Ok, lets be honest. When I was told on the first day of class to record how many followers I had on Twitter, not only was I surprised to see I was following the second highest amount of people (462), I was amazed to see that I had one of the highest number of followers (473). As an avid Twitter user with a stable and steadily increasing following, I am more so focused on the quality and humor behind my tweets and less on gaining a larger following. When told that the goal was to have more people not only engage with my Twitter but to follow me, I was nervous. Based on my personal observations prior to the course, once I hit the 400 mark, my follower count slowly began to increase however, many accounts were people I did not know. As the course comes to an end and I begin to analyze my Twitter, I am following 488 people and have 501 followers. I am amazed that my following has increased by 28 within a few months!
Techniques that worked include using the #NHsmc hashtag. By having a common hashtag that everyone in the course uses, it allowed me to view, observe and engage with other individuals taking the social media course as well. As I began to comment using #NHsmc, not only did my following increase but my engagement began to rise as well. In turn, it allowed the classroom to feel like a closer and more tight knit environment because I was constantly engaging with my peers usually on a bi-weekly basis as we would complete assignments with the class hashtag. Having a unique hashtag gave it a “viral content” feel because approximately 40 individuals were repetitively inserting it into their tweets, making it appear constantly on my newsfeed. As a result, students and friends of mine began to ask me what the hashtag stood for and in some cases, students that were not in our classroom would favorite or retweet my #NHsmc tweets. This shows that the hashtag was not only memorable, but caught the attention of many by making an unforgettable impression.
Throughout the course and my constant use of Twitter, I have learned that it is key to truly think about a post before sending it. Once something enters the social media space, it remains there forever. In today’s society, people have the ability to screenshot within seconds so clicking on the trash can icon after deciding what you posted was not a wise decision will not make up for the poor choice previously made.
In order to increase one’s Twitter following, I have realized that it is important to tweet posts that many can relate to. With this being said, when one feels a connection with a post or numerous posts, they are more likely to follow one’s profile and consistently engage with their content. I recognized this as I began to receive numerous tweets and favorites on a variety of my posts.
As it pertains to my Klout score, it has decreased since September. My 90 day high was 54.63 but as of now, my Klout score is 48.55. My 90 day low was 40.54. I believe that my Klout score has decreased because due to the blending of class content with the #NHsmc and my personal tweets I already post, I lost the originality and unique, spunky quality my Twitter had prior to the course.
Out of the many facts and beneficial techniques I have learned throughout this social media course, there is one that I will always remember: the power of Twitter is beyond what many realize. Whether it is starting a social media campaign to discovering the latest news within seconds of it occurring, Twitter is the perfect medium to develop a powerful online personality reflective of what you believe in.