Twitter Tips - How Often Is It Ok to Re-Tweet?

We've all had those moments when we're talking in a group of people and one person just keeps talking about himself. It's annoying. It may be tempting to do that on Twitter, but the same rule applies. Don't only talk about yourself. If all of your tweets are just promoting your blog or products, then eventually people will start to tune you out, if they even continue to follow you.

So what do you do? One way is to tweet links to web pages that you like. An even better way, though, is to retweet others

What is retweeting? It's exactly what it sounds like. When someone tweets a message or link that you love, and you want your followers to know it, then you can have Twitter retweet it from your name. It works like forwarding an e-mail. It'll show as coming from you, but it will show that it's a retweet from another user.

Retweeting is a good way of connecting with another user, since Twitter will inform a user if someone else retweets their message. You'll have to be careful, though, because retweeting too much can become a bit obnoxious, like someone always kissing up to the popular kids in school.

Treat retweeting like you would treat your self-promotion. Done in moderation, it can have a powerful impact, but done too much, it detracts. We like when people use their own words or share ideas they found on their own. Retweeting is like quoting someone, so use it selectively, but don't be afraid to do it.

There's no exact science to how often you should retweet, but here's a guideline. For every 10 tweets you post, reserve 3 posts for self-promotion, another 3 posts for retweeting, and the final 4 posts that you wrote yourself, whether it's sharinf a link or posting a message that's not really self-promotion.

The benefit of sticking to this percentage is that you'll still get your posts in, you'll keep self-promotion and other-promotion on a 1:1 radio, and you'[ll still be sharing mostly your own voice. After all, Twitter is a conversation. Your followers want to hear you.

Since you don't want to retweet everything, try to go for what will have the biggest impact. You could pick the person with the larger following, so that the two of you become associated. Another strategy is to simply look for the most interesting and compelling tweets. You'll have to decide for yourself how you want to use your ration of retweets.

Just remember that Twitter is a conversation, and let that guide you.


Article Source: Jon Vaitl