I have several niche websites up and running now. Lately, I've been working towards bringing traffic to some of the newer ones via social media. When I do this, I always start with Twitter.

I just keep coming back to that site! It's the first social networking site I really got into and the one I like the most.

Simplicity

Firstly, it's elegantly straightforward. You follow people who share your interests. Hopefully they follow you back. You share stuff between each other and build online friendships. Simple.

Facebook has a similar overall purpose. But it's got some funny rules and regulations about who you can connect with. This is even more pronounced on Linkedin.

It's Twitter's simplicity that make it great for social media beginners. It might take a little while to get your ehad around it but once you do you can see lots of possibilities immediately. Odds are you'll be hooked right form the get go.

Once you've mastered Twitter, the other big networking sites are easier to get a handle on. So it's a good place to start if you're new to social media.

Brevity

The brevity is another attractive feature. Sure, it can be a bit frustrating at first that you have to keep everything down to those 140 characters. But after a while you actually appreicate this aspect of the site.

There's no mucking around. You have to get right down to brass tacks and be as succinct as possible. So it's good for your communication skills (although of course you don't want everything you write off Twitter to follow the same pattern!).

Speed

Then there's the speed. Because of the strict tweet length requirement, tweeps crank out tweets at a great rate. If you're following quite a few people then they just zoom past you.

Again, this is daunting at first. But after a while you appreciate it. It really trains you to process information quicker than before. You can get through more information on other sites as a result.

Focus

Then there's the sheer focus of it. It's amazing. You can get very specific with an interest and find people to follow who are similarly focused. When you know what you're looking for and what you're doing you can build a following very quickly.

If you're a comedian, you can connect with other comics. If you are a blogger connect with other bloggers. And if you want to make that interest geo-targeted and just follow people who live in your country or city, well there'll be quite a few of those, too.

And the more the people you follow are like you in interest and location, the more likely they are to follow back. So you can build followings quickly.

Sure, you can do all things on the other social sites. But not in such a focused, fast way. The other sites are bigger, slower, with lots of different functions. Sure, they're fun, and all the possibilities are worth exploring. But building a network takes a while, and there are a lot of distractions.

Twitter is distilled. It's 100% proof. That's why I really like it.

Some Twitter users follow lots of others mainly because they want lots of folllowers themselves and know that a certain proportion will follow back. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with this approach, since it certainly does work. But it shouldn't be your only reason for doing this.

It provokes responses

There's a better, more productive motivation for following lots of others on the site. That's because doing so gives you a lot to react to. Every time you log in, the stream will be different. It's just so much easier when there are all those new tweets scrolling down in front of you. Even if you're not really in a tweeting mood you're sure to see something that catches your eye, makes you laugh, give you an "Aha!" moment. Before you know it you'll have tweeted several replies. There will also often be things that you want to retweet.

And it's really important to do this, because you'll get on the radar of many more people this way. So your follower count will grow much quicker than if you just follow others for the follow back only.

Be discerning and niche-specific

So, when going on a bit of a following binge, make sure you search only within your chosen niche. The tweets of these people will be more likely to elicit genuine and relevant responses from you. Similarly, your reactions will be specific and therefore more appealing to those in your niche.

Make sure that the tweeps you do follow are active and engage often with others. Don't be indiscriminate -- although you shouldn't be too picky, either. As with so many things, a middle of the road approach is needed.

And if you are very new to the site, you can afford to be less choosy than you are later on, when you're more established. Just make sure that the people you're following are relevant, real and active. You can always unfollow people later on. That said, you shouldn't "churn" through your following just to build your numbers. That's bad manners, and can get you suspended. It's best to unfollow only those who haven't tweeted lately, or whose content you don't find valuable.

It's a bit like blogging early on. I think when you start a blog, you should posts as often as possible, even if those posts are short. It's all about getting some stuff up there and building momentum.

It helps you gather momentum

I know that this is an emotional thing. It's not truly rational. But it's really important nonetheless. And the emotion you're getting from tweeting is a sense of connectedness. Getting those replies and retweets is fun, and it motivates you to keep going.

It's sort of like going to a social event. While there's something to be said for just sitting there for a little while and taking things in, you don't want to do this too long. And you don't want to be too snobby either. It's a good idea to mingle. If you meet lots of people and there are sure to be a few you really like and strike up ongoing friendships with.

Engagement with other members is very important when using Twitter, particularly if you are using it to promote a product or service. You can do this in various ways. Retweeting is one of the simplest and most beneficial.

Value for followers

You should do it a few times whenever you're logged in. It gives value to those who are following you -- but only when you are retweeting good stuff, of course. So you should be choosy about what you retweet. Don't do it merely for the sake of it.

And giving value to your followers is important. By repeatedly sharing quality content you are reminding them that you're a good source of information and they'll keep an eye out for you. Then when you come to tweet, say, one of your own blog posts, they will be that much more likely to click on the link.

