As everyday Twitter users, we all strive to get the most out of our time and effort. However, as we often try and spend a lot of our time engaging and creating content, we compromise productivity. Even though we know that quality is more important than quantity, some of us struggle to hit the right balance when it comes to social media.
That’s why we invited digital marketing consultant, Chris Dack, to help us understand what we can do to increase our productivity on Twitter. We asked about automation tactics, do’s and don’ts, and more. Here’s a summary of our chat.
Guest: Chris Dack
Topic: Improving Productivity on Twitter
Format: eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
A simple rule of thumb is to aim for about 30 minutes a day engaging. But remember—it also depends on your daily workload and commitments on other social channels.
A1: Engagement wise, I aim for circa 30 mins daily Twitter engagement. Understandably there are many variables involved in this decision, most notably workload, Twitter list management and activity on other social media networks #TwitterSmarter ?
— Chris Dack (@chrisgdack) March 26, 2020
You could spend all 30 minutes at a time, but that can quickly become overwhelming. Instead, as Nick suggested, consider doing out 10-15-minute blocks throughout the day to ensure you’re timely with people in other time zones as well.
A1. Rather than put a time limit on engagement, I like to dedicate several small windows to make sure our participation in conversations is timely. 5-10 minutes, 3-4 times during the workday and another in the evening works well. #TwitterSmarter
— Nick Nerbonne (@NickNerbonne) March 26, 2020
One of the most common problems with drawing up guidelines like this is that it’s easy to go overboard. Before you start scrolling through the bottomless feed, see that you’re not wasting time being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As Christopher rightly pointed out, if your audience aren’t on Twitter, then you might not need to spend as much time. It all depends on what your audience wants and how much you can offer.
A1: SHOULD you spend? That’s a loaded question. I think that depends on your audience as what you are trying to get out of Twitter. But remember that more doesn’t always equal better. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/UIyPIK2BwH
— Christopher Witt (@wbcaw) March 26, 2020
Yes, you can. Like Sabrina told us, share other people’s content as much as you can. We consume content online all the time. Found something that you enjoyed? Other people might too—share it, credit it, and engage with those original authors.
A2: Absolutely! I don't always post original content. Very often I share posts or links that I find informative, and that allows me to create connections with the authors, inspire my audience, and start conversations #TwitterSmarter
— Sabrina Cadini, CHLC, CBFC (@SabrinaCadini) March 26, 2020
Just remember though, as Erin said, it’s essential that you credit your source. It’s not only nice to tag them and say how much you appreciate their work, but it’s also a violation to take credit for someone else’s work.
A2: You can still be productive without always producing original content. As long as it's relevant and don't claim someone else's content as your own! #twittersmarter
— Erin (@e_step20) March 26, 2020
Wondering how to find great content that’s worth sharing? Our guest talked about the treasure trove that’s Advanced Search. It’s a great way to find content from industry leaders, about any topics you care about. You can filter and search content by keywords, hashtags, dates, accounts, and even links and engagement.
A2: You can be productive by using tools to discover like-minded credible accounts and existing trends so you can amplify that content. Twitter's Advanced Search functionality offers some great filtering opportunities – https://t.co/KGFvybGCvc #TwitterSmarter ?
— Chris Dack (@chrisgdack) March 26, 2020
The main difference between the two is that creating refers to all the blogs, articles, social media posts, ebooks, and courses that you design and offer your audience.
Curating, on the other hand, refers to any resources you share that other people have created. This includes all the links, videos, podcasts, images, and infographics that you find online. Whenever you share such material, remember to thank and acknowledge the owner.
A3: Creating content is producing your own material from the ground up. Curating content means finding blogs and other material created by others and sharing this amongst your network. Don't forget to give appropriate credit to the source via a mention #TwitterSmarter ?
— Chris Dack (@chrisgdack) March 26, 2020
One interesting way to think about them, like our friend suggested, is that all content you create is a direct result of how you want to establish yourself. It can be a reflection of your primary message, while also offering something to your audience.
Whereas curating is finding material that your audience will appreciate. Mind you, you can also curate a bunch of blogs from industry experts, and still include one or two of your own articles that you’ve recently updated.
