When You’re Still Not an Influencer: Personal Growth and Analysis on Twitter

Posted on by Nisha Stickles

Influence

At the beginning of the course, I had 105 Twitter followers. Now, on 4/26, I have 242 followers—a 230.47% increase.

As for my Klout score, it was 17 at the beginning of this course (with my account being just connected to my Twitter account). Now, my Klout score is at 55—a 323.53% increase.

What worked? What didn’t?

The biggest contribution to my growth in influence was actively Tweeting. Before this class, I never Tweeted and had very little followers. Now, by Tweeting and engaging with my audience (classmates, sorority sisters), I’ve been able to gain traction in developing my follower base. Having a diversity of rich media with witty tweets helped promote engagement and incremental followers, as well. This is most likely due to the fact that I was actually active on my Twitter account, and was no longer a dead account that was a wasted follow. Unfortunately, looking at the increase in my Twitter followers and Klout score is not the product of intellectual marketing. Rather, it’s just being forced to be active on my account. Of course, I also actively added my friends on Twitter since this class, which also attributes to a significant growth in followers.

What didn’t work with my Klout score was cross promotion of my Instagram and Snapchat handles. When I tried to cross promote my accounts, I got absolutely no increase in followers for either platform. This is ineffective strategy was probably the result of my social media channels serving very different audiences. My Instagram users are, for the most part, inactive on Twitter because most of my followers are international or, from my own personal knowledge, don’t frequently use Twitter in general.

 

Execution 

Impressions: 597
Total Engagements: 23

  • Profile clicks (9)
  • Detail expands (6)
  • Likes (4)
  • Retweets (2)
  • Hashtag clicks (2)

I made sure to include YouTube’s Twitter handle to bring the post into a broader audience, as well as niche YouTube followers and/or enthusiasts. I also included two hashtags to narrow my tweet’s audience to the class and overall social media conversations. Lastly, I included the link to the article, so viewers could click out to the article I was referencing.

Impressions: 512
Total Engagements: 15

  • Detail expands (6)
  • Profile clicks (5)
  • Likes (3)
  • Replies (1)

I used the trending #SuperBowl hashtag to bring my tweet into frequently tweeted at/visited conversations surrounding the event. I also made sure to tweet at Lady Gaga to specify to her performance, in addition to active Twitter user Chrissy Teigen to target her followers.

I used rich media of a screenshot from my Instagram page, keeping in mind whatever part of my Insta feed would jump in the general Twitter feed. I made a snarky comment about how I’m the only one featured in my photos in my Instagram to help promote my brand image on the social media channel. I also included my account to increase follower count (which, as mentioned before, unfortunately didn’t).

Impressions: 335
Total Engagements: 30

  • Media engagements (17)
  • Link clicks (5)
  • Likes (4)
  • Profile clicks (4)

I promoted my Twitter list with a widely known, classic GIF of A Bug’s Life. Because I’ve only curated a follower base of Syracuse University students, they are most likely disinterested in beauty. Because of that, I made sure to broaden my targeting with a funny GIF.

Impressions: 265
Media views: 42
Total engagements: 5

  • Likes (3)
  • Link clicks (1)
  • Profile clicks (1)

Because there was so much live-tweeting around the Humans of NY event at Syracuse, I wanted to break up the feed with a GIF that spoke to students (anything related to Drake). I made sure to hone in a funny voice, as well with the #TRUTH hashtag. I also made sure to use the trending hashtag at the event to attract more viewers.

Impressions: 278
Media views: 43
Total Engagements: 12

  • Hashtag clicks (5)
  • Likes (3)
  • Profile clicks (2)
  • Retweets (1)
  • Media engagements (1)

I commentated on the buzz around campus of Chuck’s closing with a simple, witty sentence about the event. Because I relied on my wittiness, I made sure to minimally use hashtags.

Impressions: 298
Total Engagements: 20

  • Likes (10)
  • Profile clicks (5)
  • Detail expands (3)
  • Hashtag clicks (2)

Again, with the relevance of appealing to college students, I made sure to target graduating seniors with an extremely relatable scenario. I also wanted to include a viral, dog-related image, as this was just before we started our viral content challenge. I think the cute dog and food pairing helped reached audiences even more.

Impressions: 665
Total Engagements: 88

  • Media engagements (60)
  • Likes (11)
  • Detail expands (7)
  • Link clicks (4)
  • Hashtag clicks (3)
  • Profile clicks (2)
  • Replies (1)

I used a successful photo from my Instagram feed to promote on my Twitter. Because I already did a form of A/B testing through my Instagram, I knew that the photo would also do well on Twitter. I also made sure to maintain my sassy, (what I would like to consider) witty voice on the tweet.

Impressions: 410
Total Engagements: 75

  • Media engagements (43)
  • Likes (15)
  • Detail expands (10)
  • Link clicks (6)
  • Profile clicks (1)

To promote the in-class viral video challenge, I wanted to show the awful result of the makeup experiment with a side-by-side comparison of the intended photo. Pairing these photos would promote the richness of the media, along with tagging the person who put my makeup and the brand of makeup used in the challenge (Anastasia Cosmetics). Having photos, as well as tagged users to promote more interaction with the tweet, helped this photo reach a good number of likes.

Impressions: 334

Total Engagements: 42

  • Media engagements (25)
  • Likes (8)
  • Detail expands (3)
  • Link clicks (2)
  • Hashtag clicks (2)
  • Profile clicks (2)

 

Overall, from the class, I learned that no matter how witty or relatable a tweet may be, rich media always helps promotes its success. At the same time, images or GIFs don’t ensure that the tweet will do well on its own. It needs a carefully planned and smart caption to pair alongside it. Tweetdek’s ability to schedule tweets but also see how other content is being done on my feed helps me strategize my own tweets against the competition. Because of this, I could emulate a similar voice as other Twitter accounts and make sure my tweets were desirable to read. All of the other resources I learned in the class—Periscope, Sysomos, among others—helped me think of multimedia ways to engage audiences on Twitter. Although my use of these apps will depend on whichever job I end up at, I’m glad to have the opportunity to become acquainted with them. I didn’t really use Periscope or Sysomos in my tweets, as they were very project-based. I would say, of the tools I learned, I mainly used Tweetdek.

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