The Weekly Authority #43
By: Digital Authority Co
Tags: Marketing, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Social Media, Conversion

What to Post on Twitter to Be an Authority:

5 Insider Tips to Improve Your Twitter Posts (& Engagement)

Consider this: The average lifespan of a Tweet is about 18 minutes (whereas the lifespan of a Facebook post is about 5 hours and the average lifespan of an Instagram post is about 48 hours, according to HubSpot). What’s more is that nearly 50% of Twitter users only logon once a day, and the average user is only on Twitter for about 13 minutes.

That’s a pretty small window of time. And that window is clouded by an astounding number of Tweets (with some of the latest research showing that about 6,000 new Tweets are posted every second).

So, how do you make sure your Tweets cut through the noise and capture your target audience’s attention in the short time they’re on Twitter?

The answer: post interesting Tweets and provide value to your audience.

Easier said than done, right?

Well, this week, I want to help you overcome the challenge of finding great content to post on Twitter by sharing some insider tips on what to post in order to build your authority, following and engagement on Twitter.

Top 5 Types of Tweets to Include in Your Twitter Posts

1. Educational content — Does your target audience have a common problem that you can help solve? Does your business offer one (or more) unique solution(s)? Share your knowledge and insights, as well as industry news or the latest research, via your Tweets. People like learning new things, especially when those things help them solve problems they are facing.

Pro Tip: How-to’s, tip lists, and cheatsheets are all great, engaging formats for educational content.

2. Funny content — Make people laugh with your Tweets! People like and tend to remember funny content, so incorporate some funny posts in your Tweeting when possible (and appropriate).

Pro Tip: Great funny content can come in the form of jokes, comic strips, funny comments or even other’s funny stories or experiences. You can even share funny mistakes or accidents related to developing or growing your brand.

3. Retweet content — Not all of your Twitter posts have to include original content that you craft. In fact, retweeting others’ posts can get you noticed by the original Tweeter, and it can add a fresh, new dynamic to your Tweets.

Pro Tip: Tweets posted by industry leaders, social media influencers, and even your current clients (or prospects) can be great to retweet.

4. Promotional content — Don’t forget to talk about your brand in your Tweets. Sharing news about what’s going on with your business via Twitter can be a powerful way to keep people connected and up-to-date with your offerings.

Pro Tip: Offer deals or discounts for your products and/or services via your Tweets. You can also share info about upcoming events, new product releases, new locations or other facets of your business.

5. Visual content — Images are worth a lot more than 1,000 words on Twitter, and they can capture people’s attention even before they read your Tweet (or even if your Tweet isn’t at the top of their feed). So include some interesting images in your posts.

Pro Tip: Post pictures (and/or videos) of your staff, your business’ daily operations, new products or events your business hosts. This can humanize your brand and make your business more memorable.

Remember the Rules of 3’s When Tweeting

As you start to pull together content ideas to inspire your Twitter posts, here’s another thing to keep in mind: you don’t want to over or under do the promotional Tweets.

Posting too many promotional Tweets can cause users to stop checking out your posts (because users will probably perceive that all you have to offer them is a sales pitch — and pretty much no one wants to hear a bunch of sales pitches day in and day out). The flipside of that coin, posting too few promotional Tweets, can mean that you’re never getting your sales message across or seeing any conversions from your Twitter activities.

Strike the right balance by following the social media rule of thirds:

Make 1/3 of your Tweets promotional.

Another 1/3 of your Tweets should share industry news, interesting stories, helpful tips or other industry/brand-related content.

The last 1/3 should share some personal aspect of you, your business or your brand (to establish and maintain a human element).

What to Post on Twitter: The Bottom Line

When it comes to Twitter content and posting strategies, the bottom line is this:

You have to provide value to your followers in order to spark valuable interactions and connections. Or more simply, you have to provide value to receive value from your target audience.

How’s your Twitter marketing going? Are your posts getting the engagement you want? Are they falling short? Or have you uncovered some great new tactics or strategies that have taken your Twitter posts to the next level?

Tell me more on Facebook and LinkedIn. And don’t hesitate to get a hold of me on social media to ask any digital marketing question or just to say ‘hi.’ I look forward to hearing from you!