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Harness the Power of Viral Tweets

If you’re on Twitter to network or promote your business, you want to be re-tweeted. You want others to share your insight, link or photo. You want your tweets to be viral.

Maybe you are new to Twitter terminology. If so, to “re-tweet” means to have someone else forward your tweet, or update, to their followers. (A “tweet” is merely a short status update on Twitter.) The shorthand for a re-tweet is “RT,” as in this sample Twitter update from a friend who forwards my tweet to their followers:

“RT @pcorwin: 5 good sites on managing online communities and social networks. http://bit.ly/RHr8o”

What Tweets Get Re-Tweeted?

SEO expert Rand Fishkin over at SEOmoz.org has created great short video on Re-Tweets. Watch it for all his insights. Here are his characteristics of tweets that get shared:

• Length under 100 characters
• Time of day — 9:00 – 3:30 Pacific Time
• Phrasing is factual, humorous, shocking, mysterious
• Subject matter is tech, celebrity, politics, images
• URL is likely included
• Authentic Twitter profile
• Tweets with push from emails or direct messages

In the video, Rand also puts Twitter into the context of your search engine optimization (SEO) strategies.

See all of Fishkin’s WhiteBoard Friday posts, a series of videos on SEO and much more. They are excellent.

Did Rand Get it Right?

Do you re-tweet updates with the characteristics he lists?  Are you changing how you tweet?  I, for one, am shortening my tweets as a result of this video. Please leave me a comment.

And if you liked this post, how about a tweet or an RT?  And please follow me on Twitter @pcorwin.

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