In this series of blog posts I will offer tips on how to make the most from your tweets.
I’ve written before about how best to use Twitter and how Twitter is ideal for building communities and engaging with others. But it still surprises me how many regular Twitterati still don’t know how to get the best out of Twitter.
Remember to retweet – don’t just like!
If you like someone’s tweet then don’t simply like it, retweet it! It’s what makes the Twitter world go round and ensures that things you like reach a wider audience. And remember, the more you retweet others, the more they are likely to retweet you.
By all means like as well as a retweet, but use the like button to acknowledge personal mentions such as an #FF or a tweet from someone simply offering you a suggestion or advice which is personal to you and not for wider consumption.
Using #hashtags
Some people still don’t get hashtags. Some ignore them completely whilst others stick a # on pretty much every other word they tweet (which at best just looks very annoying).
But hashtags are great for grouping tweets on the same subject. At @IBIS_journal we use #ornithology for all our own avian science tweets and many others are now joining us. This means that you can search on #ornithology within Twitter or your dashboard and get all the latest #ornithology tweets in one go! We also tags use them to group our conference tweets (check out #BOU2014) which also acts as a discussion tool during the event itself.
A hashtag can increase engagement by up to 55%
If you want to use a #hashtag for something then first check it isn’t being used by someone else – just put the #hashtag in to your Twitter search panel and if its not being used nothing will come up. Avoiding #hashtagclash is vital as you don’t know what other content might end up on someone else’s #hashtag.
Also, keep the #hashtag short. The joint ornithology conference in North America started out with #AOUCOSSCO2014 (14 characters) but soon got shortened to #AOCOSC14 (9 characters) – not forgetting that hashtags take up space in your character count.
* Post originally written when Tweets were restricted to 140 characters (remember them!?
See also
How to Use Hashtags on Twitter: A Simple Guide for Marketers
The #power of the #hashtag
More social media blog posts and articles from the BOU
Making social media and the web work for you
How social are ornithologists? – our IBIS paper
Let the BOU work for YOU . . altmetrics
Let the BOU work for YOU . . with blogging
Let the BOU work for YOU . . on social media
How social are ornithologists? – our NAOC2016 conference poster
Social media is relevant to your research
The role of social media in ornithology – presentations from our #EOU2015 Round Table
The benefits of blogging about your research
Twitter #masterclass 1 – #hashtags and retweeting
Twitter #masterclass 2 – Ditch those auto generated tweets!
Twitter #masterclass 3 – editing and structuring your tweets
Twitter #masterclass 4 – organise your incoming tweets
Twitter #masterclass 5 – Content is everything – even with only 140 characters
Twitter #masterclass 6 – #hashtag best practice
Twitter #masterclass 7 – Tweeting images – best practice
Twitter #masterclass 8 – Conference tweeting
Twitter #masterclass 9 – Twitter basics 1: terminology
Twitter #masterclass 10 – Twitter basics 2: replying to tweets
Twitter #masterclass 11 – Twitter basics 3: replying to tweets
Twitter #masterclass 12 – best practices
Conference tweeting: what is it good for?
What do you mean you ‘don’t know how to optimize your paper for SEO?!’
Twitter – building an online ornithological community
