If you are new to the Twittershere, then take a look at our previous blog How To Twitter: Part 1 – How to Set Up and Optimise Your Twitter Page. Once you have set up your account then you can take a look here for the basics on how to post a tweet.

1. Keep posts in RT (ReTweet) Safe Zone – When someone shares your tweet via “RT @username,” you need to make
sure tweets have a solid 10-20 characters of legroom so they can add this and also their additional text. 120-130 character tweets also have the highest click-through rates.

2. If you want to keep your branding on your Twitter feed intact use Quotes or manually write posts rather than using the retweet button so the post will come from yourself – for example RT @username: ……. you could also post and add in via @username

3. Follow people back to allow direct messaging (DM) if you don’t want to speak to them in the public eye.

4. Twitter differentiates between a “reply” and a “mention” depending on where you place the @ – at the start is registered as a reply and will only appear on your profile and the feeds of people who follow you both – if you want this to be seen by all who follow you then don’t put the @ at the start of a tweet.

5. Mention people (@username) and share others’ tweets, interact with people like you would in conversation – it is not all about you just broadcasting.

6. Use keywords in your posts to help boost your SEO – but use sparingly.

7. If your links are too long, use a URL shortener such as ow.ly and bit.ly which can then also be tracked so you can see what posts get the most engagement and be more targeted in your approach – alternatively the default is the twitter shortener t.co

8. If you want a tweet to go through to your LinkedIn feed you can use #li or #in but this is not something I would recommend – rather use a programme such as Hootsuite to post to several platforms if you really need to automate anything or preferably post direct from each platform. I would not recommend having your Twitter linked to post automatically to Facebook either as like feeding to LinkedIn, this is where the communication will end as people are unable to “like” “share” or “comment” on your posts.

9. If you want to post videos to Twitter then take a look at this link – http://support.twitter.com/articles/75603#

In my next blog I talk about “Building Your Reach on Twitter” so check it out!

About Karen Black

Karen Black is a Co-founder and Director of Mamba Media, a boutique digital marketing agency based in the UK. Karen works with a range of starts ups, individuals and small businesses to develop their website & digital marketing strategy (social media, email, video, blogging) and grow their business online. Karen also offers social media training and digital marketing consulting to businesses.