How can you get People to Retweet (RT) your Tweets?

Getting retweets is an important part of Twitter. The retweets are link sharing functions that allow Twitter users to promote, spread and share the best tweets, links or articles with their followers while preserving the source of the tweet.

Benefits of Getting Retweets:

Attract new followers and increase traffic to your website,

Reinforce your credibility and personal brand image,

Promote marketing buzz around you.

Having RT also means that you are a contributor and provide useful and valuable content and information to the communities. The higher the value, the higher your chances to get an RT. Getting RT also gets your Twitter ID in front of other followers and these Twitter followers will come back to you to check who you are, your Twitter profile, what you do and possibly follow you.

For those fairly new to the concept of Retweets, RT posts are usually marked with a “RT @username” in front of the original message, or “via @username” after the original message.
 

So How Do You Get Retweets?

 

As mentioned in my previous post - How to build relationship on Twitter -, on Twitter, you need to build relationship as well as take action to put your Twitter account into hyperdrive.

The concept, as mention by Harris Fellman, "is not just getting people to talk TO you, you want them to talk about you as well, and that’s where Retweeting comes in".

Harris Fellman describes many different techniques on how to get retweets in his course Coup de Twitter, and here are few that I want to share with you.

Tweet interesting stuff

If you only answer the question "what are you doing", your chances of retweet are fairly limited. Twitters Followers are looking for interesting things such as the latest news, useful guides, funny or bizarre thing.

The funnier, more interesting, & more emotional your tweets are; the better chance that they’ll be retweeted. Remember, you need to engage your followers and start giving back, play as a team player and people will return you the ball and retweet your tweets, but don’t think that just because you’re witty and handy with a good line or two that it will entice people to retweet what you’re writing.

One of the most popular and retweeted segment is "Famous Quote". They can be interesting, stimulating and motivating and people love to retweet them. Don’t over do it, once in a while or as the quote of the day can be a good way to start.

Find a website, search “motivational quotes” and you will find great resources. Once you get into it, you should save your tweets. Since tweeter is what happens now, you may want to use those tweets again to make sure all your followers on the various time zones get them. You can save them and schedule them to be sent automatically. I recommend using a service such as SocialOomph (used to be called Tweet Later) that will send your tweets for you when you are not behind your computer.
 
Choose short and powerful quote and tweet them. Remember although you have 140 characters it is best to have tweets of about 120 characters. Why? By not using all the characters, you are giving people that want to retweet your tweet the space they need to add "RT@yourname" in front of the tweet without any changes. If people can just click and send without any extra work ... you increase your chances for a retweet.

Send tweets that are pertinent, up to date and breaking news about your niche market

Keeping up to date with your market is easy, simply use Google service called Google Alerts or Google Reader. Both allow you to be on top of your market and inform your followers of the latest development in your area. Google alert will inform you on the latest on any of your selected keywords and no need to look further, news and info will be delivered via email.
Integrate the content you find in your tweets. Build up a brand image and your followers will know that you are not a spammer, that you are someone that brings value into the Twittersphere.

Follow these tips and people will start to retweet you and new potential Twitter followers will check you out, retweet you and follow you.

The success of retweet all lies on catching your readers’ attention. If what you tweet is valuable, news, flashy and interesting you will get some retweets.

Now get to work and see for yourself ... you will see the difference.

 

Source:  Harris Fellman and his Coup DeTwitter

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Recommended readings:

Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time
The World According to Twitter
Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today's Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves