If Twitter is going to work for your business though then I reckon you have to make it fun – for yourself. If you don’t, you aren’t going to stick with it or get anything out of it. So here are some new rules of Twitter that are designed to make it more fun:
1) Don’t take yourself seriously. The people with the most followers crack jokes. Keith Chegwin is one example, another is my thebestof franchisee Jason Plunkett. Make fun of yourself. I find it hilarious when my followers tease me. People remember you if you make them laugh.
2) Spelling mistakes don’t matter on Twitter. Really. Get a life! If people pull you up on it then they clearly have way too much time on their hands and live sad lonely lives. More fun, less pomposity, I say!
3) I know that some people tweet links and information that they think other people will find interesting but I reckon that if you don’t believe in what your tweeting or if you think it sounds boring then don’t tweet it. It’s a waste of time.
4) Ask questions! People love to talk about themselves. Guaranteed, people will engage with you if you ask a question. You’ll see @ replies all over the place. Hello, ego boost!
5) Twitpics are ace! They are nearly always my most clicked links and I look at loads every day. I don’t care if it is your dog, car, surfboard, or grandma, take a picture and tweet it. People love getting sneak peeks into your life.
6) People appreciate it when you follow them back. It makes them feel loved. Don’t spend ANY time assessing and analysing who to follow back – follow back everyone that follows you. So what if they’re a hairdresser in Milwaukee, what bad can come of it? And by the way, you come across as a jerk when you are following 70 people and have 300 followers.
7) Make the Twitter what you want it to be. Obsessed with frogs? Then follow other frog enthusiasts. Don’t care about SEO? Then don’t listen to people tweeting about it. You can customise your Twitter experience however you would like.
8) Use ‘Streams’ to separate the wheat from the chaff. I never look at my ‘Home’ stream. Not ever. With over 15,000 followers it is filling a new page every 30 seconds, so there’s no point. All the people I want to keep track on I have in separate streams – so I can have fun with the people I care most about on Twitter – and yes, that does include you!
