Ugh. I hate my headline.

There’s nothing more commodified in the world of social media than offering Twitter tips.

But being a heavy Twitter user, I get asked a lot about what the ingredients are for the secret sauce.

But there is no secret sauce.

There’s only ingredients for what you define as success.

And for every business and brand that definition will be different.

With that in mind, here’s my short list of Twitter tips that have helped bring me success and – shake shake – are to be taken with a grain of salt.

1. Answer WTT (What the Tweet)?

Answer the question, why are you Tweeting?  Like any social media channel, your Twitter strategy should align with your business goals.  Do you want to find more customers or partners, deliver better customer service, share you content?  If you want to be successful at Twitter, you first need to define what success is.

2. Understand Everyone Matters on Social Media Except You

It’s the simplest idea, but the hardest thing for people to really understand: people don’t care about you or what you’re selling.  If you want to be successful on Twitter or social media, this is an important rule to follow.  The best way to get noticed is to notice others, the best way to get followed is to follow, the best way to get retweeted is to retweet.

3.  Promote Others 10x More Than You Promote Yourself

Following from tip #2, I recommend promoting others over yourself at a ratio of about 10:1.  It doesn’t just have to be with RTs or tweeting others’ content, but also just thanking people for sharing, commenting on a tweet, responding to a question or query, or any other type of engagement.  Take interest in others, and they’ll likely take an interest in you.

4.  Be a Strategic Follower

Again, if you want to be followed, you have to be a follower.  But be strategic.  Who do you want to engage, or be engaged with? Prospects, influencers, or potential partners?  Set-up relevant hashtags to follow, follow people on relevant lists other Twitter users have created, and use tools like Followerwonk to search Twitter bios for relevant keywords (keyword: relevant).

5.  Tweet “Clickable” Content

Before I tweet, I ask myself a simple question: would I click on it?  You’ve got 140 characters to entice others to click on it, so treat a tweet like a small ad.  It’s got to have a killer headline, an accompanying image (which are clicked on at twice the rate of tweets without a photo), and your support or comments (e.g. “great tips”, “interesting take”, etc.).

6.  Curate Content: Topical, Timely & Variety

When it comes to curating content, I follow probably hundreds of blogs using Feedly.  I categorize my blogs into different topics (e.g. PPC, SEO, Website Optimization, Small Biz, Tech, etc.), and choose what I tweet based on a number of things: what’s trending or topical, what blogs have great tips, and of course what blogs have great headlines.

7.  Go Beyond the Link

Obviously it’s not always about tweeting links and content.  Tweeting useful stats, posing questions, or even random thoughts can help create engagement.  And a lot of engagement comes from simply being present, responding and replying to others, and just being, well, social.

8.  List-o-mania

Twitter isn’t one-size fits all, so creating lists can help you manage your tweeting.  I create Twitter lists into similar categories of the blogs I subscribe to (e.g. PPC, SEO, Small Biz, Tech, etc.) so I can have relevant conversations with the relevant audience (there’s that word again).  I also have lists for prospects, influencers, potential partners, and others whom I might want a higher level of engagement with.

9.  Tool It, Test It

There’s so many Twitter tools out there to help target the right followers, follow the right conversations, and tweet at the right time of day.  I don’t believe there’s one tool that will fit everyone’s needs, so best to test until you find a good fit.  At the very least, you want a tool that will give you Twitter analytics and insight into what tweet types create the most engagements.

10.  Just Say Thank You

When I started tweeting, I made it my mission to thank everyone who retweeted any of my tweets.  I still try my best to follow this rule, as you can’t underestimate the power of acknowledging people.

So thank you for reading (or tweeting) my post 🙂