Tips on How to Get Retweeted

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You understand that Twitter is one of the most popular social media channels and you know that you can use it to increase your business. So, how do you get others to retweet what you post?

There are several ways to get people to retweet (or share) what you post on Twitter.

  • WIIFM: People don’t want to know how wonderful you and your offerings are. They want to know how you will be able to solve their problems. If you follow the concept of “What’s In It For Me?” (WIIFM), they will pay attention to what you are saying.
  • Short and sweet: Each tweet must be no more than a maximum of 140 characters long. If you keep your tweets to 100 to 120 characters, you will be allowing people to share what you post and still have room for comments of their own.
  • URL shortener: Using a URL shortener with a medium like Twitter (where you have such a strict character limitation) is essential. It will allow you far more effective communication with your followers.
  • Links: A high percentage of retweets contain links. The reason for this is that when people read something that they consider useful, their natural inclination is to share it with other people. Twitter is an extremely effective medium for creating conversations and sharing the valuable pearls of the conversations with other people who were not a part of the original conversations.
  • Great content: One of the best ways to get people to share your content with others is to make sure that the content that you offer is of the highest quality.
  • Long words and syllables: Most retweets have long words and numerous syllables in them. They grab the attention of the followers very well.
  • Popular keywords: Some words that are popular with Twitter users and will cause others to want to retweet your content are: you, Twitter, post, blog, social, retweet, free, media, help, social media, check out and new blog post.
  • No self-promotion: Twitter is about valuable and useful content. It is also about helping other people. It is not directly about selling your products and/or services.
  • Wise words: Generally, people tend to scan rather than actually read tweets. With that in mind, remember that the words that you choose must be real attention grabbers. You have very little time to make an impression.
  • Intelligent retweets: Most retweets use sophisticated words and content, in general. It is not necessary for you to use simple and unsophisticated language to get people to pay attention to what you are saying.
  • Unique: Retweets tend to be unique. In other words, the terminology and the concepts are not used that often. If the topics of your content are unusual and interesting, people will find it fascinating and compelling and will want to share them.
  • Lots of nouns: Most retweets contain a lot of nouns, proper nouns and adverbs. The more you put in, the better.
  • Emotion: You should make sure that your tweets contain concepts and a voice that touches other people in some way. People react on an emotional level. If you do that, people will want to share what you have to say.
  • Logical order: The most popular categories of tweets that are shared with others are News, educational material, entertainment, opinion-driven tweets, products and small talk (in that order). You should start with News and work your way down the list.
  • Target audience: It is very important to understand your audience when it comes to retweeting. You need to educate yourself about what their interests are and where their passions lie.
  • Timing: The most effective time of the day to tweet is in the afternoon (between 1 pm and 10 pm). Those are the hours when people will be most inclined to be using Twitter. The morning is not as good in general because people will either be sleeping or trying to work on other tasks in the morning.
  • Show gratitude: You should express your thanks to your followers. People love to be appreciated and valued. Another way of expressing gratitude is by sharing their content.

Conclusion

If you follow the tips that have been offered here, you will see that people will start to retweet your tweets much more than they did in the past. Using Twitter (whether it is for business or personal use) is all part of your online communication strategy. The more people share what you have to say with other members of their online communities, the more people will get to know you and to consider you an expert in your industry and niche.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. Please contact us at CompuKol Communications for further discussion on how we might be able to assist you and your team.

Author

  • Michael Cohn

    Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has decades of experience in IT and web technologies. Michael founded CompuKol Communications to help small businesses and entrepreneurs increase their visibility and reputation. CompuKol consults, creates, and implements communication strategies for small businesses to monopolize their markets with a unique business voice, vision, and visibility. Mr. Cohn earned a Master’s degree in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC; and a Master’s degree in computer science and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ.

5 Responses

  1. Phyllis Zimbler Miller says:

    Michael —
    This is a a very valuable article — and I particularly liked the "logical order" information.  Great recommendation to start with the most popular categories!
    Phyllis Zimbler Miller

  2. Mark A. Griffin says:

    Michael, Great Article!  I appreciate the way you presented the materials.  It was not overly technically allowing a newbie to social media like me to understand!  Thank you for your commitment to providing timely relevant information to your readers.  Have a great day!

  3. Leiann Bonnet says:

    Thank you Michael for this incredibly useful article!  Concise, practical & good tips for business.  I attended Social Media Examiner's Social Media Success Summit 2010 & Guy Kawasaki summed it up by saying …"one of your primary goals with Twitter in business is to get retweeted…" 

  4. Kurt Gengenbach says:

    Great article, Michael.  Thanks for sharing all of this information as it's very helpful.  I've just bookmarked this page!  Thanks again and take care.  Kurt

  5. Vikas Goel says:

    great post , i just finished posting my funny take on how to get retweeted , do read n comment – http://vgoel.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-get-retweeted_26.html