The Why and When of Business Twittering

Making Twittering effective: what works, what doesn't

For the last couple of months I've been reading Tweets, and issuing a few of my own. There's no doubt in my mind that Twitter is a significant step forward in the evolution of the Web. So I've been paying attention to what people actually use Twitter for, when they use it, and what I find useful. I'm assuming here that we're talking about things in your work and business life that you're truly passionate about.

Tweets seem fall into a few, very distinguishable categories.

First, the "I'm doing this now.." variety. These are not usually very useful or interesting. Unless your followers are mainly a personal groups of friends or relatives, I'm afraid we're unlikely to be terribly interested that you are having a beer with your good friend Jack. Especially if that's your 7th Tweet of the day, and the others were like this one.

Second, the undisguised self-promotion variety. OK, if we've become your follower, we expect that you may be going to lots of Board meetings, or having lunch with important people. But there's no need to tell us, unless it relates to something very original, useful and informative.

Third, the "have you seen this web site?" variety. These Tweets can be very useful. But if the Web site is genuinely something really interesting that you think your followers would find valuable, then why not write a short review and put it on your blog, in addition to providing the link to the site in question. (You do have a blog, don't you?).

Fourth, the "glimpse into my personal life" Tweet. You know what I mean: "Feeling out of sorts today so working at home. A cup of coffee may fix me up"; or even more verging on the agony: "Just picking up the kids from West Witterpool Primary, planning special treat as it's Mathilda's birthday, so heading now for KidHeaven".

So what makes for interesting Twittering for your followers? Here's my stab at it:

1. Say something useful. Ask yourself what you've done, or about to do that could genuinely be of value to someone in your follower community. Twittering for business is about providing value. OK, hopefully it will expand your follower base so that you may attract more potential clients or customers, so show them what you have to offer that is really worth knowing. If not, shut up!

2. Tell us if you've made new and helpful connections. Promoting someone else in your list of contacts who has been genuinely helpful or original is worth saying. The person or organisation may also be of interest to your followers. But, of course, don't make personal references without being sure your contact is OK with this.

3. Say something insightful. What thoughts have you had that you hope are original? Tell us. But don't be surprised if we disagree. Be quotable.

4. Develop some themes. Tweet watchers will start to form a view based on what you have been saying anyway. So think about this in advance. Do my Tweets have a theme? Do they form some sort of on-going narrative of my ideas? Hopefully they do, and make sure you hashtag the key themes.

5. The occasional quote from sages present and past are always interesting, but don't overdo it. It can make you look, well, pretentious, and remember there are plenty of quotes sites out there that do it better.

We're all discovering what we like and dislike about the Tweets we subscribe to, and no doubt we'll change our minds a few times over the coming months. Let me know if you agree or not.