60 Dos & Don’ts Essential for Twitter Newbies

Twitter has been around since 2006 and the language of tweeting and hashtags have pervaded the social norms. I will put my hand up and admit that I just didn’t get Twitter when I first dipped my toe in.  I got the hang of it though and I’ve never looked back! This list of Do’s and Don’ts should help all your Twitter newbies to get swimming quicker!

DO:

• Be yourself
• Show some personality
• Start following people
• Acknowledge tweets sent to you
• Thank people when they RT you
• Fill out your bio with something meaningful
• Load up decent profile pic asap
• Fill your location in
• Tweet at different times to catch different groups of people
• Consider different time zones (see above)
• Search on topics that interest you and follow topic experts
• Check out people’s bio and link habits to see how much they engage
• Find original content to share
• Ask people questions
• Use Twitter to send traffic to your other social media profiles
• Retweet content to gain new followers
• Share content from industry “experts”
• Add your thoughts to links your share
• Use a URL shortner like bit.ly
• Try out a Tweet scheduler to program your tweets
• Watch, look and listen to how other people tweet
• Follow people that seem interesting
• Unfollow people that don’t add any value to your Twitter experience
• Use Twitter to connect with people at business events
• Listen to what people are saying and use it guide your content
• Try and build relationships, just like you would offline
• Do find your own style on Twitter
• Enjoy yourself!

DON’T

• Don’t believe that Twitter is free. It will cost you time which is probably your greatest asset
• Worry about missing tweets. It happens! A late thank you is better than none
• Leave your bio empty
• Forget to include a link to your website (in your bio)
• Exclude the idea of linking to a twitter landing page (in your bio)
• Make your website link a short URL (in your bio)
• Say that you love making money in your bio
• Be rude
• Follow everyone
• Forget to talk to people
• Worry too much about how many people follow you
• Ignore people that take the time to tweet you
• Hashtag every tweet
• Automate ALL your responses
• Whinge
• Forget to check your spelling
• Use a “party shot” as your Twitter profile picture (if you’re a business)
• Don’t use a picture of your pet
• Sell Sell Sell all the time
• Spam your followers
• Share mundane updates all the time
• Use a tiny image for your avatar
• SHOUT!
• Use up your available characters with really long links
• Worry about unfollowing people
• Tweet too much in a single burst – space it out
• Start a tweeting schedule you can’t maintain
• Be afraid to have a point of view
• Share too much detail about your personal life
• Retweet without crediting the original tweeter
• Forget that you can keep an eye on your competitors
• Listen to everything on this list – find your own way!

So they are my top tips for Twitter newbies with special thanks to @lutrov and @mikerussell_ for their contributions. Do you agree? What can you add to the list?

I’d love to know and so would Twitter newbies!

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