Twitter has been growing tremendously. In 2010, Twitter had 75 million user accounts. In 2011 (and the year is not over yet), there are 100 million active user accounts, with 50 million active users and 230 million tweets every day. Twitter says it expects to add 26 million active users by the end of the year.
As marketers and business owners know, Twitter is very powerful for getting the word out about your products and services as well as being able to engage directly and easily with your customers, and provide great customer service.
But don’t you wish that you had more people reading and retweeting your tweets?
Here are tips for doing just that!
Tips for getting people to read your tweets:
- Number 1: Create great content!
- Say something interesting, informative, useful to your industry and your targeted audience.
- Get creative.
- Be humorous. Be human.
- Don’t push your product or service. Be social, helpful, give advice. Be sincere. Be your best self.
- Be consistent and regular. Make sure you have a continual stream of tweets. This will build trust and familiarity.
- Establish yourself as someone who continually tweets great, useful content. Your followers will start reading your tweets with interest, and will more likely hit the retweet button.
- See my blog on Best Tips for Getting Your Posts Shared on Facebook – these ideas apply to Twitter too.
So how do you get your tweets retweeted so that your content spreads across the social network? (Retweeted posts are indicated by the ‘RT @username’ in front of the original tweet)
Tips for getting people to retweet your tweets:
- Keep your tweets short. 120 is the new 140. Tweets should be less than 140 characters to be retweeted as you need to allow space for an ‘@’ symbol, your username, the letters ‘RT’, and 2 spaces (one after RT and one after your username).
- Use hashtags. Hashtags consist of using the # symbol followed by subject words; e.g., #followfriday of #socialmedia. They help organize information into one pool of tweets. They’re commonly used at conferences, live events and webinars, but are very popular for general hot topics. You can search hashtags to see what people are talking about, or search on Twitter. Using hashtags is a very effective way gaining exposure in your industry or niche. The more interested eyes see your tweet, the more it gets read and retweeted.
- Schedule your tweets. Make sure you have a consistent stream of tweets and people on different time zones see your tweets when they are actually awake.
- Use keywords. Good Twitter content makes use of relevant words and messages. Make a list of keywords that best describe your business and industry. Use these words as you compose your 140-character tweets. Think quality over quantity. Make every character and tweet count!
- Ask your followers to retweet. “Pl. RT!”
TIP: The first words in your tweet are indexed by Google. When you retweet, cut the RT @username portion of the retweet and add to the end of the tweet.
Register, Find and Follow People:
Register your Twitter account appropriate Twitter directories. These Twitter directories are also a fantastic way to find Twitter followers:
- http://wefollow.com/
- http://www.twellow.com
- http://twiends.com
- http://justtweetit.com
- http://www.tweetfind.com
- http://www.twibs.com/
- http://www.whoshouldifollow.com
And the B-I-G question: What is the best TIME and DAY to tweet?
Well, there are so many different opinions, tests, analysis, reports that have been done. The majority seem to say tweeting between 9:00 AM – 3PM in your time zone is the most effective. Tweet the same message again at 4:00 pm. The best day? Majority say Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays…
See what works for you!
More great reading on this:
- Here are some more ideas from Social Media Examiner: Twitter Marketing Tips From the Pros
- Dan Zarella: 5 Scientifically Proven Ways to Get More Retweets
As usual, would LOVE to hear from you. Please add your comments of what has worked for you.
Best
Yasmin
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Thanks and glad to hear from you. Please email me at yasmin@ymarketingmatters.com to get in touch. Best Yasmin
Nice article. I use RetweetsPro to get tons of free retweets. I get a good amount of retweets everyday and I’m getting more exposed thanks to this wonderful site. http://RetweetsPro.com
thanks, will check it out.
Some good advice here but my main concern about some of the directory service you list is their ability, once authorised to connect with Twitter, is that they can update your profile. Its not always clear from the info they present at sign-up if this means you’re able to update your own profile via the directory service or if the service itself will update your profile without your knowledge so they can promote themselves.
Hi David, thanks for your feedback. Yes, some of the services update your profile automaticaly, which can be a little annoying! Some services give you the option to agree to “update automatically” or to control this, you just need to look for it, and be aware of it. And you need to go in a check your profile to see that it is what you want, and if not, edit it.
I’m a pretty well-versed tweeter and I find this very helpful… Thank you! Not sure how it got circulating now (July 2012), but I would be curious to know if you’d have anything new to add… Really appreciate the info! (** btw, I’m curious if you have any insights about using *multiple* hashtags… for instance: #business #marketing #creative all in one tweet at the very end when there’s a good article involved. I’ve heard conflicting info about using more than one, wonder what you think. Thanks!)
Hi Sharon, thanks so much for your comments. The blog got circulated via B2Community http://www.business2community.com/twitter/how-to-get-more-people-to-read-your-tweets-and-get-more-retweets-0210163. Great website, fabulous resource for information, if you don’t already know it. Worthwhile following them on Twitter: @B2Community.
I don’t have anything more to add, I continue to use these pointers for myself and my clients, and it works well.
I like to use multiple hashtags in a tweet, the only caviot – and keep in mind – these take away from your 140 characters and also make it difficult for people to retweet, as they lengthen the tweet.
Happy Tweeting!
Hey Gretchen – thanks for sharing your great blog! There are fabulous tips there.
Readers, here’s the link again: http://gretchenlouise.com/2012/10/common-twitter-mistakes-and-ways-to-avoid-them/