There are many brilliant tweeps in Twitter Town who have far more expertise in this area than I do however recently I was brainstorming (a scary thought I know…) about ways we could use Twitter more as speakers and it inspired this list, maybe something on here will inspire you also.
Today I read ‘Getting Geeeky with Twitter‘ by Twitter legend @Gina Schreck, I believe this is compulsory reading for anyone involved in Twitter. I also loved this article she wrote for Twitter Twirgins (first timers)
Research first – learn all you can, watch others and know the basics so you can use it well.
Determine why you will use it – is it a connection strategy for you and your audiences?
Watch and learn from others – find a few of the Twitter experts and see how they use it. I like @GinaSchreck, @mpaynknoper, @LinkedInExpert @ChrisBrogran, @nametagscott
Know the terms – find out the meaning of the commonly used terms and phrases on Twitter.
Invest 15 minutes – when you start out invest 15 minutes in the morning and at night staying in touch.
Visit regularly – don’t just pop in monthly or weekly, make it a part of your daily activity.
Create value for your followers – share nuggets, interesting facts, blogs you find useful, resources that will help the lives of your followers.
Engage in conversations – don’t just spew out content, have conversations with people, reply to your mentions and connect (it is very productive in 140 characters or less).
Avoid being arrogant – we don’t need to know all your successes, but we do want to know about you. You wouldn’t spend a whole conversation talking about yourself (would you?) so use Twitter like a two way conversation with your audience members.
Use direct message – if you want to reach out to someone directly simply write a D in front of their Twitter handle and you can connect privately with them. Just like email.
Use the hash tag for your event – this is a great way to engage in conversations before you arrive at the event, share resources, create excitement and follow up after you have spoken.
Check out What the hash tag – great tool for the transcript, see who is actively tweeting and find out more about the event.
Use keywords in your profile – ensure your profile is keyword rich.
Ask your audience to turn their cell phones ‘ON’ – Encourage your audience to tweet while you speak and provide the conference hash tag.
Share information that is ‘tweet worthy’ – when you say something remarkable or clever tell your audience ‘now that is tweet worthy’ and give them a moment to share that with their followers.
Share your twitter handle – write it on your flipchart, include it in your slides and on your handouts and also in your QR codes.
Use Tweetdeck to help manage all your tweets and follow conversations – great video here: from @GinaSchreck
Always ask clients what the hash tag is for your conference – this will help you spread the word for the marketing team.
Send the transcript after the event – using What the Hashtag to share this great resource.
Prepost tweets – you can have tweets appearing while you are presenting – that makes you look really clever… or is a bit scary… hmm. You can use tools like Tweet Later
If you are attending #NSAUN or presenting at NSAUN – maybe you can incorporate some of these suggestions?
So try it out, choose 2 things and try them today.
