Could You Retweet That Please?

Many people, especially internet marketers, think that using a retweet on Twitter will be harmful to them. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you are not even sure what a retweet is, it may be time to learn, especially if you are planning to use Twitter in your marketing efforts.

A retweet very basically involves letting your followers know about another good tweet. To do this you need to highlight and copy the original tweet or the relevant and press the reply button on the side. There are several ways to make this a retweet but the simplest is to use the letters RT, leave a space, then add @theusersname. If you forget to put the space in the link to the original poster’s name won’t show, and that is not good manners.

Using basic good manners is important on Twitter, just as it is on any social networking site. Give the person recognition for the post you are retweeting. It is also good manners to add a short comment about why you are retweeting, especially if the post is simply a link. For example RT @username , originalsiteorlink. Great info here on beermaking.

Another important point is not to just go retweeting anything. Make sure it is something you genuinely find interesting or your followers won’t be interested either. Having something of real interest to retweet also shows that you are a part of the Twitter community and not just using automated tools.

So what’s in it For Me?

It is all about building credibility and trust. Contrary to popular belief, sending someone to someone else’s site is not going to take their interest away from you. Quite the opposite is true. By sending a retweet it shows you are an interested and interesting person. The chances are that the person whose tweet you used will also take an interest in your own tweets too, that is basic human nature.

How to I get people to retweet my tweets?

Obviously it is nice to have your own tweets retweeted too and there are a few ways you can help your self to achieve this.

1. First and foremost, have something interesting to say! If you have the time to use Twitter then you have time to find things of interest. Digg and StumbleUpon are good starting places to find amusing and new links of interest.

2. Keep your own tweets short. This gives room for other users to fit in the RT and your username to retweet. You can use programs like tinyurl to help keep your links much shorter too.

3. Use the #hashtag. By doing that people who are not following you but are using hashtags to search will find your tweet too.

4. Just ask! Obviously you need to be a little discreet about who you ask to retweet for you and how often.

Develop the art of being a good retweeter and make your mark on Twitter. Being a thoughtful member of the Twitter community can only help to build a group of quality followers and that’s what it’s all about.

One Response to “Could You Retweet That Please?”

1. Tweets that mention Could You Retweet That Please? -- Topsy.com says:

   October 13, 2009 at 1:27 pm

   [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Zach Djurdjevic and Tim Murphy. Tim Murphy said: rt @michael_duvall Would you retweet this please? http://bit.ly/1Ej10C [...]

   Reply