Creating Communities on Twitter - article

When you’re ready to build up your Twitter community, the better you plan, the better the results. Follow these quick tips, tactics, and applications, and you’ll find being a self-published author on Twitter can be a very good thing. When it comes to gaining followers and creating relationships, Twitter can help point your career down the right path.

Create a user name that people looking for you can find and easily remember. This essentially will be the label with which you’re going to spend your time branding until two o’clock in the morning. Remember that the longer the name, the more space it will take up. In the Twitterverse longer is not better, especially with only 280 characters.

Familiarize yourself with the language like RT=ReTweet, @ symbol before a user name to reply, and DM=Direct Message or a message sent directly to someone specific. There is a ton more to learn and Twitter Watch Dog is a great place to learn it. 

Find new people to follow. Use the search tool to find readers interested in your genre. If you want to supercharge your search, try Twellow.

Once your followers begin to swarm, be sure to give back a little. Take the opportunity to mention the new people who have recently began following you. Not only does this make you look considerate, but it will foster a sense of loyalty among all those you mention. Be sure to spend a little time each day retweeting a couple of things your followers post. Doing so will also help develop loyalty and increase the number of your followers.

Finally, you want to craft your tweets like the headlines of a popular magazine cover, but make sure you don't oversell. Instead, interject some everyday conversation into your daily tweets. This will allow the readers to see that you’re human. In addition, you should always be thinking value when you tweet.

The top value-added topics tweeted are:
• how to's
• breaking news
• warnings
• freebies and contests

A marketable name, knowing the lingo, seeking out targeted people to follow and to be followed by, and writing what's being read are all key elements to growing your own successful Twitter community.

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