To keep your Twitter followers engaged, you need to keep a stream of tweets coming their way. Unlike blogging or social media, on Twitter you have to come up with something new several times a day. Active Twitter users may post 10 to 20 times a day or more. So what should you tweet?
Here are ten ideas you can use to come up with things to share on Twitter.
1. Recommend a Useful Resource
Is there a particular article, book, workshop, DVD, YouTube video, magazine or other resource that you’d recommend? Post a link to that resource, along with a description of what you liked about it.
2. Post Links to Valuable Content
Make your followers aware of content that will be of interest to them. Include content from other sources as well as your blog.
3. Write a Review
If you read a book, attended a workshop or purchased a product, write a review of it on Twitter. You can write a very brief review on Twitter, or you can post a much longer review on your website and simply link to it from Twitter.
It shows your readers you’re in tune with the latest information, can think critically and are willing to share what you’ve learned.
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4. Make an Announcement
Are you launching a new product? Offering a workshop? Publishing a new book? If there’s something new coming up, make it known.
You can also use announcements to build excitement. Instead of just announcing something all at once, use teasers to lead up to it. Drop hints about new things coming up to get people excited, without actually revealing what it is until the time comes.
5. Be Funny or Personal
Post something off the cuff or humorous. Don’t get carried away with jokes and off-topic tweets if you run a business Twitter feed: however, posting something funny every once in a while can be a great way to keep your stream lively.
Likewise, you don’t want to clutter your feed with too many personal details about where you are, what you are doing or what you had for lunch. An occasional personal tweet, though, will let your followers know that you are a real person. Of the thousands of tweets I have sent over the year, one of the tweets that got the most response was when I posted that I was dehydrating sweet potatoes to make treats for my cat. People were fascinated, asking if my cat really likes sweet potatoes, if I was using a dehydrator or the oven, what shape the potato pieces were, etc.
6. Reply to Mentions
When someone posts an @ mention of you (e.g., @CathyStucker), respond. If you get a lot of mentions this can get old to your other followers, but do interact with followers now and then. It shows that you are engaged and that you pay attention to your followers.
7.Trivia
Post little-known facts or pose trivia questions to your followers. You can give a prize for the first correct answer or just let people submit their answers for fun. (Lots of folks love trivia!) Use varying degrees of trivia to keep different kinds of people engaged.
8. Retweet Interesting Stuff
Find a valuable piece of content on someone else’s feed and retweet it on your feed. This has the added benefit of building trust and reciprocity with the person whom you retweeted.
You can use retweets to supplement what you don’t naturally produce in your Twitter stream. For example, if you have great text content but lack video content, you can instead make it a habit to retweet high quality video content tweets.
9. Post Something Shocking, Controversial or Unexpected
News about shocking events, controversial opinions or unexpected announcements always gets a lot of traction.
Look for unusual things and see how you can put your own spin on it. Alternatively, look for commonly held beliefs that you disagree with and make your disagreement public.
10. Ask a Question
Ask an insightful question. Your followers will often vie to be the first to answer the question. If your question is thought provoking, people will often go out of their way to write great answers.
This can help spark very interesting discussions about your question, your products, your brand or your hashtags.
These ten ideas, along with any variations you come up with, will help you keep your Twitter stream flowing with all kinds of different tweets. Develop your own style, blend it with your brand and post consistently to build a strong following.
