Baby Steps: My Influence Growth Through My First 3 Active Months on Twitter

Posted on by Jake Silverman

I have been rogue on Twitter for several years. I used it as my main source of news and sport updates. In total, I was following over 200 politicians, athletes, etc., but had only 6 random followers. My first tweet was for my class, Social Media for Communicators, on August 29, 2017. Over the course of the next 3 months, I became active on Twitter. I was constantly learning what key words, people, and hashtags I could include to increase my follower base as well as my engagement on my tweets.

After starting with 6 followers, I obtained 15 new followers. This increase represents a gain of 250%. In addition, my Klout score saw a jump from a 10 to a 17 from my activity on Twitter. The 7 point increase equated to a 70% gain on my Klout Score.

I believe I saw the augmentation in my Twitter followers and Klout score because of staying consistent with my tweets. In my profile, I share with the Twitter community that I am a “‘Cuse Student & Sport Enthusiast.” Therefore, my tweets were about sports and the tiring aspects of being a student. People that were drawn to my account knew what they would be seeing if they followed me. I think staying consistent in the content that I tweeted about enabled me to gain a loyal following. I have strong opinions on sports and people will want to engage with my tweets whether they agree with my thoughts or not. Moreover, these people showed their peers my tweets causing my opinions to spread through word of mouth as well.

Even though I saw my Twitter followers expand by 15 people, 21 followers was not enough to see a tremendous amount of engagement. Nevertheless, here are my top 10 tweets throughout these past 3 months.

The tweet above saw one like and one reply tweet. The one like was from a follower I already had; however, the reply tweet was from an account that does not follow me. I wanted to express the significance of 9/11 and used the popular hashtag #NeverForget. This hashtag was most likely the reason I saw a non-follower reply to the tweet.

The tweet above depicts my bedroom at Syracuse University. I was able to show people my passion for sports in an interactive video. A video catches the eye of people on a feed more so than just words of a tweet. This is why I saw this tweet get 2 likes.

A unique and interesting feature of Twitter is the “Lists” that can be created. I focused a list around the top breaking sport news reported in each of my favorite sports: football, hockey, soccer, baseball, and basketball. I gave my followers my favorite reporters and analysts who I believe to be the best in the business at what they do. The list was consistent, succinct, and valuable and that is why it received one like.

Receiving one like, the tweet above was effective because of the popular and highly-used hashtag #ICYMI. It stands for “In case you missed it.” Also, I used the technique to quote a tweet. I quoted a tweet from NBA great, Kobe Bryant. Because of the hashtag and quoting tweeting a famous basketball player, I probably got the like from a non-follower.

I was able to do research and discover that Remi Lubcher was my most influential follower. I tagged her Twitter account in my tweet; I was excited for her to notice the tweet and give it a like!

My favorite soccer team, Tottenham Hostpur, was playing on November 1, 2017 in the Champion’s League. I believe I saw solid engagement relative to my previous tweets because I tweeted right before kickoff. Effectively using the hashtags #Tottenham and #RealMadrid, I was able to gauge interest from both fan bases. This tweet got 2 likes and one reply tweet from a non-follower.

Tailoring to my followers that are interested in my life as a student at Syracuse University, I posted this GIF to go along with my tweet. I thought it would be a fun way to interact with the fact that college students are sleep deprived from balancing work and social life. Not only did I get a like from a follower, but I obtained a reply from a non-follower.

On November 7, 2017, I had my second retweet of one of my tweets. I made a meme of my nephew, joking about how my sister put him in a ridiculous Halloween costume. I think the fun and cute aspect of the meme resulted in the retweet as well as a like. I gained 3 followers after this tweet was up for 4 hours.

One of my most successful tweets in terms of engagement was the tweet shown above. It was a selfie so it grabs my followers attention. It was also a school event that two classes were closely following. Therefore, I used both classes’ hashtags to attract the respective students. I had my most likes on a tweet up until that point with four.

My most successful tweet during these three months is illustrated above. During a class activity, I tweeted out an original hashtag as well as common hashtags for the Planned Parenthood account. In addition, I tagged @PPact, the twitter account of the movement. This is something that many people care about and watch closely; thus, it resulted in four retweets and six favorites. This was my best all around engagement, and it was truly satisfying to see the growth I had. My first like felt like a win, but this tweet felt like a milestone.

Throughout these three months, I learned a great deal about social media and how to effectively reach people. Even without a strong starting follower base, I was able to be relatively successful on my account.

I plan on continuing my presence on Twitter, along with other social media accounts, as it is becoming more crucial in the business world as well as a skill for a communications’ major.

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