How to Become a Top Tweeter: Ten Tips That Will Get Your Tweets Noticed
A new article on Search Engine Journal reports that if you've ever wondered how some Twitter accounts drive engagement effortlessly, it's because they're doing the ten following things that make tweets stand out from the crowd.
The facts social media has such a huge reach and is a hub of activity are great if you're trying to launch or promote a brand - and that can also be the biggest problem with social media. How do you get noticed amid all the chatter?
The author says, as of January this year, there were 192 million daily users on Twitter posting an average of 600 million tweets per day. Here are ten things you can do to get heard:
The facts social media has such a huge reach and is a hub of activity are great if you're trying to launch or promote a brand - and that can also be the biggest problem with social media. How do you get noticed amid all the chatter?
The author says, as of January this year, there were 192 million daily users on Twitter posting an average of 600 million tweets per day. Here are ten things you can do to get heard:
- Build Your Content House: Lay some groundwork. Your content house is your "content base" - it's the set of topics that you're an expert on, around which you'll fashion your content for your Twitter.
- Create an Activity Schedule: Keep things consistent. Research shows that the average lifespan of a tweet is between 15-20 minutes. Of all social media, it's the shortest chance you've got to engage your audience. When you're consistently active, you're more likely to jump up to the top of the list. Likewise, your audience will know when to come looking for your tweets.
- Start Conversations: Cute doesn't cut it anymore when it comes to posting things on social media. So, go for conversational. Social media - especially Twitter - is set up to facilitate conversations. It's supposed to be a two-way street between members of the community.
- Curate Content From Other Thought Leaders: This might seem counterintuitive, but there's a very real advantage to doing so. It reflects well on you and underscores your willingness to engage with the community rather than promoting your own stuff. It also helps turn your Twitter feed into something of a content hub over time, boosting the value of following it.
- Get Your Bio on Point: Profiles are quick to fill out but arguably one of the most important elements of your social media presence. Make yours thoughtful. Uploading a relevant profile image. Customize your background theme to signal that you know what's up with this site. Use relevant hashtags for your company, field, or industry.
- Create Witty, Original Content: Just like your blog, webpages, and other collateral, your social media writing needs to be on point as well. You've got 280 characters for your next mic drop, so put them to good use. Of course, you don't have to use all 280 characters. In fact, you probably shouldn't unless the situation warrants it. Sprout Social indicates that the ideal tweet length is actually somewhere between 70-100 characters. That's the equivalent of a 10-to-13-word sentence.
- Keep Product and Sales Stuff to a Minimum: The point of Twitter (and other social media) is not to sell. That's your website's job. Instead, your primary focus should be on connecting with the humans on the other side of the screen. Keep product and sales pushing to a minimum. When I say the minimum, I mean no more than about five percent of your total content.
- Love the Lingo: Do you know what HT means? What's the difference between @mention and @[username]? You don't need to be versed in the entire Twitter language, but you should have a solid grasp of a few of the most common ones. Possessing that will allow you to understand interactions better when others use them, as well as signal to your audience that you know what you're doing with that keyboard.
- Be Yourself: While it may be tempting to draw up a persona for your brand, remember that your audience is digitally savvy and adept at spotting fakes. They'll sniff you out in an instant. Authenticity is the single best way to reveal the human behind the brand. That's what your audience wants to see and what will drive them to engage with you.
