Three Easy Twitter Tips and Tricks that Make You a Better Twitter User

On Friday, May 3, 2013, I listened to Dan Zarrella speak about the science behind Twitter. I learned some great Twitter tips and tricks.

I also participated in the Twitter chat too.

Drats! I didn’t win a copy of Dan’s book Dan’s book, The Science of Marketing: When to Tweet, What to Post, How to Blog, and Other Proven Strategies.

Dan’s book “takes a scientific approach to the way businesses and brands approach marketing. Through a combination of marketing, statistical, and psychological research to explain why and, more importantly, how, companies should adapt marketing strategies such as blogging, social media, email marketing, and webinars to achieve maximum results.”

If you’re looking for, or even using a rainbows and sunshine approach to Twitter, you may want to reconsider this approach.

There’s nothing wrong with appreciating your followers, but there is a science behind Twitter.

Three Easy Twitter Tips and Tricks Make You a Better Twitter User

Below are the top Twitter tips and tricks I learned from listening to Dan’s #SciChat.

You may have heard of one or more of them, or not, but they’re great tips to keep in mind as you tweet.

Write tweets that are less than 140 characters. Write HEADLINES that get clicked! CLICK HERE to tweet.

twitter tips and tricks, how to gain followers on Twitter, how to increase your Twitter folloers

Posting on Twitter is Both an Art and a Science

There’s an art and science to Twitter.

For example, if you think that your tweets will automatically be retweeted, you’re wrong. You need to establish yourself as an authority in your field. Show how you can solve your target market’s problem.

Don’t clutter your followers’ Twitter streams with useless information. Tweet relevant information.

Do find your voice and post tweets — be authentic.

Don’t rely heavily on automation. Schedule tweets when you travel, but post tweets in ‘real time’ the majority of the time.

If you found this post useful, I’d appreciate it if you’d share it via email, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google+. Thank you!

What Twitter tips and tricks would add? Leave a comment below.






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Bad Content Writing? How to Tell if Your Content Writing Stinks — Break Free

content writing, how to avoid stinky content writing

Photo credit: Jenny Erickson-Stock Exchange

Do you avoid content writing because you’re afraid someone will tell you that your writing stinks?

It’s kind of like having bad breath.

It can be an embarrassing situation, and you may not want to ask anyone if your breath stinks because you’re afraid of a negative response. It’s the same with your content writing.

Keeping your distance may seem like a good approach because a reader’s reaction to your stinky content writing can hurt your ego. But it is your blog/website that will be hurt the most.

How?

You’ll lose readers, web traffic, and sales.

According to HubSpot’s “Business Blogging Up 17 Percentage Points in 2 Years [New Data]” chart, “The percentage of businesses blogging has grown from 48% in 2009 to 62% in 2012.”

You’ll be glad to know that bad content writing is easier to improve than you might think.

Do You Have Bad Content Writing?

The first step is to determine if your content writing is fresh or foul.

Most bloggers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners aren’t aware they have stinky content writing. If no one has the guts to tell you that your writing stinks, you’ll keep publishing bad content. [Read more...]

Stop Wasting Time! Go from Ideas to Blog Posts

blog post ideas, blog posts ideas

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m sure you have great ideas for blog posts either for your own website, or your company’s website. Congratulations! But I ask you to put your blog ideas aside for a moment and read the following:

• Pick any blog such as Copyblogger, Boost Blog Traffic, The Huffington Post, Guy Kawasaki, Chris Brogan, Seth Godin, and others.

• Read a blog post from beginning to end, and from end to beginning.

• It took 10 hours or more to create that blog post (the greatest bloggers can spend hours on one blog post).

• The million dollar web traffic question: Do you love your ideas enough to put in 8 hours? 10? 20? Do you love your ideas enough to pay a freelance writer to put in 8 hours? 10? 20?

If you said YES, go straight to the next section.

If you said NO, writing blog posts is not for you. You can hire a freelance writer to put in the hours needed to turn your ideas into golden blog posts, or you can write them yourself. The choice is yours. But remember this: someone, somewhere, with a business, or who works in the marketing and PR department of a business, will put in the time an effort needed to turn ideas into blog posts. They understand that it takes time to create and develop a blog. [Read more...]

A Simple Plan to Avoiding Cancer of Communication

communication, breakdown of communications, how to avoid communication breakdowns

When you hear the word cancer, you probably want to cringe.

Just writing the word cancer makes me want to delete it. I’m not a fan of hearing or reading the word, but we need to face it.

What is cancer? According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, “Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. Cancerous cells are also called malignant cells.”

My dad died in May 2004 from cancer. In 2001 he was electrocuted at work which awakened the asbestos that sat in his lungs from a long slumber. Eventually, the asbestos turned into cancer. My dad went from weighing a normal weight of about 160 – 170 lbs. to 75 lbs. when he passed away. He was literally skin and bone.

Just as people can become infected with cancer so can businesses.

Why?

“According to Charlie Sheen, “We have cancer of communication. No one listens anymore.” Charlie made this statement when he appeared on Dr. Oz‘s talk show on January 16, 2013.

Whatever you may think of Charlie Sheen, he’s right. If you don’t listen to your employees, they’ll quit and you’ll be known as a company with a huge turnover rate. If you don’t listen to your customers, they’ll buy from your competitors. If you don’t pay attention to the trends within your industry, you’ll lose customer and could be bought by another company. If you don’t utilize the right copy in your marketing kit or on your website, you won’t reach customers. [Read more...]

What’s More Important SEO and Web Traffic or Fans and Readers?

In his blog post If you’re looking for more traffic, STOP!, Derek Halpern, owner of Social Triggers makes a good point: You don’t want web traffic, you want readers.

English: Direct Report If readers are informed...web traffic

English: Direct Report If readers are informed If readers are supportive If readers are eager to have results first (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Why are so many entrepreneurs and corporate conglomerates beating the SEO drum when they should be focused on beating the drum to get more readers on their websites?

Traffic doesn’t pay, but readers do. They pay by commenting on your posts. They pay by tweeting and liking your poss. They literally pay by purchasing your products and services. Treat them with the respect they deserve. They’re more than numbers on your Google Analytics spreadsheets!

SEO and Web Traffic or Fans and Readers: What or Who’s More Important?

There’s nothing wrong with implementing ethical SEO techniques so your blog or website ranks well in search engines like Google, Bing, etc. However, it’s more important to focus on your target audience aka fans and readers. SEO alone doesn’t get you noticed or sales. Readers turn into fans and eventually turn into followers and buyers. [Read more...]