How to Twitter - Part One Why Twitter ? Get signed up.
How to Twitter - Part Two Setting up your Profile
Part Three is time to start getting some people to listen to (Following) and people who want to listen to you (Followers).
Just jump in here, ok? It's very hard to comprehend the madness until you just jump in. It'll all make a little more sense once you get going with it.
Sign into your Twitter account.
I'll be your Guinea Pig and hostess..... Go to my Twitter Webpage: http://Twitter.com/KimWood. Click FOLLOW. (I apologize in advance if I'm not quick to refollow, but I will, it's been madness lately).
In the sidebar, you'll see the Following box with a bunch of mugshots... look below my beautiful friends and click View All. That will take you to a list of the people I follow.
Look through the list and you'll be bound to find some familiar names that you know from the Real Estate Industry and/or ActiveRain. Be selective. It's not all about the numbers!!! (Although Bob Carney & Linda Davis came up with an e-twit certification for people with 100 followers and 1000 updates.) Don't follow everyone I follow (you don't want to - trust me :). Click on their username to be taken to their main page, you will see what types of things they talk about and you can read their bio. If you like what you see, click Follow. If not - keep looking :)
Some people if you follow them will shout out a "Hello and Welcome!" - some won't. There isn't a right or wrong way to that.
You can also click on the names in my conversation stream which is shown right below the "What are you Doing" box.
Another way to find people is to search for them. If you've seen them mention Twitter- go search for them on the Twitter website! Or randomly enter some names in the search box.
I recommend you chose 25 active follows to start with. (Active means they've said something in the last couple of days). Don't start with too many, it gets very overwhelming - trust me.
Once you have your list of about 25 people to follow - they'll start to look at your profile and quite possibly will start to follow you. They'll want to see some conversation - so guess what it's time for?
Use the "What are you Doing" box!!!
The only restriction is that it has to be 140 characters or less. That's it! Here are some samples:
- I'm not sure what I'm doing, but trying to learn Twitter.
- Time for lunch..... what to have?
- What do you think of my new profile picture?
- Hello, hello? Anyone out here?
- Are there any other Real Estate Agents on Twitter?
See? You can say whatever..... the only tip I will give you is don't shout out a salesy pitch if you want to make connections, or throw out a URL address yet.
More about following/followers:
People will try to follow you that you do not want or care about what they have to say. If they are painless (no spam) I usually leave them. They can't hurt me by watching what I say. If they are spam, you'll see a "block" or "remove" when you look at their profile if you are signed in.
Most of us that are experienced on twitter will not follow someone if they have a gazillion more Follows then Followers. Why aren't people following them? Must be a reason.
Part Four - How to converse, reply, direct (private) message.
I'll Wait! Was going to ask how to reply to more than one person but see that may be answered in part four.
I just received an email for someone following me on Twitter. I'm not sure I want this person following me:
"Most Hated Blogger" (CaseySerin) is now following your updates on Twitter.
Thanks for the info. I have a friend in the mortgage business that twits rate quotes. I think it is something that I want to look into.
Hey Kim... I'm following you now! I love twitter and you are doing a great job of explaining it, my husband still doesn't get it.
@Dan.... It will be answered... but you asked :) @Dan @Kim @Sarah will work! It does help to start with the @'s before you start talking. To talk to "everyone" in your stream though - just type - with no @'s.
@Property Connections - Tough one..... "Most hated Blogger" is silly. Looking at his stream I don't like the ratios between followers/follows, however what he says is alright. Your call ! (You can let him follow and you don't have to follow him back.)
@Integrity Mortgage Funding - I believe that could work! My only suggestion would be to make sure you have some of "you" in there as well. Not all rates. Keep it interesting for everyone.
@Debbie - Yay! Husbands don't really get it. Kids don't either. "Mom, are you tweeting this? Oh geeze." lol
Kim - WOW, you are amazing you are spitting out one tutorial after another. Good Job!
Just a quick aside - don't feel obligated to follow everyone who follows you, it can get really overwhelming. Plus - the point of using twitter is to "converse" there is no way to be in 2000 conversations at once.
Kim, this is a great piece and helpful. thanks for the explanation.
I registered at Twitter this morning and thought - what now. Thanks for the post. Am waiting to see what your Part Four suggests.
Hi Kim,
You are doing a great service with this segmented tutorial! I am still trying to understand 'why twitter'? Will keep the faith and hopefully, the lightbulb will go on.
WOW look at you...teaching Twitter!!! Nice job Kim.
Ok so I just read Part One and Two. I am going to try this today.
What about the followers whose accounts have been suspended? I've been blocking them so they don't appear in my followers list. Do you pay attention to that or am I wasting time? Thanks for the tips, Kim! Can't wait for Part 4. (No pressure)
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your info on Twitter. Let me know when you have a link up for Part Four.
Thanks for taking the time to post your twitter tutorials. I just signed up and hope to learn how to use twitter to connect with people to promote my business. @remaxjameswong.
I have been wondering what twitter is about and thinking I might sign up. Thanks to your posts and good directions, I have now signed up for this, although I still don't really know what it is. I guess I'll find out. ; )
Thanks, Kim. I just started getting set up on Twitter. I like your step by step instructions.
@Petra - Spit, spit, spit
@Melissa - You are very right! The above tip about following around 25 people was for that reason.
@Frank - It's been nice to see you Twitter
@Michelle - Yay! Hope I can tweet with you
@Gene - Connections. Both with other people from the industry and business.
@Bob - I learn from the best (but I miss you a lot)
@Adriana - Yay!
@Sandy - I would block them still. They are the spammers that have gotten a hold of a good thing. Twitter has been very good at suspending the accounts pretty quick.
@Marianne - It's up!
@James - I found you on twitter! Or you found me and then I found you :) haha. (It's coming)
@Pam - Just follow the tips/directions and you'll see what its all about enough to know. Good job! I saw you there today.
@Robin - Glad it helped!
Kim, I was on twitter a while ago. I was following a bunch of people and I was being followed by a bunch of people. I couldn't figure out why I kept going back. It felt like 140 characters of meaningless small talk. Whjat am I missing. If they were close personal friends, I might want to know that they are next in line at the bank. Otherwise, why?
I'm new on Twitter, I don't really get it yet. But, I'm using ping.fm to post my messages there, on LinkedIn and Facebook. I'll follow you and try to learn this. Thanks.
Ok, you have convinced me to at least give it a try. A couple of people signed up to follow me and I have been totally clueless. So will go back in and try follow them also and experiement a bit.
I'm reading all of these HOW TOs and I'm heading to #4 next. I'm pretty new to Twitter, and now I'm hooked!
Kim Wood Ill follow you to the ends of the earth!!! Well at least to part four tonight anyway.
This is a great series Kim and I am finding it very helpful as I try to figure out Twitter and how to use it.
I'm so glad I found this...I had no idea how to find people since the search function doesn't seem to work on twitter...thansk!
Hey Kim, I'm following your series. Had 1 & 2 figured out. Here's a question for you is there a way to find people within Twitter without having to go to your email address book?? How do you find people to follow based on topics, interests or their name?
Well I am trying to know what to say that is business related and not spam.
Ok I'm really for the next lesson...this looks like it will be fun
AMAZING "HOW TO" --I'm rolling now (on Twitter)--Thank you.