Five Rules to Manage Your Reputation on Twitter

Posted by admin on July 6th, 2009

And Grow a Quality Following

Even on Twitter You are Judged by the Company You Keep! Today as I was checking in on Twitter, I noticed something that had not struck me so blatantly before and that is that nearly every person who send tme a DM (direct message) included a link to get “thousands of followers on Twitter” (suggesting effortlessly).

Normally I don’t click on those links because I have become somewhat of a Twitter following puritan. Not 100% but for the most part. As you will soon see.

My goal in building a Twitter following is two-fold. To become a recognized social media expert and to meet great people around the globe. If that translates into income, all the better.

Having said that, I have worked diligently to grow my Twitter following almost totally organically. Of course, when I first got ACTIVE on Twitter that was not the case, as many Tweeple will tell you.

In the beginning I followed every person my friends followed without really looking at who they are or if they would even be the right audience for my message. Doing this helped my followers grow from 300 to 2,500 followers in about 3 months time. BTW, the original 300 took 6 month and no effort. I only went to Twitter about 1 or 2 times a week and posted 3-4 comments. That’s it.

In January I decided to either make it or leave it on Twitter and started making a focused effort to interact with folks and build a following. Hey, all my friends were doing it and having lots of fun and even a few success. So why not?

During January and early February my only goal was to grow my following. I didn’t pay any attention to the “quality” or relevance of those that followed me.

Today that is not the case. It took me a while to figure out that it was more important to have a following of people that meant something, that I could connect with and also learn from. And these days with so many bots and spammers infiltrating Twitter, that is even MORE IMPORTANT.

And then there’s the CREDIBILITY FACTOR. If you’ve spent any time at all on Twitter you know that it takes time and effort to build a real following.

Of course, you could go to Tweep Me and pay $12.95 for 5,000 instant followers (or Brute Force Twitter or Twitter Smackdown) but will they add value to your network? Would you have to sift throught them to get rid of those unsavory followers you would not like your own circle to see you associating with? If so, why would you allow them to take up space in your following and timeline in the first place?

Believe me, people who follow you and want to grow their own following are also looking at your following (and followers) for great people to follow. It’s called reputation by association.

So just how do you find the type of followers that would add value and meaning to your Twitter experience? I just shared one idea with you; look at those people in your followers network. Read their bios and posts and if they are people you’d like to get to know, follow them.

Here are my five “RULES” to grow a quality Twitter following:

1. Look at the people you intentionally followed (not necessarily those you auto-followed because they follow you). Look at who THEY are following. From their following, find those you’d like to connect with a follow them. If and when they return the favor by following you back, send a personal message instead of one of those autoresponders. (Note: when you get to a point where you are getting more followers than you can keep up with personally welcoming, come up with a thought-provoking welcome message to auto send. And then each time you visit your Twitter page, look at your new followers and pick a few to send a personal message to. Or check their timeline and find an interesting post to retweet. This will get his/her attention and your chances of a starting a conversation increase considerably.

2.Pay attention to RETWEETS. There are golden nuggets in the retweets your followers are sharing. you can find great people to connect with by reading these. And chances are they will feel the same way. You could retweet the retweet which can lead to that person thanking you and following you back or you can simply follow her/him.

3. One of my favorite days of the week on Twitter is Follow Friday (on Follow Friday the people on twiter recommend people to their people to follow. And if you want to expand your reach beyond your followers include the hashtag: #FollowFriday. This is the day Twitterville set aside to recommend great people to follow. And it is a goldmine of opportunity. However, I think lately people have gotten lazy. Instead of telling us why we should follow someone, people are simply suggesting lots of people to follow with no reason behind the recommendation. Follow Friday is simply recommending people to follow to your followers. Here’s an example of how I participate:

@BruceTurkel is a Branding expert, speaker, art director, author, harmonica zealot and all around great guy to follow #followfriday

@NancyMarmolejo is a High achieving, soul driven social media devotee to follow #followfriday AND she’s FUN!

@PennyHaynes has a cool new tool for info products – check it out at http://tinyurl.com/rsszine – and #followfriday Penny too!

When you use the hastag “followFriday, it ends up on the top ten trending topics timeline and everyone on Twitter can see it. Another great way to expand your reach beyond your own followers and their following.

4. Speaking of Top Ten Trending Topics, use the search bar on the right hand side of your navigation – homepage for great people to connect with. When you see a trending topic such as followfriday, click on it and see who’s saying what. If they sound like someone you want to connect with, visit his/her page read a few more posts and Follow Away!

5. Post S.M.A.R.T. TWEETS. What are S.M.A.R.T. TWEETS? S – strategic (think about what the tweet means to your overall Twitter mission), M – meaningful (will what you have to say matter to anyone but you?), A – authentic, R – recommendable (retweetable) and T – timely (latest news, newsworthyness, up to date). I do my best to include at least one of the S.M.A.R.T. elements in every post. Of course, the best post will have all 5!

My criteria boils down to this: If I don’t have something in common with my followers or would not want to connect with him/her in a social or networking setting, then why do I want him or her to follow me and vice-versa? And would this person be someone I’d ever bring home to meet the family?

For more information on tweeting smart, Read my article: How and Why to TWEET S.M.A.R.T.

Pat Montgomery said,

July 7, 2009 @ 9:51 am

Great post, Heidi. And you have answered some questions I have about following and being followed. What you say makes perfect sense. Thanks

Beverly Mahone said,

July 7, 2009 @ 11:42 am

You said….
“If I don’t have something in common with my followers or would not want to connect with him/her in a social or networking setting, then why do I want him or her to follow me and vice-versa?”

That’s a good question. I do follow several people I have nothing in commom with but I do know I can learn from them and they tend to offer some good information. Would I follow those same people on Facebook? I’d have to say NO because I do treat twitter and FB differently.

Beverly Mahone’s last blog post..Need a Coach?

Heidi said,

July 7, 2009 @ 12:19 pm

Beverly,

You make a great point. And that is about how we treat people differently on different social networking sites. Since I spend the most time on Twitter these days, it is important to me to understand the people. I agree that some of those that I follow I have nothing in common with and still learn from them, so maybe I should say “the majority of my following/followers.”

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Warmest regards,

Heidi

Heidi’s last blog post..How and Why to TWEET S M A R T