Solar Fred's Top 10 Twitter Do's and Don'ts: The Basics

As promised from a couple of weeks ago, here are my top 10 basic Twitter do's and don’ts. Sadly, there are about 50 more, but in keeping with Twitter, I’m keeping it brief, though longer than 140 characters.

For those who don’t believe Twitter is relevant or useful to solar, or Egyptians, or commercial enterprises, please ignore a billion people around the world who disagree.

For those who think Twitter is relevant, but perplexed on how to use it, I was like you once. And then I tried it and learned a lot by just “listening” and then joining the solar conversation. Beyond that, start by heeding these little Solar Fred tips:

1)   Do Tweet daily, or at least Monday through Friday. You’re a business. I know. Twitter followers understand weekends. Nevertheless, if you’re going to be “social,” as in “social media,” contribute to the community Monday through Friday, and if you happen to see something good on the weekend, one or two tweets takes less than a minute to do on a mobile phone app.

2)   Do contribute useful information.  That is, if you read some good solar policy news on the Internet, share it. If you’ve written your own useful “FAQ solar” post, share that on Twitter. There’s a lot you can contribute without rah-rahing “We’re the best damn solar company in town, yo!” How about “New blog post: What’s net metering?” followed by a shortened web link.

3)   Do be courteous. I once read a blog post that essentially said that everything I ever needed to know about social media I learned in kindergarten. A slight exaggeration, but what’s very true is that this is a community, albeit a cyber one. Not only do you share (see #2), but there’s a great deal of “thank you” and “please” within those Tweets. I thank people who follow me for their RTs (“ReTweets” of my Tweets) and I ask my followers to “Please RT” when it’s important.

4)   Do have a photo or logo in your icon and "wall paper". Show your company’s personality in your Twitter icon and your home page background. You can customize these to some degree, also. If you just leave it to the default Twitter icon symbols, then you’re pretty much anonymous. You’re one of a million lazy, testing the waters, Tweeters. So, show who you are with images and completely fill out the profile info.

5)   Do follow the solar advocates. Pretty much, all the major solar and environmental organizations have Twitter accounts now. I have my favorites. You have yours. Follow them, converse with them, and help them get their messages out. They will in turn help to get your messages out. Why would they do that? Many reasons, including #2 and #3 above.

And now, 5 Twitter don’ts:

1)   Don’t just Tweet your own info. There’s one solar company that I won’t name here who just Tweets something about their solar service every 10 minutes. As a result, they have very few followers because anyone following them feels spammed. Even thought I was following them for competitive reasons, eventually I shut them off, and I’m sure potential customers did too.

2)   Don’t over-do it, even when it’s good info. Unless you’re Tweeting the essence of a speech your listening to live, don’t Tweet all day and night, even if you can. You’re not the only source of useful information for people following you. They have a life too. Solar enthusiasts and potential customers aren’t only solar enthusiasts, so don’t overwhelm them, or again, they’ll probably ignore you like background music, or worse, un-follow you.

3)   Don’t expect your Tweets to go “viral.”  I have close to 3,000 people following me. On a really good day, I get 30 to 40 people spreading my messages to their networks. On an average day, 10 or 20. But remember that it’s not just 10 or 20, because each of my followers also has followers, and they have followers, and so on. Like a wave, you never know how far your little message will ripple…if it’s good useful information. If it’s just a disguised advertisement, chances are it won’t spread at all.

4)   Don’t get into an argument with anyone. First of all, we’re talking 140 character sentences, so keep the stump speeches to blog posts. Second, remember that all of your followers are reading your Tweets. If you’re impolite or nasty to a nuclear advocate, for example, your consumer supporters may see you very differently. Once again, see #3 "Do" above.

5)   Finally, don’t use all 140 characters, if possible. Shoot for 120 to 130 characters. (Twitter tells you how many you have left) Why should you be short?  Because you want to leave space for your followers to RT your entire message, plus perhaps add a little of their own. Some followers will edit/shorten your original posts in order to fit in a personal comment before RTing to their followers. Something like: “Great info” or “I agree.” Those endorsements help spread the Tweet, so give them room.

That’s all for this week. Next time, Solar Fred gets an invitation to go to China. It will be another good reason to be following me on Twitter. As always, UnThink Solar.

Tor Valenza a.k.a. “Solar Fred” advises solar companies on marketing, communications, and public relations. Contact him through UnThink Solar or follow him on Twitter @SolarFred.