You know that Twitter has introduced a retweeting feature a while ago now. When I started this blog, I posted a slideshare presentation by viral marketer Dan Zarrella called ‘Science of ReTweets’.
Check it out, it has some interesting data. In this post, I take a closer look at Zarrella’s retweeting tips, feal free to share your thoughts and own experiences with retweeting.
Of course I will look at the subject from a marketing viewpoint, not from a personal one. Don’t forget Twitter is that too: a way of just staying in touch with people, meeting new ones, status updates and so much more.
The whole idea is that, if you’re wanting to up the ante of your tweets, retweeting with a purpose helps you create more hits for your site and encourages brand recognition.
We know that by using Twitter and sharing messages, from a marketing viewpoint, you can serve several marketing goals.
By sharing your messages (if done right) you’re for instance building your own community and creating hits for your site.
However, retweeting, where you share some words and possibly links that others have tweeted, is the subject of this piece. And more specifically: how do you get retweeted on Twitter?
According to Dan Zarrella, there are many ways. He turned it into some kind of science, and I must admit the data he uses and tips he gives work for many people and businesses. They won’t work for me because there are times that I’m not on Twitter for days. A man has to make a living and do other things than using Twitter. But of course I’m not a company.
I’m a blogging bloke. OK, enough said, here is an overview of some of Zarrella’s tips for all the Twitter users and businesses out there.
1. Linking
Over three times of retweets have a link in them. This doesn’t mean you always have to include a link, but if your goal is to get retweeted, Zarrella’s stats are obvious: over 55 percent of retweets contain links while about 19 percent are normal tweets with no link.
2. Use a URL shortener
This is quite obvious (certainly when you start getting people who RT a message that has been RT’ed by someone else, etc.) Surprisingly, most avoid TinyURL.com to shorten their links. Instead, retweets are more often than not bit.ly and ow.ly. Most all retweets with links use bit.ly it seems.
3. Use pictures and media
Sharing pictures is a perfect way to get retweeted it appears (never tried). If you’re sharing great news about your new site, new book, or on a more personal level your new love or new child, using pictures or sharing short videos via YouTube is quite popular. People like to do far more than read on the web: they also want to see funny videos, new products on sites, and even audio feeds.
4. Use Keywords
According to Zarrella, a lot of getting a retweet goes beyond media and linking. Much like search engines, Twitter works best when you use ReTweetable words and phrases. Twitter is #2, Please Retweet #11, and blog post #18. These can work in a variety of ways too, namely sharing your success on Twitter, sharing your videos with a “please retweet” request, and sharing blog posts you just found online, which solve a problem.
5. Avoid boring dialogue
There are also phrases you should avoid at all costs if you want to be retweeted in the future, Zarrella says. Surprisingly, “game” is the least retweetable word, while “haha” and “lol” are also in the top 5 worst. If in the future you want to get clear retweets, consider not using boring phrases like I’m going to sleep (oops, I do that a lot, hey, who cares?) or laughing. Keep your posts relevant.
That’s it for now. I’ll try to post about the ‘science of retweeting’ in a next post. In case you didn’t know about Zarrella’s tips, I hope this his helped a bit. Let me know what’s the effect when you apply these tips.
WARNING: AS I JUST FOUND OUT (I LEARN SO MUCH), SOME PEOPLE HATE IT WHEN YOU THANK THEM IF THEY RT YOUR TWEETS. I THANK OFTEN. AND YOU? WITH THANKS (OOPS, HERE I GO AGAIN) TO @DCeventjunkie FOR THE TIP BECAUSE SHE HATES WHEN YOU SAY THANK YOU WHEN SHE RETWEETS YOUR TWEETS. STILL FOLLOW? I DON’T. I LIKE SAYING THANK YOU. THANK YOU FOR READING THIS POST.
Join me in the Social Marketing Forum