Twitter is all about sharing conversations. From a business perspective, it’s all about sharing conversations important to the building of your brand, sales, market position and overall image. It’s in your best interest to have your company’s followers virally distribute those very same communications for you by ReTweeting. The great part is that all it takes to share a Tweet is a single click of the mouse … it couldn’t be easier.
The difficult part is HOW to get followers to click that ReTweet button. One common suggestion is to make it as easy to find as possible. Always include a Tweet/ReTweet button after your blog post and if you don’t mind being seen as too much of a self-promoter (and you shouldn’t!) you can place the same button at the top of your blog, too.
There are many “rules-of-thumb” articles popping up across the web from marketers, offering tips and secrets on how to use Twitter to increase your ReTweets. One of the more comprehensive ReTweet studies I’ve seen is by Dan Zarella, self-proclaimed “social media and viral marketing scientist.” It’s titled The Science of ReTweets and his goal was to research what was behind the content of highly ReTweeted tweets. Here are some trends he reported:
- Calls to action… “please ReTweet” flat-out works
- The more timely the content the better
- The word FREE still gets attention
- Believe it or not, “Twitter” was the 2nd most used word in ReTweets according to Dan’s study, behind the word “you”
- Lists are great hooks
- People simply like to ReTweet blogs… it makes them more “in-the-know”
The refreshing part of his findings — and what so many industry experts and thought leaders are discovering — is that these innovative best practices aren’t that different from the lessons we learned from our first experiences with direct response marketing. Strong calls to action, timely offers and, yes, even the use of the word “free” are nothing new to direct marketers. So, don’t be afraid to use some of those old-fashioned learnings to pave the way for your success in the new digital era!
Take Dan Zarella’s survey yourself, and be my guest to ReTweet this blog!
