How to Be Appealing on Twitter

This article was originally published at BitRebels.com
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There are plenty of articles that outline how to be effective on Twitter but I thought I’d add my own toffee-flavoured take on things since I’m a bit of a Twitter veteran myself (oh, and I LOVE to take notes – I have a whole Word file full of little gems).

So here’s a good few little things that you can do without going into too much detail, that will help you get more followers, more interaction and more sharing going awwwn.

1. Don’t send automatic direct message greetings

There are a number of services that offer automatic direct messaging once someone clicks on your follow button. These used to be “all the craze” but now, because of spammers, they’re “all the crap”.

There’s a term called “ad-blindness” which is used to describe people’s immunity to banner, text or any other kind of advertisement. This phenomenon can also include direct messages now, since spammers have really overwhelmed this feature of Twitter to the point where I don’t really check them at all anymore.

I used to advocate saying something thoughtful instead of self-promotion but from the feedback I’ve had regarding direct messaging, hardly anyone is actually reading them anyway. If the aim of a direct message it is to leave a good impression – your tweets will certainly do that job if you’re serious about twitter.

2. ENGAGE, ENGAGE, ENGAGE (sounds like Patrick Stewart on crack)

There are a couple of pre-requisites to successfully engaging with people on twitter:

1. Follow some people that are active on twitter, and
2. Broadcast a consistent, value-driven message

What this will do is enable you to have an audience to start with, and then have a clout with that audience based on a consistent, value-adding identity. By value-driven I mean something that will interest your followers.

Once you have the above, do the below:

Ask open-ended questions frequently, ones that will encourage people to share their views/experiences with you. Here’s an example:

“I think Twitter should enable drag and drop for lists. Seems more intuitive to me. What do you think?”

I actually just tweeted something similar and the replies literally came pouring in. I’ve never had such a massive response than with that one question right there – so that’s a good hint as to what people like talking about.

People are itching to contribute, but they need people like you to give them the cue. Just think of yourself as a catalyst. You hold the key to massive interaction. Here’s another example of a hugely engaging tweet:

“Why would someone want to follow YOU? I’ll tweet the best replies at rush hour. #followflirt”

Not only is this great for getting people to respond (the more clout and followers you have the more seductive it will be), it also gives you a firm authoritative foundation in the Twittersphere as someone who can organize and involve people – and they will remember that.

3. Improve your Click Through Rates (CTR)

A brief intro to CTR:

Simply put, CTR refers to how many viewers of a message actually click on it. You can see how email marketers would be interested to know the CTR of their emails, or how Pay Per Click advertisers would be equally (if not more because of the investment) interested in the CTR of their PPC campaigns.With Twitter, it’s almost ubiquitous to find a tweet containing a link – that’s to say, people are so keen to share over the 140 character limit imposed by twitter, that they link the viewer to another source to continue their message.

So… what makes people “click through” to the article, a website, image?

The only thing that you can directly affect in a tweet for an increased CTR is the language and the structure of the tweet.

Example:

A. “Intoxicated law enforcement officer acting silly: http://article.com”
B. “Drunk douchebag cop on duty! http://article.com”

Would you be more inclined to click variation A, or variation B? Furthermore, check out the following rehashed examples:

C. “RT @person:E Drunk douchebag cop on duty! >#ROFL RT @person:A RT @person:B (via @person:C) http://article.com”
D. “Drunk douchebag cop on duty! http://article.com RT @person:A @person:B @person:C @person:E”

Would you rather click on C, or D?

Variation C has only 30 characters left in the tweet. Variation D saves 19 more by removing redundant characters, allowing a higher potential for retweets.

Make your tweets as short and impacting as possible.

4. THINK before you tweet

OK this one’s a bit ambiguous but I thought that it should get a mention because of the sheer multitude of poor quality of tweets I see on a daily basis. One has to wonder – “What is my goal here on Twitter?”

A common response may be, “I’m here to share my thoughts and feelings and that’s all”. But is it?

Social media is about more than just sharing. It’s about interaction. That means, you give some and you take some.

Firing out tweets that don’t require any response is perfectly fine – in fact it would be pretty strange if all your tweets were questions.

However, engaging with your audience (especially from a marketing point of view) is extremely important – it’s the most important aspect of your social media strategy. Before you tweet ANYTHING… ask yourself, “What is my goal in tweeting this?” “Is this congruent with the message I want to send?” “Is it something that my followers (a powerful currency) will appreciate?”

As long as you’re clear on the above then my job is done.

5. TEST your avatar and background profile images

Over the course of my Twitter experience I’ve tested quite a few avatars and background images. At the moment, I’m using my most effective ones to date.

I know you may be thinking, “I don’t have a professional-looking avatar” and although I’d recommend that you go ahead and get a photoshoot booked, I know that for some that’s just not in the budget.

What you’re really looking for is a clear, bright and interesting photo of YOU. Dark, blurry or obscure images of your face will not be noticed as much as their counterparts and you should be going for maximum exposure here. Using images of company logo’s doesn’t cut it either, unless you have a very powerful brand akin to Microsoft or Apple. Using a logo as your first point of contact goes against what social media is about. Social media is about connecting with human beings. It’s about empathy. That’s why Ford and various other large companies have hired REAL PEOPLE (shock horror) to be the face of their Twitter activities.

No one wants to talk to a corporate logo. At least I know that I don’t. What about you?

Conclusion

You’ve done well to last this far – that was a long post about some very simple things. However, the simplest things can sometimes be the hardest to pull off properly and I boil that down to a lack of understanding. With the information above, hopefully you can pick up on areas where you’ve been less effective than you could have been and make some changes in your approach for maximum impact.

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