1. Be Present
My retweet rates increased dramatically when I started using tools like TweetOldPost and TweetDeck (to schedule tweets when I am not around). Being present regularly on people’s tweet stream is the key – people need to be able to see your tweets first before they could retweet, right? So be it. Set time aside to schedule tweets when you are not around; and if you are on WordPress, use the plugin ‘Tweet Old Post’ to promote your previous articles. It is okay to tweet on the same post for multiple times as long as you are not writing the same tweet. For example, to promote my “15 check points in choosing the right web host”, I could create 15 different tweets, each mentioning a single point given in the article, and send out to my followers in 15-days span.
2. Use @mention Smartly
I am strongly against push marketing using @mention. I thought it will only make people to unfollow you. My idea is to only use @mention to connect with others when you have a valid reason to do so. What’s a valid reason? When you wrote about someone’s work on your blog, when you have an answer to his/her question, and when you feel like thanking them for a reason. I normally make regular shout outs to my followers, something like:
Try it. I am sure people would thank you for the gesture.
3. Use Image As Often As You Can
Of course the images need to be relevant and appropriate but general rule-of-thumb an image enjoys a much bigger space on people’s tweet stream. This means you get a higher chance of people’s attention when your tweet comes with an image. I expect you to have an image editor that you are comfortable to work with. You don’t have to be an artist to create the perfect Twitter image – in many cases, just some simple text on a nice background would do the trick. For example, if I am promoting a post about blogging tips, I would just grab a fact or two from the post and turn it into images like below.
Again, the idea is to occupy a bigger piece of land in people’s space (BTW, the same goes to FB wall but more about that next time).
4. Spot Your Influencers
Who are the influencers in your niche? Are they following you? How can you connect to those influencers in your circle? Not all tweets created are equal. Do I need to tell you that? A tweet from a powerful influencer is usually a lot more effective than tweets from 100 average Twitter users. Make use of tools like Follower Wonk and Sum All – spot the influencers in your niche and connect with them.
5. Remember, Twitter is Like A Cocktail Party
And, what do you do when you are in a party? You social! You say hello, ask questions, answer to questions, share information, and make friends. Yes it’s important to spread your message out using automated tools that I mentioned earlier; but it’s equally (if not more) important to connect with your audience as a real human. It’s gonna take time to study what are your followers are up to recently (often this means that you will need to read their blogposts and stalk on their tweets); but hey, that’s the price to pay if you want any meaningful relationship with others.