Learning from Twitter

Three quick learning points from Twitter over the last month

• Always follow back people who follow you.
  • if someone follows you, it is only decent to check out their twitter feed and follow them back if your interests match.
  • Re-tweet their pinned tweet or another prominent tweet that you read and liked. Yes, you need to make that effort. It will enrich your feed too.
  • Check out their followers and follow them too. This is not a contest on who has more followers but more an opportunity for you touch base with thought leaders in your domain.
• Make sure you put an effort towards providing good content to your followers.
  • Everyday, I am devoting time to my mailing lists and emails to make sure that I can recommend some good reads to my followers.
  • Post images and constantly change the content of your pinned tweet. It garners more attention in Twitter world.
  • Without realizing it, you are running a daily newspaper. You don’t need to get frazzled but 4 to 5 good posts a day will keep your followers engaged.
  • This will show in re-tweets and replies and likes. I get on average 1, 1 and 3 respectively.
• This is a great channel to build relationships.
  • You will be surprised how many people will write you directly and offer to help. Take them up on the offer and offer your own help. Do not talk money. We all know the difference between favors and paid work.
  • When re-tweeting, please try to mention your own take on the thread or link. It will help other in your list make sense of what is being talked about.

I hear a lot of conversation about monetizing social media channels and earning millions of dollars a month. Well, of course no one minds earning that kind of money. However, like everything else, this is an activity that requires a lot of effort. Take an hour or two a day to do this well.

My amazing experience with Twitter traffic started on Jan 20st, 2017 when my following suddenly rose  from 550 to 650 within a day. I was delighted but puzzled. I still am. My handle @ateeqhmad has been around for 7 years with barely anyone listening and then suddenly a huge jump.

It didn’t stop there either. By Feb 1st, 2017 , my followers were up beyond the 1,000 mark and are still slowly climbing everyday.  I had some great interactions with people; absorbed a lot of good ideas and learnt that this is a wonderful tool to interact with others.

There are several good Social Media tools out there. Use them if you have $20 a month to spare. However, I would advise against too much automation. It takes away from the spontaneity of life.

Most importantly, have fun!