The Secret to Conquering Twitter: Remember It’s Just Text!

Here’s a simple, one sentence article: There is no secret formula to conquering Twitter beyond writing within the confines of 140 characters.
Okay, that’s too basic, but why get too complicated? Twitter isn’t complicated!

What is Twitter?

Take a step back and consider what Twitter really is. But before I do,please forgive me if none of this is new to you. I’m going back tobasics to make the point of how simple Twitter is for such a powerfultool.

What you get is the opportunity to write up to 140 characters oftext. Each time you send a tweet out, it’s sent to the users followingyou. If you’re followed by 10 people, those 10 people get it sent totheir feed. This doesn’t guarantee all 10 will see the tweet, becauseit’s a realtime stream of updates. It’s the best you’re gonna get withTwitter.

Want to get personal? Then mention specific users and your tweetswill be highlighted to those users. If a particular user is followingyou, you can even send them a private Direct Message.

In short, Twitter allows you to send small packets of text out towhatever users are following you. You can also find those packets oftext through Twitter’s search function and an increasing number of liveweb searches.

Given Twitter’s simplicity, it’s amazing the service has grown sosuccessfully. No wonder there’s so much talk on how to use it right.

Find what works for you.

For all the tips and tricks out there, no single method will propel youinto Twitter stardom. Think of it as you would with any writing. Youwouldn’t be impressed if you were told all novels had to be horrorstories in order to be successful. You wouldn’t believe advice thatsaid the secret to getting published is to write solely about golf andprovide plenty of hilarious and informative quotes about the sport.

Writing has a number of uses and there are multiple methods of writing successfully. The same can be said for Twitter.

For every rule you see on how to Tweet, be prepared to break thatrule and don’t be scared to experiment. Success won’t come from avidlyfollowing someone else’s set of rules. Success will come from regularwriting and experimenting with your own methods.

In time, you’ll find what works for you. Unless you are a celebrityor big brand (or heavily endorsed by one of them), you’ll have to workfrom scratch and give users a reason to engage with you.

What reason will you give?