Originally published at iStrategy Conference
I remember years ago, my parents read about twitter in the newspaper and asked me what it was. I had a hard time explaining what it was to them as they had not seen it before. All they heard were people using it to share what they had for lunch.
It’s amazing in such a short period of time, twitter is literally everywhere today.
Today, twitter is playing a more important role for businesses as well. I can’t go on a day without seeing the word twitter plastered in tv ads, newspapers, business signs, etc.
Getting exposure or retweets from twitter is one of the key elements businesses are seeking. Here are eight easy to follow tips to increase retweets or exposure.
THE BASICS:
Tip #1: Start right
One of the most important steps to get more retweets on twitter is to have a strong foundation on twitter. You’ll need to grow your twitter presence first to get more people sharing your tweets. Start off by following and engaging with new followers. For more tips I recommend you to read this post I wrote on iStrategy previously.
Tip #2: Retweet others
There is an old phrase worth remembering, “the more you give the more you get”. There is no exception when it comes to sharing on any social networking sites. By constantly sharing tweets other than yours, you’re increasing your twitter presence as the person who you’re retweeting from will notice you.
THE SCIENCE OF RETWEETING
Tip #3: Tweets at the right time
There is no point tweeting when no one is reading, I found out that there are “hot hours” to tweet. Although I can’t recommend the best time for you to tweet, I can recommend you some tools to help you find out. Read tip #4
Tip #4: Utilize tools
As I mentioned before, it is important to tweet at the right time. Here are some tools to help you find out the best time to tweet:
After you find out your best time to tweet, don’t forget to set it in your buffer account, you’ll be able to connect tools like socialbro and tweriod to your buffer account straight away.
Other tools that can help you to increase retweets:
- Clicktotweet: This simple tool allows you to customize pre-loaded tweets that you want your readers to share on your blog. (must use)
- Pay with a tweet: I’ve not used this tool yet, but what is does is users need to “pay” via a tweet in order to download your ebook/gift.
Here is an example:
THE ART OF RETWEETING
Tip #5: Ask for it.
Sounds simple enough, if you want to get something retweeted then ask for it. If someone has shared your tweets previously and you’ve spent some time getting to know them, ask them (in a nice manner) to share if they found it useful.
Tip #6: Share a few times a day
Guy Kawasaki talked about retweeting a blog post around 3-4 times a day, 8 hours apart. In his argument he used CNN as examples about how they were repeating the news a few times as people wasn’t sitting there to watch them. For me personally, I prefer to share at least twice a day 12 hours apart.
Tip #7: Add a call to action
According to their (the or their?) Buddy Media, tweets that contains the word “RT” or “Retweet” receive 12x higher retweet shares compared to those that don’t include a call to action.
Tip #8: Spell out the word “Retweet”
Another data from Buddy Media, by spelling the word “RETWEET” the average retweet rate is 23 times higher. Few of my followers have mentioned to me that they have seen an increase of retweets using this method.
CONCLUSION
I believe getting more retweets is not only about getting the “science and art” of retweeting right, it is about getting the most basic elements right, the human element, something most of us tend to forget while we’re using twitter. Once you get the human element right, the rest comes easy.
What do you think? Do you know of any other ways to get more retweets?
Photo Credit: by stevegarfield (creative commons)
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