I felt compelled to write this post because I use my social media networks for business however, I also engage heavily on all platforms. Twitter probably has the most traffic with me subscribed to a few feeds, automated tweets and my personal tweets. The reason I subscribe to feeds is to share stories with my followers that have the same interests, my automated feeds are set up to drive traffic to my blog, Facebook Fan page and Graphic Design Portfolio. I also have an auto tweet set up to share my about.me page with everyone. I’m on Twitter continuously throughout the day so while all the feeds or automated tweets are being published I am personally tweeting as well. I don’t know if there is a solid rule of thumb to Twitter Engagement but, I tend to unfollow people that DON’T engage at all.

In the evening I tend to get relaxed and tweet whatever I want. I can be at a restaurant eating dinner. I may tweet my entrée, dessert or alcoholic beverage depending on how good it looks and how I feel. I’ve done that at business lunches as well. My timeline stays clean for the most part but, I’m a human being that attends A LOT of events, and I like to share what I’m up to with my social media friends. I’m also a mom of four so it’s not unordinary for me to tweet about my children. I have a three year old in preschool, two tweens in middle school and a teenager in high school; they give me tons to talk about on Twitter. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that I choose to use ONE twitter profile as a tool to brand my business as well as just be myself. I don’t want to have multiple twitter accounts that I need to keep up with, I have one personality and that’s what you get!

I am a small business owner however I don’t solicit sales over my social media platforms. I’m building my brand and that fact that I’m engaging, networking and building relationships allows me to market myself and if anyone should need my services hopefully they’ll think of me. I’m sure larger businesses and corporations have to handle things a little differently. I’ve been reading some really good articles and feedback from social media conferences. Angela Maier has a Twitter Engagement formula that you can look at and customize to your liking. She has a purpose and intention and calls it her 70-20-10.

Share Resources (70) – Successful learning in the 21st century isn’t what you know, but what you can share, so 70% of Angela’s timeline is sharing others voices, opinions and tools.

Collaborations (20) – 20% of Angela’s tweets are directly responding, connecting, collaborating, and co-creating with like minded twitter colleagues. From tweets like those she’s managed to make lifelong professional and personal relationships. I can relate to this.

Chit-Chat (10) – 10% of Angela’s twitter talk is chit chat. That’s where you can share whatever you’d like from favorite movies, to restaurants, mommy talk, etc. It allows you to connect with others as a human being. I’ve made some great friends on line just chit chatting. I do a whole lot more than 10% of chit chat! That’s why I’m dubbed #SocialMediaButterfly

This is what Angela does and it landed her on the top 100 list of eLearning Professionals on Twitter. Check out Angela Maier’s site, it’s VERY informative. There are still a lot of people that just tweet out feeds and links alone with no engagement what so ever, maybe one day they’ll see the benefit of engaging on their social media platforms. Two of my favorite tweets from the Awareness/ Exploring Social Media Business Summit came from:

@JoselinMane – “Your business can either broadcast messages or have dialogue on Social Media, 1 of them generates a ROI (Return on Investment)”
@AlisonTBoston – “Social is just another channel. It’s not hard. You know how to be human and communicate with people.”

I used to take it personal when someone would un-follow me on Twitter and I would try to figure out what I was doing wrong or what I said wrong, but the reality is… not everyone is going to like me and I’m okay with that. So with these reassuring messages, I intend to continue doing what I’m doing. It works for me! I hope you’ll find a social media engagement formula that works for you. Please share, I’d love to know.