Fourteen weeks, forty-three students and one hashtag. Throughout the course, COM 427: Social Media for Communicators, countless tweets have been generated with hopes of teaching students how to engage with Twitter as a powerful platform. As the semester comes to an end, one that arrived sooner than expected, I have begun to reflect on my social media posts made for this class.
First off, here is a general 28 day analytic summary of my Twitter account. Initially based off of this as prior to doing further analysis, it is clear that my tweets, impressions, profile visits, mentions and followers have increased and I have this class to thank.
Here are the most influential tweets over the course of the class using #NHsmc. These are what I’m referring to as my notorious “Finest Final Ten.
1.Give a shoutout to your school!
Impressions: 2,792 | Engagement: 50 | Engagement Rate: 1.8%
This tweet was drafted to honor those who consider themselves proud alumni of Newhouse at Syracuse University. The goal was to engage with individuals attending the New York City conference and not only show my support but gain engagement with my post. As a result, I received 19 profile clicks, 13 detail expands, 10 likes, 5 retweets, 2 hashtag clicks and one follow. The engagement represents the overwhelming amount of school pride and support within the Newhouse community at SU.
2. New social media platform + video link + tagging people = lots of engagement
Impressions: 625 | Engagement: 7 | Engagement Rate: 1.1%
This is a perfect example of the power of live tweeting about a trending social media platform on Twitter! After playing telephone with a twist on Periscope, I posted the link in a tweet and tagged all individuals who were apart of the assignment. Videos are a great way to get individuals engaged. Statistics show that there were 2 retweets, 2 likes, 2 detail expands and one profile click. The numerous impressions are great because knowing that over 500 people saw my tweet and possibly watched the video is affirmation that people are indeed interested in the visual aspect of tweets.
3. Create a new hashtag
Impressions: 93 | Engagement: 9 | Engagement Rate: 9.7%
Using hashtracking.com, I was able to determine that #cusecun was not a hashtag that was already used. The inspiration for this hashtag came from the combination of Syracuse, the university I attend and Cancun, where I am going for spring break. I used the hashtag to promote the excitement I have about going on vacation in March with 26 of my best friends. This tweet generated 5 detail expansions, 3 hashtag clicks and one like. The 93 impressions are key because it means that 93 people were able to see this hashtag that I created!
4. Keep your Twitter followers updated with your life
Impressions: 546 | Engagement: 82 | Engagement Rate: 15.0%
As a senior, I am trying figure out what I am going to do after graduation. As a step to figure out how to network, Julie and I went to a Newhouse networking event. To show my Twitter followers what I was doing over the weekend, we took a selfie and posted it. People tend to engage well with photos. This tweet created 46 media engagements, 13 detail expansions, 8 likes, 6 link clicks, 6 profile clicks, 1 reply, 1 retweet and 1 hashtag click. The high number of likes not only showed support but showed that people were happy for our progress and acknowledged it.
5. Don’t be afraid to share your voice and stand up for what you believe in
Impressions: 336 | Engagement: 37 | Engagement Rate: 11.0%
We live in a day and age where word spreads like rapid fire thanks to the variety of social media platforms that exist. With this being said, I found a Bloomingdales advertisement which makes a reference to spiking a friend’s drink. I used the hashtag #dontspikemyeggnog to show my disappointment and that I do not approve of the poor decision they made. By standing up for what I think is right and letting my voice be heard, my tweet created 24 media engagements, 8 detail expands, 2 retweets, 1 reply, 1 like and one link click. That shows that the comment gained a lot of traction and was interacted with quite a bit. Those 336 impressions helped to raise awareness about something most might not have known about.
6. Give a shout out to your friends!
Impressions: 346 | Engagement: 43 | Engagement Rate: 12.4%
Although my Twitter tends to display how I feel and what is going on in my life at the current moment, I like to give “shoutouts” to people and brands that are important in my life and who I am. Julie, not only a fellow classmate of mine but a dear friend since I started college, has been a big part of my semester this year. To match her silly personality, I posted one of her profile photos from Facebook on Twitter with a short, simple statement. There were 23 media engagements, 9 detail expansions, 8 likes and 3 link clicks generated from this tweet. This shows that people respond well to humor and lightheartedness.
7. Share what you love with your followers
Impressions: 272 | Engagement: 78 | Engagement Rate: 28.7%
As someone very into design, I decided to post a panorama shot of my bedroom here at Syracuse. This post was apart of A/B testing. I posted in October and November the same exact image but with a different caption to see which one received more engagement. This tweet, from October gained more engagement and likes than the later one. There were 38 media engagements, 4 likes, 4 detail expands, 3 hashtag clicks and 2 link clicks as a result of this post.
8. Creativity is key!
Impressions: 129 | Engagement: 12 | Engagement Rate: 9.3%
This post was created as apart of the Viral Campaign Challenge. I took a black and white trendy and visually appealing image that I photographed in London, printed it out, colored it in, scanned it back into the computer and posted it online as a cool activity. The link led to the original black and white template. The overarching goal was to have my followers engage with the link by clicking on it, liking the Pinterest image and participating in the activity. Although nobody took part in the exercise, this unique concept created 10 media engagements and 2 link clicks. By being creative, people engaged with the link to see what it lead to.
9. Post images about moments that make you happy
Impressions: 282 | Engagement: 47 | Engagement Rate: 16.7%
My brother flew from his school, University of Tennessee, to visit me for the weekend. While here, we took a picture on the quad to capture the moment. Keeping in theme with the commonly used phrase “squad” which means your group of people you can always turn to, we did a play on words in the caption for the image. This photo of Samuel and I developed 33 media engagements, 7 detail expands, 6 likes, and one link click created from this post.
10. Use a new website to make something new!
Impressions: 354 | Engagement: 70 | Engagement Rate: 19.8%
Infographics are a great way to help one comprehend information through a visual. Using the software infogr.am, I created my very first infographic about my second favorite social media site, Pinterest. Showing off my hard work while attempting to display the information in a way many would find pretty and neat worked to my benefit! As a result, this tweet generated 39 media engagements, 12 link clicks, 8 likes, 8 detail expands and 3 profile clicks. It was a great feeling to see that people positively responded to all of my hard work.
This semester has been filled with many facts and techniques that I will take into the work force with me upon graduation. The collection of my ten tweets accurately displays my experiences with Twitter.