How to Post on Twitter Professionally
Part One
Twitter is a bit of an odd duck wrapped in an enigma.
Facebook and Instagram allow you to speak to your built-in audience of “friends” and “followers”. Twitter, however, is more like shouting in the dark.
So: why bother?
Because Twitter will allow you (and help you) to find a broader audience than FB or Instagram – and what small business or start-up doesn’t want to expand its audience?
But it does require some work on your part.
Just because you follow someone and/or they follow you it does not mean you will necessarily see their posts and they won’t necessarily see yours. That’s because Twitter has a very powerful algorithm that sits behind all the activity on its platform and decides – based on its criteria and not yours – who should get to see it.
Therefore, the key is to “break the algorithm”; or, rather to use the algorithm to “open the front gate”. Let’s take a look at how you do that.
Creating Your Own Twitter Posts
Here’s a simple template that you can use to make your Twitter posts visually appealing, more readable, and easily searchable.
Here’s the breakdown:
• A catchy headline – an intriguing comment: “KFC has run out of chicken”; or, a question your audience might be asking: “How do find cheap flights?”
• Add a bit of whitespace – don’t slam all the text together in one big, lumping clump
• Provide some follow-up in the sub-line – offer a partial explanation of your headline but not the complete explanation; mystery and intrigue get click-thru’s.
• Add 2 @Handles (maximum!) of people or organizations on Twitter that might be interested or who your readers might be interested in
• 2 #Hashtags (maximum!) that reflect the meaning or context of your post; as you type, suggested hashtags will appear – these are popular ones that people and orgs are already using, which means they are also being searched for – you want to be in those search results; use those hashtags, but make sure they’re appropriate to your material
• Add a Visual – personally-created photos get more attention than stock photos; and the same is true of video clips; just make sure the image has “stopping power” – something that makes viewers stop scrolling and linger over it
Wow. That was a lot of work! Congratulations! You’ve sent your first professional Twitter post!
But guess what? That’s exactly one-third (1/3rd) of your job. Now, the work actually begins.
Managing Your Own Twitter Post
Remember that algorithm? Well, just because you posted something doesn’t mean Twitter will do much with it.
Remember the term social media? The clue is in the phrase: You have to Be Social on social media to make it work – and this is what the whole Twitter algorithm is built around.
It is not enough to just post and wait for the likes and retweets and comments to roll in. They won’t. Twitter will start by sharing your posts with a few select followers but who knows if they’ll engage.
But here’s the thing: you can engage with them.
Opening the Gate
Here’s what you do:
- Go to their profile
- Like or Retweet (RT) something on their feed or make a comment on a post
The algorithm sees that your account and their account have interaction and voilà: the gate starts to open!
Now – and that’s a BIG “now” – if your post did get a Like or a RT or a comment, jump on that!
This is literally Twitter Algorithm Gold.
(Like a Digital Unicorn for the Digital Esquire!)
Immediately, repeat the process above.
Then, do this for every person/org that liked, RT’d or commented on your post.
Every one.
The Point
Not only will Twitter now start regularly feeding you their posts and vice versa, but it will also start broadcasting your tweets into the feeds of accounts that don’t follow you.
If you remember that old adage “you get out of it what you put into it”, you’ll have a pretty good understanding of how Twitter and its algorithm work to spread your posts across its platform.
Remember: engage, engage and engage again!
Shhhh! Don’t Tell Anyone
Try these Twitter hacks to get your content moving; they shouldn’t get you into trouble, but no promises
- You can like and retweet your own posts; it might feel unseemly but you won’t be penalized for it by Twitter
- If you have a personal account, as well as the professional/business one, make your post “as the professional/business” and log out; then, log in to your personal account, search the professional account and RT the new post as “you”.
- Also: Like it.
These steps slightly “game the system” but don’t appear to cause any harm.
In Part 2 of my series on Twitter, we’ll delve into curating other people’s content – and why you should do it – and a few more best practices that will help you plan and implement your social media activities.
Digital Esquire 