Twitter should be a part of your marketing plan if for no other reason than Twitter is massively popular these days and there are more new people in your niche to reach through this convenient and high profile social media tool every day.
One of the things which makes Twitter what it is is the constraint of 280 characters when writing tweets. Bear in mind that letters, numbers, symbols, even spaces all count as characters. I see this constraint as a blessing, though, and recognize that writing tweets in Twitter improves your copy. Sure, grammar goes out the window in Twitter because it’s the sacrifice you have to make to squeeze your message in. Grammar aside, consider these 3 substantial ways writing tweets can actually make you a better writer in other walks of life.
- Brevity is not only encouraged, but it’s required when writing your tweets. One of the best tips to writing better copy is to be as brief and to the point as possible. Never use 2000 words when 1500 will do, and in the case of Twitter, never use 20 words when 15 will do.
- Twitter is also a great way to develop your skills as an editor. It’s (arguably) more difficult to edit 280 characters than 1400 or even 280 words because there is far less copy for your audience to see. When writing in Twitter, every single word’s importance is amplified tenfold, so you’ve got to take the extra time after you’ve written something to go over it and make sure that this is the best 280 characters or less that it can be for what you’re trying to say.
- Twitter also makes you use your vocabulary more effectively, or at least a thesaurus. You have to find words which are either shorter synonyms, or words which more accurately describe what you’re trying to say. Who would have thought that a new social media tool of all things would actually improve most of its users’ lexicons?
Remember, for someone to retweet your content, you need to actually shave your tweets down 10 more characters so that they can add the RT with your name intact.
Now that you know how writing tweets improves your copywriting, let’s cover how to get more Twitter followers.