Even with a small number of Twitter followers it is possible to get your message seen and repeated to a larger audience. While every message is not reTweet-worthy, by making sure what you send is helpful and valuable to others you will grow your community as well as increase the chance for a reTweet!
Give insider tips & share something exclusive
Attending an industry conference, trade show or seminar? Just hear some news on the latest widget in your industry to be released? Tweet about it! Everyone likes exclusive information and points of view. Anyone attending the event will be interested in seeing what’s hot, and everyone interested in attending (but aren’t) will follow your Tweets and pass them along to their friends and colleagues. Using hashtags help. Using pictures is even better.
Example : Saw the most amazing thing at the Kenmore booth at #CES – preheat your oven from the Internet! (attach pic)
Anyone interested in CES (Consumer Electronics Show) can find you giving updates ‘from the floor’ as well as exclusive information – your unique picture attachment. [Links added for your clarity.]
Use a hashtag when mentioning a brand, newsworthy topic, or item of interest
You will have a better chance of getting found by the people interested in that topic as well as getting your message repeated to others in the community.
Example : Reading #Twitterville by @shelisrael. Great read, highly recommended. Come find me residents!!
This gets found and reTweeted by people reading and following the hashtag #Twitterville (the name of a book). Not only that, but the author of the book was watching and reTweeted that message as well! [Links added for your clarity.]
“Top 10 Lists” a la David Letterman
Numbered lists work well in catching people’s attention, and numbers don’t have to be spelled out (saving characters). This post is a perfect example!
Example : Social Media Analytics: 6 Steps to Measuring What You Care About (attach shortlink)
Even if your Twitter name gets left out, at least you have a link to your site – and traffic and eyeballs are what you are after!
Technical Tip
Since Twitter messages can only be 140 characters, you need to make sure your message can accommodate RT @yourname as well as the full length of your message. Count how many characters are in your Twitter name (the maximum is 15 characters) and add 5 to accommodate for “RT”, “@” and two spaces – that’s how many characters or less your message should be to make sure nothing gets cut out for a reTweet.
140 – length of your Twitter name – 5 = maximum size of your Tweet
For example, PurpleStripe is 12 characters long, so the longest message we should send is 140 – 12 – 5 = 123 characters. Of course this is not a rule just a guideline to make it as simple as possible for people to pass along your Tweet.
PS – BONUS TIP!
Be sure to implement a ‘retweet’ button on your website or blog to help readers “1-Click” share with their social circles! Want to see how it works? Click our reTweet button at the top of this post or the ‘Tweet This” at the bottom!