More Engagement on Twitter with Little Work - Searching For The Happiness

Article by Wendy McCance

After the last article on using Twitter became so popular, I thought I would expand on the ways you can get the most out of using Twitter with very little work.

Everyone wants to connect to the right people, hope that people will share the information they are promoting and become popular in on Twitter. The problem is that people are busy and the Twitter feed moves quickly. Very few people are in a position to hang out on Twitter all day long and even fewer people want to.

What do you do when you want to get the most out of using Twitter but don’t have the time to post several tweets?

I am a big fan of using tools to help get the most out of social media sites, but at the same time, I don’t want to spend any money to improve my visibility. This is where having a blog can be so valuable. There are several plugins you can use. Below are several suggestions for plugins I personally use and what they will accomplish for you if you use them:

1. Tweetily - This is my favorite plugin and one that I have seen significant results from. Tweetily will tweet your old posts with a link to the article. You can exclude whatever posts you want (I exclude posts about the holidays for example). You can also decide how often to have the posts tweeted. I recommend once every hour or two. Remember, the feed moves quickly and your tweets can get lost in the shuffle.

2. All in One Social Lite or Next Scripts: Social Networks Auto-Poster - Both of these plugins do the same thing which is to automatically post your latest article to Twitter as well as several other social media sites the moment your article goes live. I’ve used both plugins before and they both work well. Just make sure not to use the plugins in tandem as you will only end up posting an article twice.

3. Jetpack by WordPress - A great plugin with many valuable features. Buttons below an article allow a person to share your post on Twitter as well as other social media sites.

I must mention another way to get people to retweet something you tweet without using a plugin. I use Paper.Li for two papers I have created: Secrets of a Blogging Pro and The Social Beat. The genius of this site is that you can share your content as well as links to the content of your favorite bloggers, writers, marketers etc… You can adjust the settings so that the paper will refresh with new articles and post at the times you schedule. It will pull your latest post and will announce on Twitter that the latest addition of the paper is out with a link to the site.

The papers have been popular because of the information I have curated from some incredible people. You can find a ton of useful information all in one place. I can’t even begin to tell you how many people have retweeted the papers. It’s been fantastic. The best part is that once the paper is set up, you never need to touch it again unless you want to add new people to follow, weed out people or adjust the settings.

One more amazing thing about the paper is that it lets the people whose links you are sharing know they have been mentioned. They get a link to the paper to see the link to the article on their site they you shared. It’s a great way to get the gurus of an industry to become aware of you.

Have you used any techniques that have improved your status on a social media site? Do you use plugins or have another system in place? Can you get the results you are looking for without buying a thing? Share your experiences in the comment section below. We’d love to hear from you.

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Wendy McCance

Wendy McCance is a Michigan based freelance writer and social media consultant. Wendy has gained attention as the founder of the popular blog Searching for the Happiness which can be viewed in 9 local papers online, including the Oakland Press. The combination of writing skills and social media knowledge is what makes Wendy such a powerhouse to work with. Stay tuned for opportunities to advertise, guest post and as always, have your questions answered.

To contact Wendy McCance about a writing or social media assignment, interview or speaking engagement, please email her at: [email protected]