What Running a Popular and Influential Twitter Account Can Teach You About Real Life.

By Roger D'Aquin, The American Refugee

Today, I put on my social media trainer hat to do some teaching.  What gives me the right to teach?  I’d say 29,000 Twitter followers and a 72 Klout score in just 10 months gives me that right.  What gives me the desire to teach?  I love my tweeps.  That sounds corny but it's true.  I want to see more people both having a positive influence on the world through social media, and learning to live more successful lives through social media.

The Following tweet, by a great Tweep and business and life coach, Gary Loper, has served as the inspiration for this article: What’s the one thing you’ve learned on Twitter that impacted your life in a positive way? #GaryLoperTwitterParty

As I tried to answer the question I realized that Twitter has taught me so many lessons, and backed up so many others, that I couldn’t narrow it down to just one.  While I have always wanted to have fun and be social on Twitter, I have had a goal and a separate agenda from day one.  I want to help resurrect constitutional government in America.  I want to build a movement. That’s a big goal.  It means I need to influence people and have an affect on their behavior.  Can that really be done 140 characters at a time?  Yes.  I am doing it and I am learning lessons and having others reinforced that are making me a better person.

Lesson 1 in tweet: Plant seeds. Give people a reason to remember you and want to hear your message.

Give people just a taste, a nugget.  When people have shown an interest and come to you for more, you now have their attention and can hit them with the full force of your arguments.  You shouldn’t bombard people with information before they have expressed an interest in what you are saying.

Here is an example Example Tweet: Are there ever new natural rights? Is the constitution a living document? Click this link #WAAR

Were this a real tweet, “Click this link” would be an actually link to an article I had already written.  #WAAR is a hashtag I have branded that is recognized by thousands on Twitter.  I haven’t even used 140 characters.  I haven’t offended anybody.  Anyone who is interested in reading what I have to say on this topic, will click the link.

Lesson 2 in tweet:  Most words are just window dressing.  Keep messaging simple, direct, to the point, and quotable. #WAAR

Notice something about each of my first two tweets? These tweets are very retweetable.  I’ve even left enough room for people to add their own hasthtag or one or two word comment.  We learn the art on Twitter of getting things down to the essentials.  We think we have come up with the perfect statement, only to discover, to our horror, that it is 160 characters in length.  And what about our all imporant hashtag?  Will we leave it off or make room for it?  Thus begins the painstaking effort to wordsmith that tweet down to 140 characters.  Or will we substitute "&" for "and" eliminate that comma and the apostrophe.  There are days when the tweets just flow and other times that we are convinced that every character of our perfect tweet is needed and we agonize over every change.  We must relax and remember to keep it simple.

 Lesson 3 in tweet: Tweet unto others as you would like to be tweeted yourself.

There are many aspects to this lesson.  Be social.  Communicate with people.  Treat people with dignity and respect.  ReTweet other people.  Spend more time promoting others than you do promoting yourself.  Send out those #FF tweets.  Respond when people tweet to you.

Lesson 4 in tweet: Be yourself.  Nobody likes a phony.

If you are a geek, it’s ok, be a geek.  Be whoever and whatever you actually are.  People can smell a phony.  Do not lie about your accomplishments.  When you promote others, do it honestly, not just for the sake of promoting someone.  Whatever you say about them needs to be true.  Your reputation is on the line.  Make sure they are funny before you say they are.  Promote Tweeps you actually like and promote what is best about them.  Do not purchase fake followers.  People figure it out and it makes you seem fake to them.

Lesson 5 in tweet: If you Tweet any "I’m gonna’s", you better follow through. People respect actions, not words.

I can’t tell you number of e-mails and DM’s I have received where people have essentially said some version of the following:

“I’m sorry I under estimated you.  I didn’t think you would really ever get the website going or start the radio show.  I didn’t think you could really write a blog. Please call me; I’d like to work with you.”

Thank God I meant what I said and I followed through.  Otherwise, I would have been a laughing stock or simply unknown.  Still, I am imperfect and in a couple of instances I have failed to do things I said I would do.  I’ve had to eat my words.  We are always better off when we do our thing first, and then talk about it.  Or even better, let others talk about it.  If you need help doing something, instead of talking about what you are going to do and striking some as a blowhard, as I did, tell people what you would like to do and ask for their help and input.  Point out to them the things you have done in the past as a means of instilling confidence in them.  Inspire them with your vision and show genuine interest in their input and ideas.

Lesson 6 in tweet: Remember, "If upon meeting a child you have something to teach him, teach. If you have something to learn from him, learn."

I opened this article justifying my right to teach. Let me assure you, I also need to learn.  Many of the people who teach me lessons on social media are newbie’s with very few followers.  This is just as children, my dogs, and mentally handicapped people teach me lessons in real life.  Another way of stating rule six is: Never take yourself too seriously.  You have a lot to learn. You will learn some of it from some very surprising sources.  Still, even if you are conversing with a guru, never be afraid to share your truth and teach.

Lesson 7 in tweet: Hard work yields results. Smart work yields more results. Laziness yields failure.

You want to be followed by people and influence them?  You are going to have to do some work.  The more people you follow, the more will follow you back.  The more people you engage, the more you will be engaged.  Building a brand and an online reputation takes time and work.  A good blog must be written, a good website built and managed.  There are no magic bullets.  That being said, if you work smart, you won't have to work as hard and will get better results than if you work stupid.  Use tools.  Tweepi is a great tool with a great free version and an even better pay version.  Mark Prasek, creator of Patriot Journalist, has created some unbelievable free tools that you can use from his web site.  Learn how to follow the right people.  Network and build relationships.  Listen to my Twitter Follow Friday Radio Show every week.  If you want to network with me, our website is the hub.  You can access all of my social media accounts, radio show, YouTube channel, blog, and e-mail me from there.

Each of these lessons are tweetable and retweetable.  They all aply to Twitter and to life in general.