My Twitter Philosophy – about Tweets
Maybe this should also be called “Twitter Sensibility and Rambling”
Or “Twittering with a Purpose”?
By the way: my Twitter account is AdWordsGuru (feel free to follow me!)
Now onto the show …
As I’ve done more tweets and seen other accounts, I’ve noticed that there are widely different sensibilities out there – reflecting how people think you should tweet, follow, etc
As for tweet content:
Approach 1: random
Most people seem to just put “whatever”, or pass on whatever.
I think that’s great if you’re a celebrity (even a D-list one). People are interested. They want to know what you had for breakfast. Who you’re seeing. What club you’re going to. How you’re feeling. Not my thing to follow that, but I can still respect it
Approach 2: useful information
I fall into this camp. Maybe some stuff is “hey this is cool, check it out”, other is “this is good info”. And of course some promotional stuff: “hey, I’ve got this new …”
I should probably go at least a little into approach 1. At least to give some personality. Maybe not saying what I’m having for breakfast. But posting some things that are more fun commentary.
From looking at Internet Marketing Twitter accounts, I do like Yanik Silver’s
He gives some good “check this out” info, but also gives some bits about what he’s doing and commentary.
Like one tweet mentioned how he was going “unplugged” (no computer) for a week. Yeah, it’s about him. But it also makes you wonder “could I do the same?” or “how can I make my internet business such that I can do that too?”
There is one affiliate marketing guru I recently found, who’s blog has great info. I’d give it, but I’m about to bag on his tweets, so I’ll keep myself out of trouble! (not one of the “big names”, so you probably wouldn’t recognize the name anyway)
I was all set to click the “follow” button on his twitter page, and then I looked at the posts.
I lot of random stuff I didn’t care about. And a number of political posts about his state politics.
<mini-rant>
First of all, I hate seeing political posts unless you’re really about politics and/or a comedian. If you’re Al Frankin or Jon Stewart, then great. Otherwise, leave it out. You’ll probably alienate about half your audience – so I’m helping you out here.
</mini-rant>
But worse than being about politics, it’s about his particular state.
If he was going for a local audience that would be a little more understandable. But he’s talking to a worldwide one about internet marketing (or at least that’s what he’s trying to be about)
I’m not saying don’t care or be involved. But why not just start another account that’s just about your local politics, if that’s a big topic for you?
I guess I should draw another distinction:
Are you tweeting for a purpose, or just for fun?
If for a purpose (even if it’s “just” to give good information out) then please consider what audience you want to be talking to, and what they might like.
Give some fun miscellaneous stuff. But if you’re about to do a tweet about what socks you put on today, maybe ask how many people want to know, before posting it!
By-the-way I had Muesli cereal for breakfast today, with plain (not vanilla) soy milk, if you were curious 