Just a quick update to my Competition Case Study post from a couple of days ago.

One of the best things that I did to promote this competition was to email inactive members of my forum. VBulletin (the forum software that I use) allows me to send emails to members based upon different criteria. I sent a short email out yesterday to anyone who hadn’t posted to the forum for 2 months. It was titled:

“We’ve missed You. Come Back to DPS and Win a Digital Camera”

The email was written in personal tones, included their user name (as in ‘Dear username’) and mentioned that I noticed they hadn’t posted for a while and that we were running a competition that they might be interested in. I also reminded them of sign up details etc and told them to drop me a note if they had any problems logging in.

The email went out yesterday to many thousands of members and almost immediately I knew I was onto a winner because I started getting emails from readers thanking me for the email.

I’d been hesitant about sending it out and feared a backlash from those who had forgotten that they had joined but since it went out I’ve had hundreds of emails from readers thanking me for the ‘reminder’ to come to DPS. I’ve never had anyone email me to say thanks for an email that was basically saying ‘check out my site’.

I’m not sure what triggered it but I’ve had emails telling me why they’d been absent lately (everything from people saying they’ve been lazy, to people telling me that they’d been sick, to people sharing about the loss of loved ones). Something in the email really hit the spot and has driven hundreds of older members from the early days of the forum back to it.

As I’ve said above – I’m not completely sure why the email was so effective – but to me it illustrates the power of personal contact with your readers (even though it was a mass email it was written as though I was speaking to an individual).

It also highlighted to me that people want to be noticed (and want their absence to be noticed too).

As a follow up to my last two posts on Twitter (the Benefits of Twitter and How to Use Twitter – Tips for Bloggers) I thought I’d ask a group of people more qualified to answer the question of ‘how a blogger should use twitter best?’ – my Twitter followers.

update: Check out my new Blog TwiTip for more Twitter Tips.

Following are the first 35 tips by my Twitter followers after I asked the question yesterday. I think there’s some real wisdom in the mix.

• ryansholin – Be honest. Have fun. Don’t try to sell anything.
• joiedevie – funny, informative and catchy: choose two.
• wpcandy – Twitter about stuff that has to do with your blog, but also Twitter stuff that has nothing to do with your blog.
• scottkarp – Share links, share ideas, ask questions, answer questions — anything but “what are you doing?” unless it’s really interesting
• cigarjack – This was my problem at first, I just lurked. Get active and follow others. Great tool for tossing around ideas.
• rosshill – Join the conversation, there are too many blog promoters on twitter who just broadcast. Learn @ and start networking :)
• soniasimone – Write each word like it matters, because it does.
• fairminder – share links. share insights and trends, things that are new or timely/current. Be personal. Don’t link only to yourself.
• travishines – share interesting resources, not just what you ate for lunch. Twitter often, and use it to test potential blog topics.
• galadarling – No cat anecdotes!
• theother66 – make use of other Twitter tools to make the most of Twitter (and so it doesn’t suck up all your time)
• TheNanny612 – Efficient is the key to Twitter…. short & sweet. Basically, get right to the point.
• vangogh – Respect the people you follow. Be interesting. Listen first, tweat second. Don’t waste words.
• empty_inbox – I’m new at it all. The #1 thing to help me has been the use of a desktop client. Without “twhirl” I would’ve given up long ago.
• andrewkhunn – Frequent Twitter updates demand desktop clients: Snitter, twhirl, and Twitterific all bear mentioning.
• jstamant – This often goes unsaid, but I would suggest not having twitter/twitterific open while writing. It can become very distracting.
• hamstu – As far as getting followers goes; I find just being friendly and helpful does wonders. And of course shared interests help to.
• MattJMcD – Don’t follow more people than you can handle. If you’ve got too much going on, you miss a lot of the good stuff.
• davepit – Keep your Twitter updated and the followers will come. Stay up-to-date and you will reep the benefits.
• arieanna – stop thinking that twitter is pointless and just try it. It’s all about community – reach out and be a part of it.
• DrBaher – contribute positively to conversations going on inside twitter
• sitemost – interact and communicate with others – it’s a social media tool, so be social
• RuudHein – Share thoughts more than actions: “Pownce will kill Twitter” vs. “I’m going to the toilet”
• baramunchies – add value to your stream
• drmani – Look beyond the obvious (traffic, sales etc.) Add value. Build relationships. Think LONG term.
• CurtMonash – Learn what people care about. I got a glowing link from RSS inventor Dave Winer my first week of active twittering.
• ericabiz – Use twitterfeed. Instant feedback from readers is the best part of Twitter. Listen to others; engage them; have a conversation.
• superphly – f you are using WordPress use twittertool much better
• puppybraille – Advice: Think before you hit send. 140 characters have the power to help, heal or be miss-understood.
• buxx – use an username as short as possible so you can twit more
• kidblogger – My tip: “Keep it short” ;-)
• nhgnikole – re:twitter, I’d share this with them so they could use rss in new ways with twitter and facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3arsm
• fderfel – first advice is to add good description and link for something that would be too short in a post
• fderfel – second advice make a good weekly post describing all the twitter for the previous week
• silvano_v – Probably look at pounce, Im sure its going to overtake twitter, as its more feature rich. Aside from that, update often.

