You have 140 characters to grab your audiences attention, connect with them, and convince them you have something valuable to offer. On top of all of that you still need to write in the voice of your brand and you need to be consistent in your style and content. Who would have thought so much responsibility came with Twitter? Well, to be the nerd that I am, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Here are 5 ways to make your tweets more powerful.
1. Show your followers something new about something they love – Even if it has nothing to do with what you are trying to offer, you will be building one more bridge that connects you to your followers. I tweet fairly often about social media, business, marketing and advertising but fairly often I tweet about some of my favorite random things like Star Wars, Batman, and music. Guess which tweets get more engagement?
2. Spend more time on word choice – Brush up on your non-regional diction. It is extremely easy to ignore a series of common words. Instead of just typing the title of an article or the first words that come to your mind, take the time to craft the message. Figure out who you want to see your tweet. Think about what they are doing and maybe even what they are thinking about. Change your tweet from ” 5 ways not to be bored” to ” 5 epic ways to keep yourself from falling asleep at your desk” and you will definitely get my attention. When you can’t find the right word turn to the always reliable Thesarus. Click on that if you thought I was talking about a dinosaur.
3. Offer your followers tools, not just articles - Information is great, but there is no shortage of articles on the web. Find things are either useful or different. It doesn’t take a genius to find great articles from obvious sources like New York Times or Forbes. Try using tools like StumbleUpon to find fresh new resources and tools, and then SHARE THEM! Your followers will love you for it. For example: Check out http://hashtagify.me/ if you are overwhelmed by the always tricky hashtag.
4. Include others in your conversations - Too many people tweet without even leaving an opening to start a conversation. Use tools like Twtpoll.com to get people involved. Let your followers know that you actually value their thoughts and opinions. If you want something more simple try a fill in the blank. Today I am going to blog about _______ (fill in the blank). People have ideas and they will love you for giving them an outlet to share them.
5. Give yourself an opinion and a voice – This may seem like an obvious one but I am seriously worried about the amount of robots/monotone people on twitter. Whether you’re an actual person or you’re representing a brand, YOU NEED A VOICE. People don’t want to connect with someone who doesn’t appear to have a soul. Make jokes, show emotion, give commentary. My favorite way to be snarky is by adding unique hashtags to the end of a tweet. For example: @JeremyAnderberg has already seen everything I try to show him #mightbearobot…
