Twitter has become one of the best social networking tools for marketing a brand and networking with other people. Yet, the limit of 140 characters means that you need to be creative with how you word everything and become the perfect wordsmith.
You need to have a solid social media strategy for Twitter to utilize this tool as best as possible. Somewhere within that strategy, you need to know how to tweet well.
Below are four great rules to tweet by:
- Keep It Short.
The shorter the better, assuming the quality of the content is still intact. This gives power to your words and allows people to quote your tweet and leave a comment when they retweet it. Instead of getting lost in the fluff of what you have to say, get to the point of it. Short and sweet. At the same time, your short tweets break up so many others that seem to challenge themselves to use all 140 characters. This begins to set a precedence for the reader to continue to read what you have to say. - Do Not Spam.
One tweet today about your article is great! Thanks for the resource. Two tweets today about your article is a good reminder. I appreciate it. Three tweets about the same stupid article makes me consider if you really do care about your readers or just your product. Four or more tweets and you might find yourself blocked. - 80/20 Rule
If all you have for me to look at through your Twitter account is links to your blog, it cheapens what you have to say. Instead, live by the rule that 80% of what you have to say is dialogue and/or adds worth to the reader’s life. 20% of the tweets can then be marketing for what you have to say. So for every tweet that I send out about a blog I posted today, I share great tips, ask questions, offer up fun facts, and provide free stuff to my followers. This shows you care and can be a great resource. - Use Hashtags Well.
Do not repost the same tweet with a different hashtag. If you have to do this, then you are not tweeting well. Set your priorities and if you can’t fit them all in, then deal with it. Followers may perceive the same tweet with different tags as spam, clutter, or an annoyance and drop you. Don’t risk it. Set a priority on which hashtags are the most important. If you run out of room with a couple of hashtags that have not been used, do not fall for putting out a third tweet with new hashtags, you will get unfollowed.
How do you make every tweet the best?
Mediastry says
Nice! All four are great reminders.
– Adding to the Keep it Short comment, it hurts it you want a re-tweet, as well. Give a little room for others to pass it on with a little comment of their own.
Another thing to keep in mind, if you have multiple accounts – one personal and one business:
– DO NOT tweet the same thing. There are reasons to have them separate. Comes off impersonal and “spammy” if you use both to give the same message.
I have a personal account (www.twitter.com/bryanchalker), that I share design tips, opinions, info – that I keep off my business account (www.twitter.com/mediastry). Keep it clean, and interesting on both sides.
Jeremy Smith says
Thanks for the addition! I would completely agree with this. There MUST be personal and professional boundaries with many businesses, though a few niche groups have found that the personal is actually a good thing to have. (i.e. personal ministry based twitter users)
BryonM says
Great post!
Jeremy Smith says
Thanks for reading!