Thanks to all of those who left an answer. To take part in my future Twitter polls like this one follow me at Twitter.

PS – for more Twitter Tips visit TwiTip.

Yesterday I wrote about some of the benefits of using Twitter as a tool to improve your blog. I’ve seen tangible benefits of getting into Twitter over the last month – but it hasn’t been as simple as signing up for a Twitter account and then documenting every area of my life.

update: Check out my new Blog TwiTip for more Twitter Tips.

What follows is a compilation of the lessons I’m learning about how to use Twitter – some Twitter Tips for Bloggers if you like. Keep in mind that I’m very new to the medium and have made as many mistakes as anyone so far.

As mentioned yesterday – I’m a newbie to this medium so any of your own tips that you can add to these will be greatly appreciated.

Tips for Bloggers on How to Use Twitter

Define the Outcomes that You Want to Achieve

When I first started Twittering I gave little thought to my reasons for doing so. My Tweeting was unfocused and scattered – and so was the impact that it had. Before you write another ‘Tweet’ to your Twitter account ask yourself what you want to achieve from Twitter?

• Do you want to build your profile and perceived expertise in a niche or industry?
• Do you want to drive traffic to your blogs?
• Do you want to use it to network with others in your niche?
• Is it a branding exercise?
• Do you want to show your readers a more personal side of yourself?
• Is it more of a social exercise?

There are many things that Twitter can offer a blogger (check out my last post for more) – but one lesson I’ve already learned is that Twitter is a more effective tool if you know why you’re using it and focus in on just one (or a few) objectives rather than all of the above).

Suggestion: if your Twitter goals are wide – why not start multiple Twitter accounts – one for each objective. For example you could have a social one for your friends, one for each blog that you have to drive traffic and another to build profile.

Homework – grab a pen and paper or open up a text document and come up with your top 2-3 goals and objectives for Twitter.

Stay Disciplined with Your Objectives

Once you have your Twitter objectives set you need to work towards them. It’s like any goal or resolution that you make – you’ll only achieve what you set out to achieve if your actions match your objectives. This doesn’t mean that you can’t occassionally Tweet things in a way that is outside of your objectives (I mix mine up a bit) but it does mean that the majority of your tweets probably need to stay on track.

Homework – take the list of objectives that you’ve come up with and put them somewhere that you’ll see them regularly. Each time you twitter ask yourself – ‘is this Tweet getting me closer to these objectives?’

Be Original and Useful

This tip will sound familiar to those who’ve been reading ProBlogger for a while because it’s ProBlogger’s rule #1 when it comes to building a successful blog – build a blog that is unique and useful. If you build a blog like this people will keep coming back for more. The same is true for Twitter (in fact most of these tips can be applied to Twitter or blogging).

There are many thousands of people using Twitter – and there’s a lot of conversation buzzing around the Twittersphere. The problem is that it’s hard to stand out from the crowd and get noticed. Providing your followers with something original and useful is one way to do this. The benefits of doing so is that you’ll get people ‘replying’ to you – which catches the attention of those who follow them and can find you new followers.

Ultimately it’s about adding value to the conversations that are happening on Twitter. When you become someone who goes beyond adding to the noise of the Twittersphere you’ll become someone that people seek out and want to interact with.

