I started using Twitter seriously in January 2012. Since then, I have learned some helpful tips. Hopefully, you will also find some of these useful.

RE-TWEET (RT)

There is nothing more flattering than someone re-tweeting what you tweeted. In fact, the more re-tweets you receive for a particular tweet, the better it will feel. This is also the case for others. I recommend that you choose a good category and look at the tweets of others there. Then re-tweet (RT) the tweets that are particularly interesting to you. For example, I like to see what people say in the “leadership” category. So, I regularly do a search for #leadership on Twitter. This allows me to see all the tweets that include #leadership. Then I do RT the ones I like. The tweet appears in my “stream” and lets the person know that I re-tweeted their tweet. It is a simple way to start. Searching #leadership for RT people I may not currently be following or may not be following me. By re-tweeting people I don’t follow, from time to time I get new followers or start following new people because I like their tweets. I usually choose one day a week to do my RTs. I only do about 2 or 3 max a day, separated by a few hours.

HASHTAGS (#) ARE YOUR FRIEND

The hashtag (#) is an amazing feature on Twitter. Whenever you tweet, try to include a category in which you would like your tweet to appear. Following my example above, I regularly tweet about leadership and management. So my tweets include #leadership or #management or both. This allows my tweets to appear whenever people search for these hashtags. Remember, this allows people to see your tweets even if they are not following you. I get 20-30 new followers a week because people read my tweets in these categories. During the 2012 presidential election, I tweeted a couple of non-partisan tweets about the presidential leadership and included a hashtag similar to # 2012presidential. I tried to be as neutral as possible so as not to offend anyone on either side, as my intention was to share my thoughts on leadership in general. My tweet was viewed by hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, because that category was highly viewed at the time. Therefore, hashtags, if used correctly, can be a powerful friend and get many to see your tweets.

TWEET LINKS TO ARTICLES YOU’RE READING ONLINE

This is very easy. As you read articles online, there is a Twitter “tweet” button that allows you to tweet the article, including a link. This is by far the easiest and possibly the most effective way to Tweet about things that are meaningful to you and others. If you press the Twitter tweet button while reading articles online, the tweet is automatically formatted to be 140 characters or less. Then I add my hashtag or hashtags (eg # leadership, # management, # quotes, etc.) and voila.

QUOTES

I like to tweet quotes 2-3 times a week. You can find good quotes on #quotes (or using Google). I like to tweet original quotes from time to time. This gives me a good idea of ​​how a particular topic will resonate with people before writing an article or blog about it.

Try not to spam your followers with too many tweets at once

Try not to tweet more than one every 3-4 hours. I was once following a person who tweeted 8-10 consecutive tweets multiple times a day. I finally had to unfollow the person because the tweets were more like spam.

BECOME AN EXPERT IN ONE CATEGORY OR TWO

I recommend tweeting about something you are passionate about and then including a hashtag for that category. Over time, people will see that you appear regularly in that category and before you know it, you are considered an expert.

IN GENERAL, HAVE FUN

Lastly, have fun. Twitter is an amazing social networking tool and I have a lot of fun with it. I don’t take myself too seriously and that keeps it fun. Don’t worry if some followers unfollow you, because people do for various reasons. Others will follow you, especially if you stay true and passionate about a topic.