Image Credit: freemarketmediagroup.com

Open any Internet marketing or social media blog and somewhere you will find the phrase, “Social Media is a conversation.” Yet even with this message being repetitively bashed into our heads, some people just don’t get it. While this problem isn’t unique to Twitter, let’s use the popular micro blogging service as an example.

When someone follows another person on Twitter it’s polite to send them a message to thank them for following. Recently, however, many people have been tweeting about direct messages from other Twitter users who immediately try to sell them something or get them to visit a web site before any conversation, or even a relationship, is started or developed.

To many people’s credit, they choose to not hold this bad form against the offending user. I’m not one of them. If I get a tweet from someone right after I start following them and they send me a link with a message saying something like: “Hey thanks for following me. Want to know how to get more followers go to http://imsellingusomething.com,” I immediately unfollow them and sometimes even chew them out for their idiocy.

Twitter is a great tool. When it’s used correctly, it can increase business for your company and be a great asset for customer service; all without using such spamming tactics. What people need to realize is Twitter is about connecting with other people. It’s the social of Social Media. Only through these connections will they gain a “real” following and see the benefits.

Twitter is not an overnight project. If you think that, you’ve been misinformed. Currently I have more than 1400 followers. I built this following one relationship at a time over a year and a half of tweeting and interacting with people.

Unfortunately, too many people behave like the stereotypical Used-Car Salesmen. They think that if they push, push push and “sell, sell, sell,” they’ll get business on Twitter. This brute force tactic doesn’t work. It will just make you look bad and might even hurt your brand/product. “People buy from people they like.” If you’re doing nothing but selling and not showing interest in the people, you’re not going to get very far.

Alisa Bowman, her latest post on Twitip about being an endearing narcissist, gave some really good examples of what types of tweets people should be posting. According to Alisa, you can endear yourself to your followers if you…

• Make people feel normal. I like to know about the hard day you are having, how overwhelmed you feel when parenting, and about the hot fudge brownie sundae you just had to eat even though it’s not one of the permissible foods on the diet you are following. I do because I’m not perfect, and I like to know that you aren’t, either.
• Make someone laugh. Laughter feels good.
• Make someone feel connected to you. If I feel chummy with you, I just might click through a read that blog post of yours, leave a comment, and hit the “I like it button.”
• Help someone in some minor, but endearing way.

Alisa teaches how to talk about yourself on Twitter without seeming full of yourself. “Sell, sell, sell” is exactly what Alisa is advising against.

The goal for all people, not only on Twitter, but all Social Media, should be to concentrate on the interaction, sharing and community; the Social. If you do that, everything else will fall in place.