Twitter. It’s gone from some foreign platform to a household name. I find myself saying, “Did you get that tweet I sent you?” or “Can you re-tweet that for me?” It seems like everyone is incorporating twitter into their brand- and that’s a good thing.

But how do you get the most out of Twitter? What can you do to engage your Twitter followers so that you’re actively and effectively promoting your own brand? The answer is simple:

User Interaction.

Nobody ever wants to just follow someone who only talks about themselves. Twitter is almost as dynamic as human nature. You can reply to people, you can regurgitate things people have sent out into the Twitter-sphere and you can also talk about things going on in your life.

The most important factors to remember while using Twitter are:

• Don’t be extremely narcissistic. No one wants to follow someone who ONLY talks about themselves… I’ve been guilty of this when I get super excited or wrapped up in something.
• Reply to people that you follow. Like an article they posted up? Tell ‘em.
• Tweet out useful articles you find for other people in your industry. You’ll become someone worth following.
• Use programs such as TweetDeck to manage multiple lists and also have a 360 degree view of the Twitter-sphere.
• Look at trending topics- there may be something useful that you might want to converse in.
• Pffft. who says you ONLY have to follow trending topics? You can hashtag out your own tweets that follow the same topic. They’ll be easier to search up when people want to follow more of what you’re saying.
• Also, make sure you have a picture of yourself. Icons work if you’re endorsing a brand but if you want to build your PERSONAL brand people need to see the real you.

Now, like I said before, I’ve been totally guilty of only talking about myself on Twitter. It’s so easy to do also, because you figure: you have this audience who is following you, and of COURSE they won’t UNFOLLOW you (lies!) if you start tweeting more than usual.

You feel like you can just kind of plug yourself and noone will want to take you off their list for it. You’re completely wrong. Maybe on Facebook it’s a little harder to de-friend someone (and a lot more noticable) but people have no qualms about unfollowing you on Twitter. Don’t have such a big head. You may turn out like the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland. Initially holding people’s interests but eventually getting thrown out like bad milk.

What do I want you to take away from this? Engage and Inform. Don’t use Twitter as a tool for shameless self promotion. One day Twitter may not be there and you’re left as nothing but a bad taste in other people’s mouths with no way to redeem yourself.

Have any other tips that you can add to this? Something I left out? I’m interested in what other strategies Twitter-holics like myself might be using :) Feel free to discuss!