3 Tips for Twitter Newbies

So — you read our recent post about why it’s good to have multiple users tweet on behalf of your brand, and we convinced you to include more staff in your pool of Twitter contributors.  Now what?  There are many ways to help manage new tweeters from a technical standpoint, but there are some key concepts for your new users to keep in mind:

• Listen first.  Before your new recruits post their first tweet, have them spend some time reading the tweets you’ve posted in the past and the tweets of those you follow.  This will give new tweeters an idea of the tone that people use on Twitter and should reinforce that it’s not all pointless jabber or self-promotion.
• Know the basics.  Make sure they understand RTs, @replies, common courtesies, etc.  Check out our Twitter primer, do’s and don’ts.
• Search.  Teaching Twitter newbies to search is like dropping off a kid in a candy store.  Encourage them to search for things that interest them as well as things that pertain to your brand.  This will heighten their appreciation for Twitter and give them ideas on how and what to tweet.

Keeping the Training Wheels on for New Twitter Users

If you’re not quite ready to let your new tweeters out on their own, TweetFunnel can take some of the stress off.  Different user roles let you choose who can contribute tweets to the “funnel” (for review) and who can publish directly to Twitter.   This easily lets your new tweeters contribute tweets, but gives you the option to approve and/or edit them first.

For example, if your new tweeters don’t quite understand the proper use of hashtags yet, you can add tags to their tweets before posting them to Twitter.  You can check for typos, make sure they aren’t spilling confidential info or just help them write more efficient tweets.  Then, once they get the hang of it, you can take the training wheels off and let them post directly.

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