Do you want to promote your personal training business or talk to people in the industry you’d otherwise never meet? Understanding and getting comfortable with Twitter isn’t as complicated as it sounds. Twitter is about building relationships. You’re already ahead of the relationship-building game if you’ve gone out and found clients to commit to you.
It’s not unusual to be leery of the world-wide arena of Twitter, especially for those of us who grew up before the term “social media” was even a thing. I know several professionals who deal with the public and simply refuse to jump on the bandwagon. They are still successful. I mention that, because with everyone swearing by social media these days, it’s easy to get caught up in the mindset that you absolutely must join in to be successful. That is not true.
But if you are ready to take the Twitter plunge and be comfortable doing so, read on for a few easy-to-follow tips!
(This post assumes you have basic Twitter knowledge: things such as how to sign up and tweet, the 140-character limit, and that you might want to avoid creating or getting involved in a social media kerfuffle.)
Decide on your goal.
In other words, why do you want to become more active with social media? Is it to promote your business, establish a larger network, or get ideas for your business? Do you want to use your platform to create awareness about a cause?
Knowing your purpose for logging in will prevent you flying in all directions. It will guide your conversations and even how you spend your time searching the platform.
Answer these questions. What do you want to discuss? What are you willing to talk about? What things about yourself are you comfortable sharing and carrying on a dialogue about?
Keeping those answers in mind will help stay your hand when you feel the urge to lash out about something that doesn’t fit the Twitter presence you’ve chosen for yourself.
Find hashtags that reflect your interests.
Hashtags are how the twitterverse takes part in ongoing conversation. When you search for a specific hashtag, like #fitfam or #bicycling you can see all the other tweets that came through on the subject. Scrolling through hashtag conversations is a good way to find people to follow and a good way to find new ideas or tips about the subjects that interest you most.
Choose like-minded people to follow.
What makes Twitter great is the ability to connect with all different types of people. People from all over the world who’ll wish you a good morning just as you’re about to put the kids to bed.
But finding like-minded people initially will help you feel comfortable when you strike up that first conversation. And you should strike up a conversation. Find a tweet and reply to it. Your reply needn’t be Shakespearean or clever. Just say something. A few initial interactions will help you loosen up.
Retweet something you enjoyed reading. People love to have their tweets retweeted! Retweets are also a good way to keep your stream active when you can’t come up with anything original to tweet.
Here’s a bonus Twitter tip:
No one likes a stream of sales tweets on their line. If your Twitter presence is one long commercial about your personal training business, few people will interact with you. In fact, just get ready to be unfollowed.
Remember, Twitter is about creating relationships in 140-character bursts.
It’s possible to get personal without giving TMI. If keeping your personal life personal is what you’re most comfortable with, do it. Participating in social media does not mean you must become an open book.
Need a few ideas? Talk about what you did today at the gym for your personal workout. Mention a great new tool you’re using that helps you keep books more accurately. What movie did you see this weekend?
Those are just a few of the things you can talk about between promotions tweets.
It’s time to get started. Be sure to follow us on Twitter at @TheNFPT! And don’t just follow. Send us a tweet!
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Tanisha Rule has a BA in English and is a former Mad Dogg-certified Spinning instructor. She taught indoor cycle and boot camp and has now combined her passions as a full-time writer for the health and fitness industries, check out her site at www.ruleboutiquewritingservices.com. If she isn’t writing or reading, she can be found happily training for an endurance event, likely after having said, “This is my last one for a while,” because there is no finish line; there is only progress.
