Everyone has their own idea of the the best way to use Twitter. I’ve been using it for over three years, and I’ve applied what I’ve learned to aggregate the 14 tips below.
You don’t need to follow all of these tips, but if you want to gain followers, be helpful, and use this tool for maximum impact, I highly suggest taking this advice to heart. There’s no condemnation if you decide to eschew the rules of Twitter engagement below, but consider yourself warned: it will be really hard for me (or anyone else) to follow you if you’re tweeting all crazy.
14 Tweeting Tips
1. PLZ don’t use abbrvs & U or lotsa !!!!.
It hurt me to type that. There are people I admire and respect, and I’d love to have some of their wisdom in my tweet stream, but I just can’t take the way they type.
2. Don’t over-promote yourself.
If you only tweet links to your own blog posts, you’re not doing anyone any favors. I’m the chief of sinners here, and I’m working on sharing more of the helpful content I come across from other bloggers.
3. Don’t link to Facebook or Pinterest.
I detest clicking on a Twitter link that takes me to a Facebook status. Pinterest shares are even worse. Keep Facebook on Facebook and Pinterest on Pinterest.
4. Don’t post more than 140 characters.
One thought, one tweet. That’s it. Nothing more.
5. Don’t over tweet.
If you tweet 30 times a day, you need to step away from Twitter and into the real world.
6. Don’t gossip or complain about people.
I quickly unfollow people who slander others on Twitter. Don’t do it in person, and don’t do it online behind the safety of your keyboard.
7. Retweet like this.
The automatic Twitter way (by clicking the retweet button) or using this format:
RT @SmartGuy: smart stuff smart stuff wisdom wisdom wisdom // Wow. This guy is smart.
or
Wow. This guy is smart. RT @SmartGuy: smart stuff smart stuff wisdom wisdom wisdom
8. Share good links.
The beauty of Twitter is passing along valuable information. Do this often.
9. Share if something is funny, encouraging, interesting or helpful.
If it’s not one of those things, send a text message of it to yourself and let that be the end of it. Like this.
10. If you share from Instagram, make sure the caption isn’t cut off.
I like your artsy pictures, but I don’t like when you have 27 hashtags and the picture caption gets clipped off. It looks silly.
11. Reply to lots of people, but please don’t thank for retweets.
It’s spammy. If people tweet and comment at what you wrote, definitely thank them and engage with them, but a thank you for every retweet is overkill.
12. Don’t @reply every celebrity you know to tell them to read your blog (no matter how good you think it is).
Yikes. You’re proving reverse psychology works (or are you?).
13. Take it easy on hashtags.
If you have more than one (maybe two) you’ll break Twitter. None is best, unless you’re at a conference.
14. “Can I get a retweet?”
No. You can’t. And you shouldn’t ask.