Twelve of Our Best Tips for Getting Attention on Twitter

1)  The art of the headline

Attention has never been more accessible or more difficult to grab. And at 140 characters, most tweets can serve as a headline. Treat your characters with care, and know that your primary objective is selling the click, and you can leverage the ecosystem to your benefit.

Smart copywriters are able to milk buckets of benefit from Twitter because they understand the psychology behind compelling headlines. Fortunately, today’s headlines tap into the same emotional triggers that have driven human behavior for decades be- fore Madison Avenue.

Creativity is borrowed. Take an afternoon to hit your local grocery store and you can easily see how many “new” headlines have been recycled? Just take a look at Cosmopolitan, aren’t they using the same headlines, or variations of past ones, over and over and over again?

Buy a stack of magazines and study the copy, then tweak the headlines to your own needs. This isn’t lazy, it’s smart. Yet if you don’t understand the psychology behind the headline, or what makes it work, you risk writing it all wrong. And an ineffective head- line gathers no readers and holds no attention.

Truly understand the triggers that can make a marginal headline magic, and you will hold the keys to the kingdom. The great thing about Twitter is that it’s always in motion, meaning you can test your headlines, see what works, then use the variations of your best headlines for maximum effect.

Twitter is THE place for sharing content. Nowhere else online is content spread so voraciously. Re-tweets are easy to get, once you know how to get them, and gathering those re-tweets can do wonders for your authority. The key is in crafting a headline that commands attention.

Offer a benefit, then be original, unique, insistent, and specific. Above all, practice.

2)  Be your best self

Trying to be somebody else on Twitter is a losing proposition. It’s no fun for you and it’s hard work to try and keep it up. Plus, very few of us can convincingly be somebody else. It’s far better to be your authentic self, however there’s no reason why you can’t show the very best version of your personality.

Just like very few writers would publish their rough drafts, you should take care to edit your Tweets so that they show you in the best possible light. That doesn’t mean being a phony. Instead, it means showcasing your strengths and having a good sense of humor about your weaknesses.

Tweet in a way that feels natural to you, but do pay attention to spelling, grammar and other conventions. Be warm, funny and genuine but also be mindful that you are in a public sphere. How much you can get away with very much depends on the nature of your business and your target audience.

Be aware that some people might just not like you. Don’t take it personally and don’t bend over backwards to please the one person who doesn’t care for your style. Instead focus on the thousands of people who will like you just the way you are.

3)  Know when to use multiple Twitter accounts

Many businesses and freelancers find it beneficial to open more than one Twitter account. That way, they can have one that’s strictly business and another that’s more personal for networking and having fun. It also opens up the possibility of handing off responsibility for the business account to an employee or outsourced social media manager.

The downside is that it’s double the work to monitor two or more accounts (although this is diminished if you call on outside help). It also risks the business account seeming sterile and dry compared to the personal account.

You should consider opening multiple accounts if:

• Your business account needs a “voice” that is significantly different than your personality.
• You are not the only voice or driving force behind your business.
• You have multiple businesses or ventures and would like each to have a dedicated account.
• You want to establish a personal brand for yourself separate from you business.
• You want to easily outsource the maintenance of your business account while still being able to network and socialize on Twitter.

4)  Follow trends

Following the trending topics on Twitter helps you see what other users find important or interesting. Mentioning these trends can be a great way to trigger a conversation and connect with other users.

You can do this by asking questions about the trending topic, tweeting your thoughts on it, replying to other’s tweets on the topic and retweeting information. This is a lot like the Twitter version of “water cooler talk”. It’s the kind of thing that helps you build connections with your followers and to feel included in the community.

What you never want to do is to try and take advantage of trending topics in a spammy way. Only use trending topic hashtags if what you have to say is relevant to the subject. Think of trending topics as a conversation starter, not a bandwagon to jump on.

5)  Integrate your social media channels

Integrating your social media channels can be a huge time-saver but be sure to do it in a smart way. You can use services like Ping.fm to automatically update across sites, but before you do so, ask yourself if it’s necessary an appropriate.

Twitter tends to be a higher volume site than Facebook or LinkedIn and you might find yourself updating your Twitter stream more than a dozen times a day. Your followers on the other sites could find that to be overkill and worse, it might not be anything that pertains to their interests.

There is also probably a great deal of overlap in your followers on each site, so by blasting the same message to all sites, you risk telling the same person the same thing several times. This can get old, fast.

For most users, the best solution is to take advantage of these sites, but only on a per post basis. Don’t automatically share everything you do across all sites, but do share the most relevant and interesting bits.

