Do you find yourself confused by Twitter?
I was very confused with Twitter too! I mean how can I say all I need to in 140 characters or less? How would I get noticed? Should I schedule my tweets? What are some good hashtags? These were the beginning of millions of questions for me.

So What Helped?
I found a lot of tips on Pinterest. You may want to check out my blogging & social media board. Here I post all of the best tips that I have found.
Then I found Business 2 Blogger excellent post on viewing Twitter as text. She was recommending reading UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging
So how did I do this?
- Tweet often and not just your links.
- Retweet people who are in your same niche.
- Thank new followers. I like to use Statusbrew to help generate these tweets.
- Reply on tweets.
- Join Twitter Chats
- Don’t Schedule your Tweets (except for blog post)
- Use Hashtags
How do I find people to follow?
Since my niche is Lifestyle/Mom/Blogger, I joined several Facebook support groups. My favorite is International Bloggers Association (You do have to be a paid member to join. It is a $12 yearly membership, but the support is fantastic. They also have a lot of information for non-members. So check them out.)
You can also search by hashtags. Here is some of my favorite hashtags: #momblogger #lbloggers #blogger #newfollower #follo #workfromhom #mom #homeschooling #mblogger #parentingtips #FF (FollowFriday)
Twitter will suggest people for you to follow. Those are often nice too but don’t stop there.
Follow people who follow people you follow. Boy, that was a mouthful! The reason being they are people who might be interested in the same things.
So how do I build relationships?
After you have found some people you have a common ground, try to be very active in their tweets. Answer their questions, favorite, retweet, or share during follow Friday. It’s a give and takes relationship. Always give more than you expect, and you will be surprised the people who notice.
Here is an example of a follow Friday tweet: (P.S. These are fabulous bloggers you will want to follow.)
#FF Amazing Bloggers @TinasHomeschool @nghomeschooling @lookwelearn @LorelaisLife @greenwithdecor @WitandWander #ibabloggers
— Haley’s Vintage (@haleysvintage) October 2, 2015
Thank people who retweet your tweets. By thanking them, they know you appreciate them and gives them a mention in the progress.
@proteanmom Thanks for all your amazing #retweets! — Haley’s Vintage (@haleysvintage) October 2, 2015
How can I separate people I’m following?
An excellent way to do this is to create lists. Lists help you separate who you follow into interests. For example, I have a list dedicated to DIY Bloggers, International Bloggers Association, Bloggers, and Mom Bloggers. So I can quickly go to that list, and then select tweets to retweet or reply and hopefully start a conversation.
To learn more about Twitter Lists visit here.
Don’t forget to ‘Share‘ this to your favorite Pinterest or Stumble boards!

How often should you Tweet?
To gain followers, I suggest tweeting a minimum of 5 times per day. Since I am a working mom of 3, I usually check Twitter 3 to 4 times per day. While checking, I will review my feed, see who followed, check trending topics, and retweet. That sounds like a lot of time, but once you are familiar with Twitter, you can do that in about 10 minutes.
So why do I use Twitter several times per day?
Simply put, is I want to be an active Twitter user. I don’t want people to think I just use Twitter to promote myself and my blog. The more active you are, helps more people find you, and you grow quicker. You also need to get familiar with your Twitter analytics. Here are some examples showing how being serious makes a huge difference.




More Useful Hashtags
Life With Joanne has a great post on hashtags and how to use them.

For Bloggers: #blogging #blog #bloggers #blogtips #bloggingtips #savvyblogging #blogpromotion #blogpost #mbloggers (mom blogger) #mombloggers #mommybloggers #InspiringMom #fbloggers (fashion bloggers) #bbloggers (beauty bloggers) #lbloggers (lifestyle bloggers) #bookbloggers #MondayBlogs #SundayBlogShare #smallvictories #fatherhood #bepresent #dads #handsondad
Business: #business #biz #entreprenuer #businesstip #biztip #startup #startups #smallbusiness #smallbiz #marketing #content #contentmarketing #socialmarketing #socialmedia #socialmediatips #SocialMediaTalk #womanpreneur #womeninbiz
Other: #QuoteOfTheDay #Quote #newfollowers #cutestthingever #toddlerlife #parenting #parentingtips
Your choices in hashtags are virtually unlimited. I always recommend checking the trending topics to see what you can incorporate.
I now have an Ultimate Hashtag List for you!

NEVER use more than three hashtags per tweet two hashtags per tweet (new post on hashtags). It looks like spam, and a lot of Twitter users find it annoying. You are better to pick the most relevant hashtag than just several of the same type of hashtag. So if you are trying to reach mom bloggers use one hashtag of #mombloggers not #mombloggers #mbloggers #mommybloggers. You would want to save the other two to match your tweet.
To learn more about appropriate amount hashtags by each social media platform visit my Hashtags are Extremely Important post.
How Can I Get Retweets?
Several accounts are based to retweet bloggers tweets. I recommend using these sparingly. They will help get you exposure, but you do not want their mentions in every tweet.
My Favorites:
The best way to get retweets is to write compelling tweets. Funny, Informational, and Quotes get retweeted a lot. Facebook groups also have threads that offer retweets.
Don’t forget to ‘Share’ this to your favorite Pinterest or Stumble boards!
Questions for my readers:
What are your favorite hashtags? How often do you tweet? Do you schedule your tweets?

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