We’re barraged by people telling us what to do, buy, think, and practice to be successful at internet marketing. I’m no different with the exception that I learned from a legend in IM, and in particular Twitter.
I was just cleaning out some of the dead wood from my account and it came to me that try as I might, 140 characters just isn’t enough to impart the wisdom of Twitter basics.
What is “dead wood” you ask? Everyone has their own criteria, but to me, if an account hasn’t tweeted in a month or more, they are taking up space. “But isn’t it good to have lots of followers?” you may be thinking. Yes and no. Yes, if numbers is something you brag about to your buddies over a beer, but if you want your followers to like and eventually trust you if you’re promoting something, what’s the sense in having 3000 accounts parked under your name.
In short, if they aren’t active enough, they’re dead to you as friends and prospects.
Another way I thin my herd with by profile pic. If it looks like a hooker, a copy of a free image of a person found online, a cartoon or an avatar, they are history. Ever notice sometimes you see the hooker image and the name on the account is Dan Harris. Something suspicious there…
In short, if the account holder won’t show me who they are, they’re history.
Lastly, the BIO. If there’s nothing in their bio, why would you want to follow them? If they are serious, they will tell you a little about themselves. No bio = no life or worse – they don;t care enough about Twitter to make the most of if.
Look, every time I post one of these little hints, I invariably get some pie hole who argues back that they have never done any of these things and are “successful”. The last person that wrote me that had a little over 900 followers. Well, maybe that’s their idea of success, but you know the saying “massive results require massive action”.
Another “cry baby” told me that it’s easy for “Gurus” to tell you not to blast offers, to make friends using social media because they had “already made it”. Hey folks that kind of logic is what will keep this poor guy broke and struggling for a long time. When I asked if he thought it was possible that gurus made it by making friends and then sales, an odd silence fell over my TweetDeck.
Look, whatever works for you – works. All I can tell you are some of the things I learned from my guru DO work for me, and they can for you, too. If you want to build a build Twitter presence, just follow these guidelines and see what happens.
