NHsmc Influencer Analysis

Posted on by Andrew Jacobson

As someone who’s former maximum Twitter usage usually included simply scrolling past embedded Tweets in various articles, I consider any direct interaction with the service as quite an improvement. At the start of the course, I had a big, fat goose egg of a follower base – 0 followers. By the end of this course, I had 38. Measly to some, but I definitely consider the 100% improvement as a small victory! In contrast, my Klout score has always been pretty low. Starting score was a 10 – which may, in fact, be the base number for users – and ended with an 18.55 with a 90-day high of 21.

I must say that while I’m rather disappointed by these numbers, I’m pretty proud of the content I produced. My personal voice grew stronger over the course of this class, and the most popular tweets included jokes or images with a solid sense of humor. This was especially true when it included a call to action or rich media that was also humorous or appealed to happy thoughts. At the beginning of the semester, I made the choice to use Twitter as a platform for only wholesome images, opinions, or observations, and never as a tool for complaining. I believe that I was successful in this pursuit and established my social media presence as one that people would always want to engage with instead of shy away from.

However, I certainly recognize that I need to be more proactive in attaching related hashtags, user tags, or media to tweets to drive viewership. Much of my struggles this semester came from low engagement on a tweet that I assumed funny, and I believe the problem stems from poor user targeting. For example, if my poll included a question about a Frenchie puppy, I had ample opportunity to target dog-related communities, hashtags, images, etc., all of which are popular and would have definitely driven users. The best way I can do this is by research – with a wealth of tools (Twitter Analytics, adds, Sysomos, etc.) that we were given, I can find relevant information in the blink of a second.

This tweet is perhaps the strongest example of my personal voice. It earned a total of 402 impressions, 14 engagements, and 7 likes, including a comment from the one and only @jmgrygiel. Although a simple text post, I believe it conjured a favorable image in readers’ minds – one which we’ve only seen in ridiculous movie scenes or books – and therefore appealed to their sense of humor. By saying that I had already achieved it, the tweet had a positive spin, allowing people to be “happy for me” (a lá @jmgrygiel’s comment) and interested in the story behind it.

This tweet is a good example of how simple engaging a public organization can really by. By tagging @PublicTheaterNY in a complimentary post that specified a singular positive experience I had with them, I gave the theater easy reason to engage with me. The subtle pun also supported my voice.  It earned a total of 418 impressions, 5 engagements, and a like from @PublicTheaterNY itself! As the top off-Broadway venue, I was pretty excited to see that they had personally engaged with me.

This tweet was my favorite example of using rich media on Twitter. The GIF itself was (at least in my opinion) pretty hilarious, and the content was incredibly relevant to the time it was posted. I also used #Meltdown, which I knew referred more to Donald Trump’s behavior than the weather, but hoped that it would draw in engagement from people searching that particular hashtag more so than weather-related hashtags. In this way, I utilized a humorous GIF and strategic hashtag placement to draw in 331 impressions, 31 media views, 4 likes, and a retweet (!).

This tweet was also very relevant to the time which it was posted, and referred to a hot-button debate that almost everyone had knowledge of. I aligned my tweet more with what I assumed the popular opinion would be, but decided not to clearly side with one singular belief about Zuckerberg. I also used a trending hashtag and emoji to lighten (get it!) the content of the post and keep it humorous. This tweet earned 185 impressions, 8 engagements, and 4 likes.

This tweet was a good example of how the primary content is not the tweet itself, but the media it accompanies. I supported the humorous video with a (hopefully) humorous caption that engaged viewers as well as provided some intriguing insight into the content and my role in it. In this way, I used twitter as a platform for other content creation.  This tweet earned 226 impressions and 3 engagements/likes, most likely from those also participating in this challenge.

This tweet was a great example of a combination of both a strong voice and utilizing different Twitter gadgets. I explicitly asked readers to respond to my poll, described a positive/quirky image of the future, and appealed to their love of dogs. I certainly could’ve included some puppy or dog-related hashtags to help drive users to my tweet – even engaged a Frenchie-related account. However, I had good 6-vote turnout and 212 engagements.

This tweet was another good example of engaging a public corporation in a positive sense. LaCroix liked this tweet as well as the comment another student submitted that supported my own – we worked in tandem! And, as I always say, dry/self-deprecating humor is the best kind of humor. With 392 impressions, 10 total engagements, and garnering 5 likes, this was definitely one of my most successful tweets.

Most of my tweets during January/February were about the cruddy weather – and for good reason. This tweet appealed to readers’ sense of sympathy, had several relevant hashtags, and included an engaging GIF of a beloved that garnered 25 media views. I was essentially hopping on the bandwagon with this tweet, which encouraged others to do it as well. I might’ve been able to add a few snowy emojis or hashtags to drive viewership.

The success of this tweet surprised me – 194 impressions, 15 engagements, and 9 media engagements all belied the rather confusing content. Only when a reader actually clicked on the media would they understand what it was about, and even then, it was very specific to our assignment that day.  I definitely could’ve made it a bit more clear, as well as included a few emojis or eye-catching content.

This tweet was a good example of promoting a good cause while also including a humorous tone, call to action, and relevant date/time. There were a few good hashtags (including one that our group made up!), an emoji, and full use of the character limit. I attempted to take the reader on a sort of journey – from wondering what I was talking about, to a call to action, and finally supporting why exactly they should care about my tweet.

Quite frankly, this class introduced me to social media in a way that I was completely unaccustomed to. I often lurk but almost never post on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc., and by being mandated to for a grade, I was able to embrace these platforms fully. Perhaps the best skill I developed was how to have a strong sense of tone and voice in my social media, which I believe was fully reflected in the above tweets. I learned how comedy, positivity, calls to action, and other tools of the trade were essential in driving viewership. The success of my top tweets – concrete examples of this very notion – truly validated what we discussed as a class. I also learned how Tweets can be used to support the media included, whether that’s an Imgur image or Youtube video, and how incredibly beneficial cross-promotion really is. With such a wealth of social media out there, it was interesting to see how the “hive-mind” works.

In the future, I hope to expand on the tools that we discussed in class and develop my own style of Twitter usage. While I don’t expect to post every day, I now feel that I have an established enough presence to really dive in. I already sense that my Twitter account will be used for theatre-related content based on my follows and followers and am excited to see what that means for future networking opportunities.

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