Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

5 Tips For Going Viral On Twitter [Retweet]

View Comments | Posted In Social Media by David

Twitter is awesome and is changing the way information is spread on the Internet. It is also an awesome example of how the world of online marketing and information publishing has changed.

The old-school way to get information out there is to try to get a bunch of blogs to talk about you and to get Google to throw you all kinds of love by getting to the top 10 for your search terms. These things still work, but they are long ways to go about it. In the case of Twitter, we’re talking about people and the power of the retweet. If people find your tweet interesting, they’ll pass it on. Doing this over and over again exposes that one tweet to different crowds all across Twitter.

Hence, it can go viral. It happens quickly, too.

How can we maximize our reach on Twitter, then? What can we do to give our tweets the most viral potential? Here are a few ideas:

  1. Ask for the retweet. Just tacking the simple “please RT” onto your message will result in a ton of people doing it. Like any form of online marketing, there needs to be a call to action. And you just tell them what to do.
  2. Make it retweet-worthy. People are going to want to retweet things which are interesting or valuable. Being limited to 140 characters, chances are the real value of a tweet is going to be in linking to something with more information. A cool resource. A cool blog post. So, link to something good and you’ll get more people retweeting it.
  3. Seed your retweet tree. Do you know a few people on Twitter a lot better than others? Friends of your’s? Then, hit them up and specifically ask them for a retweet. This helps to plant the seeds for a viral tweet. People do tend to imitate others and if they see many people retweeting a message, they’re more likely to do it themselves. Especially if the people you seed it with have some authority with their own followers.
  4. Be different. Twitter is like a river that keeps on flowing rapidly and endlessly. To stand out, you need a tweet which interrupts the pattern and stands out. So, don’t be afraid to be provocative. Some of the most retweeted messages I’ve seen have a catchy headline that just begs them to click the link to find out what the hell that was all about. Remember, apply the skills of copywriting to your tweets and you’ll get more reaction. When writing a sales letter or a blog post, the purpose of the headline is to get the person to keep reading. Do that in a tweet, and you’ll invite action as well.
  5. Watch the clock. Not everybody has Twitter open all day long. Expecting to get some retweets at 4AM on a Sunday is probably going to prove frustrating. Doing it so that it is out there in time for the lunch break (12-1pm) might work a lot better. You’re probably going to see the most retweets during the work week and from mid-morning through lunch time.

If you want to watch what some of the most retweeted messages are on Twitter, check out Retweetist. Pretty interesting if you want to sit down and study this stuff.

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  5. Twitter Tips For Bloggers
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  • David, Thanks for great tips!

    Btw I would like to know how Vu Tong is getting on with Twitter.
  • lberezin
    David,

    Solid advice. Thanks
  • @Christian: Because David is a fine writer and marketer.

    But this post deserves to be challenged. I just want to see proof of this claim, with the scenario I mentioned above. Otherwise everyone reading these is going down the wrong route.
  • #1 particularly rocks. Ask for what you want, people!

    Vu Tong, with respect, if advice here is useless why are you reading?
  • Vu Tong,

    I kind of did what you're suggesting David does. :)

    I set up VAforBloggers.com a month ago, then the only publicizing I did was on Twitter (well, Facebook too, since my Twitter updates show there as well). Within the last 30 days, I've grown to 100 or so unique visitors per day. Is that huge? Well, no. But it's gotten me some VA business!

    My point is that it can be done! Will Twitter in and of itself grant you Dave-like success? Maybe, or maybe not. Gotta remember Dave has been doing this for a long time, and Twitter is still new. But Twitter is a great place to launch a blog/business, keep in touch with your target audience, and keep on top of trends.
  • I see, so that's your reasoning.

    Why don't you set up a brand new blog, without ever mentioning it on here or any of your existing site.

    Prove to us how valuable Twitter can be with your results. Otherwise the tips found here and on many other "problogger" blogs are completely useless.

    Brutal, I know.
  • David: so are you telling me if your blog wasn't already popular, with an already established reader base; you would still achieve those results by merely going on twitter?

    The reason you are receiving these traffic is because majority of your followers were your blog readers.

    Keep in mind, I am not saying Twitter will not give you any new traffic whatsoever, but I am saying it is not considered substantial based on all the hype building around it.

    I am a new blogger, with a brand new blog. Based on the hype of twitter being a marketing tool, I went on twitter to market myself. By marketing myself, I mean following those who I know will have strong interest in my niche, e.g. following your followers for example.

    I am merely trying to debunk the hype around twitter from a new blogger's perspective. For existing well-known bloggers like you, these results are artificial.

    Thank you for responding directly.
  • The simple (and somewhat brutal) truth is that if Twitter isn't working, it is because you're using it wrong. Period.
  • Has anyone ever had real substantial traffic boost from using twitter? And by substantial, I mean thousands of unique hits.

    I hear the hype about twitter on almost every blog I've visited, but no one has really showed proof of it being a success. I mean, practically everyone on twitter has one thing in mind, and that is marketing their product or site. With everyone doing the same thing, who else is left on twitter?
  • Vu Tong: I disagree completely. Not everyone is marketing their product. In fact, the smart ones very RARELY mention their product even if they have something to sell. Twitter is about building relationships. If you go into it only looking for short-term traffic, you have the completely wrong outlook.

    BTW, speaking from experience, I get traffic from Twitter every day. I also made about $200 in sales the other day with one tweet. It happens. Trust me. But, it is because of relationships, not dumb ads.
  • great and simple approach to being real and getting what you want because of it.
  • Great Twitter info as usual! I will have to check out retweetist!
    Janet Johnson
  • Melanie
    I love to retweet great posts... But I won't retweet if I have to edit it. So I would add to you tips to make sure the tweet can be retweeted in under 140 characters.

    Great article!
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