Today TWITTER has transitioned from being another noisy/nosey social networking platform to becoming a powerful voice to the presidents, organizations, churches and ministries all around the world. Some of the leading men of God and churches are on Twitter, using the power of media to reach the people God has given them – especially those that are online across the world.
As one of the objectives of this blog is to empower you for Jesus, we believe Twitter has proved to be an effective tool. It stands third in place for helping us get readers for our blogs, after Google search and Facebook. And we want to take time to share our knowledge and expertise of Twitter to help other people and ministries with it because it has been a blessing to us.
So here’s an awesome guide to how you can make the best use of Twitter. We pray that you will use this for HIS KINGDOM!
Twitter Sign Up
First step is to Set up your account. Go to Twitter to get started. Enter your name, email, and a password. Click Sign up. Choose a short and easy to remember username. I chose ShyjuMathew and Tiny uses something smaller, TinySM. Remember, the smaller the better.
Do not check the “Protect my Updates” option and make your account private unless you want to keep your account just for your friends. Choose a close up picture and set up to tweet through your phone by clicking on the Mobile tab. See more basics of using Twitter here.
Twitter Follow
Follow family, friends and leaders that you know will be a blessing to you. Be careful not to follow everyone and anybody unless you like to be bombarded with things that don’t matter. I do follow people who engage with me online or those that know me, but my focus is to follow those that will keep me informed and empowered in the work I do.
Twitter Strategy
Know when to tweet and what to tweet. Choose carefully, after all you don’t want unscrupulous people to follow you or your genuine followers to unfollow you.
Tweeting more than a 5-6 tweets in a day may be too much for some of your followers unless your content is very interesting.
If you do have interesting stuff to say, spread it out throughout the day, rather than bombarding someone’s page 12 times in a minute. (Use apps I mentioned below to spread your tweets wisely)
If you have the time and the resources, create different twitter accounts for your different passions. We have one for young leaders and God chasers called @SmmTom. Another one for intercessors and nation lovers @BackToActs. I had another account which I could not maintain so choose to shut it down.
Twitter Content
Don’t retweet every single tweet on your list. Make sure that what you retweet will appeal and bless (at least some of) your followers too. You don’t want to create information overload.
Tweet what others will want to share. One of the most retweeted tweets are good jokes, followed by quotes of other people. Then comes useful links. Use these to bless your followers.
Remember the more quality you give the better quantity of retweets you receive.
Go through your tweets to see what tweets blessed your followers. Yet it is not necessary that all your good tweets get retweeted. Sometimes God might use them to convince hearts but you may never hear about it. So don’t get discouraged when you don’t get any response to your tweets.
Here are the stats of what contents make others retweet the most:
- Interesting Content – 92%
- Personal Connection – 84%
- Humor – 66%
- Tweets with Incentive – 32%
- Retweet Requests – 26%
- Celebrity Status – 21%
Another article by Dan Zarrella of Hubspots suggests five scientifically proven ways to get more retweets:
- Tweet Links
- Ask for ReTweets – but please do not over do this.
- Stop talking about yourself.
- Say New Things
- Tweeting about Twitter! Lol!
Think before you tweet. Do not answer the Twitter question, “”What are you doing?” every 5 minutes; you’ll just annoy your followers.
Twitter Engagement
Engage with your followers. I may not do it every single time but I try my best. Treat your followers as fellow humans. I know sometimes some people can become troublesome but do what is best possible to respond.
Twitter can be too short a platform to counsel or minister but large enough a contact to connect with anyone-anywhere if you do it the right way.
Twitter Timings
It’s important to know when the highest percentage of your audience is eavesdropping on your social networks.
Here are the stats of best timings according to KISS metrics.
- Best time to tweet according to retweets – 5pm
- Best tweeting frequency – 1-4 tweets per hour
- Best days to tweet – Midweek and Weekends
- Best time to tweet according to visits – Noon and 6pm
But hey this might differ from country to country and person to person. So test, try and make up what works for you.
I have found Saturdays and Sundays to have more action online.
Twitter Applications
There are many applications that can help you with Twitter without the use of browser, available for desktop and mobile.
On your website – Here’s the link if you want to display your Twitter on your website or on Facebook – Twitter Widgets I would not suggest sending your tweets to Facebook, then there is no point of asking them to join you on Twitter!
Add buttons to your website to help your visitors share content and connect with you on Twitter. Twitter Buttons
Twitter on your phone or iPad [Download] If you are checking this post on Twitter then Visit Twitter on Mobile on your device. I have been using a paid service called Tweetbot.
Twitter through SMS: How To Find Your Twitter Short Code or Long Code
Twitter Stats – like seeing how you are doing on twitter? TwitterCounter that can help you track your follower stats.
Other Desktop Applications
- Buffer App – I personally use this app to tweet, so I don’t flood my followers with too many posts. It helps you spread your tweets throughout the day. I use it twice a day. Try it here – BufferApp
- Hootsuite – Another desktop app, requires signing-up. It also manages Facebook and other social media networks. You can use this schedule your tweets.
- Tweetdeck – Another desktop app now run by twitter, requires signing-up. Not something I would highly recommend. It also manages Facebook and other social media networks. You can use this schedule your tweets.
- SocialOomph – Another popular app. Helps you with bulk-scheduling tweets. It will also post to Facebook.
Sometimes for multiple tweets in day and new accounts, we’ve had to use more than one of these apps for our ministry. So if you have a doubt of how we handle our Twitter media, leave a comment here below – Elina, our social administrator and our team will be here to respond and help you.
And oh, did I tell you my baby Kathryn is on twitter too? Now that makes twitter automatically awesome. 🙂 You can follow her baby pics and talks here.
So are you on Twitter now? Take a moment to tweet this post.
Login into our comments section below with your twitter account and leave an advice or suggestion or even a popular tweet that has blessed you – thats another good way to gain followers!