13 Very Useful Twitter Infographics

Twitter can be confusing to some and even baffling to those who have not fully embraced it.

With so many great resources out there it can be hard to know where to start. But, wait … let me present for your Twitter enlightenment…. 

A Baker’s Dozen of Great Twitter Resources

Should You Use Twitter? This old-but-still-useful flowchart can help you decide whether Twitter is even the right place on social media for you.

The infographic 7 Effective Ways to Engage on Twitter will help you maximize the time you do spend on Twitter.

As will this the useful Maximize Your Tweets chart.

While on Twitter you don’t want to commit a social faux pas do you? The infographic Dos and Don’ts of Twitter Etiquette is here to help. 

The Twitter Keyboard Shortcuts graphic introduces all the ways you can reduce your time on Twitter especially on mobile.

For insight into one of Twitter’s more under-appreciated features see 10 Ways to Use Twitter Lists - a highly useful list.

If growing your Twitter following is a goal the infographic 6 Formulas to Increase Twitter Followers, Retweets Plus Blog Traffic might be a good start.

Or if you want to cut to the chase, check out the graphic Double Your Twitter Followers in 5 Minutes A Day.

If improving your reach and influence on Twitter is important check out 15 Twitter Statistics Your Probably Don’t Know (but that will help you grow your Twitter influence. 

The infographic Business Guide to the Wonderful World of Twitter covers just what it promises.

Likewise the chart Twitter Marketing Tweet Sheet is full of helpful tips.

For an overall guide Twitter Best Practices 2014 is a great summary.

And, finally, just for fun: A Dr Seuss Inspired Guide to Twitter has fun with Twitter don’t you know/ with some useful advice before you go. So what do you think?

Are you ready to learn a little more about Twitter to get more from it? If you know of other good resources please not them in the Comments area.

9 Surprising Things You Can Do With Twitter

Twitter is to social media what cheese is to a great sandwich – pretty much essential for great flavor, but often taken for granted.

While many use it as a newsfeed, a trend barometer or a way to keep in touch there are so many other things you can do on Twitter … some of them unexpected. I present…

9 Surprising Things You Can Do With Twitter

Surprise!

1. Book a hotel stay: Loews Hotels and Resorts now allows travelers to book rooms at 16 of its 19 properties via Twitter. Interested travelers tweet to @Loews_Hotels with the hashtag #BookLoews to express interest in a room. Then a Loews travel planner joins the Twitter conversation. The same Twitter account answers traveler’ questions and occasionally offers special deals. For more see Loews Hotels & Resorts Goes Social.

2. Gift a cup of coffee: Starbucks has a Tweet-a-Coffee program that can send a $5 Starbucks eCard to Twitter friends and followers. To do this users connect their Twitter account with Starbucks. They send a tweet that starts with "@TweetaCoffee to @recipientname because…." The @TweetaCoffee account then sends a tweet on the user’s behalf to the recipient, with a message. A few seconds later, a follow-up tweet from the official account will be sent with both parties mentioned in it, providing the recipient with a link to claim the coffee. For more, see Tweet-a-coffee sign-up page.

3. Buy, sell or fundraise: Chirpify is one app that allows users to buy and sell things or raise donations via Twitter. Both buyers and sellers need Chirpify and PayPal accounts. The system works by having buyers use certain keywords, the Twitter handle of the recipient, the amount being paid or sent and the reason for the transaction in a tweet to Chirpify. That platform then sends a confirmation tweet and a follow-up email. According to Buy And Sell On Twitter With Chirpify the service can be used for such diverse things paying bills to sending a friend a beer.

4. Get recipes: Gourmet recipes written in 140 characters or less? Twitter followers know it can be done because @Cookbook, by Maureen Evans (@Maureen) posts highly abbreviated recipes for dishes that range from omelets to souffle to tiramisu. Just be sure you understand all of the measurement abbreviations!

5. Water your plants: When your houseplants need watering a company called Botanicalls has a kit for a device that allows a plant (that’s right, the plant) to tweet its needs to you. With a Botanicalls Kit, an electronic sensor, ethernet connection and a bit of patience, you can set up an electronic sensor for your plants; it will automatically send out a Twitter message when a plant needs to be watered. Users even get a thank you note when they complete the task.

