How To Retweet 101: A Guide For Hypnotists

Hi Everyone,

As I talked about before Twitter is a powerful Marketing & Networking tool and a great way to have your opinion heard. The funny thing is most people who use Twitter don't really make the most of it.One of the most powerful features of Twitter is the ability to ReTweet.

So what exactly is "retweeting" or a "Retweet" as these words may sound alien to some of you. I promise you though they will not bite. Retweeting is basically taking a message that someone has posted on Twitter and rebroadcasting the same message to everyone who follows you.

This is some pretty complex stuff huh? No it's not and everyone here has no reason not to retweet something they find interesting. For example, if you found any of these post interesting you can retweet the link to others. In many ways it can be thought of as a referral network. You tell one person and then that person tells another person and so on and so on.

Now, this doesn't mean you should "steal" the other person tweet. It's considered good form to give credit to the person who posted the original message. It's only fair!

The Correct Way to Retweet

There isn't actually a official command for Retweeting such as @ which means to reply basically in Twitter language. Yet, the Twitter community has basically created their own unofficial command for Retweeting. Actually, there are four that most people use.

There is "Retweet" - "Retweeting" - "Reading" & "RT"

Don't worry, I'll put all the pieces together for you in a few moments. Now, the one most people use and the one I like to use is "RT" as it's simple and to the point. RT just stands for Retweet. Sometimes I also use "Retweet" but rarely.

These are the unofficial commands people use at the beginning of a tweet. Once again, it's very similar to using the @ symbol which tells Twitter to send a reply or Tweet to the person listed after the symbol. So once you have the unofficial command of your choice also known as a label you can move on to the crediting. Remember, it's only fair and proper to give credit to the person who created the tweet you are retweeting.

You can give credit by using a command we already know. This is done by using the @reply syntax, which is just a fancy way of saying command. So for instance, if you were going to give me credit for something you would use @JoshuaHoughton.

Now, remember we are putting together this retweet so there is one more part to this puzzle. It may seem complex, but just make sure you finish reading and it will all make sense. Now, we currently have the label or unofficial command which is "RT" or one of the other ones listed below. Then you have the credit to the original tweeter and now you need to add the message or some type of note along with the link and why it's relevant.

You can also just post the label "RT" then give credit using the @JoshuaHoughton (replace with whoever you want) and just post the link. It's up to you how you want to handle your Retweet.

So let's put it all together and you can use this example to help you figure it out:

RT @JoshuaHoughton Hypnosis Works: http://fefe.ggggg.com

Notice how we took the different steps and put them together to create the Retweet. Now here is the breakdown.

1. RT is the label or unofficial command for Retweet. Think of it as a shortcut. I also prefer the use of "RT" compared to the other ones because it doesn't take up many characters which leaves room for more tweeting.

2. @JoshuaHoughton is giving credit to the person who started the tweet in the first place.

3. "Hypnosis Works" would be my little note or message. It can be the name of the article or whatever you want it to be. This part is up to you. Some people put a note and some don't. I have found that some type of note tends to get you a better click through response.

4. The link, as you can I just made something up. Basically just include the link the original poster included.

So as you see, a retweet is just a few different pieces of a puzzle put together and once you do two or three you'll find them quite easy. Here is another examples to help you out:

RT @bobdan The Power of the mind: http://www.hypnothoughts.com

RT@trancetalk World Hypnosis Day - http:www.WHD.com

Now, let's go over some more information about Retweeting.

Do not Retweet Everything You Run Across

Since many of us are Hypnotists we tend to have a natural instinct to help others. So logically you would think that by retweeting another persons content, then maybe in the future they would do the same for you. To be honest, this does happen most of the time as most people on Twitter tend to treat you the same way you treat them, but you should not retweet everyone's content just for your own personal gain. I highly recommend you be very selective when you retweet as the whole point of retweeting is to benefit the people following you.

Think of the people following you as your fans. You wouldn't want to piss your fans off would you? I wouldn't as fans are the reason your around. Typically, in Twitter town the more people that follow you the better, but it's more of an image thing then anything. I say this again. Only retweet content you feel will provide value to your followers. Don't listen to me if you don't want to, but don't complain when you start retweeting everything you run across and discover you are losing followers.

Remember, Twitter is like a online party so please don't spam the party and ruin it for everyone else.

Retweeting Provides Value

I was talking about value in the last section. The reason, the core reason people follow you is value. Well, at least that is your goal. Your goal is to provide massive value to your followers. The more value you provide the more your likely to attract more fans/followers. Now, when I say value I'm not talking about your wonderful new sales letter or how much money your making. I'm taking about real value.

For example, maybe you have a blog post where you outline the hypnotic process. Maybe you did a teleseminar recently and want to share it with everyone. Maybe you created a youtube video that shows people exactly how to do instant inductions. Value is linking to quality blog post and articles that actually give some information. I'm not talking about the little E-zine articles which for most people are short hidden sales pitches. You need to give away real value.

Building Your Brand and Trust Using Retweeting

Retweeting allows you to gain the loyalty of your followers/fans when done correctly. Think about this for a moment, what has more value to you? sending your followers to a sales page or sending them to a blog post which shows people how to use Twitter..wink..wink? Obvious the blog post as it's real value and when you give value you build trust.

So, as your trust level builds more and more people will be more likely to open or click something you send them. This could be a link to your blog post article or something else. Now, the reason this is powerful because as you build trust your going to find your followers more responsive. The more responsive your followers become the more you are considered the life of the party and they will follow your lead.

So if you send them to a quality blog post you may mention right at the end about your new seminar or workshop. People will be much more likely to click that link to find out more because THEY TRUST YOU. Trust is a hard thing to gain and easy to break so don't throw it away so easily.

In Conclusion

I hope this little guide helped you out and yes, there is tons of information that I didn't cover. The information and techniques available for Twitter would take months or maybe even years to write about. So I'm just taking things one day at a time.Either way, Retweeting is a great way to add quality and value to yourself and others. When used correctly you can take your personal image and brand to places you never though of, but if you use it wrong. Well, just please don't use it wrong.

Just remember the golden rule: Provide Value and everything will be okay.

To Your Success,

Joshua Houghton
www.whatsonmybrain.com