6)  Be the signal, not the noise

One of the common objections to Twitter is that it’s just a bunch of loudmouths regurgitating their life for all to see. You do want to be open and share enough so that people get to know you, but don’t let it be an online play by play of your daily life.

Be particular about what you choose to share. That doesn’t mean you can’t share quirky little observations, but use discretion. Is it really that interesting? Does it invite further conversation.

When it comes to sharing links, again, you should remember the idea is to be a curator, not a flea market. Some people might enjoy picking through all of your offerings to find the rare gems. Most will lose patience and start tuning you out all together.

Retweeting is terrific, but don’t fall into the habit of mindlessly retweeting everything the influencers you follow tweet. Not all of it is going to be relevant to your audience and some of it will no doubt be retweeted by others. Keep a casual running tally of how much you’ve retweeted so far in any given day and put the breaks on if it seems like you’re sending something out every ten minutes.

7)  Follow your competition, let your competition follow you

Following your competition keeps you sharp. Not only will you get to see what they are doing, you’ll also benefit from what they’ve learned and have to share. The smartest people are the ones who are humble enough to realize that they have something to learn from everyone.

Don’t worry, you’re not out to “steal ideas” it’s more being open to inspiration from everywhere, including the competition. Look at your competition as your peers and try your best to network with them so that you can all benefit from your mutual experience and knowledge.

On the flip side, don’t worry if you notice the competition following you. Share with them just as you would anyone else. Engage with them and build a relationship. It takes a lot of the stress out of business when you lose that scarcity mindset and you’ll find that some of your strongest relationships can be with those who are experiencing the same things.

8)  Promote others more than you promote yourself

We mentioned earlier that a good ratio is 10% self promotion, 90% everything else. You can’t offer real value to your twitter followers if all they are seeing is you.

Promoting others costs you nothing. It’s a wonderful way to build goodwill, strengthen relationships and use your platform to lift others up. Not only that, it offers you an opportunity to share things with your followers that are useful or entertaining. Everyone wins when you promote others.

As a bonus, when others see that you’re generous about sharing, they’ll be more likely to be receptive to your message. This is because we appreciate altruism in others and take it as a sign that the person we are dealing with is kind and authentic.

9)  Be helpful

Always be on the lookout for ways to help others. In fact, well known author and Twitter user Jonathan Fields starts each day by tweeting “Who can I help today?”

You don’t have to explicitly offer help every day, but look for ways to be kind and generous. Answer questions when you have the answers or know somebody who does. If you have a minute to fulfill a favor such as checking on a website for usability or answering a survey, do so. Share news about exciting opportunities, spread the word about contests or freebies your audience would be interested in and always be quick with a kind word of support or sympathy.

In short, be the kind of Twitter user you’d like others to be to you.

10)  Sharpen your voice

Consider Twitter to be an opportunity to sharpen your voice. 140 characters means that each one has to count. Strive to be concise without losing meaning.

This means cutting out intensifiers like very and really, eliminating redundancy and nixing phrases that add nothing.

You’ll soon be writing lean sentences packed with meaning instead of bloated collections of clauses that don’t say anything at all.

You should also note while some abbreviations are acceptable on Twitter, over-use of “txt speak” is frowned upon by many. This varies widely by community, but to be on the safe side keep it to a minimum and pay close attention to how the leaders in your Twitter community use language.

11)  Never tweet the mundane, unless it’s on purpose

A bit of carefully chosen mundane detail can be charming and humanizing. However, before you go happily tweeting what you’re eating, put some thought into it. How much have you already shared recently? Is it something that can serve as a conversation opener? Do you have a funny or insightful spin you can put on it?

12)  Content is king (even if it’s pint sized)

Celebrities and big brands have a natural advantage when it comes to gaining Twitter followers, but true attention is paid to those who are providing worthwhile content.

140 characters is enough to:

• Express an idea
• Share a joke
• Ask a question
• Give an answer
• Pique curiosity
• Be provocative
• Make an offer

Twitter gives you a platform to share your ideas with millions of people around the world – but it’s up to you to come up with tweets worth reading and repeating.

It will take time to perfect the art of crafting tweets but keep at it with an aim towards improving every day. Study the tweets of those you admire and discover the elements that go into expressing so much in so little space.

Sean Platt is the author of Writing Online and How to Write a Sales Letter that Works (Without Wasting Your Time!). Follow him on Twitter here!

Tracy O’Connor is a phenomenal ghostwriter and humor blogger. You can (and should) follow her on Twitter.