Let’s face it—formulas were made for science. And social media wasn’t designed with an exact science in mind. Sure, there are algorithm formulas that help determine how your posts will perform. But for the most part, we can’t predict how a tweet will do after we launch it off into the mythical land of social media.
You can’t sit down and put the magic number of characters and keywords to get the exact end result you want. But you can help your chances. Check out the 7th Twitter Commandment in our series to help make sure your posts get the love they deserve.
Transcript:
Well friends, it’s time to be honest about your tweets. If somebody tells you they have the “proven formula for the best tweet,” I’m begging you—run the other direction.
The truth is (sadly), there’s no proven formula to make sure your tweets get retweeted or favorited. Besides, where’s the fun in that? But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to succeed.
Which brings us to the 7th Twitter commandment: thou shalt maximize thy posts. Now, if there’s no proven formula—how is it even possible to maximize a post? Let’s dive deeper into the Twitterverse.
First, let’s talk about the length of your tweets.
You have 140 characters, so why not use them, right? Well, not exactly. Some extremely short tweets have been known to get a lot of Twitter love. But that’s not always the case. The most important thing is to make sure you’re varying your posts. Ask yourself—would you retweet it?
Next, it’s been proven that if you actually ask for retweets, you’re more likely to get them. But if you’re doing it all the time, be prepared to receive what I like to call the button of doom—the unfollow button. To avoid it, use the practice of asking for retweets sparingly.
Also, make sure to keep your hashtags under control. We’ve previously talked about the art of hashtagging in Twitter tip #3. Refer back to that video and we’re begging you: stick to those principles.
Finally, be conscience about the times that you’re tweeting. Don’t limit yourself to ‘business hours.’ Instead, think about the times that your constituents are most likely to be online. Sometimes weekends might be the best time to tweet. And during the week, try to get tweets out around lunchtime when people are likely to be checking their phones.
So, vary the length, sparingly ask for retweets, keep your hashtags in check and tweet when your constituents are online. With those things in mind, consider your posts maximized! Thanks for watching.
