Saturday, August 14, 2010

A Use for Twitter

I am not into Twittering as myself. I have in fact denounced Twitter as "impacted madness." However, my alter ego reviews online horoscope sites, writing and issuing short little articles on that topic twice a week, and she finds Twitter quite useful.

She got a free account at hubpages.com which gives each of her articles a separate URL. She uses Twitter to announce a new article and what it's about, giving a link to the URL. To locate followers, she sought out names indicating an interest in astrology, horoscopes, the zodiac, stars, and so on. She "followed" the ones who didn't seem like nut cases. (She herself is not a nut or a flake, but merely interested in explanations as to how this universe operates; and she knows others want to know, and that they also want to know if they're being well served or made fools of.) In turn, some have done her the favor of becoming her "follower." She needs only eight or nine good established followers to get the word out about what she's doing. Regular, informed, and trustworthy reviews result in referrals and more followers. It also helps to sift through followers' followers seeking more people to follow.

She finds (and has informed me):
  • When it comes to Twitter, quality beats quantity. Twice a week is plenty.
  • Tweet in the a.m.; the p.m. is less active.
  • Tweet on a regular schedule. Announce this schedule and stick to it. This establishes your reliability not only as a tweeter but as a source of information.
  • Tweet when you have something to offer, not to "P.R. yourself," or to tease people, or for the heck of it.
  • Twitter is good if you have a highly specific target audience or niche.

1 comment:

  1. I just can't even entertain the idea of keeping up with yet another social network. I imagine I'll explore it one of these days. Sounds like you've found a good balance.

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