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The majority of people that I’ve connected with on Twitter have said the #1 social media place that they’ve gained the most business from is……Twitter, hands down. (keep in mind all of them were also on other sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc) So I started asking why..

One of the common replies is… (and I am paraphrasing here) Twitter provides immediate connections with like minded people who embrace collaboration (win/win) opportunities and are seeking to partner up with one another. Sometimes these connections happen through referrals they might get through the initial connection. Sounds a bit like networking right, well it is but on steroids…

You see, the secret to connecting and networking on Twitter is to harness the power of your tweets. All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like, and trust.

On a side note, have you ever seen someone tweeting they can help you get thousands of followers fast on Twitter?
Or how they can help you fully automate your Twitter stream with push button marketing?
If so, run for the hills….

Here’s 3 reasons why your competitors are more successful on Twitter than you: Read the rest of this entry »

Skeeter recently brushed up on the point of using hashtags and keywords to reach more people in his article Mistakes to Avoid, at least reach quality people and not wallflowers (you know, the ones that rarely tweet, or could still be figuring out Twitter, or might even be brewing up a spell of spam.)

What I would like to do is share on how to focus on that more, connect, and actually influence those followers.

1. Finding followers – quality followers. These are the ones that are truly interested and want to connect on some level with others. Keywords and hashtags only go so far. In order to find quality followers, you should dig deeper by reading through profiles.. Places like Twellow are great, and you can look up keywords and hashtags on the Twitter search. Also, websites like Mashable, TechCrunch, WebProNews, other popular blogs, and even here at TwitterWatchdog, some people actually leave their Twitter username. If they have said something that catches your eye, you might want to follow them because they are the ones more likely to be quality followers.

2. Connect with followers. Auto DMs (automatic direct messages) are not always great to use. Some of the followers might not have followed you if your Auto DM is not something that relates to the topic they had stepped into and decided to follow. So, if you do Auto DMs – try using a general message that attracts them to know about you. For example, you could try a Twitter landing page on your site that says “Welcome Tweeps” and introduces yourself. The page could direct your visitors to either a blog, or certain places you think your visitors might be interested in seeing. For example, Graham Smith (@imjustcreative) has a nice landing page with a video introduction.

Of course, it is difficult to keep up with everyone if you have a lot of followers. The key is to make the effort. Try asking thought provoking questions, tweet interesting articles, and make an effort to read other’s tweets. While you might not respond to them all, you can respond to the ones that could bring in others to the conversation.

3. Influence followers. So, now that you have found followers, and then connected with them, you now need to influence them. Along this process, with finding and connecting, you have built yourself as a trustworthy person. Whether you are selling your product or just trying to get people to read your blog, you need to become a person that people see as very knowledgeable in your niche. That is what the leg work was before you became influential. All those blog posts with powerful information that you wrote, tweeted, and received feedback will pay off on some level. Eventually your followers will retweet and even recommend you. This is what you want to work on by producing quality work while also being consistent as a person. If you are all over the place, it is difficult for your followers to know what you want them to learn or even buy.

This is a process that you will rinse and repeat many times over, but will find one thing: you will build solid connections that will last.

Do you use this process? If so, how has it worked? If not, do you have a process that has worked for you?

Follow Nile Flores on Twitter – @blondishnet

Confused on how to use Twitter the right way?
Take advantage of this step by step Twitter System

A lot of people still miss the point of Twitter’s original functions. It was not exactly made to be a huge chatroom. Though having a conversation on Twitter is great, for some of your followers, it may make them unfollow you. There are people that believe having thousands of followers is the way to get ahead. It only does in your own mind if you do not influence anyone. Influencing your followers means engaging them in what you have to share.

I have put together a short Creed for Twitter Tweeps (“tweep” is the actual word for people who use Twitter.)

The Creed of a Twitter Tweep

1. You are not obligated to follow back everyone.

2. You are in control of your content, so make sure you are aware of articles you Retweet. Retweeting an article blindly could affect your trust if the article is not up to par with what your followers expect.

3. Do not expect others to follow you back even if you keep sending them tweets. It does not necessarily mean you are being ignored, but they may be a bit busy to respond to every tweet, especially celebrities on Twitter.

4. You should use Twitter for more than connecting with others. There are sites that send their articles through the Twitter stream that could prove beneficial to you or even just be of interest. (Be open and expand your knowledge.)

5. Advertising is okay, but excessive advertising is seen as spam. Be cautious and do not become a spammer.

6. (For Newbies) It is okay to have more than one Twitter account if you are a person who tweets as an individual, for a company, or even for a particular website if you have more than one website. (Example, I have 3 accounts I tweet under, in the process of making one for my webhosting and design company, and tweet for the company that I am a social media intern.)

7. Do tweet your blog articles to your followers. How will they know you if you do not share your content with them?

8. Be active and choose your conversations wisely. While someone might be offensive, it is best to just unfollow or block, and not give them the joy of your ire.

