People often struggle on Twitter to create real relationships. Either because they don’t understand how it works, or they simply don’t focus on relationship building. Whatever the reason, it’s important for all us to remember social media is about connecting, building relationships and growing our networks. It is really not that different from building a relationship in real life (IRL). You simply need to remember what your purpose is. Whether you are a company trying to build your brand recognition or an individual trying to build a network for career or other purposes you need to be willing and able to be social.
1. Be real. Be genuine. Be authentic. Seriously, the more your personality comes through in your tweets the more people will want to connect with you.
2. Listen and comment on what people are saying. Wish people Happy Birthday, congratulate them when they share good news. If they say they are doing something interesting or fun comment on it. Show people you are listening.
3. Ask people questions. Show them you are interested in what they have to say.
4. Remember to thank people when they mention you, share your links, retweet you etc. You can do this publicly or through direct messaging. What’s important is that you thank them.
5. Attend Twitter Meetups – there is nothing like connecting in real life with people you have met on Twitter. It is a great way to grow twitter relationships. You will find the people you meet in real life will connect more often with you on twitter.
6. Ask people you have really made a connection with to meet in real life (IRL) for coffee or on the phone if they are not local.
7. Re-tweet people and comment on what they are sharing.
8. Share blog articles and credit the author in a tweet.
9. Say “good morning,” “have a great weekend,” “good night” or other greetings. It is a great way to simply state good wishes to the whole group who may pay attention. When someone responds make sure to answer back.
10. Recommend people to each other that you think would like to follow one another and tell them why.
11. Use a real picture for your avatar. People like to know that they are talking to a real person. It is often an issue with brands whether they should use their logo or a picture. There is no right answer, it depends on the company and brand.
Twitter is a great organic way to grow relationships. It allows direct real time conversations which can be very powerful for networking and building business. The best way to grow your network on Twitter is to keep reaching out, talking to people and connecting with them. When you take time to build this network, you will be amazed at the power of Twitter. It really is the best networking tool around! I would love to hear your ideas on ways to be social on Twitter, what do you do?
