For many new Twitter accountholders, the other Tweeters may as well be writing in some sort of alien language. Seriously, what is with all this ‘@’ and ‘#’ and tagging and weird links with scrambled numbers and letters business? But just like with any foreign language, the best way to become fluent quickly is by submerging yourself directly into the culture and interacting with native speakers. But without a foundation of basics to start with, you aren’t going to get anywhere. Below we’ve outlined a few essential, foundation-building Twitter tips to help you start your own conversations in the “Twittersphere” without too much fear of the language barrier.
1. Do NOT exceed the 140 character limit.
You only get 140 characters on Twitter. That’s it! If you exceed the character limit and schedule the tweet anyway, Twitter will automatically cut off the end of your tweet at 140 characters. Learn to utilize space as effectively as possible by reworking your message, leaving out unnecessary words and abbreviating when appropriate. (Abbreviations are usually welcomed on Twitter!) It is also essential to shrink all your links using a platform like Hootsuite or bit.ly. (Wondering why all those links have funny characters? They’ve been “shrunk!”)
2. Use the @ sign before other users’ Twitter handles.
The at (@) symbol is used to tag a Twitter ‘handle’ or username (ex: @TheCoreBlog). So your ‘handle’ consists of your name following an ‘@’ symbol. You must first type the ‘@’ sign before someone’s username in order to tag them in a Tweet.
3. Include shortened links.
Twitter is a great way to drive people to your web content and give them even more info, so if you can include a relevant link, do it! For example: if you want to tweet about your new pinterest board featuring back to school recipes, make sure you include a link to your board so your followers know where to go. Use a link shrinker like the one provided in Hootsuite or Google’s URL Shortener to shorten your link and save character space.
4. Utilize hashtags (#) for searchability.
Hashtags help categorize your tweets by topic so that other users tweeting about the same topic can find you (Ex: #FreshProduce). Before using a hashtag, search to see if it has traffic and if other people are tweeting about the same topic. Use appropriate hashtags where you can, but don’t overload your tweet with them either. Everything in moderation, right?
5. Refrain from tagging yourself.
There is rarely a need to tag yourself in a tweet. Whenever you compose a tweet, your handle (ex: @TheCoreBlog) will be included at the beginning of the Tweet, so your followers will know it’s coming from you. Tagging yourself again just wastes those precious characters and risks making you look like you’re trying to get mentions, making people think you are spam!
6. Pay attention to spacing.
Remember to be careful of spacing around links, handles and hashtags in Twitter! If you miss putting a space between the beginning of one word and a hashtag or a link, it renders the entire link or hashtag useless!
7. Manage multiple accounts efficiently and effectively.
We may be getting ahead of ourselves here, but if you have multiple accounts to manage and want to schedule tweets in advance, we recommend using a Twitter management platform likeTweet Deck or Hootsuite. These lifesaving tools streamline your work and help you monitor multiple Twitter feeds at once. When you use these programs, it is important to remain conscious of which account you are tweeting from before scheduling or sending your tweet. Make sure the correct account is selected and double check every time. Once you have confirmed that it will fly out to the right network, tweet away.
Now that you’ve got the basics down, take the plunge and develop your own “Twitter-speak” and personality. Then, incorporate some strategy and before long you’ll be fluent too!
What are the biggest language barriers you’ve encountered in Twitter? Share with us and we’ll be glad to translate for you!
Posted by: The Promoter (Mackenzie Michel)
