Blogging Basics – Tweet With Style

Most bloggers want their posts to stand out and become a shining example of whatever topic they are writing about. If a blogger wants their message heard, amplification is the name of the game. When I began blogging I immediately began reading everything I could find on what amplification is and how it works.

Amplification:

 

A statement, idea or narrative expanded beyond your website.

The basic idea of using various amplification techniques is to help get your message into the “sight” of more people.

Twitter is one of my favorite amplification tools but a tweet does not do any good if no one ever reads it. Any blogger knows that there is never-ending stream of tweets. Learning to use twitter effectively is one of the blogging basics.

Tweet, Tweets and More Tweets

1. Hash Tags – When I post a tweet, I generally will use hash tags (#). A hash tag is one way that helps to categorize a tweet and helps others when they are doing a search on twitter.

(a.) Best practice is to have no more that two hash tags per post (I occasionally will use 3 but they will be at the end of the post not in the post)

(b.) A blogger needs to think about the key idea or what the post is about when deciding on the words they want to use with the hash tags.

Example of tweets using hash tags:

Blogging Basics – Tweet With Style via @dadblunder #twitter #blogging

or

Stereotypes – Good or Bad? via @dadblunder #tolerance #stereotype

Note: Not everyone likes hash tags but it is the easiest way to manage and categorize tweets (when not over used by an individual)

2. Length - If a blogger wants their tweets amplified they need to think about the length of their tweets. The maximum length for any tweet is 140 characters. The best practice is to keep your tweets around 120 characters,  which will leave plenty of room for others to retweet and still leave a short comment on it.

3. Title – The title of your blog post is probably the single most important thing a blogger will tweet. A title should be “catchy” and have some key words in it. (I am not discussing SEO and keywords in this post)

4. Sharing – Many times a blogger will want to share something  they have read on another blog. Whenever I share something for anyone I add a short message to show its relevance to others. I will write a message like this; <<message>> or <message>. The message I add shows others that I have read the post (and that I am not using just automated tweets).

Examples of tweets with short message:

<> Dragon Dictation – The fastest way to post on Facebook and Twitter via @churchillls

or

Diamonds In Your Own Back Yard – via @gingerconsult <Connecting local is a must>

5. Twitter Apps - Any post that a blogger writes becomes time sensitive. Most of the traffic that any blog will receive for a new post  is in the first 48 hours (after the post goes live).  TweetCaster, Tweetdeck and HootSuite are three of the best applications available for Android and I-Phone that allow users to use their phones to tweet and stay on top of their post anywhere they go.

As bloggers we can amplify our posts in many ways. Learning about all the various ways we can amplify our posts can help make our posts stand out and have others to read it.

Learn to Amplify

1. Sharing - Sharing is where we offer other people different ways to share our post from your site. (I use the “Share This” plug-in on my site).

2. Triberr - Join triberr and have others amplify your work through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Triberr is a blog amplification platform that can help any blogger.

3. Guest Post - Many blogs offer others the chance to guest post. Some guest post opportunities will allow link backs to your site or an article (possibly the article you want amplified).

4. Commenting - Many sites allow you leave a comment and a link back to a particular post or article. The link back becomes even more effective if you are commenting on a post that is related to the article you want to link back. (see Blogging Basics – The Benefits of Value Commenting)

I began the blogging basics series to help others think about ways they might use their blogs and social media to the full advantage. It is easy to forget little details when we are in a hurry to finish a post. If we take the extra time in all the “small” details it will help any post live up to its full potential.

Twitter is my favorite source of amplification. What do you do to amplify your posts? Do you have a favorite platform that you prefer; i.e, Twitter, Google +, Facebook? Do you have any helpful hints about twitter? Please tell me in the comments!!

You can read the last post from my blogging series here Blogging Basics – Is A Photo Important? If you like this post you can follow me on twitter @dadblunders. 

Source: http://www.dadblunders.com/2013/01/26/blogging-basics-tweet-with-style/