Twitter Tip #120: Make It Easy To Share

Next week in San Antonio, I’m delivering a keynote address to about a thousand leaders of the water industry.

I’ll show them examples of how it’s never been easier or more affordable to share a message when you have a message worth sharing.

Here’s a simple example of making it easier to share your message using Twitter – the micro-blogging tool that feeds your opted-in followers small messages each limited to 140 characters. It’s free to use, and it’s a great way to share valuable information, personal insights and grow bigger ears in your world.

Here, Williams Keepers, a Missouri accounting firm in my hometown posted a tweet over the weekend about an open position in their company.

For me to retweet (share) this with my followers – which I’m happy to do to support a local business with a good reputation – I need something in exchange.

In this case, the currency is characters.

I need about twenty characters to follow my preferred format of adding “RT @WilliamsKeepers” to the beginning of my retweet of your job posting.

In this case, Williams Keepers’ tweet is 139 characters, but it didn’t have to be.

With a little editing of my retweet, notice how I keep the exact same message, but I make it less than 120 characters – a great number to use as a benchmark for your tweets if you want to get them retweeted. I still keep the message human – it’s still written the way we talk – which matters.

In social media, sharing is caring.

With just a few more minutes of thought – and no money – you can edit up your tweets to less than 120 characters and make it easier for your followers to share your message without asking them.

(Speaking of which, I find it kinda icky to ask for retweets – unless maybe a child is missing or something similar. But even then … we get that it’s important to retweet, right? I almost didn’t retweet because they asked. Is that weird? Or is that the new world in which we live?)

(Speaking of which, it’s good form to thank those who retweet/share your message. I typically prefer to do so privately via a direct message. Your mileage may vary.)