Well, it is perfectly appropriate to open a Twitter account with the intent to just listen. You never have to send a single tweet.; Twitter even say so themselves. Conventionally however, depending on your goals and objectives - be it personal or that of your brand, you may decide that you want to become an active tweeter over time. If that is indeed the case, you'll want to make sure you engage the various netizens of Twitterati in the best fashion ever, to ensure that you're viewed as more of a valuable contributor rather than merely a wall of noise. This post offers 5 tips to accomplish just that:
1. Strive for Quality over Quantity
As the greatest unspoken secret of Social Networks Internet-wide, curating content based on quality helps followers deal with information overload and increases your value to them. High quality tweeting essentially includes responding to and engaging with followers, and not simply talking 'at' them. There are certain exceptions of course; in certain situations, like live tweeting during an event or responding to a crisis, people’s tolerance and appetites for greater quantity increase - so don't hesitate to indulge them in such niche instances when you possess the power of real time exclusivity to tide you over.
2. Craft your Tweets Well
This one sounds like a no-brainer, but never exceed the 140 character limit while typing out your tweets. In reverse of course, this means that you don't need to truncate your tweets below this figure to say, 120 characters in length - a mistake that many jounralists and celebrities, among others, are increasingly guilty of. 140 is the absolute limit - make use of it. The only exception being when you spot a potential for dominant re-tweeting, in which case you can snip it down to 130 characters or below to allow room for the textual paraphernalia that accompanies such posts.
3. Introduce #Hashtags Wisely
Though Twitter hashtags have been around almost as long as Twitter itself, many people still do not understand what they are or how they work. So when in doubt, leave it out! Only use a hashtag when a regular key word is unavailable or ineffective, and there is generally little need to hashtag a fellow Twitter handle, or even a webname or url. Also keep in mind that special characters like a comma, full stop or apostrophe break the flow of a hashtag.
The 'best times to tweet' vary, but for professional engagements, weekdays during work hours usually work out the best. It would help nevertheless, to know the time zone(s) of the majority of your followers and scheduling your tweets accordingly. Tools like Buffer, Hootsuite or SocialBro can help you determine the metric at the click of a button, and allow you to 'attack' the said market at those opportune moments by scheduling tweets accordingly.
5. Don't Overdo It
Be it endless selling and self-promotion, indiscriminant live tweeting, or excessive re-tweeting, it is never ideal to overexpose yourself or your brand in such a ubiquitous fashion. Linking other Social Networks such as Facebook - and with it all their posts also falls under this category. Though tolerance levels on Twitter are generally higher than one would expect, the above are still swampy ground that you're best avoiding altogether, even if push came to shove.
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