Tom Coates' house tweets to him and a 1,000+ followers

6. Have your home talk to you: Yes, appliances and household items that tweet at you are not new (see this 2009 Wired piece: Toaster, Toilet Lead Appliance Invasion of Twitter), but an entire house telling you via Twitter what is going on at home takes it to a new level. Such is the case with Tom Coates in San Francisco. According to a New York Times story (Home Tweet Home) the home has its own Twitter account called @houseofcoates where it shares tweets about unexpected movements inside the house and the owner’s coming and goings.

7. Manage your tasks: Remember the Milk for Twitter is a reminder app that functions across multiple digital platforms, from smartphones to tablets to Twitter. Send instructions to the app via a Twitter direct message/DM (after following the app's Twitter account, @rtm), and Remember the Milk will add the task to your account. You can also change your preferences and view specific to-do tasks using Direct Message commands.

8. Pray: Practice the centuries-old Jewish tradition of placing prayers in the Western Wall (a k a the Kotel) in Jerusalem via Twitter. Alon Nir of Tweet Your Prayers (@TheKotel) delivers 140-character prayers to the Western Wall - considered one of the most sacred religious sites in Judaism. Since 2009, Nir has been printing prayers that he received via Direct Message on Twitter and sticking them into the Western Wall on behalf of those who couldn't travel to Israel.

9. Share files: Yes, file-sharing is no terribly new on Twitter, but large numbers of users apparently still don’t know that it’s possible on Twitter. Twileshare allows users to upload files and share them with followers, all in one tweet. The files are hosted on Twileshare’s servers users are able to share a variety of file formats such as PNG, GIF, JPG, DOC and PDF files. Also on Twileshare you’re able to see the numbers of views your files get.

What other surprise uses do you know of for Twitter?

Related posts:
Twitter 101-1: Twitter – You Hardly Know Her
Twitter 101-2: Getting more from Twitter
Twitter 101-3: Getting even more from Twitter
11 Reasons I Won’t Follow You on Twitter

Twitter 101-3: Getting even more from Twitter

Let’s continue our look at more tools and tips for making Twitter your favorite social media platform. 

A short list:

Twitter can help you find useful stuff

• Probably the least-used and least-understood function on Twitter is its Advanced Search. It makes finding relevant and useful content so much easier. To locate it: After you have done a regular search on Twitter you will get a results page with the little cog icon to the right. Click on it and one of your three options will be Advanced Search. This is where you can narrow down your search with word choices (including or excluding, for example), people, places and sentiment (positive or negative, for example).

For more on Advanced Search see Using advanced search by Twitter or check out this piece from Mashable: 10 Tips and Tricks for Powerful Twitter Search

• Understand how hashtags are used and why you can both use them to be found and to find others and their relevant content. In a nutshell a hashtag is any series of letters (a word or several words typed together without spaces) preceded by the # symbol. These hashtags started on Twitter and are now common across many social media platforms. For more see How to Use Hashtags With Twitter on WikiHow.

• Perhaps you would like to start using Twitter more for business purposes. This post 12 Most Twitterific Ways to Use Twitter in Your Business by Rebekah Radice (@RebekahRadice on Twitter) has some good basic starting points on the how to use Twitter for business purposes.

• Last, but certainly not least, be sure to start sharing your Twitter @name everywhere so that people know this is one more place they can connect with you. Having it on business cards, in your email signature and on your other social media pages (such as Linkedin and Facebook) can only help more people connect with you.

So, now do you feel ready to get more from Twitter? I hope so, but if you have questions that haven’t been answered in these posts please don’t hesitate to ask … I’m on Twitter as @mikejny.

Related posts:

Twitter 101-1: Twitter – You Hardly Know Her

Twitter 101-2: Getting more from Twitter

Twitter 101-2: Getting more from Twitter

So, you’ve committed to using Twitter more often … where to start?

Assuming you’ve already visited Twitter’s Getting started with Twitter page let’s look at other things you can do to maximize your time on Twitter:

Take a closer look at Twitter

• Start with ensuring your Twitter page is as good as it can be. Check out 7 Ingredients in the Perfect Twitter Profile by Jay Baer (@jaybaer on Twitter). As Jay says: "Having a succinct, compelling profile is more critical on Twitter than anywhere else." His seven tips really are essential guideposts.

• For a really good beginner’s guide to Twitter use check out A writers’ guide to getting the most out of Twitter by Michelle V. Rafter (@MichelleRafter on Twitter). The tips here are practical and to the point.

