all ears
when around confidence and passion, alluring qualities because we’d like to be
that way ourselves. So true. When I see those two qualities in someone I get
the impression that they know what they are doing, they know who they are, and that
inspires me to want to be my best.
This may sound a bit new agey to many people but what I tweet is me doing my life purpose work which is to help people live more authentically. It took me awhile to figure out what my purpose work was, but now that I have, I consciously put meaning and intention into my work.
I love what I do and that resonates in my blog posts, tweets, videos, pictures, and anything I do online. I choose to work only on things and with people who share similar values and morals. I’m ok passing up money & publicity if it conflicts with what I stand for. I believe in what I do and as long as I am adding value and helping people enrich their lives then I feel I’m doing my life’s work.
- Be a class act:
This is the best piece of advice my mom has ever given me, and I pass that
advice to everyone. When you are a class act, people will respect you and recommend
you with huge thumbs up. To me having someone’s respect is an honor and
privilege. Respect is earned. The way you behave is also a reflection of your
character. Being classy is not about being perfect it’s about being
responsible, considerate, and respectful. As a Twitizen, I do as my mom
advised, be classy.
- Focus on two things: Content & Others. It’s not about me. It’s about you (my audience). I’m really not into being the center of attention which is a bit ironic given that the success of my brand is built around me, Stephanie the person. I like to be a connector.
I like to put the attention on what’s good in the world and the good works that others are doing, so that is what I primarily link to and RT. I’m motivated by a strong desire to help make the world a better place in small ways, and yes, make a living doing that. So, anything I tweet has to answer “yes” to this one question: “Will this help people live better or help them achieve their goals?”
- Mix up the tweets: I have a formula for my tweet stream. It’s 33/33/33 and no more than 10/day. The breakdown goes:
- 33% original content which is either what I’m observing, feeling, or having fun with. One of my fun creations is the character Tweetfucius who I vicariously live through my inner sage.
- 33% RTs and links to stories and posts around the blogosphere and big mediasphere. I tend to link more to bloggers because I like to support my fellow peeps.
- 33% conversation with @replies. In my early tweeting days, I used to tweet up to 19/day spread out over the course of the day but discovered that even if I spread out tweets like 5 in the AM, 4 in the afternoon, and 5 at night, people still felt overloaded and would unfollow.
There are also scripts that people run now where they can specify how many tweets in a day they’d like to receive, and if someone tweets more than the threshold, they will be automatically dropped. So now, on average, I tweet about 8/day which is meaty but not overwhelming.
- @Reply to
everyone but not all publicly: I mentioned that I keep my tweet stream to 33%
conversation only and here is why. Now some will disagree with me on this one
but again, I said one size does not fit all, so find what works for you. This
works for me. I reply via DM to virtually everyone who talks to me because
that’s what you do when you want to relationship build, talk and bond. I'll carry full on conversations in DM. If it’s
a RT I will DM to say thank you, not always, but I try.
Because I have a large amount of Followers, I can easily get 10-50 @replies within seconds. If I @replied to every single one of those people publicly I would flood my Twitter stream and look like a tweet storm and annoy the bajeebies out of others. Therefore, out of politeness to my audience, I am sensitive to the number of tweets I put out which again is no more than 10/day.
I publicly @reply to someone when I can tweet back something that is still of value to those reading. For example, the other day @Taaz asked me what convinced me to leave the Bay Area and move to Phoenix. This is information that other people would be curious to know as well so I publicly @replied my answer. I treat @replies like original content as well, so the content of my responses still answer yes to, “Will this help people live better or help them achieve their goals?”
- Look sharp: First impressions can pack a heavy punch so besides focusing on tweeting quality content, all of the visuals on my Twitter account reflect who I am. I smile in my avatar because I want people to be greeted with a warm welcome. My Twitter background has a simple yet hip and stylish design in a soothing color. All the colors I use complement each other.
In text, I clearly communicate what I stand for, “Live authentically. Spread enthusiasm.” And recently, I’ve even redesigned my blog The Everyday Blogger to match the look & feel of my Twitter account as a way to leverage consistency of my brand attributes
- Connect your Twitter world with the offline world: Living on the web for work it's easy to forget that there is an outside world. It's essential to go out and mingle with humans in the flesh because you become more real to each other and there is a chemistry that can only be felt face to face. Two things I do to bridge the worlds:
- Hand out Twitter looking business cards as shown in the picture above. Not only are these tweet looking cards cute and cool, but they give people a visual thing to remember you and your Twitterness. Visuals are powerful. I bought my cards at Zazzle.
- Be
consistent: People are creatures of habit and there is a comfort in patterns. I
tweet consistently Monday-Friday mostly between 10am-3pm PST because that is
prime Twitter traffic time in the US because it is within business hours of the
East and West coasts. I rarely if ever tweet on the weekend because down time
is good. My content is consistent with the theme, “Live authentically. Spread
enthusiasm.”
- Set boundaries: Boundaries are a healthy thing for everyone involved because it sets a tone and precedent of how you want to be treated and how you will treat others. Some boundaries I have established for my tweeting include:
- I do not use curse words. I think them all the time but I refrain publicly because I like to keep my content PG-13.
- I share about my personal life but I keep it vague and upbeat. For example, I share that I am single and dating, but I won’t go into details about with whom or where we went and what we did.
- I shill sparingly. I’m very clear that I am a professional blogger, so my audience gets that I need to make a living which means shilling is involved. I’m very conscious about not wanting to be perceived as a spammer or “hey buy my stuff!” so I keep the shilling to a minimum.
- I will not pick tweet fights with others or respond to those trying to pick a fight with me because the only thing to gain is stress and life is too short for that.
- I don't take myself or Twitter too seriously. Yes, what we do on Twitter matters but it is not everything, and it is not worth getting all worked up about. Twitter should be enjoyable and useful.
- I avoid complaining. I’m not always strict with this because sometimes a good grumble can bond people and it can add to what you stand for, but in general, my tagline says “spread enthusiasm” so I stick that as much as possible.
The last thing I will add is to have fun and enjoy Twitter. I've had nothing but wonderful experiences on Twitter and have met many fabulous and kind people. What you put in is what you get out, so jump in, get social, and be positive.
These are my top 10 Twitter habits. What habits have helped you be successful or enjoy Twitter?
