Jul
10
Mix It Up!
12 Days of Twitter :: Day 9
(What the heck are the 12 days of Twitter?)
As Twitter quickly takes over the world, small and large businesses are seeing the need to have a presence on Twitter. Although it’s easy to see the need to be on Twitter, it can be difficult for both businesses and individuals to immediately understand what, when and how to tweet. People ask me all the time if they should get personal on Twitter, so let’s talk about that on today’s Twitter Tip.
The first thing to remember with any tip I give, is that it only matters if you are trying to build a network or audience. If you are just tweeting and don’t care if anyone follows you, then make your own rules!
For those of you who do care about building a network or making new friends, what should you tweet about? Obviously, you’ll want to talk about what interests you first and foremost. If you’re Gary Vee and you care about wine, you talk about wine, so it makes sense that Gary tweets about wine. If you’re a good VP of Marketing, hopefully you have a passion for marketing and it would make sense for you to tweet about marketing. I love technology and consumer electronics so I tweet tech and gadget news. Here’s the thing, though…I don’t just tweet links to new episodes of GeekBrief.TV on Twitter. I don’t just post information that I hope people find valuable. I don’t just post This Day in History tidbits. I don’t just post personal anecdotes. Gary Vee is interested in baseball, so he tweets about the Dodgers and the Mets. A VP of Marketing might also be a foodie, and if she is, she should tweet links to pictures of food from her favorite restaurant.
The combination of insight into someone’s life, promotion and valuable information is what works for a lot of us on Twitter (not to mention blogs and web shows), so mix it up!
Where the line becomes blurred for a lot of people is the question of how much personal is too personal. That’s obviously a question only you can answer, but remember future employers or your mother might read your Twitter stream. My best advice is to use the same self control as you do in the real world.
UPDATE: Please see my first comment below for additional thoughts.
Read More
Introduction to the 12 Days of Twitter
Day 1: The Secret Code: What are all those initials and symbols?
Day 2: Use TweetDeck to Manage Conversations
Day 3: Share Your Funny Anecdotes While They’re Still Funny
Day 4: Follow Responsibly
Day 5: 3 Newbie Mistakes Made by New Tweeters
Day 6: Use Twitter Search to Connect and Find
Day 7: Twitter Mobile
Day 8: Five Awesome Things You Can Do with Twitter
Day 10: If You’re Not a TweetDeck, You Might Be a Seesmic
Day 11: Twitter for Prizes and Profit
Day 12: Schedule Tweets in Advance
