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“7 Must-Ask Questions About Twitter for Business – Mindful or Mindless Connections?”
by Marian Sparks
If you currently tweet for business, then you might feel like you could be using Twitter better. Ask yourself these 7 questions to determine whether you are making mindful connections that may prove fruitful down the road. Or whether you are making mindless connections that simply take you away from your business priorities.
1 – Do you connect with your followers on a personal level?
If all you’re doing is clicking “follow” and then moving on to the next person, you’re not “connecting”. You’re silently following or “lurking”. There’s nothing wrong with that. Just know that it’s tough for people to get to know you if you’re sitting on the sidelines. Mindful connections are about reaching out to the person and saying what you both have in common. Here’s a sample tweet to send the personal who followed you back:
“@username So xcited 2 connect! We share X in common.” (51+ characters)
2 - Do you introduce your followers to one another?
Your followers are building their businesses too! So if you know that Jack should meet Jill because they share Y in common. Guess what? Introduce Jack and Jill! They’ll remember you for having made the introduction. And you followers will see you loosely as a connector. You’ll never know who Jack and Jill might introduce you to.
Here’s a sample tweet: ”@Jack Have u met @Jill? U share X 2gether!” (42+ characters)
3 - Do you recommend people to follow?
#followfriday is a conversation that takes place on Fridays where people recommend other people. Now, it’s your turn to recommend Person A for Reason Y. Granted some people will tweet “Follow @XYZ,@ABC,@DEF, they’re great.” But how valuable is that? – -i.e. do you know anything specific about this person? What makes them great? Does their idea of great mesh with yours?
Here’s a sample tweet: “Tweeps focused on connecting @ personal level @abc @def #followfriday” (70+ characters)
4 - Do you respond to tweets, particularly those addressed to you?
Although Twitter can be used to provide status updates, if that’s all you’re doing, you’re missing out on highly robust tool for communicating and developing relationships. Stop ‘talking’ to yourself. Start conversing with others. Reply when someone uses your name in a tweet. Respond when someone says attention-worthy. But when you do, explain how you found the tweet valuable. It’s a great way to start building a relationship.
5 - Do you share relevant information and links?
Or are you hoarding all the fascinating articles and resources for yourself? If you stumble upon a great article, tool or continuing education event that you think will be useful to your business followers, send a tweet. Just make sure you provide context for your tweet.
6 - Do you retweet what someone else has said?
Retweeting is like forwarding. And when you retweet, it signals you’re listening. Doing so means you’re listening and found the information valuable. But before you start retweet, consider if the content would be relevant to your followers. Then add your opinion (a word or three). You might need to abbreviate the tweet first. [Think about the worthless email you've received from friends or colleagues. They just forwarded "stuff" with out an explanation! Don't be like that!]
7 - Do you measure more than your number of followers?
It’s so easy to focus on how many people you follow and how many people are following you back. And if you’re in a popularity contest, then may be that’s appropriate. People do business with people they know, like and trust. Let your followers experience YOU. So you’ll become top of mind the next time they need a service you can provide. You want people to introduce you. You want them to recommend you. And you want them to retweet your tweets. Is that happening?
These relationship building tactics have resulted in a continuing education opportunity (worth $1997)–the face-to-face connections will be priceless—and a corporate-sponsored speaking engagement leading to follow-on business. It’s your turn! Answer these questions. And use one of these tips right now.
© 2009 Marian Sparks and SparkActionNow.com
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: And if you’re ready to discover Twitter for business, join the priority notification list for the next VIP teleseminar. You’ll also be first in line when Marian Sparks releases her sizzling new ebook on how to use Twitter to connect, engage and interact with your market. Get notified: http://sparkactionnow.com/viplist
WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE? See Marian’s Spark Action Now blog.
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t, action mentor and consultant. She sparks strategic action that moves busy solo-preneurs, independent professionals and small business owners from where they are to where they desire to be with their business.