In hindsight: What #NHsmc taught me

Posted on by Sarah Marie Winther Petersen

Before I took this class, I think it’s safe to say that my presence on Twitter was non-existent. When I started at the Danish School of Media and Journalism, my professors pushed me to make a Twitter account, saying that it was crucial in order to get a job. For a year, I posted quotes from my professors or funny things that went on around school in my community, but my tweets were months apart and lacked a consistent voice. I had no strategy, no idea really, what I wanted to say.

I started the semester with 78 followers and ended with a grand total of 115. It might not seem like a lot to Twitter influencer with hundreds of thousands of followers, but to me, a growth of 47,44% was a big deal. Especially because I’m relatively sure that my new approach to Twitter contributed to a few unfollows here and there. The majority of my existing followers were Danish, and I think that some of them were confused when I suddenly started tweeting in English.

Along with growing my Twitter following, I also improved my overall social media influence and increased my Klout score from 27 to 51 in 90 days, an 88,89% increase. What surprised me most was how well it worked to follow the class Twitter assignments, as it helped me to engage a wider audience and still tweet about things that I find important. I also found that the most succesful tweets all included some kind of media; an image, a video or a link. And when it came to engage certain groups of people, using a trending hashtag got me a long way.

Below are my top 10 Tweets from this semester. To be fair, the tweets that Twitter Analytics ranked as the best didn’t actually include the class hashtag; either because I was running out of characters, I had too many hashtags already or I didn’t think it was relevant (fx. when I was tweeting in Danish). So this list doesn’t truly reflect my progress this semester, since I used the same tools I learned in class to make these tweets.

#10

The assignment for this tweet was to share a screen capture and share on my platform of choice. I’m somewhat of a climate activist and I wanted to use this assignment to spread the message that every step counts when it comes to saving the environment. I think the tweet received a decent amount of engagement because I used the official hashtag of an event that happened the day before. This tweet received 76 impressions and 6 engagements, with an engagement rate of 7.9%.

#9

The assignment for this tweet was to create an image with text and/or sticker/emoji using Snapchat. I was really busy that week and didn’t get the sleep that I needed, so the bags under my eyes were visible. I never shy away from making fun of myself, and Snapchat is usually the only social media network I post selfies on, so I decided to immortalize my own tired face and let all the exhausted Twitter users out there know that they’re not alone. I think it helped that the majority of my follower base consisted of other college students that face similar struggles. This tweet received 48 impressions and 10 engagements, with an engagement rate of 6.8%.

#8

The assignment for this tweet was to post a tweet that emulates the voice of someone I admire on Twitter. I love everything that Mira Gonzalez (California-based poet) tweets, and I tried to imitate her way of exposing herself and her often unhealthy lifestyle. I added a gif to gain more engagement, which I think helped my tweet a lot. This tweet received 305 impressions and 7 engagements, with an engagement rate of 1.2%.

#7

The assignment for this tweet was to share a photo on Twitter and use local hashtags to draw in the SU community. I tried to be witty and used a well-known catchphrase to make fun of the female students’ appearance, and judging on the amount of impressions, it seemed like I hit the nail on the head. This tweet received 302 impressions and 22 engagements, with an engagement rate of 7.3%.

#6

The assignment for this tweet was to cross promote one of my other social media accounts on Twitter. I chose Instagram, partly because that allowed me to share some aesthetically pleasing pictures, which I couldn’t really do do with Snapchat, Linkedin or Facebook, and partly because I wanted to grow my followers on Instagram. I actually though that the hashtags combined with the pictures would get more engagement, but I guess the audience for that kind of content isn’t as large as, say, on Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest etc. Either way I’m happy about this tweet, and it’s probably the prettiest one in my timeline. This tweet received 399 impressions and 11 engagements, with an engagement rate of 2.8%.

#5

This tweet was created after watching videos and reading articles about the protest in Syracuse against the Donald Trump’s muslim ban. I was surprised that it got so much engagement, considering that it doesn’t have any media, but I guess the use of relevant hashtags and an ongoing debate goes a long way. This tweet received 388 impressions and 5 engagements, with an engagement rate of 1.3%.

#4

The assignment for this tweet was to create an nGram chart and share via a tweet. I’m very engaged in politics and this was a chance for me to raise awareness of an important topic, feminism. One of my more serious tweets, which I’m convinced wouldn’t have had the same engagement without some sort of media. This tweet received 375 impressions and 12 engagements, with an engagement rate of 3.2%.

#3

The assignment for this tweet was to create a flow post by monitoring a trending topic stack in Tweetdeck and then create a tweet related to this topic and include a relevant hashtag and deep link. Another chance to share my views in a relevant way. My tweet was liked by Resistance Press, a movement consisting of authors, artists and creators seeking to promote and protect justice. This tweet received 492 impressions and 14 engagements, with an engagement rate of 2.8%.

#2

This was the post that I initially tweeted for the Viral Content Challenge. It didn’t get as much engagement on Twitter as it did on Imgur, but with over 30,000 views on Imgur I was proud of myself. I think it did so well because it was funny and relatable to a lot of people, and also, who doesn’t love The Emperor’s New Groove?! I tried many other versions of tweets to promote my meme, and some were more succesful but didn’t include the class hashtag. This tweet received 424 impressions and 21 engagements, with an engagement rate of 4.2%.

#1

This was without a doubt my most succesful tweet using the class hashtag. It wasn’t relevant or intelligent at all, but it was funny, quirky and ironic, and most importantly it engaged a network of Twitter users (the class) that promoted the content. To improve this tweet, I would probably add hashtags such as #snapchat, #safari or #collegelife in order to gain an audience outside room 102. This tweet received 677 impressions and 34 engagements, with an engagement rate of 5%.

I used to think that tweeting was generally hit or miss and that I had no control of the outcome whatsoever. But throughout this semester I have learned that there are a lot of important factors in determining whether a tweet is succesful or not. Twitter metrics are one thing, but texts, hashtags, mentions, images, videos and deep links are only a few others.

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