I am taking a few minutes out of my crazy moving/packing/painting schedule because I am excited to announce that My Twitter Experiment worked!
For a little background, check out my post, “My Twitter Experiment: Twitter Dummy.”
There are a lot of Twitter “gurus” out there explaining how to use Twitter effectively: build relationships with followers, attract more followers, manage your Twitter account, drive traffic to your blog, etc. I can now say that what is working for me is Twitter Dummy by the impressive internet marketer and blogger John Aguiar.
Prior to picking up a copy of Twitter Dummy, I spent $30 bucks on a shiny new copy of Twitter Marketing: An Hour Day by Hollis Thomases. I also circled the blogs of other Twitter gurus, trying to pick up a tip here or there. The advice is solid, but not as usable as what’s in Twitter Dummy. John Paul just gets straight to the point, writes like he talks, and just talks about what works for him and doesn’t go into philosophical, pie in the sky, general talk about Twitter.
Why I Created a Twitter Experiment
I admitted in my post that I didn’t really like Twitter; I had had an account for quite some time before doing anything with it. However, I wanted to start really using Twitter as a means to connect with other bloggers and to be part of a growing social media movement.
So I decided to give Twitter one more try and bought Twitter Dummy as an experiment. My goal was to get to 1,000 followers in 3 months (I know, it’s kinda laughable now but I had low expectations). It worked. I’m at 1,000 followers today (fully expecting that it could change, but that’s the nature of Twitter) and it’s been exactly 15 days. I started the experiment with about 330 followers.
To re-cap, my initial concerns were whether or not I could:
- Use Twitter for marketing my blog in a natural, non-pretentious way.
- Pull off tweeting 10+ times per day naturally.
- Use Twitter as a means of real social connection.
- Automate some things and still be myself.
- Update my Twitter stream with real thoughts, and not just a series of marketing plugs.
Twitter Dummy doesn’t tell you how to get massive amounts of followers. Twitter Dummy explains how to use Twitter effectively to market your product/website/blog, whatever, while building a following and developing relationships with your following. It talks about hashtags, DMs, re-tweets, automation, and tools to find followers and have followers find you.
Attracting Followers
I used techniques I had heard about prior to Twitter Dummy, such as following other people in your niche. This is also talked about in Twitter Dummy to an extent, but what’s left out is that you really should follow quite a few people if you want to build up a following. Don’t be afraid to follow hundreds, and don’t be concerned about your following/follower ratio being really off during the time. People will generally follow you back, and if they don’t, you can choose to unfollow them or continue to follow them. You want your Twitter stream to be full of people you can interact with, and you can’t really interact with people who aren’t following you back, so I suggest unfollowing people who don’t follow you. Now, if you’re following Conan O’Brien, like I am, well, 
what can you expect?
Developing Relationships and Maintaining Your Tweets
This is probably the strongest selling feature of Twitter Dummy. John Paul talks about several tools, which people are already using to effectively manage Twitter. You need to use the tools in order to really nurture relationships with your followers, and thus make Twitter an effective marketing tool for you. The tools are for effectively tweeting, re-tweeting, using direct messages, automation, following, unfollowing, etc. I don’t think my experience would be even remotely as effective as it is without the tools. There are many, many tools available, but John Paul recommends a few and I now recommend them, also.
Pick up a Copy of Twitter Dummy
I recommend purchasing Twitter Dummy and following John Paul if you’re interested in making Twitter effective for you. For bloggers, Twitter is simply the best way to get the word out and develop a committed readership. The other marketing methods are great as support tools, but the glue that is holding them all together is Twitter.
You can pick up a copy of Twitter Dummy here. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Your Turn
Do you have questions about Twitter and how it can help you market your blog? Ask here and I’ll make sure John Paul weighs in with his advice! With 45K followers (which is 2K more than when I started this experiment three weeks ago), I’d say he knows what he’s doing. Also, feel free to share your Twitter experiences – good or bad!
About Tia Peterson
