@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker

I think that tweeting out a blog post 3-4 times the first day it is out makes sense and is not too much, as long as that it not the only thing you are tweeting about. According to @danzarrella’s research, and if my memory is correct, (http://mashable.com/2009/02/17/twitter-retweets/), 8:45 – 9:30 am ET is best time for Retweets, as people check in on Twitter before getting down to work. Next time is Lunch time ET (also early AMon West coast of US) and just before end of work day (my thought, not Dan’s, as people check before leave work), and if you know you have some evening tweeters in your audience, then an evening tweet about the post. I did this with a client’s Twitter stream and it definitely got a different set of Retweets each time; am was always strongest though.

One caveat, if you have lots of folks who are new to Twitter following you, be wary about multiple posts of the same thing, It will fill their screens, until they follow more people. And conversely, if most of your Twitter followers have huge followings, if you only tweet it once, they may miss it. Also Twitter’s new terms of service warns about excessive tweeting of same links, but I think that is aimed at spammers who really over do the repeat links game.

Another tip: If you have a blog post that answers a question that you frequently get from your customers, clients, twitter or other social media followers, keep the link handy. When they ask that question, send them a nicely worded message with a link to your blog post as answer.

If a blog post is popular, you can probably get away with tweeting it out a couple of days later, saying – got some great comments here – or great discussion on my new XYZ blog post. Or bring up a point someone made. invite people into the conversation.

@Guykawasaki had a post recently where he showed that multiple retweets of a link did not loose him followers, and gained lots more views of the post; however, what works for bigwigs, may not work for us smaller peeps. Here is the link to his post, h has some good points, but I still think this should be filtered through your own lens, so to speak: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/the-world/article/how-to-drive-traffic-with-repeat-tweets-guy-kawasaki

So I suggest tweeting in moderation, but not to be stingy on yourself. The more your blog post meets the interest of your readers, the more you can get away with sending it their way more often.

Last tip, I have also seen people retweet older blog posts from a blog. so if an older topic is hot again, retweet an older post, as long as it is still valid.

By the way, I really like your analogy: “I am slowly understanding that twitter is not like radio advertising which relies on frequency of a message, but rather more of a whisper down the alley and being authentic.” My main word about social media and blogging is balance. The more trust and engagement, the more people welcome your info.

Thanks for the great question…Oh, and don’ forget to have fun with it all!
Cathy Larkin´s last blog ..Tips for Connecting the Social Media Dots

My biggest question, is how many times to tweet a post on your own blog? Just once or couple of times to hit different peoples schedules? Or do I have this wrong. Just put out a tweet when finished, and then share other things to create your own personality and brand?

I am slowly understanding that twitter is not like radio advertising which relies on frequency of a message, but rather more of a whisper down the alley and being authentic.

Would really enjoy hearing your feedback on this.
Thanks!

With a large umber of followers comes a loss of keeping up on those I care about. I would love to follow everyone (who is not a spammer back), but I find it makes me less effective at building connections. Bu it does cut down on my spam frustrations – I just don’t notice them so much.

Also, I have seen no evidence that Spammers are sophisticated enough to follow you from one place to another. I just ignore the junk and connect with those who genuinely connect with me. BTW, hope you are having fun at #NSA09 (Nt’l Speakers Assoc confr.)

Caroline, thanks as well, and good point about not everyone commenting. that doesn’t mean people aren’t reading and liking the info. I use Google analytics on my blog to help track which posts get read, and what activity or which sites generated click throughs to my posts. Also on Twitter, I use http://bit.ly to shorten my links, it also helps to track the number of clicks on a specific link. You also might try checking out http://gravatar.com, another way to showcase who you are across various networks. It places the avatar photo of you along with your comments on Gravatar-enabled sites.