Giving Value to Your Twitter Followers

Here are five ways to give value to your followers, in the hope that value is returned.

1. Retweet Messages

There's not many things on Twitter that grab the attention of somebody more than a retweet. A retweet instantly builds a relationship. It shows the person you're retweeting that you enjoy what they just wrote and you want to engage in conversation.

When someone retweets a Tweet by me, I'm much more excited, engaged and grateful than I am when I receive a normal reply. Retweets to Twitter are what StumbleUpon is to blogs and word of mouth recommendations are to offline businesses. Positive comments and feedback are great, but it's so much better to see people taking the time to share your message with others.

2. Build friendships by Replying

It's very easy to be one dimensional when using Twitter. You wake up in the morning and reach the office, open up Twhirl or Tweetdeck, write a couple of Tweets, minimise the program to the task bar, open the program again at lunch and write a few more Tweets, then minimise it again.

It's the people who take time to keep Twhirl or Tweetdeck open, and take the time to read their followers Tweets, and take the time to reply to those Tweets, that truly make the biggest impact on Twitter.

Even if it's just for 30 minutes a day, take time to actively read your followers Tweets and reply to them. Be two dimensional in your use of Twitter and you'll provide much more value to your new friends.

3. Treat Twitter Like a Party, Not a Show and Tell

Much like how at a party it would be classed as rude to walk up to every person and throw them a business card, it's rude to show off your blog address on a regular basis in front of people you haven't built a relationship with.

Parties and networking events are not meant to produce instant results, but rather meant to aid in the building of new relationships to ensure there is a return in the far future. Whether that return is a new customer for your business, or, possibly in Twitter's case, a visit to your Web site, the relationship should be built first and done so over an extended period.

Don't expect quick results from Twitter. You must build solid, honest relationships first.

4. Introduce New People

Twitter is a game of emotions and relationships. It's no surprise, then, that the key to Twitter is to make people smile and to stand out from the masses. Introducing new people is a fantastic way to do this.

Maybe you'll send a Tweet recommending to your other followers that they “follow John, he's a great guy!”. Or maybe you'll send a Tweet recommending several people at once. #FollowFriday, the weekly occurrence where users recommended other people to follow is exactly what this is.

You're making people feel special, while letting them know how much you appreciate their Tweets. Win win!

5. Start a Conversation and Share the Results

In the same way that bringing interactivity to your blog and letting your audience generate the content is a fantastic way to build relationships, using polls and starting questions for debate on Twitter are excellent methods to engage your audience and promote interaction within your circle of followers.

A poll or question for debate each day will go a long way in helping you establish relationships. Of course, you should always share the results of any poll or debate you manage. All too often, I see Twitter users ask a poll question and then never Tweet the results. What use is a community poll if the community can't see the results? Tweet your poll results, and retweet good answers to your questions.

Original Post @ TwiTip