COGS Business Clinic Is it only twits that tweet?


In the first of our new series of articles to help you improve your business, John Ritchie, IT manager at ABC company, tells COGS how mastering Twitter helped him build his business


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any new Twitter users want to know what the rules are,


or whether Twitter has standard protocol and


etiquette. Beyond Twitterʼs standard Terms of Service, Twitter etiquette is simple: Be genuine and non‑deceptive and provide value. Otherwise, just use Twitter how it suits you.


Beyond the simple regulations, you canʼt really use


Twitter in a right or wrong way because no two people use it for exactly the same reasons. Although users love Twitterʼs largely rule‑free nature, some generally accepted behaviors have evolved over time. You can ease your transition into the culture of Twitter by getting familiar with these behaviors. Be polite on Twitter for the most part, but no more or less so than youʼre expected to be in the real world ̶ just keep in mind that Twitter is a public forum. You may encounter confusing, even conflicting, advice and back‑seat tweeting from the handful of people on Twitter who arenʼt comfortable without rules. Donʼt take them too seriously; Twitter just isnʼt that rigid.


Tweeting frequency Some Twitter users are considered noisy because they tweet so much, whereas others can come across as standoffish because they donʼt tweet frequently. A good rule when youʼre starting out is to post at least four or five tweets per day. You most likely find yourself tweeting much more often than that, but if you arenʼt yet fully comfortable with it, use that number to get started. If youʼre using Twitter for your business, or you plan to link to your products or posts on your personal blog, find a balance between the number of tweets that promote yourself and the number of tweets that provide value. You might think of this balance as an actual ratio. For example, for every link of your own that you place on


Twitter, send out at least five tweets that inform, engage, and converse. If conversation and engagement are your aim, you definitely want to keep a human voice in your Twitter stream at all times.


Itʼs worth thinking about who you want to reach. People new to Twitter and only following a few get bowled over by frequent tweeters simply because itʼs all they see on their stream. A roaring chat with friends you already know is a fine use of Twitter, too, and would involve many more tweets a day than, say, a business user or someone just figuring out what they want to do with the platform.


Language and abbreviations in Tweets Twitterʼs lexicon has evolved over time to include unique words, phrases, and abbreviations that most regular users understand and recognize. Of course, you see a lot of puns


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involving the word “Twitter,” with the prefixes tw‑ or twi‑ added to the front: tweet, tweeple, tweetup, and so on. Not all members are fans of corny terms such as tweeple. Others think the Twitter‑specific language is fun, or an easy and obvious way to delineate something as Twitter‑ specific.


Engaging others on Twitter On Twitter, the name of the game is engagement. Whether you use Twitter for business or fun, you donʼt just want to sit back and watch the stream flow by ̶ you want to genuinely interact with people.


Donʼt be shy


Donʼt be shy about finding people who share your interests, even if you donʼt know them (yet). Use Twitter Search to look for some of the most obscure keywords related to your work, hobbies, or passions. Then click through to the profiles of the people who wrote the tweets you find. Youʼll be amazed how good an idea you get of someone just by glancing at their last 20 tweets. Interested? Follow them. Itʼs not like other social networks where youʼre really only expected to connect to folks you already know. While you sift through the Twitter conversation, click the usernames that you see (as in @replies) and write to strangers offering your own opinion. It may take a few tries with a few different conversations before the chatting users include you in their conversation, but eventually they do.


But even if you donʼt @reply, your tweets still appear in search, and other Twitter users can spot them. If you have something interesting to say, people start to reply to your tweets. If you seek out and use relevant keywords and #hashtags, you will start to connect with others who share your interests.


Donʼt give up Your early days on Twitter will probably be pretty quiet when it comes to replies and conversation. All those twitterers are just getting to know you, after all. Donʼt worry; after a few of your tweets appear in the timeline and you add a few contacts to your network, people will begin to notice you. Twitter keeps tabs on “deceptive” activity and can ban accounts that impersonate celebrities or companies if those accounts donʼt make it clear that theyʼre unofficial or parodies. This policy is a contentious point in the Twitter community: Many members were upset when the @cwalken account, belonging to an aspiring comedian pretending to be actor Christopher Walken, was deleted from the system.


Read more: www.dummies.com/how‑to/content/how‑ to‑master‑twitter‑etiquette.html#ixzz0wClkO4uO


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