Retweets, you have heard about them, you know what they are but you aren't gettin' them.
For some reason you just can't seem to get the engagement you are seeking, desiring and yearning for in social media and Twitter.
You may be new to Twitter and simply don't know what the heck you are doing, how to get a retweet or why the retweets even matter. This post won't teach you what Twitter is but provides good tips for tweetable content which you need regardless if you know what you're doing or not (joking).
Or you may be a Twitter and social media veteran who just wants to boost your ego, increase your Klout score or simply show off for Grandpa this weekend how popular you are on the social waves?
Retweets are good in that they help spread your message, can increase brand awareness, visits to your blog, and help you meet business and marketing objectives if you have properly integrated social media into your business.
Whatever your motivation may be to increase the retweet love, below are a few tips (55 of them) to increase those retweets. No promises. No guarantees. But heck, what do you have to lose?
55 Tips to Increase Retweets on Twitter
1. Remove the default egg avatar & add a photo of your smiling face asap.
2. Don't use photo as an avatar that I can't see. Otherwise I'll think you're a stalker.
3. Add a bio to your Twitter profile.
4. Add a link to your blog, website, Facebook page or Linkedin profile to your Twitter bio.
5. Turn off your Twitter auto DM spam messages.
6. Don't be a stalker.
7. Know your audience.
8. Know the lingo.
9. Know the tools.
10. Include a link (but not on every tweet).
11. Shorten the link (use bit.ly or other shorteners).
12. Leave room for a retweet (room for your twitter handle plus a few extra characters).
13. Tweet something unique (not just the first 5 posts on Mashable.com).
14. Add a comment to the end of the tweet (this will require you actually read the content you are tweeting).
15. READ the content you tweet a link to (BTW, I don't tweet anything that I have not read!)
16. Be interesting.
17. Don't tweet like you are writing a piece of corporate collateral from 1992.
18. Don't tweet about yourself all day.
19. Time of day matters. Try tweeting different content different times of day and see what works.
20. Measure results, refine, measure again. Measure via bit.ly clicks, blog visits, time of day etc.
21. Inspire me.
2 2. Make me laugh.
23. Make me cry.
24. Educate me.
25. Show me that you're human.
26.Talk to me like I am human.
27. Connect me with other people that you know.
28. Provide value.
29. Be yourself.
30. Context is important.
31. Tone matters.
32. Include words like “top, how to, tips” if you are tweeting link to these types of documents.
33. Make tweet easy to read – not too many abbreviations.
34. It's okay to abbreviate if I can still read it.
35. Quit complaining.
36. Consistency in tone, language, style.
37. Stop the profanity – who wants to retweet profanity?
38. Be positive. Nobody likes hanging out with negative Nelly all day.
39. Don't repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat same tweets tweets tweets all day.
40. Be relevant.
41. Leave a few tweetable nuggets (tweets) as your last few tweets if you are taking off for a few hours or longer.
42. Variety in content tweeted.
43. Share others content.
44. Add value yourself.
45. Talk to me. Social media really is one big conversation, so might as well join in.
46. Share a song.
47. Share a video.
48. Share your favorite quote (quotes are some of the almost retweeted content).
49. Ask me a question.
50. Join a Twitter chat. Â I host #GetRealChat at 9pm et Tuesdays. Some of my other favs are #SMManners with @DabneyPorte, #CMChat with @JessicaNorthey, #LinkedInChat with @LinkedInExpert and #BlogChat with @MackCollier
51. If you read an awesome post, let author know you liked it via a tweet.
52. Include the authors name in the retweet via their Twitter handle
53. Include a link to the original authors name if you find post syndicated on another site
54. Don't take yourself too seriously, it's just a tweet
55. Have fun!
Your Turn
What retweet ninja tips do you have? If you got em', share em'!
While I think most of these hints are helpful, I for one, love retweeting profanity and also actively unfollow people who tweet too many quotes, especially inspirational ones.Â
Yes, that’s what is great about social media, to each their own. Â I for one have filters set to not follow folks who consistently use profanity. Â
Thx for the comment.Â
I think these are all fantastic recommendations. I find that sharing others content and engaging with others specifically results in the most retweets and mentions.