Simple and quick

Retweeting is also very easy to do. While you can cut and paste the tweet itself and put the RT in front of it, as many people prefer to do, you can also just press a button. That's quicker. And you are still getting on the radar of the person you retweeted.

Being retweeted is a buzz

Those whom you've retweeted will definitely appreciate the fact that you've done so. So they'll be more likely follow you back if they haven't already. They'll be more likely to retweet you after a while, too. And if some of those who do this are big time influencers with massive followings, it can help lift your profile immensely on the site.

Leads to more engagement

Quite often they'll say thanks for the RT. When they do, that's a really good sign. It proves conclusively that they've noticed you. Whenever they do this -- particularly the first time -- it's a good idea to say "my pleasure" or words to that effect. Since you've conversed with them already, it'll be much easier to strike up a conversation with them in the future, too.

Clearly, retweeting confers benefits all on its own. It's also an excellent complement to other forms of engagement. (To learn more about using Twitter check out the excellent ebook Twitter Dummy, listed in the right panel.)

Bloggers who sign up to Twitter tend to be keen to get as many followers as possible. That's understandable, and of course you do need the numbers -- as long as they're not all bots, spammers and people outside of your niche, of course! But getting them really is just the beginning. It's in no way a guarantee that you're going to get lots of clicks on your blog posts.

Differing response rates

I've noticed this with the Twitter account I have for SEO and social media related stuff. It's now got well over two thousand followers. I tweet often and the numbers are growing steadily. I always tweet my blog posts. They certainly get some clicks. But not as many as I'd like.

It's interesting because this is not the case with my other Twitter account, which has the same number of followers. On that one, which is more about politics and my home city of Perth, I get a much greater number of blog post clicks.

Readers vs bloggers

I think this happens because people who are in those niches are more likely to be engaged. They are readers rather than bloggers themselves. So they will tend to have a look.

Those following my online marketing oriented tweets, on the other hand, are heavily into marketing themselves. They are usually bloggers and webmasters who are on Twitter to promote, not just read. So they're less likely to look at what other people are sharing.

Saturated subject matter

Also, the subject of online marketing is saturated on Twitter (and other social media sites) just as it is SEO-wise. There are just sooo many tweeps who tweet about blogging and social media, etc. The more there are, the less time any one person can devote to the links offered by them.

That's not to say that getting followers to click on your tweets is a lost cause. You just have to do a bit more work with these people so your tweets stand out from all the others that are zooming past them when they log in.

Engage and stand out

Obviously you want to make those tweets interesting and relevant. That''ll help. But the way that they'll really stand out is if these followers feel they know you a little. So you have to converse with with them if possible, and repeatedly.

A good way to do this is to retweet one of their tweets you like, then mention it immediately afterwards. Often they'll say thanks. Then try asking them a question next time. Many will answer and you can get a few tweets going back and forth with them from there.

If you keep doing this with your followers there's a much greater chance they will click on the blog posts you're tweeting. They're also more likely to retweet them. If they've got decent follower numbers themselves that will bring in still more visitors.

Join me on Facebook!

When you start using Twitter it's important to build up some momentum fairly quickly -- not unlike with blogging. (That's to be expected, of course, since Twitter is a microblogging site.) So, after the initial "lurking" phase in which you suss out how the site works, one of your main goals should be to get a decent amount of quality followers.



Follow selectively

Many people new to the site just randomly follow as many people as they can in the hope that they'll follow back. That's not a good approach to take, particularly if you keep using it. Before too long you'll hit a limit. You'll probably only have several hundred or maybe a thousand people following you back. Many of those will be people who are not interested in your niche, or who don't engage with others very much. You'll be left with no option but to cull those who aren't following so you can follow some more! Do that too quickly and you might get suspended (unlikely but possible).

That said, you don't want to just be tweeting to nobody. So, unless you are already famous, in which case you'll have a whole bunch of people hanging on your every word, it's worth following some people with the aim of getting them to follow you back.

But don't be indiscriminate. Try and find people who are in your niche, tend to follow back, and also interact with other users. These will be a in the minority, of course. So it'll take a while to find them, but it's much better to take the time to do this.

Never buy followers

Some people are tempted to buy followers, particularly when starting out. Again, this is a bad option. Do this and you may end up getting your account suspended. Even if you don't, and the package delivers a whole bunch of tweeps to you as promised, chances are they won't be very good quality. They're much more likely to be people who tend not to engage and who are in niches not closely related to yours.

Depending on your niche, you'll have to tweet regularly and have a few hundred quality, engaged followers before you start to see frequent replies and retweets. But when that starts to happen you get a real sense of connection and confidence. You look forward to logging in to see who's responded to you. You get some extended conversations going and build greater rapport with some people in particular. You start to appear on various lists.

With all these things happening you're motivated to tweet more often than you were when you started, further increasing your footprint on the site. With this momentum happening, quality, engaged tweeps start to find and follow you. From this point on your following will continue to grow organically as long as you remain active on the site.