When promoting a blog p
ost that I’m particularly proud of, there are about 10 things I do to generate some initial buzz. This usually includes submitting it to Reddit, Digg, Delicious, Stumpleupon, sharing the link with my Facebook friends, and updating my LinkedIn status, just to name a few. See Top 20 Ways to Share a Great Blog Post for a thorough list. However, nothing has proven more powerful and creates more views than sharing the link with my Twitter community. What makes Twitter powerful is the ease with which people can forward an article they find interesting.
What is in a good Tweet?
Not every tweet you make is going to spread like wildfire through the Twittersphere. Before sending out a tweet make sure you take the time to compose your thoughts and give yourself the best chance at being ‘retweeted’:
- Know your audience, make sure the title is engaging so it doesn’t simply fly by without being noticed.
- Make sure it’s short enough so it can easily be ‘retweeted’. I hate when I go to RT a post and realize that I’ll have to completely rearrange the wording to keep it under 140 characters. Unless it’s great, I won’t take the time to RT it.
- Don’t explicitly ask to be ‘retweeted.’ If the content is good, people will take it upon themselves to RT it.
I recently wrote a post about Social Media Mistakes People don’t Realize they’re Making. I tweeted out a link to the post and over the next 48 hours it was able to generate a little buzz and spread through the Twitter community. Here is the tweet:
Was the blog post remarkably well-written, no. Was the material I covered ground-breaking, not in the slightest. So why was this tweet able to generate some buzz and lead me to the 2 most successful days in terms of traffic since I began this blog. Here is a chart of my daily blog views:
Let’s examine:
- The first thing you should consider is the type of person who is active on Twitter. Although Twitter is becoming very mainstream, the 2 types of people on Twitter are those who are very proficient with social media and those who are looking to learn. The title of this post (4 Social Media Mistakes People don’t Realize they’re Making) covers both of those categories.
- The tweet was only 100 characters long, which allowed plenty of room for anyone to add their own comment as well as RT it. I love when people add their own 2 cents and then RT it, it’s a nice touch.
The next thing I want to point out is the use of a url shortener. I personally prefer budurl.com, which allows you to track the number of clicks your url receives. This not only allows more room in your tweet, but allows you to track how many of your Twitter followers are actually listening to you.
Not every tweet you make is going to spread throughout the community, but if you take the steps I just outlined, the chance of being RT’d is much greater. Chect out Retweetist to see a list of the most retweeted usres. Note: If you’re followers aren’t listening to you, none of this matters. What steps do you take before each tweet?
Similar Posts:
- 4 Ways Real Estate Professionals can Build their Brand Using LinkedIn
- 4 Social Media Mistakes People don’t Realize they’re Making
- Top Sites Covering the Use of Social Media in Real Estate
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 1 trackback }