With SES London fast approaching I thought I would share some quick tips on what to do and what to avoid when using Twitter at the conference: -

1. Dont tweet everything
Seriously we dont need to know your every movement (literally)

2. Use Twitter to meet people
When your at the event make sure people know where you are at set times so you can meet up. Its great to be able to tweet “hey anyone at SES meeting for a drink tonight?” and hey presto you have people to drink with!

3. Try to avoid tweeting too much drunk
Its very funny for everyone else but tweeting every part of the evening once you have had that 10th pint is probably a bad idea overall.

4. Follow the speakers of sessions you attend
Its great to be able to attend a session and then afterwards ask the speaker the odd question about their presentation. Most people are helpful and in my opinion you can never know enough clever people.

5. Dont fake it
I know of quite a few people who have left the conference or didnt even go and yet pretend they are attending by following the chatter on twitter and chipping in with fake tweets.
Kinda sad and afterall if you arent making connections at the event why the hell are you bothering?

Hope they help – Anyone think of any more?

Someone pointed me towards a great service for those addicted to Twitter.

Its called Twitter Counter and it counts your followers over a period giving a cool little graph and the handy badge that you see now on my sidebar.

Looks like my count is growing at a decent rate nowadays, hope it carries on that way!

It helps when you have a professional looking twitter background if someone visits our profile page. It makes them far more likely to follow you (At the time of writing I am up to 964 followers in a little under 2 months)

Heres how mine looks at the moment

If anyone would like one creating similar to mine then I charge $50 for just such a background.

Email me on paul@seoidiot.co.uk or message me @seoidiot

Joost (@jdevalk) just launched a simple but very handy little plugin called
twitter link that converts @username mentions in posts to links to Twitter.

Simple and well made as ever

UPDATE: Looks like it needs a little work – no spaces after the @ links and the list didnt get parsed.

So @seoidiot is easier for you to follow. Id also suggest you follow some of these guys like me: -

@alcarlton
@chrisgarret
@juliejoyce
@storyspinner
@deanhunt08
@niallharbison
@simonheseltine
@coplandmj
@chrisgarrett
@mashable
@rebeccakelley
@scottmonty

and more (the above are just whats showing on my Tweetdeck for the last 5 minutes)

Oh and give @jdevalk a follow too, its great advertising for my cartoon

I did that

Twitter really seems to be gathering pace lately and if your new to it or if you just want to increase your influence heres a few tips I have picked up: -

1. Use it
There is little point in expecting people to follow your tweets if you only log in once a week. It has to be part of your day to day.
“But I am too busy”
Stop whining its less time consuming that IM and forums and to be honest youll get more from it.

2. Dont be a robot
Whilst I do agree that using some automation is ok you need to make sure you keep it personal. Don’t set autoreplies, new follows shouldnt get a link promoting something.
Try not to announce a stream of crap that people arent interested in, new post announcements? fine but in moderation please.

3. Help people when they ask
If someone tweets a request for advice help them, they are far more likely to reach out to you with help or a follow if you do.

4. Be happy not aggressive
Personally I prefer to read people who post witty remarks and point to cool stuff rather than look at a torrent of tweets from someone with a grudge against the world.
“Found a great post on how to use Tweetdeck here”
Is better than: -
“On roof now with rifle, soon revenge will be mine”
“Voices in head telling me to shoot”

5. Use the tools to make life easier
Twitter via the web is pretty crappy, Tweetdeck is a far better tool that allows you to have a dedicated application running. I also suggest adding the people you really want to follow in a group in tweetdeck then just watching that group. Saves you from the chatter and therefore from the temptation to stop following people who tweet too much!

6. Follow those that use twitter well
Dont blindly follow someone who has 20,000 followers, youll be lost in the crowd. Follow those people who are in your industry and who retweet good things from their friends. They will hopefully do that for you one day too.

7. Be genuine and pay attention
If you really want to be followed make sure you pay attention to what those people say, participate in their sites, it has to be a two way thing.

8. Extend
Make sure you update your Facebook status from Twitter automatically, add your twitter profile link wherever you can. Make sure people know your on there, dont rely on them stumbling across you from a friend you follow.

9. Retweet
If someone tweets something great help them out and retweet it for them, its hardly effort is it? And its the nice helpful thing to do

10. Ask for help
Got a question – ask people. As long as its genuine people will help you and the more you connect the more you will benefit too.

Thats my 10 – have any more – add them in comments!