“New Twitter, New Me”: A look at my New and Improved Twitter

At the start of this semester my Twitter was in dire need of revamping. I had previously used my Twitter for social purposes with very little professional content. Prior to this class, I was considering deleting my Twitter all together and going inactive. However, NHSMC allowed me to keep my follower base with a new and improved Twitter voice. I started out the semester with 290 followers and ended with 315. I believe the 25 follower increase was due to the conversations I started using the hashtag #socialmedia. I noticed that whenever I used the hashtags #socialmedia or #socialmediamarketing experts in the industry would follow me. I think many of my previous followers were confused by the new professional attitude I was using on Twitter, which may have contributed to a few unfollows here and there. My Klout score over the 90 day period went from 22 to 55.

Below are my top 10 Tweets from this semester.

1)

Total Engagements: 415 –ย This tweet was a huge success. I had professional head shots taken for my LinkedIn, so I decided to also promote my new fresh look via Twitter. It made sense to inform my followers that although I am using my Twitter for class purposes, I intend to be much more professional with my content from now on as I begin my career. I think this tweet delivered had high engagement because it put a face to the content that I have been pushing out for the past few months, as my followers seem to connect with me more now that they see the human behind the screen. The caption was also simple but effective.

2)

Total Engagement: 134 –ย This was my first experience creating a GIF on my own using GIF Boom. It was an experiment for sure, but it was a lot of fun! While I was at Archbold Gym working out, I decided to capture the basketball skills of one of my friends. I explained to the others on the court that it was for a social media class that I was taking, and they happened to be Newhouse students who were very interested in Professor Grygiel’s class! This caption was also kept simple and to the point, but also fun and playful. With more experience using GIF boom, I could have made the still images more clear. This is something I need to work on in the future.

3)

Total Engagements: 81- While thisย tweet may not have been the best performer in terms of engagement, it sparked a lot of attention among my followers. The idea behind this tweet was in light of the election and recent events, I was interested to see how digital conversations had an effect on the 2008 presidential election. It is interesting to note how social media and the internet in general had such a profound influence on the 2016 election, and how someone like Donald Trump was able to gain power and recognition through social platforms.

4)

Total Engagement: 154 – The assignment for this tweet was to post something positive about yourself. I was lucky enough to have interned for NBC Universal last fall in their affiliate marketing department, and I have so many great memories from this experience. In this tweet I wanted to grasp the attention of the HR social media influencers at NBC, as I am a senior actively seeking employment. I also used the hashtag #affiliatemarketing to get noticed by others in the industry who may be working in the profession I hope to enter one day. I was overwhelmed with joy when @NBCUinterns retweeted me!

5)

Total Engagement: 113-ย This was the post I initially tweeted for my viral content challenge. The idea behind this tweet was to get my followers laughing over politics rather than arguing. It was a brutal election as we all know, and I was tired of seeing all the negative sentiment on my twitter feed. I hoped that this meme, regardless of political views, would gain the attention of my followers who at least could agree that it was a tiring year for politics.

6)

Total Engagement: 128-ย For one last push to increase engagement on my Twitter Webcard, I posted a live periscope from election night. On election night, my friends and I crowded into my college apartment anxiously waiting for the results. We had moments of ups and downs, but overall we experienced the night together. I even put on a pant suit to get into the theme! The purpose of this periscope was to give my followers an inside look at our election night viewing party. I should have used more hashtags, or even an emoji to get even more engagement on this post.

7)

Total Engagement: 111 –ย This post is a classic example of a “problem” college students face every weekend: to go out or to get some rest. On this Friday night I entered the “lame” category and decided to light a candle and curl up with a good book. I originally created this photo for my Snapchat, but I saved it to my camera roll and tweeted it out as well. I think the use of hashtags with corresponding emojis worked well here, and of course who doesn’t love a cute bitmoji! It also helps that a majority of my follower base consists of other college students that face similar “struggles”.

8)ย 

Total Engagement: 62 –ย As a Whitman student, I am actively involved in a professional co-ed business fraternity where I had the priviledge of taking on a leadership role for a semester. In this tweet, I wanted to highlight a resume skill that I acquired through my time here at Syracuse in a fun and engaging way. The use of business emojis and tagging the Whitman School was very effective here, and I even got a favorite from @WhitmanSU. My goal here was to also show my Newhouse peers what else I am involved in on campus.

9)

Total Engagement: 99-ย For this twitter assignment we were encouraged to create our own hashtag that has not been used before. As a Whitman student, my peers are both jealous and in awe at the fact that NHSMC assigns twitter posts as homework assignments. This tweet was both a bragging right, and a way to epitomize how fun a social media class is. The goal was to encourage others to use #Tweetmyhw, as it is a great way to view your classmate’s published work. I noticed that adding any type of media, such as a GIF greatly improved my engagement levels as well.

10)ย 

Total Engagement: 108-ย In this tweet I spoke about my time as a Syracuse student and the great friendships I have made. It also was a spin on the selfie lesson we had in class. I am not one to post selfies of strictly myself, so I decided to use a group selfie instead. The only issue here was that it was a screenshot off of a friend’s Snapchat, so her name appears on the top left corner. I should have used the pen tool to cover over her name.

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