8 Tactics to Maximum the Visibility of Your Tweets Without a strategy, there is little chance the people you seek to engage will see your tweets.
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Twitter is known as a quick, informative social media platform that focuses on breaking news, factual snippets and clever thoughts. The estimated lifespan of a tweet is about 18 minutes. After that, unless someone actually visits your profile, it's pretty much gone.
How do you break through the noise and ensure maximum visibility for your tweet?
1. Be appealing visually.
As with any social media network, being visually appealing will get you far. Share related images, quote from an article or something eye catching. Because tweets basically look the same, it's easy to casually scroll through a majority of this waterfall of information. An image, especially a striking one, will catch an eye. People usually need a few seconds to interpret the image.
In addition, don't shy away from occasional emojis. Depending on the industry, it might be OK to post emojis to show a bit of personality and trendiness. Yet, if you're not sure it will work for your business, or you don't understand what a specific emoji means, don't do it.
2. Use hashtags but don't overdo It.
Experts suggest that one to three hashtags per tweet is optimal. Hashtags make it easy for people to find relevant content, but if you tweet consists of hashtags only, it can be perceived as hard-to-read and spammy.
Strive to use one general hashtag, like your industry, which will put your tweet in front of a lot of people. Employ another hashtag that is more specific, perhaps the name of a product or an item shown, to make your tweet relevant longer for less-used terms.
Finally, create your unique hashtags, like the name of your brand; to help people find your tweets when they're looking specifically for your brand.
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3. Have character.
Be humorous, be edgy, be daring, be wise – people like people who stand out. If you're another bland profile, you give them no reason to follow you! Offer unique perspectives, quality content, clever insights. Give people a reason to follow you.
Keep it classy but occasional witty humor, positive outlook or unique perspective will attract people who care for these things. You want followers who care and not just follow you for the sake of following. Be authentic. You might try to come off as fun and trendy, but people won't follow you if they sense insincerity. So, just be yourself and don't shy from showing your true colors.
4. Add your insights.
Add your own thoughts to content you're sharing, whether that would be agreeing, disagreeing or offering a different perspective. Again, going with the previous point, people stop and read something that offers a different perspective. It's relatively easy to get on trends and tweet the same thing that thousands of other people in your industry tweet about. While that's not bad, adding your opinion and mentioning an often-overlooked fact when delivering the news to your followers is more beneficial for you.
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5. Engage with your audience.
A sure way to make people engage with your content is to engage with theirs. Compliment people on good tweets, thank them for sharing tips, start a dialogue to become more than a mere "handle who favorite a tweet." Obviously, it might be very time-consuming to engage with each one, but outline a few influencers or raving fans in your followers' list.
If you interact with your audience, your audience will interact back. The best way to increase tweet visibility organically is to show people that you truly care about them, not just yourself.
6. Be fast.
Be on top of the latest happenings in your industry so that you are breaking news to your audience. If you're one of the first handles, your tweet might enjoy a high rate of retweets as people rush to break the news to their respective audiences, thus, increasing the visibility of your handle.
Yet, before you publish anything, make sure you're not creating or promoting rumor mills. Check your facts first, so you don't have to be sorry later.
Related Book: Tweet Naked: A Bare-All Social Media Strategy for Boosting Your Brand and Your Business by Scott Levy
7. Tweet in live mode.
If you happen to be a part of something interesting and exciting, act fast and tweet it in live mode as events unfold. This often works well with seminars, conventions and shows. People who are present at an event often check out what other people are saying about it. People who are not in the audience might follow tweets about it to stay in the know. This is a great way to find like-minded connections.
8. Leverage TweetDeck Insight
This may very well prove an important tool as timely social messages play a crucial role in exposure. TweetDeck, a native offering, creates a powerful way to identify viral trends early on and help media outlets to tell the story as it unfolds.
This is great news for entrepreneurs. Your tweet much more potential to go viral, or at the least, thousands of people will see. This comes with caution again: use the tool wisely. Monitor conversations that are related to your business. Include relevant hashtags and information. Getting on every popular hashtag and tweeting out tons of irrelevant information will defeat the whole point you are trying to achieve.
Also, steer clear of controversial or overly-political trends. While it's great that you've got your opinion and stance on an issue, it might be more appropriate to voice those from your personal account, not a business one. It is best to start out newsjacking on a very positive tone; there is no real need to jump in controversies and land in hot water. After all, you want to gain new followers or clients, not preach your social stance and offend someone.
Here is another advice: be especially careful when crafting your breaking news messages. A lot of times when any major news break, the information is limited and the whole picture is unclear until a few hours later. Again, do not share any judgements or jump to conclusions. Keep it professional and check your sources.
If you want to ensure maximum visibility for your tweets, stay relevant, unique and engaged with the community. It will pay off huge.