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Do you have a hard time expressing yourself on Twitter? Do you not totally understand the purpose of Twitter? Well, until about 2 days ago I had no idea what to tweet about on Twitter, or even what purpose Twitter serves. I see tweets as they pop up while I’m working, and some of them are pretty silly. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know why hundreds or thousands of people should know that I just took a shower, or that I’m having a doughnut for breakfast, etc… (WHY would ANYONE even WANT to know these things!?) I also noticed that there are actually little “cliques” like in High School. I would have felt as if I were intruding if I were to try to join the conversation! The whole Twitter thing just seemed like a waste of valuable time. Until now, that is!

I have a free twitter account and the tweet my blog plug in. This plug in is really very helpful, it connects Twitter to my blog and posts a tweet whenever I post something. I also go into my Twitter account once a week and follow people back that are following me. That has been the extent of my involvement on Twitter so far.

In the past two days I’ve accidentally come across three really great posts that helped me to understand the purpose of Twitter and the best ways to express yourself on Twitter. Well, now I’m really excited about using Twitter! I finally know it’s purpose, and I now understand which ways are the best ways to express yourself on Twitter. I’m beginning to see Twitter in a whole different light.

Here’s what stood out most for me after reading the posts about Twitter:

- Provide valuable content in your tweets, such as something funny you read or saw, a great post you just read, a helpful quote, something educational that people can use, anything of interest!

- Remember that most people don’t want to know what you are doing at that exact moment (such as brushing your teeth!). You can tweet about what you’ve been working on (make sure you’re not promoting though), something you did earlier that day (went to the beach), a cause you’re involved with, a free gift you have available, embarrassing moments you’ve had, etc. The list could go on and on, just make it interesting!

- Twitter is for building relationships and credibility, not pushing for sales!

- Don’t keep repeating yourself. If you put up a new post, or submitted an article, or read something great there’s no need to go on and on about it all day long. One or two tweets about it is enough.

- If someone posts a link you like you can “re-tweet” it (it’s a great compliment to the tweeter who posted the tweet!). All you have to do is copy the tweet, paste it into a new tweet, and add RT to the beginning.

- On Twitter you can follow the people who interest you and join in on the conversations.

- If exchanging tweets back and forth with the same tweeter for a long time, it’s probably a good idea to use the send a Direct Message option.

- Have fun, be yourself, and you can develop new relationships, potential customers and potential partners. Twitter is also a great place to share your message, get information and news, and research your market.

For more information on Twitter here are the links to the 3 posts I read:

check out Derek Gehl’s post for some great tips on interacting using Twitter. Derek has the best tips for using Twitter and how it can benefit you. There’s also a short video that shows you how to set up a new account.

Jeff Shecter’s video post is called “What’s Your ROI? – The 4 E’s of Social Media” (ROI doesn’t stand for return on investment!). I really liked Jeff’s video post a lot because it applies to Social Media in general.

The last post I read was at TwiTip, which is edited by Darren Rowse from Problogger Blog Tips. The particlular post I read is “How to Be a Good Dog on Twitter in 8 Easy Steps” by Krista Travers from Whippit Snippets. I thought this was a really “cute” post about using Twitter, and she has a very creative writing style.

You can set up a free Twitter account at www.twitter.com.

Free stuff you can use for Twitter:

Get the “Tweet My blog” plugin here: Tweet My Blog Plugin

TweetLater is a great tool to have, you can set up automated replies and much more!

Tweet Getter is getting around fast – it’s viral! Get thousands of followers quickly!

Well, that’s it for now! I hope this helps you understand more about expressing yourself on Twitter. You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bizathome

Take care,

Lori James

http://www.everythinghomebiz.com

lorijames@everythinghomebiz.com