Ok, so by now you should have created an eye-catching Twitter profile pic and name, and chosen some tweeps to follow. If not, please read my earlier articles first: Getting started on Twitter Hashtags - friend or foe? Who to follow on Twitter Twitter follows - are you a wolf or a sheep? The next step is retweeting informative and entertaining content to network with the right kinds of tweeps and building your brand or Twitter persona. |
OK, so now you have some choices to make:
- Do I care what I am retweeting? (I really hope you answer yes to that).
- What sort of content matches or enhances my own profile? Is there a certain age group or interest group you wish to follow you? For me the answer would be fantasy, medieval and scifi pictures and information and also other authors. No doubt you have your own areas of interest. Basically you need to be retweeting things that would interest you to follow your profile as it were.
- Should I auto-retweet to save myself hours per week of finding appropriate content? If your answer is yes, then read on...
Choosing who to retweet can depend on not only content that appeals to you, but you may wish to retweet those who retweet you. I do this and I do a check every few months to check they still retweet me too. It's amazing how many tweeps are consistent for months, then change their habits.
To set up auto retweeting, you need to create Twitter lists. I have several list, some public and some private. It has taken me years to develop these lists, so I do keep some information to myself. Of course if you are retweeting all you fave football team's tweets, then that may not require privacy. Creating a list involves going to your own profile and clicking 'create a list.' Once you have named your list, then go to a profile and click the cog symbol next to the 'follow' button.
You can make lists of similar types of tweeps (eg: my Fantasy Sci-Fi Network) list, or your lists could be based on other criteria such as how often they tweet (eg: tweeps who post frequently in one list and more seldom in another.)
One thing to be mindful of is not to add too many tweeps to one list. Remember that the more people in a list, the less each will be retweeted.
Okay, I'll let you go and make some lists and I'll be back next time with tips for using those lists.
Next article: Using lists to auto retweet