How can you tell if you’re using Twitter effectively as a marketing tool? One of the most obvious metrics is the number of retweets you get. In order to get a significant number of retweets, you’ll have to post “re-tweetable” content, of course. Other than that, here are some of the things you can do to make sure your tweets get retweeted not only by your followers, but by your followers’ followers as well:
1. Use The Right Keywords
Even when you think you’ve already completed you Twitter bio, it pays to double-check. Did you use industry- and niche-specific keywords? These keywords help you ensure your target audience finds you on Twitter, so if your current bio doesn’t reflect useful keywords, take the time to edit it so that it does.
2. Find Users Who Are Most Likely to Retweet
Do a Twitter bio search on such sites as Twellow. The purpose of this search is to find users who belong to the same industry. These are the people who are most likely to be interested in what you have to say and are therefore likely to retweet your posts.
Additionally, you could look for journalists and bloggers who write about your industry, as they’re also likely to find your content useful. By following these users, you can catch their attention with your tweets and increase the chance of your content getting retweeted.
You could also take advantage of bio search by looking for Twitter users who enjoy retweeting. Let’s say, for example, that you’re in the apparel business. You could do a search for “RT apparel” or “RT fashion.”
The results will show you a list of users who recently retweeted content related to fashion and apparel. You may then follow these users, as they can be very helpful in extending the reach of your content.
3. Check the Length of Your Tweets
It has been said that the length of a tweet is directly proportional to the number of retweets it gets. This makes it important for you to be very careful about the number of characters in each of your tweets.
Ideally, your tweets shouldn’t go below 40 characters. Take note though, that even if Twitter does allow a maximum of 140 characters for each tweet, that doesn’t mean your tweets should be that long. In fact, it pays to use only 71-100 characters with each tweet.
This leaves room for people to add their own comments when they retweet your post. You’ll be surprised at how many times people have cancelled retweets just because they can no longer add their own comment to the original message.
It’s important to make your tweets long enough to be interesting yet short enough to leave room for users to add their own comment when they retweet. Flickr.com
4. Schedule Tweets Wisely
Once you’ve got your tweets and hashtags ready, you need to prepare for posting. A very important part of preparation is knowing when to tweet so as to increase the chance of your content getting retweeted. Tweeting at a time when most of your followers are offline will only be a waste of precious time.
It is generally accepted that 2pm is the best time to post business tweets. If you can’t tweet at exactly 2pm every day, then be sure to tweet between 2pm and 6pm. Find out what time zone most of your followers live in and schedule your tweets accordingly. You’d also do well to remember that Twitter typically gets the highest traffic on Fridays, so it may be a good idea to post your most important tweets on this day of the week.
5. Don’t Forget to Tag
You already know what #hashtags are; now you need to learn how to use them effectively. Hashtags can be an excellent way to build brand awareness among users who are interested in the latest trends in your niche and industry. When you use too much of them in a single tweet, however, they can backfire and just make your tweets a pain to read.
Be careful not to use #more #than #two #hashtags #in #asingle #tweet. You should also make sure you don’t use #hashtagsthatareoverlylong. Of course, you should also make sure the tags you use are currently trending and relevant to your post.
6. Provide Links
Studies have shown that two of the most retweeted types of content are instructional posts and news updates. Naturally, you can’t post an entire news update on Twitter because of the character count limit. This is where tweeting links can be very effective.
It's Tuesday have you seen the latest post on SEOAndy today? http://t.co/aoYWYToZ83 !!! #SEOManchester
— Andy Kinsey (@andykinsey) October 29, 2013
Let’s go back to our earlier “apparel business” example: Let’s say spring is fast approaching and a popular blog happened to mention your business as having one of the most interesting spring collections. You could cleverly tweet something like, “Check out the latest in spring fashion” and then provide a link to the blog. You’re giving your followers what they want (news on the latest fashion trends) and promoting your business at the same time.
7. Re-tweet Others
The second tip we gave you is to find users who are most likely to help you extend the reach of your content. Although you can attract the attention of these users with top-quality content, that may not be enough to convince them to retweet your posts. A better strategy would be to retweet their most relevant and interesting tweets. It’s a known fact that people are likely to follow you back and retweet your content if you do the same for them. It’s human nature—the Golden Rule and all that.
8. Speak the Users’ Language
Before you post anything online, make sure your audience can relate. This means using your audience’s language. What terms and labels are currently making the rounds? Google Trends may have the answer you’re looking for. When you check Google Trends for fashion, for example, you’ll find that more users currently use the term “new fashion” rather than “latest fashion” or “fashion trends,” so you may want to use that term when you tweet the blog link in our earlier example.
But don’t forget to use the correct keywords, as talked about in point one.
9. Ask Questions
There’s no harm in asking and sometimes, that’s actually the easiest way to get your posts retweeted. Studies show that your chance of getting retweets is almost doubled simply by adding “Please retweet” in every post. For purposes of being concise, you could also use the phrase, “Please RT.” Remember how you’re always advised to include a clear call to action in your content? Well, asking for retweets can be your call to action on Twitter.
Twitter is rapidly becoming one of the most important online marketing and site traffic generation tool. This is why you need to make sure you’re using it in the best way you possibly can for your business. The above tips should get you off to a good start. If there’s any tip we may have missed, feel free to let us know.
Image Sources:
Woodpecker Measuring – All About Birds
Bird Clock – The Guardian
Original Content by SEO Andy @ A Guide to Getting Retweets on Twitter
