TOP TOOLS & TIPS FOR TWITTER

A Guide For Newbies By Kate Hartley

Top Twitter Tips & Tools For Beginners

(Fantastic Decoder Video)

I’m a newbie to Twitter. Recently I’ve been building out the digital side of my business and I realized that I would need to harness social media in order to help to build trust around my products and the type of therapies I offer.

I already had a Facebook page, so to create my Facebook fan page was a fairly simple process, but I had no idea about how to navigate Twitter nor about Twitter etiquette. The last thing I wanted to do was to create buzz about doing the wrong things at the wrong times.

Why you need to listen to the Keith’s podcast!!

“Crack the Twitter Code”

Around 9,000 tweets are tweeted every second. That means 540,000 per minute and 780 million tweets per day! Statista.com states that in the first quarter of 2016, Twitter has over 310 million active Twitter users.

These figures are huge and mean two things:

(1) That I need to know how to use Twitter effectively to make the most of belonging to a massive social media platform and

(2) That among all these tweets, how was I going to get my tweets seen and even better, lead to links to my website and blog, likes and retweets?

The Crack the Twitter Code podcast has taught me everything I need to know about using Twitter effectively from setting up a strong bio to using tools to analyze and enhance my and my follower’s Twitter experience.

Twitter is about sharing high quality information

Twitter is all about sharing and adding flavor to your own voice. It’s also a great way of building trust and an active tribe of followers. One of Keith’s suggestions is to ensure you share approximately 10 pieces of other people’s content for every one of your own. I love the idea of sharing other people’s valuable tweets. Not only does it enhance your twitter feed with other people’s ideas and information, it helps them at the same time by expanding their reach via your followers. Sharing builds community.

Since using Twitter, I’ve met some really interesting people from all walks of life. The direct message facility is great for building deeper relationships and has led me to buy several books in support of my new-found followers, to become involved with private Facebook groups as well as to create a shortlist of people I intend to hook up with when I travel to those particular parts of the world.

An important point that Keith makes is that although we all want to have a large amount of twitter followers, it’s more important to have a focused following of people who actively retweet you and are genuinely interested in what you have to say.

The Top Twitter Tools

Keith introduced me to so many great tools which have totally transformed my understanding Twitter and how I use it. Here are a few of his personal favourites.

(1) Tweepsmap.com

(Where Are Your Tweeps?)

Tweepsmap.com has given me vital information to find out where my followers live in the world. I know that 58% of my followers are based in the US, 20% in the UK and 6% in Australia. This means I need to ensure I tweet at strategic times so that my followers get to see my tweets.

It also offers a variety of tools to help you manage your twitter account such as analyzing growth or decline, who has unfollowed you and/or followed you, inactive accounts, people you follow, but who don’t follow you back.

(2) Buffer.com

(Save Time By Scheduling Your Tweets)

To schedule my tweets I use the free versions of both Buffer and Hootsuite. Both services offer a way of scheduling tweets to suit the timezone most relevant to you and then to optimize the best times of day to catch the majority of your audience.

(3) Hashtags.org

(Find Great Hashtags To Use)

In Keith’s Crack the Twitter Code, podcast 6 covers hashtags. Hashtags make a word live and searchable. A hashtag is a way to leverage key words to your audience. If you include a hashtag when you write a tweet, everyone in the world who is using a tool to follow that hashtag has a chance to find you and follow you.

Hashtags.org allows you to work out what’s trending and gives you a graph to help you choose which hashtags to use. For instance, is business or marketing more popular? I tweet regularly about mental health, in particular, anxiety. #mentalhealth is way more popular than #anxiety. I usually choose to use them both, but if space is short, I know that #mentalhealth is the way to go.

Overcoming Social Media Overwhelm

(Making Twitter Doable)

Social media can take over your entire day if you’re not careful, so by scheduling tweets and mixing in a bit of live tweeting, I can make sure I’m not flooding my followers with a batch of live tweets all at the same time and can also make sure that my friends in the UK, Australia and US see my material at the optimal time for them.

I try and schedule half an hour to an hour every morning to go over the content that I’m posting, to thank followers for following me, add them to my lists and to find people I would like to follow. I check in a couple of times a day just to keep on top of it all. Without structure I think I would get sucked in to spending too much time on social media and not enough time creating my own products and blog posts.

Finding New Followers

(Try Keith’s “TWITTER 3030” System)

Keith’s recommendation is to “follow 30 people per day for 30 days” and I have found that about 80% of people follow me back and I think that’s because the people I follow are highly targeted and very relevant to my niche.

To find new followers I choose the people I really resonate with and admire and see who they follow, and follow some of their tribe back. I started out with a measly sum of 17 followers who consisted mainly of family and friends. Approximately 5 weeks later, as I write this article, I have 359 relevant followers and that number continues to grow day by day. I follow a few people every few days or so.

I follow approximately 20 - 30 each day now but sometimes less if the demands of the day get in the way.

Either way there is no doubt about it - Keith’s system “REALLY WORKS”

Keith Keller - The “Global” Twitter King

Despite Keith being in Melbourne, Australia, and me being in the UK, I connect with him most mornings and can honestly say he is one of the most generous and passionate people I have met on Twitter. He oozes enthusiasm and is constantly testing out new tools to enhance the Twitter experience which he is more than willing to share with others. Sharing really is his buzz-word.

I highly recommend you download Keith’s workbook & 10 part podcast series:

“Crack The Twitter Code”

Meet Kate Hartley

Kate Hartley runs Flourish Therapy, a therapy-based company in the UK, offering a wide range of therapies for the mind and body. Kate is a great proponent of positivity and derives enormous passion in helping others to live their best lives possible.

Kate offers an ever-expanding range of hypnosis downloads and is creating an online course specifically designed to help anxious teenagers overcome anxiety-related problems as well as writing a series of therapy-based self-help books.

Kate sees many of her clients face to face, but understands the vital importance of having a global reach. The digital age is truly upon us and offers great rewards for those willing to learn and adapt to new technologies.

Keith Keller will help you along your journey. I am truly grateful to him for how he generously shares his top tools and tips for Twitter.