Your tweets might suck if you don't do this

I'm still "new" at Twitter, but here's something I realized today.

So, you're gaining followers — and let's assume your doing it "by the book".

You know: following people and sources of interest to you, following back, responding when you're mentioned, RT'ing, engaging, etc. 

And you have an idea of your brand.

You know: "I'm focused on" social media, or sports, or humor, or cat-ladys.

And you're active and frequent, posting 10 - 15 times per day; checking it every hour; etc.

BUT look closely. Are you kind of doing what everyone else is doing — within that same social circle you are creating?

Are you RT'ing mashable articles to people following @mashable?

Are you tweeting links to the latest Jeff Bullas post to people who are following @jeffbullas?

Are you tweeting how @Ochocinco likes the new Chris Brown/Busta Rhymes/Lil Wayne song to people who follow @Ochocinco?

Simply RT'ing and tweeting links might not be enough — if you really want to make an impact and be relevant.

Why? One reason is that, within a month — if they are not already — all of your followers will be following your sources. And at that point your tweets are less important.

It's like that time Johnny Depp cut out the middlemen on the movie Blow. Then went on to be a trillionaire. Then went to jail. But it was cool for a while. Point is, he went to the source.

My suggestions:

Think about how you can add value to the tweet you are RT'ing. Maybe add a hint of your personality.

Blog about your opinion of Jeff Bullas' latest post [and link to his blog]; then tweet about your post.

Add some context to Ocho's favorite song, or add another song that is good too — like the new Ke$ha ft. Andre 3000 [just saying].

And I'm not saying you need to do this everytime. Just like anything, a mix is good.

Sometimes just go with the ole RT or link. If for nothing else, for speed. Plus the idea of Twitter needs that support anyway — the constant retweeting — because tweets get lost when there are thousands of followers.

But I am saying, you'll be more likely to create sustainable relevancy among your Twitter community — despite sharing content they already have access too — by being original in some way. 

Comments

[Greg]

That was a good post. Helpful to someone like me who just retweets and has 10 followers.