• Be disciplined about checking in on your Twitter activity at least once a day. Twitter is a social network and people who don’t respond are, well, not social. So learn to check the “@Connect” view on your Twitter profile to see who has tweeted to you or retweeted you. A common courtesy is to thank those people who retweet you and doing this as a collective thank you to several accounts at once is also OK. You should also check the envelope icon (at the top and to the right) on your profile for an indicator that you have a Direct Message from someone you follow. You should respond to these too.

• Getting followers (the people who see what you tweet) can be a concern early on, so check out 10 Easy Ways to Get More Twitter Followers by Jess Estrada (@jessestrada on Twitter). These tips don’t involve buying followers or randomly following people (both are questionable practices).

• Learn to develop Twitter lists to sort the people you follow into manageable groups. The article How to Use Twitter Lists Like a Pro by Dave Delaney (@davedelaney on Twitter) tells you why lists are valuable in many different ways and has some good tips on creating and using them.

• At some point you will share stuff on Twitter that you hope others will pass along (retweet, in the Twitter vernacular). But how do you encourage this? Uber blogger and social media maven Jeff Bullas (@jeffbullas on Twitter) has some helpful tips in his post 9 Simple and Powerful Ways to Get More Retweets on Twitter.

• Want to see what all the fuss is about with celebrities on Twitter? Just don’t expect a lot of earth-shattering insights! Here on the Friend or Follow list called Twitter: Most Followers you’ll find the 100 most-followed Twitter accounts, the majority of which belong to celebrities.

So, is this helpful? Do you know of other good resources for Twitter beginners or those returning to Twitter? If you have questions that haven’t been answered in these posts please don’t hesitate to ask … I’m on Twitter as @mikejny.

Related posts:

Twitter 101-1: Twitter – You Hardly Know Her

Twitter 101-3: Getting even more from Twitter 

Twitter 101-1: Twitter – You Hardly Know Her

Millions of people start a Twitter account and forget about it. Which is a crying shame … because in the world of social media they are missing a huge opportunity for a better life … seriously.

Time on Twitter can be well spent

Read on to learn about better living through Twitter. According to Twopcharts more than 2 billion (that’s right: two billion) Twitter accounts have been created. But only 506.1 million accounts are still in use and of those maybe 200 million were active in the past month.

A Reuters-Ipsos poll quoted by Business Insider found that 36 percent of Twitter users don't use their accounts after they've registered.

Why do so many people start on Twitter and abandon it or have an account and yet don’t use it? For most it is that Twitter is so different from other social media sites such as Facebook. But seriously, Twitter has the potential to make your life better. Here’s how it is … 

Your personal news feed: Follow a few reputable news sources and you’ll quickly learn more of what’s going on via Twitter. Over time you’ll also pick up other good sources of news and before you know it Twitter will be a primary news source. To get started, check out 10 Must-Follow Breaking News Accounts on Twitter from Mashable.

A great learning tool: Follow people who share good content that is relevant to you, your career and/or your stage of life and you get a constant stream of useful information. And, best of all, it comes to you in manageable 140-character-or-less bursts – if you want more, you click the link. This article might help: Choosing Who To Follow On Twitter.

Makes better connections than other social media: You follow people who are interesting (and quickly unfollow those who aren’t). Material they share is often material retweeted (RT) from someone they follow. This way you are exposed to new Twitter profiles and find interesting people to connect with. One of the biggest differences between Facebook and Twitter is that the former is closed (you have to be friends with others to chat) but not so on Twitter where you can literally talk to anyone. For example, my interactions with Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) and basketball great Shaquille O'Neal (@SHAQ) will always be highlights.

Going to make you a better writer: Before you dismiss this too quickly, think about it: In Twitter you need to say something of value in 140 characters or less – a lot less if you’re going to include a URL and leave room for others to retweet your message. This forces you to think about word choices … as well as teaching you a lexicon of creative Twitter language and abbreviations. This article might be helpful: The Complete Guide to Twitter Lingo.

A word of warning: If you’re only interested in connecting with family and friends you should stick to Facebook. Twitter works best among social media platforms when everyone is sharing interesting stuff and finding new and interesting people to connect with.

Are you convinced? Will you get active on Twitter now?

Related posts:

Twitter 101-2: Getting more from Twitter

Twitter 101-3: Getting even more from Twitter 

Be The Giraffe With Social Media

“It’s a jungle out there!”

No matter what business you’re in or what your purpose in social media you already understand that it’s increasingly hard to stand out from the crowd.

So if it is “a jungle out there” why not be the giraffe? And literally stand head, neck and shoulders above the rest of the ecosystem?