9. The number of followers are NOT important. It is the quality and trust. You can have thousands of followers, but what benefit is that when none of them have any interest in what you want to share? Without quality or trust, there is no influence among your followers.

Of course, there are more that can be added. I have left this a bit open so you, the reader might be motivated to add to this list.

Follow Nile on Twitter at @blondishnet.

Discover how to use Twitter the right way with a Proven Training and Support System to help you.

How to Make Your Blog Go Viral with Twitter feed

Here at TwitterWatchDog, we are always looking for different types of tools and applications to help you create a buzz around your personal and/or business website through the use of Twitter, and I think we may have come across a tool that can help you capitalize on just that. Read the rest of this entry »

Does Twitter Build Relationships that Draw us Closer?

- by Timothy Caron

In a recent article from the New York Times there is a lot of talk about the latest digital fad — “ambient awareness.” Being aware of hundreds or even thousands of other people’s lives, while still not knowing any of them.

So what is Ambient Awareness?

Kevin Thomspon (who has had a great deal of online teaching experience) states,

ambient awareness is ‘social presence,’ the connections with and awareness of connections within a group. This awareness creates a feeling of intimacy and community.

If we dig a little deeper into this type of awareness we find that Twitter is not just a community, but as Harold Rheingold puts it,

it’s an ecology in which communities can emerge. That’s where the tweets comes in: idle talk about news, weather, and sports is a kind of social glue that can adhere the networks of trust and norms of reciprocity from which community and social capital can grow.

Connecting on Twitter

We recently did a search for the term “Ambient Awareness” on Wikipedia and did not find anything for the exact phrase but did find something rather interesting in regards to “Ambient Intelligence” (which refers to electronic environments) when you read a little further in the definition we find that the electronic environments are not that far from a human environment, at least in regards to Twitter.

Here are some parallels to try and help you understand what I’m trying to get at.

Say for example you have a computer chip and that chip consists of many connections to different parts of your computer. This is called “networked integration.”

Twitter works in very much the same way, if we connect with our followers we in essence are building connections. And this is what Twitter should be used for.

The content that we put on twitter allows others to form an opinion about us, which makes it more personal, which then in turn allows us the opportunity to learn how to adapt or become more aware of the nature and demeanor of each person we come in contact with.

This starts the process of building relationships. When that relationship has been built, then we are better able to help or provide the information our followers are looking for.

So in answer to the question, Does Twitter Build Relationships that Draw us Closer?
Absolutely!

If it didn’t draw us closer you would not be reading this post right now. Case in point.

But think of this…
As you communicate your thoughts and ideas to your followers, think about how they perceive you and start tailoring your tweets that would engage your followers to respond to you. Without that response, there is no connection.

Think about this,
What would happen if you never spoke to the girl or boy next door, your teacher, your parents or even your doctor, would they ever get to know you or even build a relationship with you.

What’s your take?
I’d love to hear your comments.

Until next time, be on guard with Twitterwatchdog.

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Follow Skeeter Hansen @SkeeterHansen

Follow Your Pal Al Ferretti @AlFerretti

-by Al Ferretti and Skeeter Hansen

The secret to networking on Twitter is to harness the power of your tweets. All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like, and trust.

With that being said networking on Twitter is all about three core values; engaging, building relationships and providing value in your tweets.

7 Tips for Networking on Twitter

1. Engaging: You will make more friends and attract more followers by becoming interested in other people versus trying to get other people interested in you. The key to engaging with others on Twitter is making the other person feel important. A great way to connect with someone new is to give them a compliment. There’s always something nice to say about someone.

2. Building Relationships: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. With Twitter, People can get to know, like, and trust you much faster and more efficiently than traditional means of marketing by focusing on one major step when building relationships, the follow-up.

3. The Fortune is in the follow-up. Many successful business owners have discovered when following up with people has made all the difference to their business. If you don’t follow-up with people, your competitors will.

4. Providing Value: Your true worth is determined by how much more you provide in value than you take in payment. When you effectively engage and build relationships by providing value and give people what they want you will gain new and repeat customers with Twitter.

5. Be the referral source: by referring a persons business to other people. There is simply no better way to get someone to want to do something for you, than first doing something for them

6 Connecting: Before you connect with someone go to their blog/website and do some basic research. Visit their about page and send a tweet with a positive comment about them or their business. Doing this will show them you took the time and are being thoughtful.

7. Tweetups:This is an excellent opportunity to meet with multiple people at one time in person. Meeting your friends and followers in a group setting will give you the option to share ideas and take your relationships to the next level.

Using these 7 tips for networking on twitter can generate beneficial results for your business fast and it can also be a lot of fun.

Confused on how to use Twitter the right way?
Take advantage of this step by step Twitter System

Follow Skeeter Hansen @SkeeterHansen

Follow Your Pal Al Ferretti @AlFerretti