“I’m eating a hot dog…” - Twitter Best Practices 2/3

How often you speak is as important as what you say and how you say it. Digital media offers the ability to remain constantly in view of your market, partners and competitors. This availability should be used as a strategic asset. The temptation to seek complete control, to over think and over edit, needs to be tempered against the potential to overflow with information, especially on a platform like Twitter.

There’s a lot of give and take when it comes to how many posts are appropriate to put up in a day. Complaints abound over Twitter feeds filled with “hot dog” posts; those posts that announce some innocuous detail of daily life like “I’m eating a hot dog…” and do very little to with communication or relationship development.

Your Time in the Room

Think of Twitter as one big room and your posts are your presence in it. 1-2 posts every 2 hours seems to be ideal for keeping momentum and development going on personal accounts. This can be adjusted depending on the goals of the Twitter feed. For example a business account can continue momentum with fewer posts. 1-2 posts every 3-5 hours seems to be ideal for keeping momentum on business or organizational accounts.

If the account is merely targeted towards providing a point of contact for PR or news updates 1-2 posts per day or per week is possible. Keep in mind, unless you are representing a business, organization or brand that already has a loyal following, remaining quiet will limit the development of your presence on the Twitter platform.

Setting It All in Motion

This may seem overwhelming, you may be thinking “I can’t even update my blog once a month…1-2 posts every 2 hours!” But that’s where reciprocity comes in. You’ve heard it’s better to give than to get? Well on Twitter this motto helps you maintain an active presence and develop relationships while mitigating the amount of time you spend on the platform itself.

Applications like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck allow you to schedule and monitor your posts, as well as create sets of key word searches to find other accounts posting within your target audience. Set a specific time during the day to schedule posts for the upcoming day/week/month. This takes as little as 15 mins–1 hour, depending on time period you will cover.

Everything that happens in digital media builds precedence for future activity. When dealing with media that has immediate global reach and can be logged, searched and accessed in the future it’s wise to have a plan for what you’re putting out.

Keep It Focused, Keep It Loose

Setting aside a block of time to schedule posts helps support a cohesive focus for your account and also helps you strategize. Make sure to leave room in the schedule for posting “real time” information as needed. Keep blocks of time open where you can post free form information or responses while keeping your feed uncluttered.

It’s best to check back and monitor every 1-2 hours for re-tweets, mentions, and direct messages. Each event is an opportunity to engage. If someone re-tweets your posts, it’s an opportunity to thank them or strike up a conversation; a mention where someone asks a question or comments on a Tweet presents an opportunity to begin a conversation. Direct messages are the most ‘intimate’ form of engagement on this platform and allow for private conversations.

Key word searches can also provide areas for engagement. By conducting regular key word searches on brand related or interest related topics you can conduct business intelligence, monitor mentions of your brand, company, or organization, and develop relationships with new people through targeted conversations.