How to Tweet

In order to reach out to the legions of followers you have now developed, it is critical to tweet correctly. Like everything else in life, there's a right way and a wrong way and tweeting is no different. Here are five fast rules to maximize your tweets.

1. Twitter provides space for 140 characters of text per message to play with but don't feel you must them all. By leaving 10 or 15 characters unused, it allows your followers to add their own addressees (@'s) and hashtags (#'s) to spread your word. They are less likely to do so if they have to erase some of your tweet.

2. Do not use too many @'s or #'s or the message may get lost.

3. If you're including an Internet link, do not let it get surrounded by @'s and #'s or people may either click the wrong thing or refuse to click it at all.

4. Do not tweet your own promotional messages exclusively. Everyone on the site wants promotion and will refuse to RT you if you fail to RT them.

5. Don't be all business all the time. Part of successful salesmanship is developing a relationship with your intended demographic. Therefore, reply to your followers' tweets and talk about their messages, too. Don't forget to post humorous or insightful observations, besides your own marketing messages. Make sure people will look forward to your tweets, not prepare them to whiz past your constantly repetitive promotional posts. A simple rule of thumb is to divide your tweets in more-or-less equal thirds; promoting your own message, promoting your followers' messages and making interesting conversation that will train people to watch for your tweets.
Lesson #3   Lesson #4  Lesson #1