Six Twitter Personality Types

[Tim Fox]

Twitter has quickly become my favorite social network. The conversations you can have in real time with thousands of people and the information shared within the Twitter community make it a must for any business or individual looking to promote their services. Unfortunately many marketers and companies do this terribly on Twitter. They join Twitter and because of inexperience ignore the @reply feature, thus not directly engaging anyone in conversation. Next a new Twitter user typically adds a bunch of people to follow, and without reciprocation will drop links or updates that promote their own site or service. First, excessive unsolicited link dropping is considered spam and will get you nowhere. Second, no one is going to visit your site if you do not first visit their sites and give them some constructive feedback. I find people very amusing, intelligent, friendly and resourceful so I love talking to them and visiting their sites. I send direct messages on Twitter if I like their site and I compliment them on a certain aspect of the site that I found unique or appealing.

Another area too many marketers ignore, is building relationships with people on Twitter. If people like you they are more likely to buy from you. I love helping other people accomplish their goals on the internet. If they need social networking assistance or a comment, I'm there guy. Getting to know these people just for the fun of knowing people is a reward in and of itself. Marketers and companies often overlook the benefits of engaging in fun dialogue with people because they are overly focused on the sale and not the connection. My response is it’s great to get sales but by focusing strictly on the sale you are ignoring the opportunity to build up quality relationships with people that may refer business to you in the future. People may like your product or service, but don't have the means to purchase it at this point in time, however a friendship with them may lead to a purchase later or better yet refer your service and/or product to their network.

Here are some personality types that seem to work well on Twitter.

1. The Informer- The informer shares various useful links that are usually attached to big news stories or solid social media articles. The informer may have written the article themselves or is promoting an article of another member on Twitter. By networking with other article writers the informer may get her or his article retweeted to a broader audience.

2. The Funny Guy- You can get lots of followers on Twitter by saying something funny or witty. Commenting on a news story is always fun. Today Blagojevich the Governor of Illinois got impeached so i joked that he was going to sell his impeachment. I got a few people retweeting that line.

3. The Pop Culture Guru- This is about having likes or dislikes on Twitter. Share it with the world. You can tweet about movies, video games, the new iPhone, whatever the topic there is most likely someone who shares that interest and may follow you to keep up a dialogue. Be genuine in what you are excited about in the realm of pop culture as this genre is filled with die hard fans that can spot phonies.

4. The Good Friend- If you see a person that retweets articles or sites follow them. They may retweet your articles and sites if you develop a relationship with them. You can even be a retweeter yourself. The more you help others the more good things come to you.

5. The Mom Blogger / Mom-preneur- If you are a mom blogger or business owner Twitter is the place where great friendships and networking can happen. Mom bloggers/entrepreneurs seem to “get” Twitter the best. They love responding and socializing with everyone and they always help promote one another. If you are a male befriend a few of them and they might let you into their spectacular inner circle. These ladies are smart, witty, and social media experts.

6. The Idealogue- Do you have a passionate belief in something that dominates your thought process? On Twitter there are so many users with such a wide variety or interests, that you can be a die hard follower of either political party for example, and still get tons of followers. Of course some who disagree with your views may stop following you but many more will follow you for your honest opinions. If you are a marketer or company with a specific target audience you might not want to go this route, as your opinions may hurt your business or brand.


follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/sogeshirts

[Sylectra]

Very interesting! Super article.

[Donna Chaffins]

I'm 1, 4 and 5. Can see myself being all 6 though. I need to use Twitter more than I do.

[Bridget Ayers]

Nice post Tim, I am 1, 4, and working at number 2. Steven you got that right you are in a category all your own guy!

[Steven]

I think I'm more like the 7th one.