A3: Creating is about how and what the content producer want to deliver his message. Meanwhile curating content is about creating value to your audience. #TwitterSmarter #gsbsocialmedia https://t.co/mNxvt2m570
— Trashpanda Shogun (@_Donnnnn77) March 26, 2020
As Rachel reminded us, curating is also a great way to use other people’s content to show how it relates to your own brand.
A3: Curation is taking current content and reworking it, OR, it's taking content of others and showing how it relates to your brand or offering. Creation is 100% yours, though it can be inspired by others. #TwitterSmarter
— Rachel Wendte (@rkwendte) March 26, 2020
Curating is a game of mix-and-match. Chris uses a combination of sources to get his curate-worthy content. And it’s easy too—use Feedly to find seasonal content across industries, subscribe to influential people on YouTube for videos, and follow some of your competitors and industry leaders on LinkedIn for more varied content. Pull them together and you’ve got a great mix of content in different formats and lengths, ideal for curating.
A4: Some tools for curating content I've used include @feedly to consolidate topical content from around the web, subscribing to relevant influencer @YouTube channels and following companies on @LinkedIn pages who produce insightful whitepapers #TwitterSmarter ?
— Chris Dack (@chrisgdack) March 26, 2020
You can also just… search. As I said before, Twitter’s Advanced Search is an excellent functionality to find almost any type of content. Like Jake suggested, look for top publications, hashtags, influencers, lists, and more.
A4:
– Searching hashtags to see what's already being tweeted
– Searching top publications in your niche
– Searching Twitter lists for accounts that create amazing content
– Finding voices/influencers who are bringing value you can shareAnd much more#TwitterSmarter
— Jake Symons (@jakeswrites) March 26, 2020
And of course, join a Twitter chat! As Janet said, chats are a great way to come across so many useful content pieces. You can even curate a set of tweets in a Twitter Moment and share that with your audience.
A4. Join chats like #TwitterSmarter and collect ideas! I love what @JKatzaman always does after going through chats. He likes blogging curated content from chats.
— Janet Machuka (@janetmachuka_) March 26, 2020
Well, it’s takes one thing off your to-do list. But scheduling also helps you keep your profile updated at all times. Like our guest, you can also use your free time to find content and schedule them so that you can spend more of your social media time engaging with people in real-time.
A5: Scheduling content ensures you have a vibrant updated presence for your audience. I have been blocking out time on a Sunday to browse for articles I can share and then distribute throughout the week, this enables more time to perform precious engagement #TwitterSmarter ?
— Chris Dack (@chrisgdack) March 26, 2020
Dr. Donald made a great point about having the mindset to create. That’s true—most of us need to dedicate time and energy to create something useful. When you allocate time to create new content, you can then sprinkle that content throughout your scheduled calendar and have something valuable to share every time. It also gives you a clear picture of what you have planned for your social media for the upcoming weeks.
A5: For me, having a content creation mindset is helpful because I can think about my Twitter audience and what they need. I schedule time to create content so I can come up with more in a shorter period of time.#TwitterSmarter
— Dr. Donald Hecht (@realDocHecht) March 26, 2020
Remember, though, it’s also important to keep an eye on your scheduled posts. In a constantly changing world, something might happen that changes your post radically. Some news may even render your content useless, like Avery pointed out. Always be aware of your scheduled posts.
A lot of good reasons why scheduling content is useful. Just make sure not to schedule and forget, as somethings things happen that might render your content no longer appropriate. And definitely don't forget to engage in real time. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/9UZpx2xacb
— Avery Horzewski (@averyh) March 26, 2020
And of course, no matter how many wonderful and helpful posts you curate and schedule, if you’re not there to help out someone in real-time, you’re losing audience. As Gabriela said, you can’t automate engagement.
A5.
Scheduling content
allows you to free up time!You can use the
time to focus on other
parts of your business + efforts._
However, remember to
leave time to ENGAGE as well!_
You can schedule
content, but can't automate
engagement! #TwitterSmarter— Gabriela Cardoza (@CardozaGab) March 26, 2020
Ah, there’re so many! Chris mainly uses Hootsuite, and many of our chat regulars vouch for its ease of use as well.
A6: My primary scheduling tool is @hootsuite as their composer functionality is amazing – https://t.co/mw2CKPSJWX There are a number of social media management tools which have scheduling at their core. TweetDeck even allows you to schedule by the minute! #TwitterSmarter
— Chris Dack (@chrisgdack) March 26, 2020
Some of Madalyn’s favorites, aside from Hootsuite, are Buffer, Social Jukebox, and Agorapulse.
