Using Twitter Properly: it's a process

When I first started using Twitter back in 2008 my first thought was, "What a waste." I felt funny posting about what I was doing during the day when it had nothing of importance to someone reading it like, " Just sat down for a cup of joe. I need a pick me up!" why does anyone really care that I'm dragging around like a sloth and need a caffeine boost to get my booty in gear? Stupid right?!

Then, I went through the "What do I say now" stage and got very self conscious. I had started to gain a following and wanted to say profound things in order to keep my followers and not lose someone for lack of good content, so I took a 1 month break from Twitter.

Now, I have figured it out and am going to share with you how to use Twitter properly. You see, I have made money using Twitter both directly and indirectly. I've gotten customers to my online boutique via Twitter, I've made numerous contacts via Twitter and have done some freelance work because of Twitter, I have gotten tons of really cool free things and I have made some wonderful friends from using the social media site correctly. So now, I can honestly say that I love Twitter because it has changed my life tremendously!

To use Twitter to get the biggest bang, I am going to give you a Twitter tip of the day and by implementing these tips to how you are using Twitter, you should fall in love with Twitter too!

Tip #1:Use an avatar with a picture of "you." Don't use a logo, don't use a cartoon character. use a picture of "you." There are so many times that I won't follow someone back because of this tiny, yet important step. People want to get to know you and it is a turn off when talking to a picture of an object. We are having live conversations when on Twitter, so we'd like to see the face behind the conversation. This may seem insignificant, but believe me, if you want to gain followers, use "your" picture.