tips & tricks to trend on twitter
TRANSCRIPT
• What is #Trending – Trending topics are those
which feature on the left side of virtually every
page of your Twitter
• Why should I bother? – Imagine being on
virtually all the pages of one of the most popular
social networking sites. That kind of exposure for
your brand will surely grab your client’s attention
What is #Trending and why should I bother?
#Burst or #Sustained?
• If you want it to trend, devise the contest in such a way that it lasts for 90
minutes or 2 hours at max. Try to maximize your impact by limiting the use of
the hashtag in a very short but concentrated burst. The reason for doing this is
simple. A topic will trend only when Twitter senses high usage of a particular
term within a short period time
• In order to achieve this, try to get maximum number of mentions on the
minimum possible time
#Burst or #Sustained?
• Day long quizzes will only trend if your audience is exceptionally enthusiastic
or if your prize is very enticing
• Open ended questions which entices multiple responses from the audience are
better than a simple quiz .
• The reason being quite simply that for an open ended question, a fan will
submit multiple entries as opposed to a proper Q&A in which each question
will have a definite answer and hence will only entice a single Tweet
The #Hashtag
• Always Try to pick out a Hashtag with is more generic in nature
• In order to trend, you will generally need a lot more people to use the Hashtag
than your fan base. A contest based one might prove to be interesting for the
ones who are participating but not for a random person
• Pick a Hashtag which will compel a bystander to use it
Hashtag #Fail
#Aurora – An unsuspecting brand
tried to piggyback using this hashtag
which talked about the Aurora shooting in
USA
#susanalbumparty
#RIMjobs
• Before finalizing a Hashtag, make sure it cannot
be used as a double-meaning one in any case
• Another technique which many brands employ is
piggybacking on already trending topics . This is
something you should be very careful about!
#Suspense
• After finalizing on the date of your contest, leave
a very generic & cryptic tweet about the contest
• Don’t forget to ask for a RT from your followers.
This will definitely get more people excited about
the contest and most of them who read the tweet
will end up following your profile in anticipation
D-Day!
• Another tantalizing tweet telling your followers about the contest is a must for
few hours before the contest
• Whatever you do, DO NOT use the Hashtag before the contest starts. Many
over-excited users will start to Tweet with the Hashtag even before the contest
starts which will decrease your impact
• Avoid talking about prizes before the contest starts . Let your fans expect the
best. However if your prize is exceptionally good, you can talk about it
#Engage
• Try to fit in the description of the contest in one Tweet with the Hashtag so
that even if it gets Re-tweeted, an unknown user will still know what you are
talking about
• One of the biggest factors which will help you to trend is to engage with the
initial users as much as humanely possible
• Small one liners like ‘Haha, that’s a funny one’ or ‘That’s a great one, keep
them coming’ go a long way in retaining the interest of the user
#Engage
• Use the Hashtag of your contest IN EVERY
TWEET even if they are short and simple replies
• If a user forgets to use the Hashtag, make it a
point to remind them that their entry is invalid
without the Hashtag
Beware of the #Overkill
• While it is imperative to keep your audience engaged throughout the contest,
be very aware of the number of Tweets you post for your fans
• On an average, even if your account has 5000 followers, the number of people
engaging with you will be around 100 at most. Don’t alienate the 4900 who
are, in most probability, the higher quality of audience by tweeting excessively
• As a norm, keep at least 5 minutes between successive tweets
#Temptation
• About halfway through the
contest, drop the prize bomb
on your fans ( the better the
prize, the earlier you talk
about it)
• Try to get the most enticing
picture of your prize and
tweet it for your audience. It
will breathe a new life into
your contest
General #Pointers
• Retweet few of your outstanding entries so that people know what they are up against. While doing this, do not use the Retweet button. Compose a new tweet with the ‘RT’ prefix so that the emphasis remains on your profile and not the fan
• If a user asks you whether its quantity or quality, try to give out vague answers like ‘A bit of both!’ so as to keep them hooked
• If your contest is region specific (winner has to be chosen from one place), don’t reveal that your audience unless it is absolutely necessary. Try to encourage as many people as you can to participate
The #HolyGrail
• If it has to trend, it
will generally start
from a smaller city
and then move
nationwide or even
worldwide
• Once you get
going, don’t stop!
Go #Fishing
• One of the best
screenshots you
can give to your
client is how much
your audience
loves your contest
Go #Fishing
• Fish for compliments
after the contest is
done. The users will
definitely give you
glowing praise in
hopes of getting into
your good books and
win the prize
The #Benefits
• Most of the times, a client might be hesitant to spend on a giveaway. The
most rational way to approach this is by explaining the benefits of trending on
Twitter and comparing the cost of buying a promoted trend to the giveaway you
want
• The cost of a promoted trend for 2 days is in the region of Rs.6.5 Lakhs and
that too won’t is only Nationwide. Your Giveaway will always be a mere
fraction of this cost
The #Benefits
• A simple example which justifies a giveaway is the contest that was conducted for the launch of HTC One. For the cost of one HTC One, the name of the brand and the phone trended worldwide and also remained on top spot in the nation’s trends for more than 12 hours.
• The most surprising fact about this is that the contest only lasted for 1 hour!
• In monetary terms, we were able to achieve exponentially greater results at a fraction of the cost
Announcing the #Winners
• Announcing the winners can also be turned into a small activity to get Retweets and
interactions
• A simple ‘RT if you think you have won it’ can prove to be very successful
• Once the winners are announced, DM all of them asking for their contact information and
other such details
Why #DM?
• The sole reason for keeping all this private is Twitter is a very open platform. Most users
will not prefer to share their details publicly.
• Another advantage of doing this is to ensure if anything goes wrong, the brand name
does not get bashed publicly
• For such situations, you have to adhere to the philosophy –
Never Wash Your Dirty Laundry In Public
Why #DM?
• If you begin your communication through a DM, even when a disgruntled winner is
complaining, you can reply to them in a DM and shift your conversation there
• The ill effects of having an influential user bashing your brand over something as menial
as the delivery of a prize can be far reaching and in extreme cases, even disastrous