There is indeed a long list of "basics" you need in place have a strong Twitter presence. Things such as a good profile photo, an interesting bio, your location, and a link to your website. However, to really accelerate the growth of your social community, have a look at my Top 5 Keys to Success on Twitter.

1. 5 Keys to Success on Twitter
Craig DesBrisay, Co-Founder @Topicurious

2. Why do you use Twitter?

3. Make sure you have well-defined objectives...
• Brand awareness (personal and/or corporate)
• Customer loyalty
• Generate sales leads
• Competitor research
• Influencer marketing
• Build referral relationships
• Follow industry trends and events
• Learn
• Just killin’ time… (which is fine too, by the way!)

4. Let’s assume:
1. You want more followers.
2. You want people to RT
you.
3. You have limited time.
4. You aren’t a celebrity
(yet).

5. 5 Keys to
Success on
Twitter:
1. Listen before you speak.
2. Be compelling.
3. Follow lots of (relevant)
people.
4. Tweet a lot.
5. Engage, Engage, Engage.

6. Key #1:
Listen before you speak.

7. Just like your Mom taught
you.

8. Would you walk into a
networking event or a party
and immediately start talking?
No, you’d listen first.

9. So many benefits of social listening…
• Learn about topics and trends happening in your industry.
• Learn what your target market is interested in.
• Find interesting conversations to join.
• Spy on your competitors.
• Figure out how to be helpful.
• Become (even more of) an authority in your industry.
• Listen and reply to mentions of you or your brand (obviously
)

10. How to be a good social listener
• Put absolutely everyone you follow on 1 or more Twitter
Lists.
• Have 2-3 shortlists of people whose tweets you “must see”.
• Use @Topicurious to find all the relevant hashtag streams
you should be listening to occasionally. #shamelessplug
• Listen to and participate in weekly Twitter chats that are
relevant to your industry.

11. Key #2:
Be compelling.

12. Be a “sticky” brand.
(read “Sticky Branding” by Jeremy
Miller)

13. Tweet cool s**t.

14. Be clever.

15. Be positive.
Source: HubSpot / Dan Zarrella
People with more followers
Are less
negative

16. Include images in your
tweets.
Source: HubSpot / Dan Zarrella

17. Include 1-2 hashtags in
tweets.
Source: HubSpot / Dan Zarrella

18. Be conversational,
not corporate.

19. What is your Social IQ?
(Irresistibility Quotient)

20. Measure your Social “IQ” (Irresistibility Quotient)
• How many tweets did it take you to get to _______ followers?
• How irresistible are you (on Twitter)?
Your Social “IQ” = # of followers / # of tweets sent

21. Example: @craigthusiast
My “Social IQ” = 3,900 followers / 6,710 tweets =
0.58 followers per tweet

22. Example: @topicurious
My “Social IQ” = 2,713 followers / 1,721 tweets =
1.58 followers per tweet

23. Challenge:
What is your
Social “IQ”?

24. What is a good “Irresistibility Quotient”?
It’s all relative.
• There is no “right answer”. Strive to improve your own.
• What is your “IQ” goal? (mine is 100%, 1 follower per
tweet)
• Measure and track it over time.
• Is it going up?

25. How can you become more
compelling?

26. Tweet cool stuff.
• Find great sources of content to share. (blogs, websites,
etc.)
• Find and follow interesting people.
• Add people to Twitter Lists (to categorize them).
• Use tools. (Buffer, Feedly, Nuzzle, BuzzSumo, etc.)
• Find quality hashtag streams full of great content. (hint: use
@Topicurious)

27. Key #3:
Follow more people.

28. How to find and follow lots of (relevant) people:
• Find interesting people and look at who they ENGAGE with.
• Subscribe to relevant Twitter Lists.
• Attend Twitter Chats of interest. (find birds of a feather there)
• Find good hashtag streams full of interesting people. (hint:
use @Topicurious)
• There are tools out there to help follow more people, but I
prefer to do it organically and manually.

29. Key #4:
Tweet more.

30. The more you
tweet, the more
followers you’ll
gain.
The shape of these two
charts match exactly over
time.

31. “Craig, how often should I tweet?
More than you do today.
• Start with at least 1 per day (to form a habit).
• 4-6 per day is fairly active.
• Can you get to 10-12 per day?

32. How can you make it easier
to tweet more?

33. How to tweet more (without investing more time).
• Don’t worry about your tweets being perfect; just do it.
• Start by replying to more people. Get into more
conversations.
• Don’t be afraid to send more tweets out, but not all at once!
• Use @buffer to spread them out throughout the day.

34. Here’s the bad news…

35. Only 5% of your followers
are even SEEING your
tweets.

36. New Metric:
Your Social “SQ”
(Stickiness Quotient)

37. How “sticky” is your (personal or business)
brand?
Your Social “SQ” (Stickiness Quotient)
= # of Impressions (per tweet) / # of Followers
• On average, what % of your followers are seeing your tweets?
• How many of your followers consider you a “Must-See”?

38. Twitter Analytics (free)

39. 3% of followers
2%
4%

40. 5%
11%

41. 24%

42. My “SQ” = 21,500 impressions ÷ 187 tweets ÷ 3,900
followers = 3%

43. My “SQ” = 2,880 impressions ÷ 19 tweets ÷ 2,713
followers = 6%

44. Challenge:
What is your Social “SQ”?

45. So, how do you get more
people to see your tweets?

46. Key #5:
Engage, Engage, Engage.

47. Start by clicking the Like button more
often.
Reply to people, get into conversations.
Retweet tweets you find interesting.

48. How to be more Engaging…
• Put people on Lists. (never look at your Home timeline)
• Focus on a shortlist of 20-30 existing relationships to
nurture.
• Focus on a shortlist of 10 new people you want to “connect”
with.
• Reply to more people, get into conversations.

49. 1
Listen.
2
Be
compelling.
3 4
Follow a
lot.
5
Tweet a lot. ENGAGE.

50. Takeaways:
1. What are your specific objectives on Twitter?
2. What are you going to do differently?
3. How will you implement your new strategies?

51. Get in touch:
@craigthusiast
craig.desbrisay@gmail.com