When I first started COM 600, I had never really thought my social media platforms could be used as a tool to brand myself on the web. All I would really use them for was too see what was going on in the world, and post things that I felt were interesting. At the beginning of the semester my Twitter account was something that I used rarely, didn’t really post on it, and if I did post, it was because my account was linked to my Instagram. With that being said my Twitter was dry to say the least. Through the help of Prof. Grygiel and the articles that we researched and read, I was able to give my Twitter a brand new look and brand.
When I started off the semester I had a following of 348. Of this 348 the people were primarily my friends and family that I knew, and then some random accounts who I didn’t know. Now in the last weeks of the semester my Twitter following has increased from 348 to 420. This is an increase of 72 followers during the semester. Below is an Infogram that shows these statistics.
[infogram id=”twitter_growth-02″]
A handful of the followers that I gained during the semester, were peers from class, but a large majority of the rest of the followers I gained were all new ones. A closer look shows that a lot of the followers I gained, had a background in social media and others who were activist for various issues such as race, gender, and ethnicity. This was pretty cool to see, because the same things that I was tweeting about are the same things that the people who followed me were interested in as well. This is a perfect example of how your brand and the way that you Tweet can help you reach your target audience, and establish connections.
I think it’s safe to say that a lot of these followers came through my use of hashtags, and also choice of topics that I chose to Tweet about. Before this class, whenever I used Twitter, I would make hashtags that many times didn’t have any “social media power,” meaning they weren’t hashtags that were used often at all. During this semester I was able to use different applications that we worked with to research popular/trending hashtags, so that my Tweets could reach more users. The #Socialmedia tag was one that helped me gain a lot of my followers I feel like.
My rebranding of my Twitter definitely helped my Kout score increase as well. I didn’t even know that something like Klout existed before this class. The idea of measuring someone’s social media presence was something unfamiliar. On September 9th of 2015 my Klout score was 22.43 but now with at the beginning of December my score has increased to 62.26. A majority of my Twitter presence comes from my use of Instagram, making up 45% of it. My Twitter, which used to make up very little, now makes up 10% of my Klout score. Below is an Inforgam that shows how my increase in Twitter engagement helped me gain followers, and also increase my Klout score.
[infogram id=”klout-38614079978″]
There definitely is a strong connection between one’s Klout Score and my Twitter growth. The more I was engaged through Twitter, the more followers I would get. Through the use of hashtags, retweeting, and “@” other Twitter users, you are able to increase your influence on this platform. I am really pleased with the increases I have seen with my account, and now feel a lot better using my Twitter account in the future for more influential things, rather than just seeing what is going on in the world.