Ever wondered what makes a good tweet? Let’s break it down.
But first….there are many different reasons to tweet, therefore there are many different kinds of tweets. Twitter can serve many purposes so before you get started you want to consider all the ways you can use Twitter and determine which ones you want to use now.
Let’s do a quick recap for beginners and then we’ll get into the real meat of it all.
You can use Twitter for:
Personal reasons: For dating, to find friends with similar interests or to keep tabs on the current “chatter” about a topic that interests you. The possibilities are endless.
Customer Service: You can create a company account and let people know that they can send questions or concerns and you will respond via Twitter instead of by email. You can update customers on upcoming news or events (sales, problems, news, product recalls, etc). You can monitor your brand and deal with any reputation issues.
Public Relations: Develop relationships with media reps, reporters and bloggers.
Growing your business: Drive traffic to your website, build relationships, make special offers, promote content. You can use Twitter to establish yourself as a credible leader in your industry.
So what kind of tweets do people most commonly send?
Retweet (RT): Retweeting (like forwarding) someone else’s tweet.
Thought/Observation/Opinion: Personal commentary tweet.
What you’re reading: People will often tweet what they are currently reading online and will share the link to the content.
What you’re watching: Sharing a video you have watched online (include link).
Events/Plans: Share information on upcoming events or plans.
Promotional: A sales message.
Content promotion: Promoting content that you have written (include a link to it).
Conversations: @Replies or DMs (direct messages).
Quotes: People like to share motivational quotes.
Twitter is about sharing news and information – first and foremost you should be yourself.
Conversational tweets, what you’re watching or reading or sharing quotes are all expressions of yourself. Communicate in a way that is authentic to who you are. Just a few tips –
- Watch the foul language! Most people don’t mind an occasional well placed “choice word” for emphasis but it becomes old quickly and is disrespectful.
- Don’t use too many abbreviations or jargon people won’t understand. Communication only works if people understand what you are trying to say.
- Don’t use Twitter as your personal rant fest. We all vent a little and sharing information about a company that has wronged you is helpful to other consumers but Twitter is not a place to bemoan everything that is wrong in your life.
- Review your Twitter profile page regularly – is what you are saying and how you are saying it interesting for people? Would you want to follow yourself?
Tweeting for business growth is a different animal. It becomes more important to craft a message that will do the intended job. It’s copywriting in 140 characters or less and it’s not always easy. Especially for those of us that tend to be very verbose!
Content promotion:
So let’s say your goal is to promote new content – either an article or a Blog post you’ve written.
First and foremost you want to identify the hook of the content. What does it offer? Why should people want to read your content?
Once you’ve identified that, you want to write a compelling sentence that will make people feel like they not only want to read the content but like they have to – they will be missing something if they don’t check it out. Here are some samples…
Top 3 things u must know BEFORE u buy a kite. Check it out now. Shortened URL here
Why most kites DON’T fly (it’s not what u think!) Shortened URL here
Secrets for catching air w/ your kite! Fun for all! Shortened URL here
Let’s look at why these are good tweets.
They are short, to the point, compelling and tell people exactly what they will learn when they read your content. For anyone interested in kite flying, they will probably want to check it out.
Some things to remember…
Everyone loves lists, so “Top X” lists do very well on article directories and tend to spread virally.
People are looking for solutions to a problem – identifying the problem (many kites don’t actually fly) and then letting people know there is a twist – it’s not what they are thinking, makes them even more likely to check it out.
People always want to be “in the know” – no one wants to miss out. Promise to share a secret and people want to hear it. (Just make sure you actually deliver in the content).
Always use a URL shortening service that allows you to track the clicks so you can see what tweets actually get you the clicks and then you can model future tweets after the successful ones. I like BudURL.com as a URL shortening/tracking service.
So those were good tweets, but how can we make them better? Let’s take a look:
Top 3 things u must know BEFORE u buy a kite. Check it out now. Shortened URL here Plz RT
Why most kites don’t fly (it’s not what u think!) Shortened URL here Plz RT
Secrets for catching air w/ your kite! Fun for all! Shortened URL here Plz RT
By simply requesting people to RT your content, you will get a lot more retweets. Sometimes we forget the basics and it is often as simple as “ask and you shall receive”. Consistently when I include a “Plz RT” request, I get many more RTs.
Now let’s talk about a sales/promotional tweet.
These tweets are not only dependant on the content of the tweet but also on what comes before and after the tweet. What do I mean?
If you’ve tweeted nothing but sales pitches and aren’t offering any tips, news or information, people are less likely to follow you for very long. You need to make sure you aren’t just promoting your agenda but are tweeting useful, helpful information and then you can mix in your special offers and promotional tweets.
So assuming you are doing that, let’s look at what makes a good sales/promotional tweet:
You need to offer something people are going to want (ex: save money, save time, learn this, get a free report, free gift with purchase).
Creating urgency helps – so mention a limited time offer or deadline for them to check it out.
Today only! Off- season sale. 20% off all swimsuits. Shortened URL. Plz RT
This is specific, to the point, offers them a benefit and isn’t obnoxious.
Now, imagine seeing: SUPER sale MUST BUY TODAY great SAVINGS Don’t Miss Out! Fabulous Deals. – Most people aren’t going to respond, it’s too hype filled, it’s obnoxious and it doesn’t offer any real information about what the special offer is. If I see this more than once from someone, I will usually unfollow them. (I forgive them one time and figure they were just trying new things out and learning)
Another good example: Free Report if u check out my website. Shortened URL. Plz RT – Not too salesy, tells them what they get and what they have to do and doesn’t SCREAM at people.
Let’s recap the components of a successful tweet:
- It has a clear benefit stated (ex: you will learn this, get this, know this etc after reading the content or taking advantage of the offer)
- It includes a shortened URL with tracking
- It has compelling text that entices but doesn’t scream at people
- It has a clear description of the topic or special offer
- It includes a request for RT
- It’s short enough to be Retweeted
- It is authentic and useful
- It uses keywords (a compelling tweet that uses a keyword could land you a click from real time search results) But NEVER stuff with keywords. When writing tweets, just consider using phrases that are related to your product or service that people may be searching for. A lot of people search TweetScan and other sites for people that are tweeting about certain topics so using a common or popular phrase in your industry may also get you found and get you some new followers. It is worth repeating: never stuff your tweets with keywords
- It is relevant to the topic your audience is likely following you for (In other words, don’t promote yourself as a dentist and then send all these offers for your shoe shining business. Sure, we all retweet other people’s tweets and we all have special things we want to offer from time to time that may not relate to the core topic we usually tweet about, but just remember people follow you for a reason and most often it’s because they are interested in the core topic that you tweet about. Sometimes it’s an interesting tweet that just caught their attention so they follow but most often people are looking to follow someone that tweets about a topic they are interested in.)
My goal is to keep Twitter a place that interests us, benefits us and to prevent it from turning into a sleazy message board for every sales offer under the sun. Keeping Twitter real, one tweet at a time.
Jennifer Horowitz is the Director of Marketing for www.EcomBuffet.com. Since 1998 Jennifer’s expertise in marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has helped clients increase revenue. Jennifer has been published in many SEO and marketing publications. Jennifer Horowitz is the author of Twitter Quickstart Success Training System, Blogging For Dollars, Optimization Step By Step: 2010 and more. For the whole scoop, visit http://www.ecombuffet.com. You can follow Jennifer on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ecombuffet
