Twitter Tips for Newbies

Twitter has been around for years but if you aren’t tweeting yet I suggest you consider signing up for an account and reading these Twitter tips for newbies. I joined Twitter back in 2007, before most people had even heard of it, and have gotten so much out of it in the past five years. Here are some Twitter tips for newbies to get you started after you sign up for a Twitter account.

Basic Account Setup

1) Add a profile picture. If you are joining Twitter I can assume you aren’t an egg.  You are a human being, so why would you leave an egg as your profile picture? It takes less than a minute to add a picture of yourself. The benefit to adding a profile picture is that you will get more interaction since people will be able to see who they are tweeting with. Many, including myself, won’t start conversations with people who have egg profile pictures because we think you are a spam account.

2) Add a bio. This goes along with the profile picture. Twitter gives you the opportunity to share a little bit about yourself so take it and tell people who you are and/or what they can gain from following you. Are you mom who will share all the funny things your two year old says? Are you a vacation planner who will share great deals on vacation packages? Or are you a fashion designer who will share great fashion trends with me?

What To {And Not To} Tweet

3) Interact with others! This is what Twitter is for. You can find people to talk to by searching Twitter for keywords, looking at who your friends are following, or looking through your “stream” of people you are following and commenting on something they tweet. Don’t worry if you don’t know the person because the great thing about Twitter is that you can talk with anyone you’d like. Still nervous about tweeting with people you don’t know? You can start out on Twitter by tweeting with @LivingYrMoment

4) Avoid only tweeting links. Sharing blog posts, deals, news, and the like are great but don’t forget the conversation in between those links. Think of Twitter as a big party. Would you want to talk to someone who only talked about themselves? Probably not. Likewise, nobody wants to follow someone on Twitter who only talks about themselves.

5) Try to keep it positive. It’s okay to complain occasionally {I do} but try to do so sparingly and make sure you are also sharing about great service, great people, and great experiences as well.

6) Use hashtags sparingly and correctly. Hashtags {a word with  # in front of it} help connect groups of people who are tweeting about the same thing. Adding the hashtag “#specialneeds” means my post will be shared with anyone following the special needs hashtag, even if they don’t follow me. When I was going to a conference last summer I was able to follow the conference hashtag months in advance and tweet with others who were going to the conference. You can make up your own hashtags or use hashtags already established but make sure that your tweet goes along with the hashtag {for example, if your tweet is about making candles, don’t use the hashtag #moms}.

These are just a few Twitter tips for newbies to get you started. As you tweet you will learn what works for you and what doesn’t. Have any other Twitter related questions? Feel free to leave a comment below and I’d be happy to answer your questions in a follow up post.