Submitted by Jackie Nees on | 0 Comments
“Doing some work for a client.” No, that’s not what I’m doing right now. That was my first tweet on April 8, 2008 (by the way if you want to know what your first tweet was, visit http://myfirsttweet.com).
Back then I had NO idea what Twitter was, how I was supposed to use it or why anyone cared what I was doing, but Twitter grew on me fast – really fast! Soon tweeting for me was as easy as breathing and I was meeting bunch of great people in the process.
I quickly figured out that people were in fact, paying attention to me and I started to see this seemingly stupid little website as a powerful tool to build my new-at-the-time online business. I remember still being at a desk job and trying to grow my budding empire on the side and feeling so trapped. I would tweet about how I was working to escape the 9-5 and go out on my own. One of my first followers and someone who heard my cry for help was Tin Shingle’s very own Katie Hellmuth Martin (thank you Katie!) who happened to need some help at the time with her growing business. I’m happy to say we’ve been working together ever since.
As time went on I met even more amazing people like Katie and not only did I get more clients but people were looking to me as a Twitter expert. Being the attention hog that I am, I have to say it was all pretty cool.
After I took my business hiatus however, I lost my Twitter mojo. I was at a crossroads and rather than confuse people as to why I wasn’t doing what I was doing anymore I decided to bail. I didn’t delete my account. I just chose to ignore it. Big mistake!!! You see while I was busy turning my nose up at Twitter, it was growing exponentially and going on without me. This discovery was a blow to my delicate ego. I mean really, the nerve! Does Twitter not know who I am? I’m a Twitter expert for crying out loud! Ok me and like fifty million other people but whatever.
About six months ago I decided it was time to slowly start testing the Twitter waters again and trying to reconnect with people. I quickly came to the conclusion that this was not going to be an easy task. Like I said, Twitter had been growing like crazy since I left and it was feeling a little like trying to get someone’s attention across the room at a rock concert. For months I would tweet, retweet, post engaging content and all I heard was crickets. Nothing. Zip. Nada. No replies, no direct messages, just me screaming into a forest. I began to fear that people had forgotten all about me. But I didn’t give up. I knew eventually I would see signs of life.
At last, in the past couple of months I have started to get some conversations going again, some great people following me and yes, even the coveted retweet now and then. I’m getting my Twitter mojo back it’s twue (uh, sorry…true).
The lesson here is persistence and consistency. If you show up every day and be yourself, try to help someone and let others know you are listening, they will listen too, and relationships will follow.
On a side note: For anyone who’s been following me for the long haul, I’m so sorry I left you hanging for a bit but I’m back so tweet away! For those of you who are not following me please do (@JackieNees)!