Homework: Ask yourself a second question before you Tweet – ‘is this original and useful to my followers?’ If the answer is yes – publish it. If it’s not – either take a few extra moments to improve your Tweet or consider dropping it.

Learn that Every Tweet Counts

This is another thing that I speak about when it comes to blogging that also applies to Twitter. Every time you publish something on your Twitter account (or Blog) you can potentially improve or hurt your reputation, brand and profile. This is an important lesson to learn – particularly for Twitter where it’s so easy to post something out of anger, in a drunken moment or that could hurt your reputation in some way. Sure posting in this way can add ‘spice’ to your Twittering – but it can also hurt your reputation.

Monitor your Reply Ratio

There are two types of public ‘Tweets’ or posts that you can make on Twitter. The first is a normal Tweet (where you publish something that you’ve been thinking, post a link to a good post you’ve seen, share an idea, ask a question etc). The second is a ‘reply’ to something that someone else has said (an answer to a question, a question of your own, a suggestion etc).

Both types of Tweets are very important to building a successful Twitter experience. Publishing normal Tweets shares something of yourself and adds to the ‘orginal’ factor that I mentioned above. Replies take Twittering to a more personal and conversational level. They are also one way that can spread your profile wider (the more people reply to you the more chance of others seeing, joining the conversation and following you).

The challenge is to keep the ratio of normal Tweets to reply Tweets in balance. I don’t know that there is any one perfect ratio – but I do know that some Twitterers frustrate me by going to the extreme in one way or the other. There are dangers in the extremes:

If you reply too much you run the risk of just blending in to the noise of the Twittersphere. Your tweets can become less useful to your wider community of followers and can end up being confusing. Remember that most of your followers can only see half of the conversations that you’re having.

If you don’t reply enough you could be missing one of the real benefits of Twitter – that of the interaction and conversation that is possible. You can also end up coming across as unapproachable and allusive.

My own approach is to attempt to keep my replies down to a level where my ‘normal’ Tweets are appearing every few Tweets. If I find myself replying too much I attempt to throw in some non reply tweets or take things to direct messaging (see my next point).

Homework – do a little analysis of your ‘reply ratio’. How many replies do you send for every normal Tweet? Is this something that you’re comfortable with? You might even like to ask your followers directly if you reply too much or not enough? Another quick exercise is to look at some of your favorite Twitter users and see what their reply ratio is. I’d be interested to see someone do some analysis on this from top Twitter users.

Learn to Use Direct Messages

If your reply tweet ratio is out of balance in that you ‘reply’ too much a good way to combat the problem is to consider using direct messages. My own approach to this is that I almost always publicly ‘reply’ to something that someone has Tweeted the first time – but if the conversation continues I’ll take the conversation to ‘direct messages’ after the second or third reply unless I think the conversation has something of value to my wider following community.

Ask Questions

One of the most effective types of Tweets that I’ve done is to ask my followers questions.

I highlighted the power of asking questions in yesterday’s post when I asked followers about their RSS subscribing habits (there are now over 50 or so replies).

• Asking a relevant question will draw many followers out of lurk mode and into an active engagement with you.
• Asking questions will draw people to ‘reply’ which (as I’ve already mentioned) will have a viral impact as those answering will show their own followers that they follow you
• Asking questions is great for helping you to learn which can be very useful if you’re researching a blog post
• Asking questions can lead to fruitful discoveries and real relationships with followers

I don’t ask questions with every Tweet – but try to throw one in most days.

Example a quick example of using a question was my recent Twitter Poll on how people use Twitter on the weekend. The question got around 40 responses, started some interesting discussion and over the 30 minutes that it ran for I had an extra 30 followers join up.

Bonus tip: once people have stopped replying to your question report back to your followers what the results were. This keeps the conversation going and gives followers a sense of how their response fits into the overall response.

Don’t be a self centered Twitterer

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been twittering from my feed reader and Tweeting the best links and posts that I find on other people’s blogs.

The tool I use for this is this Firefox add-on (and alternative is this one). In a sense what I’m doing is ‘speedlinking’ to posts about blogging.

