Twitter has been a hotbed of drama lately, and we’re guilty of clutching the popcorn. 👀🍿
Outside of takeovers, layoffs, and verification issues, the social media platform is still an excellent source of information, and marketers are taking full advantage of engaging audiences using tweets and Twitter threads.
Here’s the lowdown on how to use Twitter to your advantage if you’re just getting started: 👇
🐣 Spring chicken
Chances are your first tweet isn’t going to be viral. Before you can expect mad numbers on Twitter, you need to build a community to share your thoughts with.
Follow like-minded people and get involved in conversations with constructive opinions and facts. 🗣️
Twitter is a great opportunity to keep your thoughts concise and purposeful, so make it your goal to learn something and teach someone every week.
After some time, you’ll have built an audience. Ideally, you want to see about 1,000 people as your followers that are regularly engaging with you on individual tweets and conversations.
Next, you need ideas on what to tweet. Here are a couple of prompts to start that brainstorming sesh:
- Write a follow-up to someone’s tweet
- Expand on an idea
- Free write and edit your words
- Record a rant and listen back to compile the best ideas
- Answer questions presented on your favorite podcast
- Present data as a story
- Use visual elements
🌱 Plant the seeds
You don’t need to write about apples. Everyone knows what they are, where to buy them, and that you can bake them. Write about their seeds and how they turn into apples. Tell a story and reiterate what that story taught you. Insights like these can only be formed by you and add value to your words.
Make a promise to your followers that a thread will be worth the taps it takes to reach the end. Answer and ask meaningful questions throughout 7-10 tweets. Any longer, and your audience will start to lose interest. If it’s significantly shorter, you could probably edit your thoughts into a single tweet and increase the value of your reader’s time.
Let each tweet stand on its own. If a follower shares a single tweet from your thread, will another reader understand what you are talking about? This is important because, at the speed at which information is shared today, it’s more likely that your readers won’t be scrolling back to the top to share the whole thread. 🧵
🧑🌾 Reap what you sow
Include a CTA at the end of your thread. Though it asks more of your readers, they’ll put in the extra effort to share your content if they find value in it. Tell a story with your own perspective and takeaways. If you learned something about a topic or situation, there will be someone else who finds value in learning along with you. Once they have seen the value of your thread, it’s time to make this relationship a two-way street.
Plug in your CTA at the end of the thread to keep the good vibes going between your and your audience.
- How else can they engage with your brand?
- Can they redeem an offer exclusive to Twitter followers to make them feel extra special?
- How about that referral program you've been discussing?
- Can they get more information on another site or podcast?
Small incentives like these can make all the difference with such highly shareable content.
🏃♂️ It’s a marathon, not a sprint
Building a community takes time. You may have a few rough tweets here and there, but that comes with speaking to such a large audience. Not everyone will agree with you, but some will. As hard as it may be, read everything that comes your way, as there will be opportunities to learn from others and slowly refine your writing style to provide the most value to the most engaged people.
How are you feeling about Twitter these days? Staying put, buying Twitter Blue, leaving the platform? Reply to this email and let us know! CTA
