Comments on: How I Use Twitter – A Social Media How-To for Home Energy Pros

By: Allison Bailes

Allison Bailes — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 01:41:48 +0000

Thanks, Steve. Yep. Chris
Thanks, Steve. Yep. Chris Brogan knows what he's talking about. He's one of the gods of social media.

By: Allison Bailes

Allison Bailes — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 01:40:02 +0000

Graeme, I didn't go into this
Graeme, I didn't go into this level of detail about using Twitter, but the key to managing the stream of tweets when you're following a lot of people is to use lists. I never look at the main feed that shows all the tweets from all the people I follow. I've created several of my own lists, and I also follow some lists from a few others. That allows you to dive down into the tweets that interest you most. Also, it's something that's fluid. I'm always adding people to my lists and moving them around among lists. The main one I watch is my A List.

It's still important, IMHO, to follow the others because some of them may not seem like the best people to follow at first, but, as they say, appearances can be deceiving. Also, as I said in the article, some people will look at your ratio and say, well, they're not going to follow me back, so I'm not going to follow them (as is my policy).

Besides using lists, I also keep a close on tweets that I get mentioned in and when my tweets get retweeted. That's how I decide to move people into or around in my lists sometimes, too.

By: Steve Byers

Steve Byers — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 01:01:40 +0000

Excellent post Allison!
Excellent post Allison! Chris Brogan's blog is a great resource and not just for SocMob issues.

By: Graeme Nix

Graeme Nix — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 23:14:06 +0000

Great post. The Be Real
Great post. The Be Real section most resonates for me. When I'm decided whether to follow or not, I don't want to see a list of RT's or links to articles. I also want to see discussions, thoughts, original opinion.

I disagree on the reciprocation issue, however. I see Twitter as another way to build relationships, and the more people you know, the less time you have to really "know" them. When I go through my Twitter feed, my hope is that every link or post is something I'm interested in. I follow people who have something to say that I care about. I hope people that follow me care about what I have to say.

To use your example, if someone has 1500 followers, good, they might have something interesting to say. But I don't expect them to follow 1500 people. I actually would prefer to "Following 120, Followers 1500".

But hey... that's what works for me. Hope Bootcamp when well!

By: Allison Bailes

Allison Bailes — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 22:53:22 +0000

Thanks, Chris, Chris, &
Thanks, Chris, Chris, & Melanie!

Chris K., yes, you'll definitely have fewer followers than following for a while when you get on Twitter, but if you use it effectively, that turns around.

Melanie, I believe all the PowerPoint presentations will be posted online afterward. Also, you can follow the Twitter stream live at #ACI11.

By: Melanie Grove

Melanie Grove — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 22:10:37 +0000

Thanks for the tips! I
Thanks for the tips! I especially liked the graph for the blogging -- it really works! I'm a freelance copywriter now, but I worked for seven years as a carpenter and still do marketing for my company. We're entering the Home Performance field now, and were at last year's ACI Conference in Austin. So sorry to be missing the Social Media Bootcamp! Will highlights be posted later?

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:50:57 +0000

Great article! I'm still
Great article! I'm still trying to figure Twitter out as we have a lot of uniques per month, but very few twitter followers. You've hit on a lot of great tips, but the key is you just have to spend time and build relationships, something you've done a great job of. Many people think you can just hop on twitter and get a bunch of followers, but it doesn't really work that way unless you are famous. You have to add value to the site to get the followers. My original strategy of just following a bunch of people hoping they would follow me didn't work out so well and is not a good strategy at all.

By: Chris Laumer-Giddens

Chris Laumer-Giddens — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:31:06 +0000

Great post, AB3! It's been
Great post, AB3! It's been fun to watch the traffic growth! Let's keep it up.

I just learned this week from the webinar about social media and the science of timing (#TimeSci) that if want to check the stats of the links you Tweet (via bit.ly), enter the shortened url in the web browser address bar and add "+" to the end of it. It shows how many times it has been clicked by day, and in which country!

Just one more tracking mechanism!

Hope the Boot Camp goes well tonight!