Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Brian Rice. Please read more about Brian in the bio footer.
Twitter provides an excellent channel for marketers as it is “a real-time information network powered by people from around the world” who are interested in discovery and communication.
Follow These Simple Steps to Build a Community on Twitter
1. Start with the Basics.
Your profile page is your first opportunity to build credibility. It important to take full advantage of the elements that you can control such as the BIO section, profile picture, background imagery and link. Don’t underestimate the value of your Twitter page appearance – it should reflect your branding guidelines and personality.
2. Make the Commitment.
There is no quick way to build a targeted and loyal community. In order to be successful, make it a planned activity and set aside time each day to spend 30 to 60 minutes on Twitter participating.
3. Know Your Target Audience.
It is essential to understand what content is relevant and useful to the individuals you would like to reach, you must take a content approach to growing your community. Don’t simply make it a numbers game – “the who matters more than the how much”.
4. Have a Personality.
Remember, it is a community made up of people so include your personality in your tweets.
5. Provide Value
In my opinion, this is critical and requires you to listen to your audience and be an active “good citizen” in the community. Don’t make it a one-way broadcast by only tweeting out promotional messages and avoid flooding your audience with updates.
6. Tweet Responsibly.
This should be a no-brainer but don’t share confidential information or use your account to stage attacks on your competition – always be respectful.
7. Be Present.
Don’t be a wallflower. Respond, ReTweet and Interact. Be sure to regularly acknowledge, highlight and thank those contributing members who continually add value to your community.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
These all seem like good ways to get a solid Twitter community to me. I wish more people would interact in this way. I love to talk to people on Twitter and read what they share, but sometimes, like you mentioned, people just spam stuff at you and everything is so one sided. It is quite a turn off to me… it makes me not want to follow someone if all they are in it for is their own personal gain and don’t care about me! Twitter is great because it is so interactive. I hope lots of Twitter users read this. In fact… I’m gonna TWEET it!
Peace and Love to you! And thanks for sharing!
Meagan
(PonchoMeg: The Modern Bohemian)
Meagan recently posted..Bohemian Hippie Gift Guide 2010
Thanks Meagan for leaving a comment! Community is important in ALL aspects of business, whether it is online or offline! Twitter is a great way to build that community.