7 Ways to Make your Tweet Go Viral

by    |   9th Nov 10 10:53 am   |   19
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The New Twitter e1285351731154 7 Ways to Make your Tweet Go ViralTweets are the lifeline of Twitter. Any business planning to use Twitter for business purpose needs to have an effective tweeting strategy in place. There is no doubt that Twitter has redefined how businesses spread information online. In fact, retweets is one of the most common ways by which your business gets introduced to prospect customers on Twitter.

Viral tweets also help bring significant traffic to your business website, which in turn can boost your subscriber numbers. As a business, how do you ensure that your tweets are viral (in other words, retweetable). For a start, follow these seven simple tips.

1) Catchy, Interesting & Informational Content

I come across several clients who confess that they find the 140-character limit on Twitter to be a huge dampener for their business. Trust me; it’s more than sufficient to get the message across to users.

I’m a frequent retweeter and I usually retweet messages which I find genuinely interesting and beneficial for my readers. It’s a fine line between being catchy and losing relevance. So, make sure to get your balancing act right.

2) Call to action

Whether its polls, surveys or encouraging users to leave their feedback on your business’ products/ services, dialogue tweets have a better viral effect as compared to monologues. It’s often said that the best way to persuade people to do something is to ask them to do it and tweets follow this golden rule as well.

When your Twitter followers retweet your messages, your call to action gets reposted thereby leading credibility and user support to your messages.

3) Links

IMO, links are the most crucial component of business-oriented viral tweets. You may link to your business website, to a new product announcement, to an exciting promotion that you launched recently or to a customer satisfaction survey.

Of course, you should ensure that the embedded links are contextually relevant to your tweet content. It makes no business sense to link a tweet about apples to a link related to oranges. Viral tweets serve as virtual inbound links to your business website so make sure you make the most of this opportunity.

4) News

Tweeting news related to your business and industry is a great way to keep your followers actively engaged. It showcases your stronghold in the designated industry and increases your followers’ awareness about your products and services. Whether it is business or politics, “breaking news” is one of the most sharable types of content. A quick word of caution – avoid small talk!

5) Avoid too many self-references

Self-referential tweets aren’t optimal for viral marketing. If you focus too much on “me” and “my business”, the tweets tend to lose their charm and resemble pushy sales pitches. Focus more on the “we” and “you” aspects rather than the “me”, Twitter is after all a social platform!

6) Timing is critical

Not many users realize that timing is a critical aspect in determining how far your tweets can go. Tweets have a short attention span so an ill-timed tweet is more likely to lead to a miss rather than a hit for your business. Like every good comedian knows, timing is everything. Twitter ain’t any different.

7) Consistency is key

Your tweets represent your point of view. Make sure that your tweets are consistent, non-contradictory and non-controversial. If your tweets smell of inconsistency, it doesn’t reflect well for your business brand and you are likely to lose followers sooner than later.

What are the tips your business follows to ensure that your tweets have a viral effect? How often do your followers retweet your messages and why? Please share your experience by leaving a comment below this post.

Douglas Idugboe, Digital and New Media Marketing Strategist. Founder and Chief Editor of Smedio! A Canadian Bestselling Author, Marketing Strategist, Speaker and Trainer, Who Loves Technology
  • http://blog.esimplestudios.com Gabriele Maidecchi

    Very good points, and I agree on the 140 chars limit, it’s more than enough, ’cause anyway, in my personal view, Twitter should be a supportive medium, meant to create conversation around content which is (most of the times) found elsewhere. I use Twitter as support for my blogging efforts, but also to establish relations with people in my niches of interest and *relate* to them.

    I am not saying it’s the only way to do it, just that it’s the way that works for me, right now.

    • http://smedio.com Douglas Idugboe

      You’re on cause Gabriele. New media has given this never before seen opportunity to establish wonderful relationship with our market place, and twitter is one of the most effective tools to do so.

      Thanks for your simple, yet profound comments as always.

  • http://www.friedwires.com Brady Lewis

    Thanks for the post. I agree with your points, especially about relevant links. I pay way more attention to tweets that contain links than text only tweets. I’m looking for info – Just like finding this blog post :)

    • http://smedio.com Douglas Idugboe

      You’re welcome Brady… and welcome to the Smedio community :)

  • http://twitter.com/aflyonthewall Robyn

    So you say timing is everything but never tell us when the best time to be on Twitter is! …or is that obvious by the Fail Whale? ;-D

  • @slslater

    Robyn, re timing, it depends on your target audience! Check their Twitter accounts to see when they’re most active – coffee breaks, lunch time, evenings, weekends… Check the timing of the RTs you get, too. You can always re-purpose a Tweet for different times and days, for example post several messages that link back to the same blog post, etc.

  • http://twitter.com/KateDavids KatetheRunner

    Here’s a tip to add to your list: keep it short. Even shorter than the 140 limit. You want to leave room for your retweeters to add the RT @YourName. Too often I see a wonderful bit of wisdom I would like to pass on, but when I click the retweet button, the tweet goes over the limit. If you want to have it truly go viral, leave enough space for at least two retweets, so your Twitter ID and another person’s.

    • http://twitter.com/Bridies_Typing Bridie Jenner

      Great advice, I often have the same problem!

    • http://twitter.com/FloydConsultanc Govind Rai

      Douglas great post and Kate brilliant add to it…Thank you to both

  • http://twitter.com/e_Booksmaster Joseph D. Shiller

    1- Instead of hitting the re-tweet button, I hit reply and add the “RT”. That way the person gets a msg that you re-tweeted for them, otherwise they might not know. Then they are more likely to return the favor, or at least send thanks in a mention.
    2- Also, if there is nothing worth re-tweeting, I sometimes use part of their bio and link in the header. I have received generous compliments on this.
    3- There are some twits like @FiverrWall , that will re-tweet anything for you, just send him a direct msg and he will re-tweet it for you.
    4- If there is space, put a # tag in front of keywords to make your tweets show up in tweet searches for that word.
    5- Connect with me via my Disqus profile. I would be happy to discuss stuff with you. I am into a lot of different things

  • Pingback: Siap Berbisnis di Twitter? Ini dia tipsnya « Ngegoes Yuk

  • http://twitter.com/ProfExpert Professor Expert

    Thank you for this insightful article. It never hurts to hear more about social marketing. In addition to being effective, it is also fun!
    http://www.professorexpert.com

  • http://twitter.com/womvegasmedia Anthony B Palmer

    You make a lot of great points, that I think we all overlook or forget about from time to time.

  • http://twitter.com/jvanrijn Jordie van Rijn

    Well these aren’t 7 WAYS to make your tweet go viral, so i guess overselling might also be one of the tips you would give.

  • http://twitter.com/goodlinn goodlinn

    ผมไม่เข้าใจเรื่องระยะเวลาผมต้องทำอย่างไร

  • http://www.khaledscorner.com خالد

    great tips thanks

  • Tom Summers

    blabberpost.com

  • http://www.lpskintherapy.com/ Rosie Bacon

    Too many self-references really kill a potentially viral tweet. It’s just as awful as bad timing.

  • http://www.nakedbodycare.co.uk/ Lisa Smyth

    Wow! All great information are presented in here. I’ve been looking for some effective tweeting strategy that i can use on marketing my business. My timing really needs to be modified as I find it hard to spot a perfect timing for my tweets.