Discovering Twitter

Posted on by Gabriella Schnell

Schnell_No5’s Influencer Journey

It’s safe to say that before starting this class I had a twitter that only functioned as a means of checking off a box. The box of ‘yes, I have a twitter’ and therefore ‘yes, I can look up important tweets on twitter.’ However, over the course of this semester, not only have I learned how to actually use twitter (which means you have to tweet), and how to interact with followers, i’ve also increased my followers by 640%. In terms of numbers, I started the semester with 10 followers and ended at 74, with the majority of the follower growth happening in February. My Klout Score currently sits at a 54, which interestingly enough is much lower then my 90 day high of 58 and my all time high of 61. While this does contradict my twitter growth over the same period of time, it makes sense because of the decrease in my use in Facebook and Instagram that occurred during the same 90 days. Instagram comprises about 70% of my Klout Score and my Facebook used to be the second largest percentage. However, because of lack of free time, I have not been using the platform as much as I used to and because of that LinkedIn has taken over as my second largest contributor. So while twitter has gone from contributing less then 1 percent to my Klout Score it now contributes 9%, which is a small win.

 

So what did I learn from this? For one, I learned that following someone does not mean that they are going to follow you back, by any means. Unlike Facebook and in some cases Instagram, Twitter didn’t promote the follow back mindset, especially since most profiles are public–meaning that they can see your tweet no matter what. This meant that you have to do something to gain followers, you have to make them want to follow you back. Finding that ‘thing’ that would get users to follow you back took me a lot of trial and error. In the end I found that using trending hashtags always helped to get my name out there and usually resulted in a few follows. ‘Tweeting at’ verified accounts was also high effective in gaining followers however, celebrities were not effective users to engage with because your tweet usually gets ignored, instead influencers in a specific field are usually highly responsive to tweets and so are their followers.

 

What Came of The Journey

Pressing the follow button is one thing, but learning how to actually create tweets that get users–those who follow me and those who don’t–to interact was a whole other monster. Overall, one of the most beneficial things I learned to do when writing a tweet is to strategically identify and use relevant and trending hashtags because it’s the best way to gain impressions from those who aren’t following you. The second overarching lesson I learned about tweets was to not think to hard. I found that some of my best tweets were those that just popped into my head, I typed out, used relevant content/hashtags and then sent off into the ‘twittersphere’. Now lets get into the details of which made each one of these ten tweets important.

This was by far my most successful tweet receiving 1,635 impressions, 19 engagements , 4 replies, and obviously the retweet from Cindy Gallop that put my tweet on the map. Execution of this post was based off an assignment to find an influencer in a field of my interest and then try to engage with them in a manner that they would respond to. So, after identifying that Cindy Gallop not only shared my passion for advertising but that she was also a fearless leader for female empowerment, I created a tweet that had both elements and packed a punch.

This was my top tweet for April and received 393 impressions, 34 engagements, and a 8.7 engagement rate. This is the tweet solidified not overthinking tweets because I had originally stepped outside my house to get the mail when I noticed how picturesque and ‘tweet worthy’ the day was. I also think that the panoramic photo feature helped to catch users eyes as they scrolled through their feed.

This subtle plug for a client of TNH also turned out to be a success with 481 impressions (3rd highest) 28 engagements, and a retweet from Manlius Now (a twitter dedicated to the happenings in Manlius,NY-where the restaurant is located). Even though the photo isn’t of the highest quality I think that it helped to boost engagement as well as my decision to tag The TNH Agency and provide a like their website.

This tweet was included because of my sheer excitement over being quote tweeted by Horizon Media (one of my favorite media agencies). It also received 257 impressions and 16 engagements. Besides linking the article that they were featured in, I also directly tagged them in the posts and gave them content to easily retweet.

This post was a collaboration done in class using Twitter Moments surrounding the much-debated and tweeted about Unicorn Frappuccino. There were a bunch of things done right when it comes to this post. We created the moment about a very social media relevant topic and provided users with a plethora of varied information on it. Additionally, all contributors to the moment retweeted it and promoted it in their own networks which increased impressions as well. One thing to note is that because I was not original tweeter I don’t have final impression and engagement numbers.

This post was a personal favorite of mine even though it did have the same engagement levels as most of my other top tweets (199 impressions and 9 engagements). I used a screen grab feature on Quicktime video to record this clip of the Disney Channel Original Movie. I then shortened it to my liking, attached the text content and tweeted away. Also, the no response I got from Hilary Duff seconded my earlier point to stick to twitter influencers over celebrities.

This tweet aimed at creating content that would resonate with the SU Newhouse community received 327 impressions and 5 engagements. I think the higher engagement rate was because I tagged Newhouse SU in the post which helped me to pick up their followers as well. In terms of content, I spent some time thinking about what brought pure excitement to a Newhouse student, especially a stressed Newhouse student in need of a place to work. Then, my choice to use Oprah was a pun choice made to make people laugh and smirk more because Oprah came to unveil the newest part of Newhouse 3 (the building that houses food.com and the magical booths).

The success of this tweet was the most puzzling to me because this was a very minute last minute post to keep myself relevant to start the week off. The fact that it got 579 impressions and 10 engagements with just a quote and a # doesn’t make a lot of sense, especially since I have done this since with little result. Also, if I was to tweet this again, I would tag Audrey Hepburn (if there was an official fan twitter) and use her as a hashtag to help increase awareness.

This tweet was my first attempt at a twitter poll and I decided to also use it as a planned follower engagement tweet as well. I purposefully engagement my roommate who completely disagrees with my hatred for avocados (and who reminds me of it every day). I knew that she would engage with me on twitter if I posted something about our ongoing argument and I thought it would also be interesting to see what other people thought.

My final tweet in my top 10 was a combo tweet in that it was a quote tweet from a fellow follower, it included twitter moments, and my copy referenced a highly relevant singer during the release of his newest album. I think this combo is what helped it to receive 324 impressions.

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