The Smart Tweeter

To tweet is easy, but to influence opinion on Twitter is not. Here’s how you can avoid getting lost.

Some of us already know what the likes of Shashi Tharoor, ‘junior Bachchan’ and other celebrities do with Twitter: keep in touch, give their superstar selves a more approachable face and collect followers like sheep. But are they doing it right? And does it matter?

Matter it does. Your tweets already appear in internet search results. Before long, when someone is looking for the lowdown on you, they’ll also check Twitter. It helps, then, to get on the same page and do it properly.

On the surface, tweeting seems really simple: craft little messages no longer than 140 characters. But simple it isn’t. You have to keep it short, make sense, stand out in the stream of consciousness coming through, elicit a response and make people RT (re-tweet) your ‘gems’. Phew. Here are some ‘dos and don’ts’ that can help you get all this done.

Don’t pitch yourself. Start conversations: It’s not easy to sell on Twitter. But you can pique curiosity. And elicit opinions. The Mahindras do this kind of ‘conversation-marketing’ well via the ‘tweefile’ (Twitter profile) of their CEO, Anand Mahindra. The language, though, is most un-Mahindra.

‘Life-cast’ in style: Everybody combs their hair, clips nose-hairs, has breakfast, reads the paper and gets stuck in traffic. A lot of people even tweet about this. It’s called ‘life-casting.’ You’re probably thinking this kind of ‘sharing’ has no place in the tweets of an ‘important person’ (if you happen to be one), right? Wrong. These tweets show your human side and get people to relate to you on a personal level. Take this tweet from the junior B’s tweefile: ‘Spent the morning with pa. WHY ARE PARENTS ALWAYS RIGHT??!!’ It’s personal, but appealing enough for most people to relate to. It’s a complete story in 140 characters and manages to plug his latest movie. Remarkable.

Next week: Three more tips for a comprehensive 5-point tweeting strategy

About The Author

Avinash Subramaniam