It is no secret that I love Twitter with nearly 11,000 tweets and over 14k friends/followers. I think they can be both and it if you heed some of the steps below they won’t be followers they will be friends that generally want you to succeed as much as you want them to succeed.  I do not share my followers to be boastful.  I only really pay attention to about 200 or so, listening to a couple of hashtags and interjecting where I can.  But, I watch for my name and make sure I respond each and every time that it is appropriate.

So, really it is no secret that I tweet a lot. I retweet a lot. I do it from my desktop, laptop, car, church, cigar bar, the gym, doctors office, and really I have not shied away from too many subjects. The one sin that I tend to hate the most on twitter is spam; you could engage me and I could deal with the occasional commercial from you. I just hate that spam that a person sets their hootsuite or tweetlater to bang away every 2 or 3 hours with no engagement in between.

That is where most businesses fail whether it be in Northwest Indiana, Chicago or wherever it is their lack of engagement or involvement in the local twitter community or stream. In my case that would be #nwindiana, #chicago or #michiana. There are some great examples and some rather horrible examples of this across our twitter stream. I am not going to call anyone out because I believe I could have very easily been that person. I doubt it, I am way too social.

Here are some ways, that I think if you follow and understand you can find success with twitter both personally and for business.

1. Be Transparent – really, this is an easy one and I feel stupid for even putting it on here, bu you would be amazed at the people/businesses that do not heed this one and try to play the bait/switch or just make themselves more important than they really are.  Are you and Expert/Guru/Ninja or proclaim to be? Just be open and honest.
2. Be Helpful – you know something that others want to know.  They ask a question answer it, and before you know it they will be coming to for other business needs.  You can search for these on twitter throughout the day.  You do  not need to be tied to your computer.    Retweet someone else’s tweet to expose it to a greater audience.  Remember, sharing is caring.
3. Join the Conversation – find the hashtags of your interests, your area or even your business and join the stream.  You can slip your shoes and socks off and tip-toe into or just jump on in like some of us.
4. Be Likeable – funny coming from someone that uses #crankydave, but that is done it love.  You can be gruff and cranky if at other times you are being helpful and a part of the conversation.
5. Invite Participation - I am fairly knowledgeable guy, but I know I don’t know everything.  Help bring others into the conversation even if they are your competitors.  They can help you shine.
6. Listen – look for your name being mentioned, if you use a twitter client it is normally a column, use google alerts, just look for when someone says your name.  It is a pretty simple option on twitter to get emailed when you are mentioned or get a direct message (DM).  It really irks me and another friend when we call on(out) somoene and it takes them a day or two or never. This will help protect your brand.
7. Meet – take the online – offline, there are tweetups, meetup and social media clubs – Go to one and meet someone it is a great way to network.  Every month, we have a tweetup we get tween 35 and 60 like minded individuals show up for lively discussion, fun and food at a local host business.
8. Create a Strategy – set goals, just don’t jump into all willy nilly, know what you want to get out of it and work towards that goal.
9. Other Ideas – these are important but have been blogged about for two years.  So, I am not going to ride them to death.

• complete profile
• up to date picture (yeah, I know mine is not, but I am having a joke on someone)
• friend/follow

- who: people you know, people like, you want to learn from, people in your area

-  what: businesses that using twitter successfully and those that are not

• have fun, I hope you do what you enjoy let it shine through on twitter.

I look forward to your comments.  Share your success stories  or add what you think I missed.

Dave

not the expert or guru, but maybe a samurai (lol)