What I’ve found in doing this is that I get a lot of replies and direct messages from followers thanking me for these links and asking me questions about them. It seems to be helping my own profile and perceived expertise to be seen to be across what’s going on in my niche.

I think it also helps to balance the Tweets that I’m doing that are more self serving (pointing links to my own posts). My Twittering becomes more about the niche of blogging about blogging and less about me – I think that this is more useful to my followers.

I guess what I’m saying is that if you’re using Twitter to promote yourself or your blog (and this is fine) then it might be worth considering how you can add some variety to your Twittering by also promoting the quality work of others (note: don’t just link to others for the sake of it – keep the quality high and links relevant).

Question: what is your ‘self linking’ to ‘linking to others’ ratio? Could you mix it up a little more?

Be Active

I was asked yesterday how I’ve manged to grow my Twitter followers up to the 1000 mark in just a few weeks. There are numerous reasons (including that I’ve promoted my Twitter account on my blog) – but I do think that the number one reason is that I’ve been quite active and using the medium more and more.

The more you Twitter the more chance you’ll get others find you through others replying to you. I’ve noticed the days that I Tweet more than others are the days I get most followers.

Forgetting to Tweet? – one of my biggest problems in the early days was forgetting to Tweet. It wasn’t a natural part of my daily rhythm. So I decided to remind myself by setting aside a few minutes in the mornings and a few minutes in the evenings to specifically use Twitter. I even set alarms in my calendar to remind me. Since moving to a tool like Twhirl (see below) I find that I’m reminded more regularly and see new Tweets from others come in – this has helped me be more regular on Twitter myself.

Promote Your Twitter Feed

The other reason that I’ve been able to grow my followership is that I’ve actively promoted my Twitter profile in numerous places. I’ve added a link to it in the footer of this blog, on my contact page and have posted about it here on ProBlogger numerous times over the last month. I’ve also added it to my facebook profile and have mentioned it to others that I know use Twitter.

It’s like promoting a blog – you want to leverage the profile that you might already had when launching a new project. Don’t spam people with it or force it down their throat but don’t be afraid to promote that you’re Twittering.

Homework – if your Twittering is relevant to your blog – think about where you could add a link to your Twitter profile.

Connect with Others in Your Niche

I want to connect with as many Twitter users as possible – however there are some that I’ve attempted to connect with more than others – simply because they are people who are active in niches that I interact in.

Really this comes back to your objectives – if you want to become known in your niche and build your own profile in it then you need to be interacting with others who are also in that niche. Add yourself as a follower to other key Twitterer users, add value to these people’s conversations, interact with them via direct messaging etc.

Homework – go Twitter Surfing. The best way that I’ve found to add find people who are Twittering in my niches is to simply go surfing. Start with those that follow you and see who else they are following and what they Twitter about. You’ll find that these followers will lead you to others (and so on).

Pick an Avatar and Profile Page that Reinforces Your Brand

Twitter doesn’t allow a lot of customization – but the subtle things that it does allow you to change can have an impact.

Your Avatar is one important factor – it appears next to every Tweet you make as well as on your profile page. If you just allow the default brown avatar to represent you you’re missing a great marketing opportunity. I would recommend using an avatar that reinforces your brand. If you’re brand is YOU then a picture of you would be worth adding. If your brand is your blog – then use a logo of some kind.

Similarly your profile page can be tweaks with an image and colors. I’ve not really done a lot with colors but added a ProBlogger Logo to mine to reinforce that in the mind of those who follow ProBlogger. I’m not completely satisifed with this yet and have it on my to-do list to think through a better way to do this.

Question – what does your avatar and profile page say about you? Does it add to your brand?

Consider Your Personal Tweet Strategy

This is one that I’ve grappled with a bit. In the earlier days of my Twittering I posted more personal Tweets than I currently do. Some followers seemed to like this but others were quite vocal about not liking them. I realized that my objectives for using Twitter were not for it to be a personal space – so I cut back the personal Tweets.

Having said this – I do include some more personal tweets from time to time as I think it can show a different side of you to your followers and add interest. However for me it’s about keeping things in balance.

Find Your Voice

I think it’s important to think about the voice that you Tweet in. One thing that I’ve found followers responding to is by Twittering in a more humorous voice. Telling a funny story or posting the occasional funny link can show a more personal side of you. Other Twitter users seem to get good responses from people when they Tweet in a more gruff and blunt tone. I guess it’s about finding what works for you.

