The Secrets Of A Twitter Influencer

For better or worse, Twitter is in the headlines.  It’s a powerful tool for direct engagement with people around the corner and around the world.  A sentence or two can ignite and empower a personal or social issue. As a “blue check” influencer, here are some of my simple rules that get me noticed!

Tweet, retweet, and tweet again. A single tweet is fine, but you need to retweet your own post too.  Typically, I’ll retweet my post in about two hours.  It’s also very effective to tweet the post again over the course of days as long as the information is still relevant or part of emerging news or discussions.  

Content over timing. I like to post in the morning EST, and I try to keep a flow during the day. But I don’t think timing is nearly as important as content. Craft your tweet carefully and make sure your thought is clear and well-articulated.

Use your analytics page.  Twitter offers powerful analytics to help you see what tweets are getting activity.  I use this page to see what tweets are getting traction.

Remember hashtags.  This will help define you and your brand.  As a health tech influencer, I commonly use #digitalhealth.  But sometimes I’ll include #AI, #technology, #healthtech, #IoT, #HIT, etc.  It’s important to select key hashtags that “connected” you with a topic—from #rockandroll to #elonmusk. This will help focus your tweet and even begin to trend in some of the hashtag lists. But remember, the hashtag must connect you with an audience or topic.  Using a campaign or slogan (that no one knows about) is generally ineffective.

Don’t forget to add people / profiles to the tweet. You can tag people or add their name to the body of the tweet.  Compliments and friendly comments always get a big engagement.  But you can also add people for their legit opinion or to “cc them.”  

Brilliant tweets are rarely noticed.  Sad but true—but keep doing them because it’s a reflection of your brand and can sometimes punch into the mainstream conversation.

Visuals can be critical.  Cut and paste images to your tweets.  There are also various free sources, like Pixabay, that I used for the image in this blog post.

Use DMs to build relationships.  Connecting directly to other people can be powerful.  These messages can help evolve and focus a discussion.  They can also build relationships.  But, don’t overdo it.

Read it.  Post it.  I read articles all day from various sources.  If I like it—even a little—I’ll usually post it.  Make sure you read the entire article, check the date (sometimes articles can be years old!), and post it.  For twitter, the article headline usually works for the tweet, but think about making it more interesting by putting it in your own words or reframing the topic closer to your topic of interest. 

Remember to include those hashtags!  This process helps you “read” and educate yourself on current topics. Also, when you see a good link on a tweet, go to the story, read it yourself, and tweet it as a new tweet in your timeline. A good trick is to cut and paste a few sentences from the actual story and add it to the body of the tweet.  This adds direct content and gives you a bit of an “author’s authority” rather than simply a retweeter.

Customize and find your voice!  Develop some key words and language that can help evolve your twitter style.  CAP, “My POV” or other stylistic components can be helpful.  Use these devices regularly to reinforce your brand.

Silly posts commonly get more engagement. I get more traffic with a silly cartoon or photo.  People like this.  And as long as you use hashtags, it will help drive your stats and mindshare. Remember, it’s your brand.  So, excessively funny or silly posts will establish you in this context.

Twitter can be a daunting exercise.  But building a voice and an audience should follow these basic steps. After a while, you can see what works best for you and establish a routine that optimizes your workflow and resonates with your audience.  And remember, follow me on Twitter and say hello!