A6: My tools to help schedule content:@hootsuite @buffer @SocialJukebox @Agorapulse #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/oG7MJt6pBy
— Madalyn Sklar – Digital Marketing since 1996 (@MadalynSklar) March 26, 2020
Here are a few more tools that our community members shared.
But you don’t always have to think fancy. Most of these tools have a free version, even if it’s not displayed on their pricing pages. You can trial the product and continue using it even after your trial ends. Tweet Deck is another entirely free tool that is great for scheduling, as well as monitoring lists, hashtags, and other users’ content.
Don’t shy away from repurposing good old content. Evergreen is meant to be revised and re-shared. And when you update such content, schedule them for the next few weeks or months, so that they’re constantly adding value to newer audience.
If you’re curating content, don’t schedule without reading them first. Every time you share a post, you’re endorsing the content and the author. You don’t want to be vouching for people you don’t really know.
A7: DO consider re-purposing evergreen content with an appropriate time gap. DO schedule content which adds audience value. DON'T schedule anything without reading it first, you're endorsing the content. DON'T schedule self-promo messages for Twitter chats! #TwitterSmarter ?
— Chris Dack (@chrisgdack) March 26, 2020
When it comes to scheduling, planning your content is essential. However, as our friend said, don’t go overboard. Take it a week or two at a time. That way, you can still share new and relevant content every time. Plus, you never know what’s coming.
What if you’d scheduled a post about ways to use commute time effectively, only for the whole world to start working from home in less than a week? Bad timing can be disastrous.
A7
Plan a weekahead
Dont plan a month ahead. U dont know when corona or tsunami comes to mess up things#TwitterSmarter https://t.co/foYyHOaElN— theduu – Digital marketing partner (@DigitalDairy) March 26, 2020
Here are a few other ideas our members shared.
Do’s
Dont’s
Twitter Lists, of course. It’s an amazing way to categorize people you want to hear from. It’s also an easy way to keep up with tweets rather than on your fleeting feed. Madalyn has a blog that covers all you need to know about Lists.
We also had an entire #TwitterSmarter chat dedicated to Twitter Lists. Check out the summary for some of the basics we covered.
Advanced Search, as I said (twice in this post already!), is also a good tool to generate ideas. If you’re looking for news and current events that the world is talking about right now, take a look at the Explore functionality. You’ll even see Moments featuring all the top global events, all curated by Twitter itself.
Oh, and bookmarks. Since most Twitter users often used the Like button to save content they wanted to come back to afterward, Twitter finally brought the bookmarking feature. Saving and returning is now easier than ever.
A8: Twitter lists are my primary source of helping with productivity. Explore functionality is great to identify trends and save searches – https://t.co/REvpOWLAU0. Twitter Advanced Search as mentioned, plus the ability to bookmark tweets for future reference #TwitterSmarter ?
— Chris Dack (@chrisgdack) March 26, 2020
If you’ve managed the social media account of a brand, you’ll resonate with Sarah. There was a time when you had to log out of Twitter and log into another account every time you wanted to share a personal tweet. Now though, you can switch between multiple accounts easily. Tweet Deck also has that feature.
A8: I love being able to switch between accounts now on desktop – saves so much time. #TwitterSmarter
— Sarah MacKinlay (@SpaSocialMedia) March 26, 2020
The Media Studio is also a slightly-less known feature that helps you analyze your content, schedule posts, and optimize your time and energy.
And finally, as Lady Lecondoliak said, the most important aspect of Twitter that’s guaranteed to increase productivity, is the log out feature. We all deserve breaks, folks.
The log off feature. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/iPfrvFsoL5
— LadyL #StayHome☀️?? (@LadyLecondoliak) March 26, 2020
Well, that’s all from me this week. Thanks for reading, and for more insight from our chat with Chris, check out this Twitter Moment that Joana put together. If you’ve got some time next Thursday, join us for the #TwitterSmarter chat at 1pm ET.
These are strange and testing times. If you’re struggling and need someone to talk to, hit me up any time.
Stay safe and vigilant, people. ?
About me, Narmadhaa:
I write all things—technical and marketing copy to fill the pocket; haiku and short stories to fill the soul. A social media enthusiast, I’m a member of the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and always happy to take on writing gigs.
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