How to Improve Your Tweeting Skills

Posted: November 12, 2010

What can you achieve with just 140 characters in your tweets? The answer depends on how effectively you use your words while tweeting. Even a short and simple tweet written effectively has the makings of a bestseller on Twitter while a mediocre tweet is likely to be given a pass by most Twitter users. Many people ask me how they can improve their tweeting skills. I recommend the following guidelines in order to become an effective tweeter.

Keep it Simple

Twitter is not for users who like to beat around the bush. Tweets must be concise and to the point. They should convey a message rather then be random ramblings. 140 characters are more than enough to leave a good impression on your followers so make the best out of them.

While Twitter allows 140 characters for a tweet, I recommend limiting your tweets to 100 characters. This ensures that your tweets do not get truncated when others retweet them. Long tweets typically require editing before they can be retweeted and trust me, most users hate to edit messages in order to retweet them.

Be Positive, don’t crib

Twitter is all about interacting with people. People hate it when you crib about personal issues when you talk about them or write about them. Sound positive in your tweets. Your tweets are a reflection of your brand and your personality.

Most people prefer to follow users who’ve impressive profiles with positive tweets rather than tweeters who use Twitter as a medium for cribbing and complaints.

Be Witty

While being to the point is advisable, a dose of humor can work wonders for your tweets. Most people love a tinge of wit in messages. Write something funny without sounding negative or abusive. Most people (myself included) love to retweet such messages. Use your sense of humor and be original rather than copying stuff from elsewhere.

Bring a smile to other’s faces through your tweets. No one likes plain and boring tweets so make sure to be innovative and witty.

Use Third Person Narrative

IMO, there’s too much of “I” and “Me” going on Twitter. Not everybody appreciates such narratives. Third person narratives are usually written keeping the readers in mind and they appeal more to readers than first person narratives.

Write your Tweets the way readers want to read them, not the way you want to write them.

Don’t Be Pushy

Don’t over do it and don’t sound pushy in your tweets. I’ve seen many brands oversell themselves on Twitter and it just doesn’t work. If anything, it causes harm to your reputation as a brand.

It’s crucial to know your limits and decide on what should be tweeted and what’s shouldn’t be tweeted. Twitter is not a commercial platform. There’s no harm in trying to sell something on Twitter as long as your tweets get the message across in an appealing way without offending the readers.

Use bit.ly

When you’ve to use URLs in your tweets, make sure to use the bit.ly service. Further, I don’t recommend putting the bit.ly URL at the end of your tweets as it might get truncated when your messages get retweeted by others.

Do you have any other interesting tips to share for improving tweeting skills? If so, please leave a comment here. I’ll be happy to hear from you.

Biz Tip Source: SMedio

About the Author: Douglas Idugboe is a New Media and Social Web Evangelist, Bestselling Author, Marketing Strategist, Speaker and Trainer. You can find Douglas on Twitter.