I LOVE TWITTER! I know many people in my baby boomer age group like the so-called intimacy of Facebook. There you can search out long lost friends, former classmates and lovers and you can even find yourself renewing old rivalries or creating new ones. Facebook does allow you to interact on a more personal level, however, Twitter allows you to send your messages well beyond the limited contacts you can have on Facebook, which is 5000. With Twitter, your messages can be possibly seen by hundreds of thousands of people depending on who's in your circle and if you have a circle of trust.
So how do you develop a circle of trust with your followers? For me, I want the people I'm connected with to know how much I appreciate their decision to follow me and let them know how much I value them by my re-tweets of their posts and general engagement. I have established my very own Twitter Crew, who are the Rock Stars of my stream.
The problem I see with many folks on Twitter is they are so busy wanting to share all of THEIR good information that they forget the role their followers could play in helping to spread their message. It takes less than 140 characters to greet your followers daily just to let them know they're on your radar.
Once you have established the initial connection, give them a fun fact or positive message to help them get their day started. I always start my day by saying "Hello" to my "Twitterverse" so they know I am ready to get the Twitter stream party started. I then acknowledge my most active, engaging followers by giving them a shout out. Why is this important to me? Because I know people appreciate acknowledgement. They want to know you see them when they pop up in your stream. And even if they don't pop up when you're there, you can still give them a "holla" because they will eventually see it and acknowledge you in return. More importantly, they will appreciate the fact that you took the time to recognize them during your time on Twitter.
I purposely go to pages of my followers to see what they've tweeted and if it's interesting to me, I will re-tweet it. I do have some followers who only re-tweet messages from others so I find unique and creative ways to give them a shout out. I have one follower @jimjavor, who I call my Re-tweet King because he ALWAYS re-tweets my messages. He is definitely one of my favorites.
The other thing I love about Twitter is being able to connect others to each other. On a daily basis I give ((shout outs)) and I purposely link people together who should know each other. One day I'll do authors/writers or health experts. Sometimes I connect fellow baby boomers and bloggers---just so they know they are connected with someone else who shares their passions and expertise.
The one thing you want to be careful of is people who only follow you because they want to use you and your followers to get their own messages out. I have those folks in my stream but I am quick to dismiss their intentions when I see they are not actively engaging with us.
As a baby boomer who didn't grow up with social media, I've had a lot to learn and I'm still learning because this platform is every-changing. Thanks due in part to #45. (but that's another story all together).
My point is when you demonstrate to your followers that you are providing service beyond yourself, they will be more inclined to support your endeavors. And I have to tell you, I do love it when I get those messages of appreciation for my efforts to expose them to my other followers. One other fact: Both my books: How to Get on the News Without Committing Murder and The Baby Boomer Millennial Divide: Making it Work at Work went to Number 1 because of Twitter. @bevmahone
Recently I received a direct message on Twitter from someone who said they had a difficult time understanding my brand because my my page was so cluttered with tweets of other people. I thought about the message and wondered why I had to be limited to a specific brand. After all, I'm a baby boomer expert, an author, a veteran journalist, a grandmother, wife, etc.....so I have a variety of subjects I am very well versed in. Finally, I wrote back saying, "it's all about service to others." Besides, I with my Media/PR background---that's what we do---only I'm doing it for FREE.
