I’d say Twitter was the last social network I really got into, and I still don’t use it very often. I kept seeing posts from other bloggers about their success with it though, so a few weeks ago I decided to start investing more time into promoting my content through it. I won’t say I’m entirely in love yet, but that’s mainly because I’m super impatient when it comes to waiting for results. I just want to get a thousand new followers and 50 retweets and have people tagging me and all that jazz, and I think a lot of bloggers can relate to that feeling! I have picked up a few pointers along the way though, and I can definitely tell that they’re making a difference in my Twitter stats.
USE IMAGES
This is something I didn’t pick up on at all until, well, yesterday (see it here). I’m not sure why it took me so long, considering this is something I tell every blogger when it comes to making a great post. It’s been shown that tweets with images receive more interactions (like retweets and favorites), which of course is what we’re going for! The minimum size to have your full image shown is 440 x 220 pixels, but I made my image slightly larger (880 x 440 pixels). Just be sure to keep the main content at the center so it shows up correctly!
ENGAGE
Like any form of social media, engagement plays a huge factor in becoming a well-known user. By engagement, I mean tweeting at other members, tagging them in tweets (#FollowFriday?), retweeting their content, and just interacting with others in general. I love retweeting my blog friends when the tweet about a new post, because it gets their content in front of more eyes and connects them to new people. Engaging also gets your name around to more users, which could lead to more followers for you!
SHARE CONTENT FROM OTHER BLOGGERS
This goes along with engagement, but rather than just retweeting what another blogger already said, try being more organic and tweet about their content yourself! It can make someone’s day if they see a tweet about a positive reaction to their post. If I find a post I absolutely love, I’ll grab the link for it and tweet about what I liked in the content. Don’t forget to tag the author—extra engagement points!
JOIN GROUP CHATS
The first group chat I participated in was with @FireworkPeople. It was so energetic and positive and I met a ton of new people! Group chats are basically scheduled times when the host will tweet about something, or ask questions to their followers, and anyone that’s available at that time can just join in on the conversation! They’re super casual, and oftentimes everyone will follow each other afterwards.
SCHEDULE YOUR TWEETS
I know there are quite a few tweet schedulers out there, but I’ve been using Buffer for a while now and I don’t think I’ll be switching anytime soon! Most schedulers work about the same though. You make tweets beforehand (hours or days) and schedule the exact time for them to be posted. When I make a new post, I schedule 3 or 4 tweets about it for the next day scattered between 7am and 7pm. Then I don’t have to worry about forgetting till after dinner!
TWEET FOR YOURSELF
While scheduling is fantastic for the busy blogger, you should avoid using it for everything you tweet. If your dash is filled with links to your blog posts and that’s it, people will get annoyed and unfollow you. No one likes over advertisement, especially on their Twitter feed! Do include those scattered scheduled tweets, but tweet organically throughout the day as well. Your followers want to get to know you, not just your blog!
Btw, you should definitely follow me on Twitter.