Try Different Twitter Tools

There are a good variety of twitter tools available to help you manage your twittering. One of the things that stopped me getting into Twitter in the early days was that I only used it when I thought to go to my actual Twitter page. On discovering desktop twitter clients my Twittering changed completely. They are like instant messaging tools that notify you of when people make updates and more importantly when replies and direct messages come in. They also make adding a Tweet as easy as typing an instant message.

I use Twhirl as my Twitter client of choice at the moment – but there are many other methods. I’ve also tried and liked:

• Twitterific – another desktop Twitter client (mac)
• Tweetbar – twitter from the sideb ar of Firefox

Another useful tool if you want to promote your Blog’s posts to Twitter is Twitterfeed.

There are many other tools to try and experiment with. Frantic Industries has a good list as does Mashable.

I think the key is to try different tools and find the one that fits with your own rhythm.

Work With the Rhythm of Your Followers

I linked above (in the ‘question’ section) to a poll I did of my followers asking whether they used Twitter more or less on weekends. The results were:

• More: 3
• Less: 21
• Same: 8

This is useful information to know and on many levels makes sense. With this in mind you can time your Tweets to get maximum impact. Obviously the time of day has an impact also. As someone in Australia I notice this quite a bit with a real lull during my afternoons when the US is asleep.

This doesn’t mean that ‘dead’ times are a waste of time – in fact I find Twittering in these times can be good because it’s easier to cut through the noise of busier times.

Take home lesson: experiment with different times and days to see what impact they have.

What Twitter Tips Would You Add?

Like I said in my introduction to this post. I’m early on in my journey with Twitter and still have a lot to learn. I’d love to hear from other bloggers who use Twitter – particularly to hear how you’ve used it to improve your blog in any way.

Update – for more Twitter Tips visit TwiTip.

The following guest post is by Jon Bishop from TechNomads. You can learn more about him at the base of this post.

Now that I’m living in China, and having lived in Asia for the past 8 years, I’ve often found myself thinking about Confucianism, and considering certain elements of Confucian culture.

In some parts of Asia, Confucianism doesn’t have a very strong influence these days. In other places, like South Korea it’s been elevated to the level of a religion.

I also run a site about Confucianism, as well as some other stuff related to Asian philosophy, so I began thinking about what Confucius said and how it relates to blogging.

Sometimes what’s always worked is what works best, and blogging is no exception.

So, let’s take a look at some of the analects or sayings of Confucius and see how those strategies could be applied to successful blogging:

Confucius said: “It is only after the white background is prepared that any painting is possible.”

If the sayings of Confucius often seem cliche’, it’s because the truth is often very simple. Simple doesn’t necessarily mean easy, though.

Have you layed the necessary groundwork for your blog? Is your on page SEO good enough? Have you done your keyword research? Do you have a solid idea of what you will be blogging about for the next month? The next 3 months?

If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, then a gram of good preparation is worth a ton of work.

Brainstorm every element of your project, do your research, lay a strong foundation and then build from there.

Confucius said: “The Common people can be made to understand a path, but not to follow it.”.

Ain’t that the truth? This is probably most true in the SEO and internet marketing realms.

Various blogs are full of great advice on SEO, marketing, and making money online, but often most of the readers either will not TRULY understand the advice, or they won’t act on it.

It could be for any number of reasons. Laziness, analysis paralysis, or just a lack of time.

When you’re building your blog or writing your next post, keep in mind that the ability to TAKE ACTION is not as common as you might think.

This can work in your favor if you’re selling a product, subscriptions, etc. but it can really work against you when promoting affiliate programs that require the user to take some action, like build, monetize, and get traffic to their own site.

Confucius said: “Rice can never be refined to much, and meat can never be minced to much.”

Analyze and refine! Constantly tweaking your monetization, SEO, and finding new ways to promote your blog and increase your traffic. As a blogger your work is never done.

Confucius said: “Yan Hui is quite learned and virtuous but he is extremely impoverished. Duanmu Ci is discontent with his lot. He engages in trade, and each time he turns out to be successful.”

