With only 140 characters and minimal branding, Twitter can seem like an extremely difficult way to get your message across. Quite often the key to spreading that message is to have others spread that message for you in the form of ReTweets. If done correctly, Tweeting can even be the first step in triggering a viral message. So here are some quick tips for how to get more ReTweets.
(All the heavy lifting has been done by social media researcher, Dan Zarella. The complete report entitled “The Science of Rewteets” can be downloaded here.)
Link Occurrence in ReTweets: Generally, only about 19% of Tweets contain links. On the other hand, about 57% of ReTweets contain links. That’s a whopping 3X difference! By all means…include a link to something worthwhile!
URL Shorteners: By far, the bit.ly URL shortening service was the most ReTweeted. It’s also included in many social networking plugins and features some pretty snazzy analytics. If you have an option, use bit.ly for your URL shortener.
Most ReTweeted Words & Phrases: With only 140 characters allowed per Tweet, it’s often difficult to decide exactly what to write. Every word counts! Here is some actionable data to help make that easier. Talk to your followers (not at them), offer something worthwhile, and ASK for a ReTweet.
Time of Day: As with any message, the time of delivery can make a BIG difference. While overall Tweet volume peaks during business hours and in the evening, ReTweeting occurs much more frequently between 3 PM and midnight. If you’re hoping to snag a few ReTweets, post in the afternoon.
Day of Week: The day of the week also plays a heavy impact on your chances of getting your original Tweet shared. Relative to non-ReTweets activity, Mondays and Fridays are the best days of the week with Friday seeing the most activity.