Twitter: How to get started and gain a healthy following?

A LinkedIn Question Via Rick Cram:

QUESTION: Cameron, what do you recommend to newcomers of Twitter, in terms of what to do first, how to get started, and how to gain a healthy list of followers?

1. When you sign up for Twitter use your name (@firstlast) or a catchy (easy to write) Twitter Handle.

2. If you choose to use a brand name make sure you note who is tweeting from the account on the profile.

3. People like following people so be a person first and a brand second.

4. Whether you post a picture of yourself (preferred) or a logo/brand image make sure it represents you well.

5. When you tweet, treat your Twitter stream like a magazine or newspaper.  Your tweets should be 80% interesting and relevant content targeted towards your main audience with only 20% or less of your tweets talking about yourself or your brand.

6. When listening to see what is useful and relevant follow hashtags like #eventprofs for Event Professionals and #assnchat for Associations.  Use these hashtags in your tweets to be seen by these relevant audiences.  When onsite at a conference make sure you follow and tweet the hashtag for the conference(i.e. #WEC11).  Strike quickly when the opportunity arrises to follow popular discussions to discover and follow your relevant audience.  If you are relevant to them they will follow you back!

You can also use tools like Twellow but you will get the most out of Twitter by actually interacting, sharing, promoting others and fostering relationships that start online and continue off!

Here is a resource to find Twitter Apps: TwitterEye

I hope that is helpful.

Cameron