Developing Relationships On Twitter
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 9:00AM by Anna M. Gonzalaz, @WebAnna on Twitter
Once you’ve started to find people on Twitter, the next step is to begin developing your relationships.
You can do this by adding value to your online community. Share relevant information and stay positive.
The mother-daughter team behind @WorkingMoms formed a supportive community for single working moms by tweeting relevant information. Annesa Golombeski said she started on Twitter in February and by July they had organically gathered over 9,000 followers!
Annesa’s mother, Ann Marie, said she realized her part on Twitter would be to inspire others. The team gives women advice and information on repairing credit.
People like knowing you are listening, so don’t be shy about answering their questions or “retweeting” their information.
A retweet is when you re-post someone’s Twitter update. You essentially copy their information and acknowledge they shared it by adding their name and the letters “RT” – as in “retweet”:
Giovanni Gallucci suggested we take just five minutes out of our day to respond to someone on a social media network.
You can also facilitate connections between tweeters who don’t know each other.
Erica O’Grady recently spoke at the Big Design Conference about this process, which she calls developing social media currency. Thankfully, she posted her presentation online. Starting at slide 54, she details how to make people feel important.
During our recent exchange on the “Stars of PR” radio show, Brian Hemsworth said he likes to drive the conversation off Twitter and to an email, phone call or an invitation to other social networks.
In the same conversation, the show host, Cindy Rakowitz, gave an example of the process.
“Our relationship has progressed,” she said about our relationship. “We met on Twitter. I liked your tweets, and then you asked me to be a friend on Facebook. And now this morning, I saw you asked me to be connected on LinkedIn.”
Once you get to know each other, it’s easier to begin talking about potential collaborations.
If you are feeling shy, remember Twitter is free and “you can’t break it,” as Brian said. Don’t worry about how fast you are gaining followers. Just get involved in some conversations.
And Ann Marie reminds everyone to “be yourself!”
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Editor’s Note: This blog post was inspired by a conversation I had on the “Stars of PR” weekly radio show on VoiceAmerica.com. The show is live every Thursday at 7 AM Pacific Time. The show’s host, Cindy Rakowitz, is the co-founder of BR Public Relations and “is best known for running the public relations, promotions and modeling department for Playboy Enterprises for over 15 years” (from the show’s site).
The “Salute to Twittermania” show aired July 2 and included the following guests:
Newman Grace Marketing President @BHemsworth
Traditional journalist turned blogger @WebAnna
Anessa, Ann Marie, creators of the online community for single moms @WorkingMoms
Click on the video to listen to our conversation on finding communities on Twitter. You can also add to the conversation by leaving a comment!