Confucius often focused upon diligence. As a blogger, or any type of webmaster for that matter, you need to constantly source new opportunities, develop new content, increase your SERP’s and traffic if you want to succeed. While you may know everything there is to know about SEO, marketing, etc. – it’s the application of this knowledge that will bear fruit. Knowledge for its own sake is a good thing, but knowledge also requires practical application for it to be of much use. Instead of trying to learn everything at once, focus on working step by step and making incremental improvements over time.

Confucius said: “If people under your reign are happy, people will be attracted to come from afar.”

Give your readership what they want. Always try to over-deliver in your posts or articles. You should also pay attention to comments and criticisms, and find out which element of your personality is most attractive or appealing to your readership and exploit that to it’s fullest potential.

Link bait is nothing more than word of mouth advertising applied to the web, and one satisfied, amused, or interested reader can refer lots of new traffic and subscribers to your blog.

Confucius said: “Do not make haste, do not covet small gains. If you make haste, you cannot reach your goal; If you covet small gains, your efforts will not culminate in great achievements.”

This is related to what’s probably the most common mistake of people who try to blog for a living, or who try to earn income from blogging. . . It takes TIME to achieve the critical mass of content, subscribers and notoriety that bring in those huge paychecks every month.

Most webmasters who try to blog are extremely short sighted and once they realize that blogging requires alot of time and effort, they throw in the towel for the greener pastures of other types of webmastering, affiliate promotions, etc.

If you want to succeed as a blogger you need a sort of grim determination and stick-to-it-iveness to go the distance and persevere through some low earning months until you’ve attained that critical mass.

Confucius said: “Do not worry that your abilities are not appreciated. Just make sure that you possess them.”

This saying could be interpreted a lot of ways, and I think I think it’s a universal truth even outside of the blogosphere. Not getting the comment love you expected from a post?

Don’t focus on whether or not people are reacting to your content, but instead try to make sure that you’re actually producing content that is compelling enough to solicit the desired reaction (whatever that is).

Most people naturally seek positive re-enforcement and feedback. In the real world, you have to earn it.

Confucius said: “Duanmu Ci, do you think I am a man with a wide range of knowledge and a good memory?” Zi Gong replied, “Yes I do. Is that not true? Confucius said, “No, i just use a fundamental concept to bind it all together.”

Other much more famous bloggers have talked about this recently. . .

What’s your unique selling point? What sets you apart from the crowd of other bloggers out there in the blogosphere?

In offline business, this type of thing is referred to as “core competence”. What are you best at? What is your edge? That’s where you need to focus most of your efforts, either in developing or refining “the edge”.

Your core competence is the fundamental concept that binds everything else together. There are lots of things that you need to focus on every day, but if you lose sight of your own mission and core competencies, you’ll quickly find that those stats you check every hour are becoming more and more bleak every day!

Confucius said: “Those who spend the whole day long merely chatting idly, saying unreasonable things and parading their cleverness will accomplish little.”

I don’t think I can explain or expand upon this much better than Confucius himself. Are you a victim of forum-itis? Do you spend hours a day reading threads written by other webmasters that have absolutely nothing to do with your core competencies or improving your own brand?

This is such an easy trap to fall into, because everyone likes the feeling of participating in a community.

Your goal as a blogger or webmaster should be building your OWN community around yourself or your brand.

Participating in forums and other blogs is an important element of building your own social network, but don’t lose sight of the forest for the trees!

Confucius said: “Gentlemen unite instead of conspiring; petty men conspire instead of uniting.”

And that is why I’m writing this guest post. The notion of pure competition is flawed, I think. It’s been said that a rising tide lifts all boats, and the blogosphere isn’t an exception to that. You can read lots of accounts of webmasters trying to sabotage each other, knock each other out of their respective SERP positions, and so on, but in the end, it’s really counter-productive.

What is productive is creative and mutually beneficial collaboration. Whether that’s guest blogging, exchanging links, mentioning someone else’s recent post (trackback!), or any number of other ways.

Image Source Rob Web

Jon Bishop (pictured left) is the author of this guest post.

Jon also writes at Analects of Confucius, Miyamoto Musashi’s book of Five Rings and Taoism and Wudang Mountain Martial Arts.