Twitter for Newbies – Some Do’s and Don’ts

This post is from monthly contributor, Mama Kautz.

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Though I’m sure the majority of homeschool bloggers are already on Twitter, I know there are a few still getting their feet wet. If you’re one who is just venturing into the Twitter waters, I have some do’s and don’ts for you.

Do Add an Avatar

If there’s just an egg in your profile image, your chances of getting people to follow back are slim. No avatar tells me you don’t plan on sticking around or just aren’t that serious about Twitter.

Don’t Use Twitter Just to Complain

The occasional rant about the neighbor’s dog is fine, but husband and kid rants in every tweet? Not cool. What you put out there stays out there. Somewhere.

Do Interact

Twitter is great for promoting your content, but so is Pinterest. Use Twitter to interact with your readers or to learn from other bloggers.

Twitter is very different from when I started. I made great friends in the homeschool community back in the day. I am still friends with them today, but the interaction has changed. It would be nice to have that again.

A great way to make friends is to join a chat.

The #HSBloggers chat takes place most Tuesdays at 4pm ET (1pm PT) – be sure to add the Homeschool Blogging Event Calendar to your Google Calendar [click here to add it].

Don’t Overuse Hashtags

#Don’t #Overuse #Hashtags #In #Your #Tweets. It’s okay to use 2 or even 3…but every word is overkill and makes the tweet hard to read.

Don’t DM (direct message) in Place of E-mail

Unsolicited DMs on Twitter are not professional… just my opinion. If you want to ask somebody to promote your post, use e-mail. While Twitter may be convenient, e-mail is showing you care enough to take the time to actually know their e-mail. Say hello while you are there.

Don’t Link ALL of Your Social Media

When I see a tweet which states, “link in comments” that means it’s from Facebook and I can’t see your link. This then means I have to go find your page on Facebook, which I probably am not going to bother doing.

If you need to cross-post, try using Hootsuite. It’s free for basic service and you can link all of your social media in one place, except personal G+ profiles.

I am definitely not a Twitter guru. These are just some things I have learned along the way. If you have anything to add, please, leave a comment.

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photo credit: Spencer E Holtaway via photopin cc