The Secret to Writing Highly Engaging Tweets

Confession: Twitter is my favorite social media channel right now. I have met so many smart, inspiring people through Twitter chats and engagement feels more genuine than on other platforms.

Twitter is a fast-paced platform. As a result, you have a short window to capture the attention of your audience. According to the SEO consulting company Moz, the lifespan of a tweet is around 18 minutes. Given this fact, it is critical to make your tweets as engaging as you can.

Here of some tactics that have worked well for me:

Tag other accounts in your posts

By tagging someone in your tweet, they are notified and are likely to respond or engage with the post. Some of my most engaging tweets have been #FollowFriday posts where I shout-out the accounts that have inspired me throughout the week. When you post 3rd party content or re-tweet with a comment, tag the author or anyone mentioned in the article. Many of the folks I call out like or comment on the post. This expands the reach of the post to their networks. Tagging other accounts in your posts also helps you to build relationships on Twitter. It is called social media, after all.

Join Twitter chats

I always see strong engagement when I post during Twitter chats. Here are some of the reasons why Twitter chats are so amazing at driving engagement:

• There is an audience of people who are already online at that moment and ready to engage on the chat topic
• You benefit from increasing the impressions and reach of your posts by using the Twitter chat hashtag
• If any of your tweets are included in the Twitter chat summary that the host typically compiles after the chat ends, you may gain additional exposure

On top of the engagement benefits, Twitter chats are a fantastic way to meet people in your industry. They offer a platform to learn something new from other participants while showcasing your own thought leadership. I personally try to attend 2-3 Twitter chats per week. There are tons of marketing related chats, as well as chats focused on other industries.

Tip: Some of my favorite digital marketing chats are:

• #CMworld (Tuesdays at 9am PT)
• #SEMrushchat (Wednesdays at 8am PT)
• #Adweekchat (Wednesdays at 11am PT)
• #TwitterSmarter (Thursdays at 10am PT)

Poll your audience

Ask a question that people may answer without much thought. I recently asked my followers to vote for their favorite social media channel using an emoji. I also added the follow-up question of whether their favorite differs for personal vs. business use. As people commented, I was also able to keep the conversation going by asking people why they chose a certain platform as their favorite. This post achieved nearly 6k impressions, plus high engagement. Additionally, Twitter has a poll feature you can use to set up a multiple-choice poll. You set how long you want the poll to run for, and you can share the results with your audience once it is over.

Tip: Another great way to use polls is for market research to inform your content strategy. Ask your audience what types of posts they want to see more of – you may be surprised by the results!

Tweet during events

Being active on Twitter when you are at a live or online event is a great way to connect with other attendees and share insights with your followers who were not able to attend. Remember to use the conference hashtag and tag the speaker(s) so that your posts are easily discoverable. For example, I posted this tweet during Terry Rice‘s session on “How to Gain Buy-in from Prospects by Leveraging User Generated Content in Instagram Stories” at Social Media Week LA and it was one of my most engaging tweets of the month!

Attending a live event soon? Check out my 5 Tips to Get the Most Out of Attending a Conference.

Tip: Liking, commenting, and retweeting posts made by other attendees is another great way to drive more views of your profile.

Have fun and be conversational

Talk to your audience like you are talking to an individual. As people become more and more immune to traditional marketing and advertising, authentic connection is more important than ever. As Mark Schaefer says in his book Marketing Rebellion, “The most human company will win.”

Comment below with any tips of your own for writing engaging tweets!