Influence Growth and Analysis

Posted on by William Demuria

During this semester, I have been able to expand my social media presence on a number of platforms, including Twitter. At the beginning of this semester, I only had 5 followers on my Twitter account, as it was an account that had been inactive for years. However, using the tactics I learned throughout this course, COM 427, I had reached a total of 44 followers by the semester’s end. By earning an additional 38 followers, that is an growth of 780% in followers.

In order to earn this increase in followers, as well as an increase in engagement, on Twitter, there were a number of techniques that I learned and utilized. For example, the first strategy I used to increase my followers and engagement was using hashtags. By using Twitter hashtags, this allows my tweets to reach users in other networks who may be following the same topic that I am tweeting about, thus potentially earning a follow as well. One of the hashtags that I consistently used was #NHsmc, which allowed me to reach those in the Newhouse community that I would not have been able to otherwise. Another strategy I utilized to grow my account was by attaching different forms of media into several of my tweets. In the past few months, I have included memes and GIFs, as well as videos and pictures that I created using the native Twitter platform. By including media with my tweets, I found that other Twitter users were more interested in seeing multimedia on their timelines rather than just words.

Though I was successful and using many of the tactics I learned throughout the semester in COM 427, there were some that I wish I could have utilized better. For example, I believe that I could have performed better in recycling older content on Twitter using the #ICYMI. Though this is a great way to bring older information to a newer audience on this platform, I do not think that I chose the right information to re-share in order to increase my engagement. Additionally, I wish I could have utilized Tweetdeck better when scheduling tweets. Despite of course being helpful by scheduling tweets to be sent out in advance when you know you may be under a time constraint, I found that it was not as beneficial for me because none of my tweets included timely content. Going forward, I will work hard to make better use of these strategies and increase my followers and engagement on Twitter.

Here are just some of my posts that I shared this semester on my Twitter and Instagram account using the new strategies and tactics that I learned in COM 427:

This tweet earned a total of 2,245 impressions and 17 engagements. Though this tweet did not earn a very large amount of interactions, with a mere 2 likes and one reply, I believe that the subject matter being about the presidential election allowed it to resonate with many users on Twitter. In addition to using an emoji to gain familiarity in my voice, the verified Salesforce Success Cloud account also replied to my tweet as it mentions their products, which likely helped in increasing impressions.

Despite only earning 2 likes on this tweet, it also earned 505 impressions and 14 engagements. The reason for this is due to the fact that the subject matter of tis tweet related to the death of Kobe Bryant, which was a major topic of online conversation at the time it occurred. Additionally, I used the hashtags #NHsmc and #Voice, which was able to spread my tweet to those who do not follow me and increase my impressions and engagement.

This tweet was very successful for several reasons. In total, it earned 478 impression and 20 engagements. Additionally, this tweet has 4 likes and one reply. In order to increase impressions and engagements, I included 3 hashtags in the tweet, #ThursdayMotivation, #college, and #NHsmc. The first hashtag that I used, among the others, is a very popular hashtag on the Twitter platform, so using it is very beneficial when looking to grow your account. I also included a meme to go along with the tweet, which makes the tweet more relatable to those who view it and makes the users more likely to interact with it. Finally, by having a reply to the tweet, this tweet is more likely to land on that person’s followers’ timelines as well and potentially grow my account.

My Instagram account has seen some success as well during this semester, in addition to my Twitter account. This particular post, my most recent on this Instagram account, featured a GIF of my dog. In order to increase engagement on this tweet, I included multiple hashtags in my caption, such as #dogstagram, #dogsofinstagram, and #doglife. Additionally, I used #NHsmc to reach those in the Newhouse network. This tactic proved to be successful as this post received 20 views, 11 likes. Additionally, I received 2 comments on this post from accounts that did not follow me prior to this post, proving that implementing hashtags in your Instagram posts are essential in growing your account.

Another one of my tweets that performed well was in regards to Kylie Jenner’s daughter’s second birthday party. As this party was posted on multiple social media platforms and quickly became a trending topic, I knew that tweeting about it would assist me in growing my Twitter account. In this tweet, the first tactic I used was mentioning @kyliejenner in the text. In doing so, those who search up this celebrity’s Twitter handle may come across my tweet and increase its impressions and engagements. Additionally, I used several hashtags, with one being a hashtag that those who may be searching this topic on Twitter might come across and others that people who weren’t following this trending topic may come across. Finally, aside from using an emoji in this tweet, I included a collage of images from this birthday party so that people may interact with this tweet. Overall, this tweet earned 236 impressions, 37 engagements, and 1 like.

As opposed to most of my other tweets, this tweet was interesting as I utilized the native Twitter camera to record and post a video. In total, this tweet earned 163 impressions, 36 engagements, and 1 like. The video that I posted showed the Syracuse University campus at night, so I included a Syracuse related hashtags and tagged two accounts, @SyracuseU and @NewhouseSU. By utilizing these tactics, I was able to reach those in the Syracuse University network who both follow the hashtag used and the accounts mentioned. Additionally, since a majority of my followers on this Twitter account are students at this university, this tweet likely catered to their interest and helped to increase my engagement and impressions.

Another Instagram post that I shared using tactics learned from COM 427 was helpful in increasing my engagement on this platform. In this post, I shared a food-related image and added an aesthetically pleasing filter to it. By adding a filter to the image, people are more likely to interact with your image and physically like the post. Additionally, I ensured that I added the location to the post and several hashtags in the caption,  such as #foodie, #foodpics, and #foodstagram. In using these two tools, I was able to reach people who look up this location and these hashtags who would likely not interact with my posts otherwise. Overall, this tweet received a total of 11 likes and 4 comments.

This tweet was one of my favorites as I was able to implement an original GIF that I made using a live photo of my own dog! I consider this tweet to have performed well as it received 164 impressions and 24 engagements. Additionally, it received 3 likes. For my amount of followers, I believe that this tweet performed well for a few reasons. For example, I used two hashtags, including #MondayMotivation, which is typically a trending hashtag each week and is likely to increase my impressions and engagement by using it. Aside from the emojis that I used as well, using a GIF was an important tool in growing my engagement from this tweet as it common to use this type of media on this platform.

This tweet was very different than my other tweets as I utilized the Twitter Poll feature in order to engage my followers and other users on this platform. In this tweet, I made a made a poll asking Twitter users which reality TV series they preferred, The Bachelor or American Idol. In order to expand beyond my followers on Twitter, I also tagged the official accounts for both of these series so that people who search them may come across my tweet and engage with it. In total, I received 10 votes on this poll, with 70% of the votes going to The Bachelor. Additionally, this tweet earned a total of 228 impressions and 6 engagements.

The final of my top posts was another Instagram post that I believe was successful for multiple reasons. In this post, I put a VSCO filter on it so that it is more visually pleasing for those who see it. Additionally, I included a few hashtags, such as #SpringBreak and #VSCO, in the caption and included emojis. By using these popular hashtags, people who do not follow me were possibly able to come across my Instagram post and interact with it. In total, these tactics proved to be successful as it received 10 likes and 4 comments in total.

As I continue to advance in social media, I look forward to continue using these tactics and strategies that I have learned throughout this semester in COM 427 and build upon them as well. By following these tools, I know that I have the opportunity to greatly grow my network and my presence on social media as a whole.

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