Overall, have something interesting and unique and be on the forefront of breaking topics.
Tip no 12 is very important. If I can’t ad a word in retwitt than I usually step back from RT
Hi Pam ~
I vote for #55 everyday! Thank you so much for being a Social Media person who responds and engages with their community. When I was new, I tweeted people to say I liked their blog and go no response. Now that I blog, I respond to every comment & tweet remembering what that felt like. Learned so much from your blog & chat – looking forward to more.
Peggy
Great Post ~Â
“Be interesting.” Gee, thanks. I’d have never thought of that.
Enjoyed your post, thank you Pam. All I would add, and you nearly stated it, is to retweet others – Twitter is all about good karma and do unto others, so if you retweet your followers posts you will find the favour is returned.
Pam, this is a nice guide. Thanks for putting this together. :-)
A fairly new tweeter so I really appreciate these tips! Finding quite a bit of violators of #18, though – Yuck!! Makes me want to say “Are you SURE there is no one else’s content you can share?!” LOL
@Biebert Glad you like it Aaron!!
@sirenf Yes, good one. I missed and would usually include reciprocation. However, I don’t believe reciprocation should ever be expected or else it loses meaning.
Glad we could help ;) You’d be surprised how many biz’s we work with who know they are not interesting. Yet, they’re stuck in their ways, have execs who don’t want to change or too much red tape. So they give up, they accept status quo or less & wonder why they have no results.
Yes, real engagement with real people is key. Appreciate your comment :)
@textingFaith Ha! Yes, very true. I think many people new to social media struggle with that one. They’re use to the one way broadcast. For some it takes time to learn it is a conversation.
Could you point me to a good article which DOES explain why retweets are important to non-business accounts? I’m new to Twitter and barely understand why people want scads of followers, so I definitely don’t know why retweets are important. I see people beg celebrities for a retweet and am completely clueless as to why it’s so important to these people.
@skvoznyak I think retweets are not (or should not be) a goal in itself. However, retweets are a sign that you have interesting tweets and provide added value. It may be in the links you provide, or your commentary to the links or just the originality of your tweet.
See this post as 55 TIPS TO ENGAGE WITH YOUR TWITTER AUDIENCE.
If you are new to Twitter, just wait and see. Try to follow interesting people and watch them. Don’t try to overdue it at first.
@PamMktgNut Nice tips,thanks. They all apply (thought I had a new one, but it is already there: 49. ask me a question. So often this started a real good Twitter discussion). I think I should keep #33 and #41 in mind.
non-biz RT > its for exposure … for the idea, the id or the ego … ;-)
I am not sure I have seen an article justifying retweets for non-business accounts.
As with anything in social media it depends on your goals and objectives. If you can share a bit more about how you are using social media and why then I can try to provide some guidance.
I agree with you on the celebrity retweet begging. I simply don’t understand and don’t think I ever will ;)
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Thanks Michael!
I @PamMktgNut I’m so new to Twitter that I can’t even really elaborate – to be honest, all it really seems I’m doing is building a news feed of accounts I follow and unwittingly collecting some followers who clearly want me to buy something – but I do want to thank you for taking the time to reply.
I agree with tips numbers: 21. Inspire me, 22. Make me laugh, and 23. Make me cry because it shows that you caught your followers attention. They focused on the post that you tweeted and since it captured their emotions, I’m pretty sure that they’d love to retweet it and let others know that its worth looking at.
Nice post Pam!
Great post Pam. I love 54 (Don’t take yourself too seriously) and 55 (Have fun). Â One more tip; answer questions?
[…] Twitter 101: 55 Tips to Get Retweeted on Twitter by Pam Moore […]
Thank you Pam for 55 tips . that is I need .
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Great article, people forget that social media is a two way street (or in this case stweet). I liked this one too about things that make you less likely to get retweeted: http://cahootsblog.com/2013/05/08/top-10-reasons-you-dont-get-retweeted/
Nice article… the last two I read from you about Twitter have been exactly the things I have been learning about using it effectively.
[…] 55 Tips to Get Retweeted on Twitter […]
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