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• 
  Elizabeth Adams on Dec 24, 2010

  Hi, Ken …

  This list of 40 tips helps to fill in some “holes” in my understanding of how to use Twitter most effectively.

  I’ve already bookmarked it, and I’d like to get your answers to a couple of questions it sparked in my mind.

  Would you mind if I asked them?

  In Tip #26, you say: “Hashtag(#) the most important keyword in every tweet.”

  Do you mean to actually type the “#” sign in front of each important keyword? May I ask why? And where would you recommend a person go, if they wanted to get up to speed on hastags generally?

  In Tip #27, you say: “Create, and start populating, at least *three* Twitter Lists.”

  What do you mean by “start populating”? Is there a reliable resource you’d recommend regarding Twitter Lists?

  In Tips #31, #33, and #35, you say:

  “When you directly engage or reply to people on Twitter, always use .@TwitterHandle instead of @TwitterHandle at the beginning of your tweet so that your tweet can be seen by everyone. —— When crediting someone, use /@TwitterHandle (instead of RT or via) to save characters. —— Retweet “manually” — i.e., do not use the Twitter retweet function, as it does not allow you to add your own comment.”

  These “insider” user’s tips are great, but I don’t know what you mean when you say “retweet manually.” I’d really appreciate a clarification. How do I do that?

  Thank you very much for sharing this list …

  warmest regards …

  Elizabeth

  P.S.

  I notice you have this page on your blog: http://socialgrowblog.com/category/online-profiles/

  It reminded me of something I’ve been wanting to know more about:

  Could I put in a “special request” for an article or report by you about something I’ll call “Profile Marketing”? I don’t know if this is the right term or not, but what’s on my mind is all these “profiles” one fills out on social networks and article directories and forums and so on. Shouldn’t they be “coordinated” somehow? Do you have a list tips for writing effective profiles like you do for writing effective tweets?

  

• 
  Ken Herron on Dec 25, 2010

  Hi Elizabeth,



  Thank you for your comment, and all the great questions. I know they will help other readers to get more use out of their use of Twitter.



  Let me take a shot at addressing each of them:



  Tip #26 Hashtags
  “Hashtagging” the top keyword(s) in your tweet — e.g., #SEO, #SMM, #puppies — will help people who are searching for those specific hashtags to “find” your tweet. To learn more about hashtags, I recommend reading: http://mashable.com/2009/05/17/twitter-hashtags/.



  Tip #27 Twitter Lists
  You will get more “oomph” out of your lists on Twitter if you make a point of regularly adding new people to them. To learn more about hashtags, I recommend reading: http://mashable.com/2009/11/02/twitter-lists-guide/.



  Tip #35 Retweeting
  Twitter gives you the option to click on their “Retweet” button which will automatically send a tweet along the lines of “RT @username Their Tweet”. While quick and easy, Twitter’s retweet button does not allow you to add your own thoughts to the original tweet. Instead of using Twitter’s button, “manually” retweet the tweet by including your own comment, the text you want to retweet, and credit to the author.



  And finally, your question on “profile marketing” is a good one. To follow up on this post on Twitter, we are working on a blog post on using Facebook. Also, http://mashable.com and http://hubspot.com are both great resources as each social network has its own unique attributes. To pull all of them together, I like Google Profiles (see: http://www.slideshare.net/KenHerron/how-to-leverage-your-google-profile).



  -Ken

• 
  Elizabeth Adams on Dec 26, 2010

  Hi, Ken …

  Thank you for your reply! I’ve got more noodling out to do before I can say I’m on top of hashtags and lists and profiles, but I think I’ve got a handle on retweets and replies.

  Retweets:

  (1) If I’m feeling lazy and just want to do a quick retweet on the fly, then I click the “retweet” link in somebody’s tweet. This puts *their* tweet in my timeline on my home page.

  (2) But if I’ve got a few extra seconds to spare, then I go to my “What’s Happening” screen and start off a new tweet with a slash “/” followed by “@” followed by “TwitterHandle” and drop in a copy/paste of the original tweet, or type in my own spin on it, or both. This puts *my* tweet (about their tweet) in my timeline on my home page.

  (3) When I compare the results of methods (1) and (2) above as they are displayed on my *profile* page, I discover that there are other differences besides just your name and picture in (1) and my name and picture in (2). When I click on the little arrow in the upper right-hand corner of each tweet, I see that the right-hand sidebar contains more of *your* tweets when I use Method (1), and more of *my* tweets when I use Method (2)!

