Twitter for you and me. Sounds like a song, right?

Everyone knows what Twitter is, but most people, still are not using it. That is, people over the age of fifty. We know HOW, but we just don’t “GET” it. 

What is the purpose of a format that only allows 140 characters? Why wouldn’t someone just use Facebook or another social media forum to say what they are thinking, what’s on their mind, what’s happening in their world?

Well, they would. But we can also use Twitter and benefit.

Here’s how:

Five Ways to Use Twitter and Benefit From It

1. Learn the format. Yes, it is 140 characters, but it is not the amount of text, it is what you say with a hashtag that gets noticed.
2. Use the hashtag sparingly. Say what you mean. Hashtags put you in other places in the Twittersphere so if you do not want to be in the bored stupid thread then don’t tweet  #boredstupid.
3. Keep BSP (blatant self promotion) to a minimum. It’s the equivalent of hawking your stuff to a room full of people at a party who don’t even know you. They could care less and you will likely lose friends. You may even be talked about and not in a good way. You don’t want to be known as THAT person.
4. Do tweet when you have a good sale going on but remember to give more than you take. And always use a link! Who can find your sale item if you don’t give them the link?
5. Be friendly. People really do want to get to know you. YOU. Not just what you had for dinner. Although images and tweets about pets always seem to be loved.

…and a really good addition to this list would be USE IMAGES! Everyone loves to see images and those pics with text on them are an especially good tweet for most of us.

AND DON’T FORGET TO RETWEET STUFF! That will get you noticed quickly. Just click the CLICK TO TWEET block below and you will have your first tweet!

[Tweet “Retweeting Five Tips for Twitter check it out here https://www.kimsmithauthor.com”]

Twitter is something that you should really give a try for at least 30 days. Just plan it in your production schedule to tweet a few times a day and see what happens. If you still don’t “get” it, you have my permission to quit.

But you won’t.