Be a Most Valuable Tweeter

Are you a valued Tweeter? Do you find and share things on your Twitter account that people like to read and then share with more people? If so, you’ve become a Valued Tweeter.

If not, let’s explore the concept a bit further to see if there is some way to put a box around what it takes to be a Valued Tweeter in the tradeshow world.

First, know your audience. Why are they following you? If you’re Andy Borowitz, your followers just want to get a nice chuckle. If you’re following The Expert, you want to be amused and informed and perhaps even outraged. If you’re Robert Scoble, your followers want to find out the coolest and latest tech news, along with your comments and insight.

So, who is following you? What have you been providing since you first joined Twitter? Are you offering just a few lame pedestrian tweets a week that gives no one a reason to come back or re-tweet? Or are you focusing on a handful of strategies that shows followers you’re really thinking about this Twitter thing?

Secondly, focus on what you want people to know you for. That’s your Twitter Brand. If you’re spending your tweets discussing that falefel sandwich you had for lunch or posting a Twitpic of your cat lazily lying in the sun, that’s WHO YOU ARE. If, on the other hand, you’re putting out a nice balanced mix of business and personal tweets along with links to posts, videos and other things that you find interesting, that’s what you’ll be known for.

What is your Twitter Brand?

Third, pay attention to what your followers are tweeting. If they’re tweeting about it, they’re obviously interested in it. The only caveat here is that if any particular followers tend to send out spammy, promo-laden tweets, chances are they really aren’t interested in your stuff. You’ll have to do some mental filtering of the type of posts here.

Fourth, REALLY pay attention to the type of material that gets responses and gets re-tweeted. And keep looking for similar types of tweets or posts to share. For instance, when I blogged about QR Codes, those posts tended to get re-tweeted and commented on several times. So I look for more QR Code posts and information to share.

Fifth, when you’re getting set to attend a tradeshow, focus on material that revolves around the show. Find the hashtag – it’s usually pretty easy to do if you just ask people that are going to the show. Then include the hashtag in all of your show-related tweets. Regularly search the hashtag to follow any conversation relating to the show – and follow those Twitter accounts of people going to the show. Most of them will eventually follow you back, so you now have more followers that relate in some way to your business world.

Sixth, as you approach a tradeshow that you’re either attending or interested in, the chatter relating to the show gets noisier and quicker. Depending on the size of the show, you’ll have a hard time keeping up! But if you can participate in any of the conversation in a valuable way, you’ll show the attendees that you are a Valued Tweeter. Offer insight into local restaurants, hotels, travel tips; links to blog posts about previous show experiences, etc.

Seventh, keep in mind that if you want to make Twitter valuable you have to show up there on a regular basis. Checking in once or twice a day should be fine. Checking in once or twice a month is not worth it. If that’s all you can do, don’t bother to get involved.

Finally – pick up the phone and call a Twitter follower once a week. What, pick up the phone and make it personal? Sure, why not? Find someone that looks interesting – no doubt you can find someone like that in your dozens, hundreds or thousands of followers. Do a little research, pick up the phone and say HELLO. Find out more about their business. Don’t worry about trying to sell something to them. If you plan to do that, you’ll intimidate them and they won’t want to talk to you. You’ll leave a bad taste in their mouth.

If, on the other hand, you ask how you can help them – if you genuinely would like to find out what they want to succeed in business, you might find a way to give them a hand or refer them to a potential client. Yeah, I know, it’s sort of counter-intuitive. But if you offer to help people, they’ll find ways to reciprocate. Ask them to describe their perfect client. Ask them to tell you about their favorite projects. Learn about them, and you personalize the tweets. Next time they see one of your tweets (and you see one of theirs), you’ll have a greater connection, perhaps even a nice emotional connection to the person.

You’ve just become a Most Valuable Tweeter.