How Twitter Taught Me To Be More Social Savvy

Posted on by Malik Evans

Looking back on the semester, Twitter has been able to archive some unique experiences and special times. It is like a social scrapbook that has funny moments, things I was thinking about at that time, but also shared experiences with others. I started the beginning of the semester with a mere 40 followers, and was able to increase my following by 100 percent to an astounding 80 followers. Through this experience, I have been able to learn what resonates with my followers and the Twitter community, but also have to manage engagement. In addition, my Klout score was very low at the beginning of this twitter journey, which I began with 0. I have been able to grow my social presence by being strategic with my post and talking to my audience. This has helped me reach a Klout score of 31. Below are some of my favorite tweets through this period time. Although some of the tweets do not have the highest engagement, they still incorporated key tactics and were a learning experience:

Evergreen moments. These moments are times that come around every year. Graduation is a monumental time that occurs every year for people across the country. It is a shared experience that many people can relate to. This tweet was one of my favorites because it shows the growth in oneself from high school to college. I have grew immensely as an individual both mentally and spiritually. I am proud of this growth and many people may be able to say the same. In this tweet, I incorporate rich media to visually show the growth in myself. I also utilized relevant hashtags that users interested in this kind of post can easily locate. This tweet received 3 likes, but I am still overall happy with its performance.

Talking about moments, it is also important to be a part of conversations that are trending. These types of topics garner an enormous amount of engagement. It is important to add value to the conversation by stating your opinion or adding something new to the pool of responses. During this year’s Oscars Jimmy Kimmel tweet live @realDonaldTrump. I was able to capitalize on this moment by quote tweeting something was unique, but also very true. Using the hashtag and incorporating copy that may be humorous was key to this tweet’s success. I was able to garner 47 likes, 10 retweets and 1 reply for being at the right place, at the right time.

While being a part of the conversation is key, it is also important to be at the conversation. This means offering a behind the scenes experience for your followers. An experience that only one is able to talk about because they were there at that time. Here, I was at the Race and Media talk with Maria Hinojosa at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. This selfie taken at the event was interesting because it showed where I was, but also was a nod to my followers that I will be live tweeting about the event. While at the conversation, I also made sure to be a part of the conversation by using the event’s relevant hashtags. This tweet garnered 9 likes and 1 retweet, which showed that people were interested.

These you have to be here to see this moments are important to capture and share. People love seeing behind the scenes footage, and it adds value to one’s page if they are to capture and share these moments. Citrus TV, is a student-run television company at Syracuse University. Usually, only students involved with the organization or its programs would be allowed and its studios, but also be able to see how the station runs. I was able to take a tour of Citrus TV’s studios and share this experience with my followers. I used the built-in Twitter video feature to capture this footage and to push to my followers. This garnered 3 likes, which I am proud of because it offered a unique experience for users.

Sometimes it is better to make people feel they wished they were here. This tweet was one of my favorites because it incorporated my favorite food, pizza! I was able to snap this picture and share it with my followers. Using rich media, and an enticing picture was bound to resonate with other pizza lovers, but also with users in general. However, this tweet did not perform as well. I believe it would have performed better by using more relevant hashtags or @’ing other food lovers as well. One of my followers responded to the tweet questioning why this photo did not receive more likes. Although, I am still content with the 2 likes, and how much I enjoyed this pizza.

If people are unable to be there for that moment, something I found interesting through this course is that you can create a unique Twitter Moment. In this moment I created, I found some dishes in NYC that people must try on a trip there. Twitter moments curates stories showcasing the very best of what’s happening on Twitter. Users can curate their own Twitter moment by adding tweets. I made sure that this Twitter moment incorporated rich media such as photos since many people love to look at food before they go and try it for the first time. As a food lover, I was proud of this tweet, although, it received 1 like.

Capitalizing on the emotions of others is also key. Many people love to state how they feel about a particular subject via social media. Although, emotions can now be showcased via emojis. Emojis are a unique way to express how one feels, but also how to communicate with others. In this tweet, I utilized emojis to showcase the responses to the Pepsi commercial featuring Kendall Jenner. This was a trending topic at the time, and many people were discussing how they felt after seeing the controversial commercial. Although, this tweet did not receive high engagement, I still believe it was a great tweet because it demonstrated that emotions can be expressed in different ways, but also utilized relevant hashtags that others were incorporating in their tweet. This tweet garnered 1 like.

Twitter is also a unique platform to know others perspective in real time, but in different ways. Something that I used for the first time is Twitter poll. This allows you to find out the opinion of others and what they think about a particular subject. I used Twitter poll to know how other people start their day. Everyone has their own daily morning routine, although, we all need something different in order to through the day. My followers overwhelming drink coffee in order to get through the day, but also to get their day started. I loved using Twitter poll, and definitely will use it in the future. This poll received 10 responses, which is a good amount and shows that people were interested in participating.

Emotions do not also have to be as political or straight forward. They can also be normal moods at a certain time during the week. Often times, Monday motivation is used to get the week started on a good foot, but there is also Hump Day Wednesdays. Wednesday is a difficult day of the week because so much has happened up until that point, but also so much still needs to be done after that point. This tweet was one of my favorites because it showcased an emotion that many users can relate to. Sometimes you just need a nice glass of wine to pull it together and to get through everything. I also enjoyed this tweet because it utilized a gif that is humorous. This tweet performed well and garnered 2 likes.

We can all have a voice. Something that I discovered this semester is Social Media IRL. This allows everyone to be able to participate in the conversation. This tweet was one of my favorites because Chucks has been the hub of wall signatures and fancy graffiti. At this time, many people were talking about Chucks because it was at the time that the demolishing of Chucks was in talks. Students, seniors, especially started the hashtag ‘Save Chucks’ and people talked about how disappointed they would be if Chucks was removed. I loved this tweet because it was of the only pictures I have of Chucks, but also because it is something that people who went to Syracuse University can relate too. This tweet performed well as it received 2 likes.

#SaveChucks

One thought on “How Twitter Taught Me To Be More Social Savvy”

  1. I liked how you designed your content around your existing audience. I found, through my own experience, that it is easier to garner engagement when you are creating concepts that will resonate with your followers’ interests. You implemented this with both your original hashtag tweet and your #SocialMediaIRL post which likely helped these posts become some of your top posts.

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