  QUESTION:

  What is the most important point to “take away” from this? That it’s better to retweet “manually” than “automatically” because it gives you an opportunity to add value to the content and thereby to the conversation? That it’s an opportunity to get you and/or your brand even more exposure? Or both?

  And if so, then where does that leave the Klout.com service you recommend in Tip #12 above? Its “Amplify” metric seems to be based on one’s volume of retweets and replies. If I do an end run around retweets with “/@” and replies with “.@”, then wouldn’t I be basically sandbagging that metric?

  Just between ourselves, I don’t care whether I sandbag it or not. I am, however, interested in your spin on whether Tip #12 is likely to be affected by Tips #31, #33 and #35?

  Also, Klout.com seems to make a distinction between “Retweets” and “Unique Retweets” … by any chance, is a “Unique Retweet” the same thing as your “/@” manual retweet?

  Thanks in advance for clearing these things up!

  warmest regards …

  Elizabeth

  P.S.

  Would it be feasible for you to include a couple of add-ons for the benefit of your commenters?

  One that I would really appreciate is a box to check
  to notify me by email when there’s been a reply.
  Another is an option to preview a comment first before submitting it.

  It’s just a suggestion.

  

  .

• 
  Elizabeth Adams on Dec 29, 2010

  Hi, Ken …

  With respect to “hashtags,” in the process of studying them, I came across some “real life” examples of how they can be used by groups of people to accomplish something really big.

  Dutch airline KLM agreed to add a flight to its schedule on March 21, 2011 for people attending the Ultra Music Festival there, if #Fly2Miami could get 351 seats reserved before December 6th, which they did, so it’s on! http://www.fly2miami.nl/en

  Also, I discovered an organization called #Avaaz that has 6,547,805 members worldwide who “take action on pressing issues of international concern, from global poverty to the crises in the Middle East to climate change.” http://www.avaaz.org “Avaaz has a single, global team with a mandate to work on any issue of public concern–allowing campaigns of extraordinary nimbleness, flexibility, focus, and scale.”

  “Avaaz staff write email alerts to the Avaaz community the way that an aide briefs a president or prime minister: we have just a moment to convey the vital information the reader needs in order to decide whether to get involved, and the campaign hinges on that decision.”

  “… underlying Avaaz campaigns is a set of values—the conviction that we are all human beings first, and privileged with responsibilities to each other, to future generations, and to the planet. The issues we work on are particular expressions of those commitments. And so, over and over, Avaaz finds the same thing: that people who join the community through a campaign on one issue go on to take action on another issue, and then another. This is a source of great hope: that our dreams rhyme, and that, together, we can build the bridge from the world we have to the world we all want.”

  I decided to join and get some practical experience in hashtags!

  warmest regards …

  Elizabeth

  P.S.

  In the time it took me to write this comment,
  47 more people joined!

  

• 
  Ken Herron on Jan 9, 2011

  Elizabeth,



  Thank you for your follow-up comments on retweeting and hashtags!



  That’s a great question on the pros and cons of doing “manual” or “traditional” retweets vs. using Twitter’s “automated” retweet button. You are correct in that each of us need to decide for ourselves whether the value of adding our own comments to someone’s tweet and having our Twitter handle and avatar show up in our followers’ timelines outweighs the undercounting of Klout and other Twitter social influence programs because we’re not “officially” retweeting.



  Hashtags can be incredibly powerful for both creating groups on Twitter and for helping you to be “discovered” by people who are not yet following you. http://hashtags.org/ is a great resource if you’re not yet already using it.



  -Ken

• 
  #DearKen: Am I TOO Much of a Self-Promoter on Twitter? | mobilegroove on Apr 28, 2011

  [...] Thank you for your question.  Twitter “rules”, “guidelines”, and “best practices” are great fun for us marketers (especially considering that the golden rule of marketing is that there are no rules).  That doesn’t stop folks like Jeff and I, however, from regularly writing about Twitter do’s and don’ts. [...]

• 
  Cole Taylor on May 4, 2011

  Typo found |

  and will result in people already following you to unfollow you.

  consider changing to:
  and will result in people already following you unfollowing you.

• 
  Cole Taylor on May 5, 2011

  Typo found |

  To learn more about hashtags, I recommend reading: http://mashable.com/2009/11/02/twitter-lists-guide/.

  I think you meant, to learn more about lists …