I love social networking because it is a great way to find and interact with people of like mind.
It is also a wonderful way to promote my business and get people interested in what I'm doing.
As such, I'm always honored when people on Twitter help spread my message by retweeting my Twitter updates to their audience.
Usually, I send them a message on Twitter thanking them for retweeting me.
But I started thinking the other day that there had to be a better way to thank people for promoting my content.
Here are some ideas I came up with to thank people for sharing my tweets with their followers.
Retweet Them - Search through their Twitter stream and retweet their content to my followers.
This one is super easy for me because most of the people I come in contact with have great stuff in their Twitter stream.
Tweet About Them - If they have a business or provide a service, I'll do a brief Tweet ad for them.
For example, if they are a virtual assistant, I'll tweet about a service they provide.
Tweet Content From Their Website - I'll visit their profile and click through to their blog.
If they a notable article, I'll tweet about it in my Twitter stream.
Comment on Their Articles - If I feel I have something useful to add to an article they have written, I'll leave a comment.
I think this is a great way to say thank you for a retweet because it confirms that someone appreciates the time and effort they've spent writing their article.
Bookmark Their Article - I'm not a part of too many social bookmarking sites.
However, I think sharing their blog content by bookmarking it on StumbleUpon or Delicious is an awesome way to help them spread their message around.
Vote On Their Content - If they have articles posted ono Digg, Mixx, or other article rating sites, then giving them a thumbs up vote will increase their exposure on the site.
You can even leave a nice comment about the article in addition to your rating.
Add Them to a List - Adding a link to a post of theirs to a weekly digest of interesting links does double duty.
It provides the readers of your blog a list of relevant and interesting content to read as well as show your appreciation to the person who retweeted you.
The main gist of going above and beyond the call of duty when thanking people who retweeted you is to focus on helping them.
They promoted you selflessly and so you should promote them in the same spirit.
As such, here are a couple of things you want to avoid when thanking your Tweet promoters.
Sending an Impersonal Message - Admittedly, 140 characters doesn't provide a lot of room to fully express your thoughts but you can do a lot better than a template answer.
Use their name, reference something on their blog, do what you can to personalize your gratitude for their help.
Avoid Self Promotion - Do not send a link to your wonderful e-book as a "Thank You" for the retweet.
A Thank You message on Twitter is not the most appropriate time to promote yourself.
Even though your free report on how to make money online is the best thing since pre-sliced bread, when you are showing gratitude, the focus should be on the other person.
There will be time enough later to promote your stuff to them.
Thanking the people who take the time to pass your message onto other people is a great way to earn respect and build goodwill in the community.
This will also encourage people to continue promoting your content.