29 useful Twitter tips for beginners

I blogged a while back offering five simple suggestions to optimise Tweets. As it went down well I thought it worthwhile expanding on this and giving my insight on growing a follower base and increasing engagement.

Twitter is a fantastic platform that allows you to interact with like-minded people. I've learnt a lot from fellow digital marketers on Twitter by joining conversations and reading their content.

Along the way I've picked up a fairly substantial set of tips, tricks and hints on how to make the most of Twitter and build your presence there. 

Anyway, enough waffle, you came here wanting tips so let's get to it.

1. The more tweeting you do the more clicks you'll get but overdo it and you'll lose followers. No one wants their timelines hijacked.
2. Tweeting keyword rich, relevant content throughout the day will attract followers specific to your industry/interests.
3. You can build your Twitter following by following those that follow companies/people similar to you. Don't go overboard though, Twitter frowns upon this.
4. #hashtags are great way to gain exposure during conferences/events and interact with like-minded people.
5. Favouriting tweets is a simple way of acknowledging people and in return can earn you followers.
6. Look at the discover section of Twitter to see what those you follow are up to; what tweets have they favourited? Who have they followed?
7. Use platforms like TweetDeck and Hootsuite to schedule tweets. Also, a relatively new kid to the block is BufferApp which allows you to build up a list of Tweets to go out at set times throughout the day.

   

8. Scheduling tweets during peak times will result in a stream of tweets attracting more eyeballs.
9. Twitter is an excellent PR tool, journalists love it. Engage with them and you'll build your following and raise awareness.
10. Twitter now uses its own URL shortener but editing a bit.ly link to make it readable and human friendly can help increase your CTR.
11. Twitter lists can be a great source of relevant people/companies to follow who might then follow you back.
12. Setting up your own Twitter lists as a resource for others will provide traffic to your profile and can gain you followers.
13. Ensuring your profile has a professional profile picture and engaging header background will increase dwell time on your profile and attract more followers.
14. Use your Twitter background wisely. Promote your other handles, mission statement, or URL of your site.
15. Branding your Twitter page like you would your website will help grow your following. Customise your profile to be consistent with your website.
16. Avoid changing your profile picture too often as, like a brand, followers become accustomed to it.

    

17. Interact with key influencers in your industry and you'll pick up followers along the way.
18. Consider using Klout to find out who the most influential people in your industry are.
19. Keep note of your most engaged followers so you can call upon them when you want to share content.
20. Don't pester people, if you've tweeted them once don't expect a reply straight away.
21. Avoid interacting with too many people that don't follow you, Twitter can view this as spamming.
22. Tweets including pictures get more eyeballs; consider relevant imagery to boost CTR.
23. Infographics shared on Twitter are easily resharable and can earn you more followers.
24. Instead of retweeting, edit and retweet so the tweet belongs to you but be sure to reference the original tweet author by including a "via @tweeter" at the end of the tweet. This will increase your exposure.
25. There are 140 characters to use but humans can more easily engage with shorter tweets; focus on keeping the length of your tweets between 70-100 characters.
26. Tweet when your audience are most likely to engage with you and read your tweets.
27. If people engage with you, make sure you get back to them, you'll gain followers by interacting with and acknowledging them.
28. Read a nice piece of content? Find the author on Twitter and tell them why you liked it, they'll appreciate your feedback and might even follow you.
29. Quote the most interesting points within an article in a tweet and reference the author and article link. Twitter folk love a good quote!

Anyone for anymore?

What are your top tips for building a following and increasing engagement on Twitter?