It’s finally happened, you’re open for business. You want everyone to know, you run outside and yell at the top of your voice. Is that enough? No, but imagine if everyone who heard you began to do the same and so on and so forth. Your message gains traction, credibility and reaches the ears of those beyond your reach. That essentially is the power of the ‘retweet’, but how do you get people invested enough to want to share you with their friends or with the world?
It goes without saying that the key to a successful tweet is strongly dependant on the content behind it. But what does that mean exactly? Is there more to be done? Let’s break it down.
Timing
Undervalued and unloved. Timing is key.
Wait for the right time
You can use programs such as Socialbro and Tweriod to ascertain when your followers are most likely to be online. Tweeting during popular hours will greatly increase your chances of being retweeted. With this in mind don’t forget to retweet yourself. It is highly unlikely that your followers will all be active at the same time. Retweeting yourself once or twice to increase coverage across all busy periods is vital.
Give them a chance
You may have a lot to offer, but flooding your followers with tweet after tweet is very counterproductive. Leave a reasonable amount of time in-between your tweets; give them a chance to keep up. Also, if you do have those die-hard followers who are likely to retweet the majority of your posts, after a while it becomes forced. How much notice would you take of a friend constantly ranting on?
Content
The centre of your tweet. Are you saying what people want to hear?
Internal Linking
Internal links should be included in most if not all of your tweets. It is a great way to increase site traffic and gives people a chance to look at everything you have to offer. How many times have you walked into a shop needing to buy one solitary item and walked out with a hole in your bank account in the shape of three pairs of jeans and six belts… ok seven belts!
Be different, stand out.
More often than not the average Twitter user will be scrolling through each tweet as if their life depended on finding that headline that stands out, that grabs hold of them and doesn’t let go. Be that headline. Whether it’s witty, funny, helpful or just an offer too good to pass on, stand out.
Be interesting
Churning out blog after blog is useless if the reader gives up before they get a chance to become invested. No one wants to read a collection of words with no personality behind them. Think how boring your favourite book would be if it contained no adjectives.
Would “50 shades of Grey” have sold half as many copies if Mr Grey simply unbuttoned his shirt? No, but add some forceful determination and a piercing gaze into the mix and you have a best seller.
Be helpful and useful
Readers will be more inclined to share your tweets/blogs if you have helped them in some way.
Twitter etiquette
A few things to keep in mind.
Get involved
Keeping active is a great way to connect to your followers, it’s called social networking for a reason. Research shows that 40% of the 645,750,000+ twitter accounts are not being used to tweet or retweet. That’s give or take 258,300,000 people, don’t be one of them!
Reciprocate
Retweeting others, whether they be your followers or other businesses increases the chance that they will retweet you.
Failing the above, it couldn’t hurt to ask for some retweets. I don’t mean in the sense of begging your followers to spread the word, but more in the form of a competition perhaps. Include self-branded prizes as extra enticement and promotion. I know I would certainly retweet for a chance to win a branded penknife or monocle.
