How to create a trustworthy and influential Twitter profile: What do the experts say?

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How to create a trustworthy Twitter profile: What do the experts say? Posted in Community Management, Social Media, Twitter, Concocted by Lauren Potgieter, 5 comments
Published on 12 November 2010

There are numerous articles surrounding Twitter and how beneficial or useless it might be to individuals, businesses and brands. The Twitter versus Facebook fiery debate will never end – but the truth is that they cannot be compared because they are so incredibly different.

They serve different purposes, attract different types of conversation and help communities communicate in different ways. When looking into the life of a Twitter(er) and ultimately, the lifespan and quality of a tweet – many people ask “How can I create an influence that will not be lost in 0.2 seconds?” I decided to compile some sturdy Twitter advice from some of my favourite Tweeting sources:

“Following Everyone = Following No One” Outspoken Media (@OutspokenMedia)

There will always be those people. The ones that are following pretty much everyone that follows them. A first look at their page makes you think they must be influential owing to the fact that they have 19434859248 followers but a look to the right shows you they are following 1943485924…9 people. Following millions of individuals will not gain you trust – it will make you look spammy. Try follow individuals whom are in your industry, those who you find funny and intelligent and contribute in a positive way to your Twitter stream. Too many followers will overwhelm you and you will not be able to sift through the Twitter clutter to find the Twitter gems.

Respond in Order to Engage – Mashable (@Mashable)

This might seem obvious to most of us, but think of like this. What do you think of a person when they do not return your calls or respond to your emails – a level of frustration is most likely to occur. Responding to your current followers will do two key things. It will help you gain trust with your current followers as they will see that you do not merely talk at them but with them. Also it will encourage others to follow you as they will see that your interaction means that you are a person using a social media platform to communicate – not to merely spam or rant.

Feed your networks – Read Write Web (@RRW)

This is all about finding and then giving. Do weekly searches around topics that interest you and then follow those people who are talking about those topics. Many individuals centre their Twitter profile around a certain niche (another great idea) and if these people are interested in the same things that you are, they will be a valuable add. Offer the people that are following you interesting quality links and suggest to your followers to follow a few of the same people that inspire you on Twitter (in a non-sucking up kind of way)

Twitter is an ever changing platform and just as unpredictable, you never know when a tweet will blow itself out of the water or merely settle down onto the ocean floor. Take time and effort to feed your Twitter and do not expect it to grow overnight – quality definitely takes the trophy over quantity here.There are numerous articles surrounding Twitter and how beneficial or useless it might be to individuals, businesses and brands. The Twitter versus Facebook fiery debate will never end – but the truth is that they cannot be compared because they are so incredibly different. They serve different purposes, attract different types of conversation and help communities communicate in different ways. When looking into the life of a twitter(er) and ultimately, the lifespan and quality of a tweet – many people ask “How can I create a influence that will not be lostin 0.2 seconds?” I decided to compile some sturdy Twitter advice from some of my favourite Tweeting sources -

“Following Everyone = Following No One” Outspoken Media (@OutspokenMedia)

There will always be those people: the ones that are following pretty much everyone that follows them. A first look at their page makes you think they must be influential owing to the fact that they have 19434859 followers but a look to the right shows you they are following 19434859 people. Following millions of individuals will not gain you trust – it will make you look spammy. Try following individuals who are in your industry, those who you find funny, intelligent and contribute in a positive way to your Twitter stream. Too many followers will overwhelm you and you will not be able to sift through the Twitter clutter to find the Twitter gems.

Respond in Order to Engage – Mashable (@Mashable)

This might seem obvious to most of us, but think of it like this: what do you think of a person when they do not return your calls or respond to your emails – a level of frustration is most likely to occur. Responding to your current followers will do two key things:

It will help you gain trust with your current followers as they will see that you do not merely talk at them but with them.
Also it will encourage others to follow you as they will see that your interaction means that you are a person using a social media platform to communicate – not to merely spam or rant.

Feed your networks – Read Write Web (@RWW)

This is all about finding and then giving. Do weekly searches around topics that interest you and then follow those people who are talking about those topics. Many individuals centre their Twitter profile around a certain niche (another great idea) and if these people are interested in the same things that you are, they will be a valuable add. Offer the people that are following you interesting, quality links and suggest to your followers to follow a few of the same people that inspire you on Twitter (in a non-sucking up kind of way – perhaps a #FollowFriday or #FF)

Twitter is an ever changing platform and just as unpredictable, you never know when a tweet will blow itself out of the water or merely settle down onto the ocean floor. Take time and effort to feed your Twitter community and do not expect it to grow overnight – quality definitely takes the trophy over quantity here.