Here’s how to stand out by using social media:

Be “everywhere”: Not literally. But to the casual observer it should seem as though they encounter your name (and possibly your avatar) everywhere they go in social media.

Start a list today on the places people can find you: From social networking to your blog to your personal website to your business card (yes, your business card). Be sure all those places link or point to each other.

Now Google your name: Are you dominating the first pages of results? If not, you need more online (probably social) presences.

Be “all things”: You never want to be in social media for one purpose. And you especially don’t want to be there just to “take” or “sell.”

Review how you’re likely to be perceived in social media. Are you helpful? Are you a connector? Do you share freely? In the “Giver vs. Taker” equation would you be perceived as more of the former or the latter? If you can’t answer these questions have a disinterested outsider tell you (and return the favor for them).

Now that you know how you are being received decide if that is how you want to be seen or whether you need to make changes.

Be “the best”: Set a goal of being the best at something in social media. Achieving the goal is less important than having it and continually striving for it.

For example, you might want the reputation for being one of the smartest people in personal finance. Now ask yourself: Does most of what I say and do in social media align with that goal? If not, why not?

By having the goal and sticking to it your time in social media will be more focused and one day, just maybe, you will be seen as the best.

Be “the most …”: Can you literally be the “best” at something in the social world? You can. But it will take a little luck and one more thing: A concerted effort to work harder, be more reliable, be more of a connector or be more of something than most everyone else in your area.

Ultimately what will set you apart is your willingness to put in more effort than others.

Can you “be the giraffe” by using social media? Absolutely. The question is, will you?

Possibly related posts:
7 Ways to Tell How You’re Doing in Social Media
10 Ideas to Help Business Navigate Social Media

10 Newbie Twitter Mistakes Made by Businesses

Businesses jumping into social media often see Twitter as a “simple” part of the plan: set up an account and start tweeting. Sadly some even get stuck right after the set up part. Here are 10 mistakes business newbies on Twitter should avoid:

1. Doing Little or Nothing
With an estimated 25 to 30 percent of Twitter accounts either empty or “one tweet and done” is it surprising that these accounts generate little interest from others on Twitter? Your inactive or virtually inactive account sends a clear message that you’ve given up on Twitter.

2. Desperately Following
If you’re following hundreds of people and only a few dozen are following back doesn’t that send a message that you desperately want followers but aren’t getting them? Why not be patient and never let your Following count get more than 10 percent higher than your Followers account?

3. Tweeting Too Much
If you’re guilty of this you will annoy your followers and water down your message… which likely means you’ll lose followers faster than you get them. How much is too much? Start slowly and only tweet useful stuff two or three times a day. As you slowly increase this over several months pay attention to what, if anything, gets a response (it's retweeted or commented on) … and when this happens. Let this be your guide.

4. Mostly Self-Promotional
Too much “me, me, me” talk will mark you as boring … or worse. Add value for others on Twitter and more followers will come. Mention your business or services only when you’ve been asked or in direct response to a stated need. If you consistently give, you’re followers will do the same and your good behavior will be well rewarded.

5. Failure to Connect
It can be tempting for businesses to give a Twitter monologue instead of engaging in a dialogue. If you get to know your followers by asking and answering questions, for example, you’ll show that you’re interested in them. They in turn will learn about you. This also means responding to any “@” messages promptly (within a day at most).

6. Not Helping Others
Acting as a connector or problem-solver will earn you loyal followers. Sometimes the simple act of retweeting a piece of great content will be seen as being helpful. Twitter truly is a place of getting more than you give, but you have to give first.

7. Mixing Business and Pleasure
Sending a mix of business and personal tweets can work when you’re well-established, but a better practice for a business new to Twitter is to keep it all professional. Otherwise you’re sending the message: We don’t know enough to keep our personal lives out of our business.

8. Impersonal avatars
Yes your business name or logo is important, but Twitter (and all social media) is about people. Use an avatar image that reflects your people not your brand name.

9. Wasting background space
Twitter gives you a lot of real estate around your Twitter-stream … don’t waste it. Use it to let people know what you do and why you do it. Put your people and the business personality on display. It’s also OK here to list a few other contact points such as email address, phone numbers and other social media URLs.

10. Not Checking In Regularly
Maintaining a Twitter account needs to become part of your routine. Once a day or twice a day or more, but it does need to become a regular thing to have any chance of helping your business.

So what am I missing? I’d love to hear other things businesses who are new on Twitter should do to improve their chances of social media success.

A Related Post:
Twetiquette: 10 basics for Twitter politeness