A big part of social media, and especially Twitter, is trying out new features, content types, and messages. However, with every experiment comes risks and challenges. How then, can you develop a healthy mindset towards experimenting with your social media content? We invited social media mixologist, Jennifer Navarrete, to talk about being ok with pushing the limits. Here’s a summary of our chat.
Guest: Jennifer Navarrete
Topic: Developing the mindset to experiment
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
Experimenting is trying new things. For Jennifer, that means, exploring new tools, changing up her usual strategies, or combining her Twitter plans with other platforms to see what works and what doesn’t. Hence the title, mixologist.
A1: To me, experimenting on Twitter is about trying new tools, strategies or mixing in other platforms to see if my content/promotion ideas will work. Sometimes they do and other times not so much. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/SE8Hfn6fgG
— ? Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster) June 10, 2021
Jim explained with some examples. If you’re usually one to tweet text-heavy posts, try some emojis to see how your audience responds to the change. This also means trying features you normally don’t use like video replies or hosting a conversation in Twitter Spaces. If these ideas are novel to you, cast fear aside and try them. Who’s to say, your audience might resonate with your experiments much better than you expect.
A1: Change things up i.e.
Add emojis ? to you tweets
Using video replies ?
Using Twitter Spaces ?
Updating your bio periodicallySee if you have a rise in your engagement by doing these things#TwitterSmarter https://t.co/YvpYHpEbBO
— ? Jim Fuhs #SMWL21 #DigitalMarketing (@FuhsionMktg) June 10, 2021
It’s in our nature to try new things. Whether it’s a new ingredient we’re cooking with or trying a restaurant in town, we’re always doing new things, whether or not we realize it. If you have an idea, try it. If it works, it works, and if it fails, it fails—after all, it’s only an experiment. At least you would’ve tried and known for sure rather than not knowing at all.
A2a: Trying new things is in our DNA as human beings. I mean who in the world was the first person who thought lobsters would be something tasty to eat?
So sometimes the experimentation seems obvious and other times it feels like a stretch. I say give it a try. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/ibWzOLb0pz
— ? Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster) June 10, 2021
More importantly, however, publishing the same type of content may bore your audience. The occasional change could be welcome.
A2b: Plus as you mentioned earlier, content gets stale. If we do the same thing over and over again eventually our audience stops seeing it no matter how much they liked it originally. Add in new things. You'll catch their eye again. #TwitterSmarter
— ? Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster) June 10, 2021
As Nicole added, the more you experiment, the better you become as a person and brand on social media. It’s the ideal path to personal and professional growth. Whether your experiments succeed or fail, you’ll learn valuable lessons in the process.
A2: Trying new things is integral to personal and professional growth. Switching things up can help to keep you inspired and motivated. #TwitterSmarter
— Nicole Ellingson (@SolidGoldNicole) June 10, 2021
When you don’t experiment enough, you stop being interesting and exciting. You’ll fall into a circular schedule and become predictable, boring. Being open-minded is the best way to keep your audience engaged in what you say.
A3: When we don’t open ourselves up to being experimental with our content we risk boring our audience (and ourselves). Yes, have the standard stuff and then through in new things to mix it up. It keeps our audience engaged. #TwitterSmarter
— ? Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster) June 10, 2021
It’s not only about your audience, though. As Rachel from Express Writers reminded us, if you’re not changing things up in your strategy, you will get bored too. That’s not a good place to be. When you’re bored, you lose motivation, and a lack of motivation in your own social media performance leads to poor community management.
A3: I think you can get bored with your Twitter strategy if you aren't actively brainstorming ideas and testing new things. #TwitterSmarter
— Express Writers | Your Content Writing Partner (@ExpWriters) June 10, 2021
Jennifer told us her biggest success came from an experiment where she interviewed businesswomen from across the world, through audio platforms like Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse. What started as a simple experiment morphed into the Walk Talk Challenge podcast.
A4a:My biggest success has been using live audio (Twitter Spaces & Clubhouse) to record a podcast with women entrepreneurs while walking. My first interviewee was in Albania & I was in San Antonio. I launched the Walk Talk Challenge podcast from this experiment. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/2jHb1M5Ws4
— ? Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster) June 10, 2021
Another personal favorite, our guest told us, is her daily voice posts. She uses Twitter’s audio tweet feature to post snippets of audio-only advice that lasts 2 minutes and 20 seconds. That’s the cut-off for Twitter voice tweets, and our guest mentioned she now automatically closes out her audio tweets within the cut-off time. She’s received great feedback for this little experiment because, by nature, it’s short, sweet, and easy to consume.
A4b: Another is my daily Twitter’s Voice posts. Voice is such a powerful little feature that I think most folks don’t even know is available to them now. These little 2:20 daily voice posts have received great feedback from folks. #TwitterSmarter
— ? Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster) June 10, 2021
Rachel told us about her experiments with threaded tweets. She explained how these tweets serve as a better alternative to lengthy blog posts.
A4: I've been experimenting with more Threads and I'm so happy about it! Maintaining a blog never interested me much, but I do occasionally have a thought outside of 280 characters.
I'm meeting some great connections because of these! #TwitterSmarter
— Rachel Wendte (@rkwendte) June 10, 2021
Our guest’s failed experiment was hosting a Space on Twitter while participating on a Twitter chat simultaneously. She learned that the audiences were entirely different from one another.
A5: Last month I tried hosting a Twitter Spaces while also participating in a Twitter chat and it was not at all what I thought it would be. I thought the two audiences would be similar. They were not. Not at all. After two weeks I gave it up. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/MnjbDTqRMR
— ? Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster) June 10, 2021
Christine tried something similar. She experimented with broadcasting her livestream to YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter at the same time. If you think that’s a handful, you clearly don’t know Christine. 😉 She told us that even though some people enjoyed it, she didn’t get enough traction to keep doing it consistently.
A5.
Simulcasting my livestream to YouTube and LinkedIn alongside FB & Twitter — nobody watched!
Creating a weekly social media news rundown video & article was fun, and the people who loved it loved it, but there weren't enough of them to be worth the time/effort.#TwitterSmarter— Christine Gritmon ❤️ #ChatAboutBrand (@cgritmon) June 10, 2021
The most important lesson you can learn from a failed experiment is that it doesn’t reflect on who you are as a person. Take it lightly and consider them as information that you can use in your future experiments.
A6: First of all a failed experiment does not mean you are a failure. So do not take those failures personal. Pat yourself on the back for being adventurous. I look at them as more information which I can use or not in the future. #TwitterSmarter
— ? Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster) June 10, 2021
Pavel mentioned a similar point. When you have failed experiments, use that as an opportunity to identify what went wrong.
A6: We are able to identify the problem in those experiments and we are able to formulate a solution to that problem. This results in a better strategy. #TwitterSmarter
— Pavel Stepanov (@pavelStepanov77) June 10, 2021
Pat yourself on the back! You don’t always win, so when you do, make the most of it. Celebrate your wins! A successful experiment gives you a good content strategy. You’ll have generated great engagement from your audience, and it’s a business opportunity in the making.
A7: Successful experiments deserve a round of applause. Not all are winners so the ones that are offer an opportunity to celebrate. Now I have new content strategy, audience engagement and ultimately new business opportunity. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/96mCVmUxCO
— ? Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster) June 10, 2021
As our friends from GiveWP reminded us, a successful experiment motivates you to keep experimenting and trying new things. Even if it scares you, it only takes one successful experiment to show you how great it is to keep doing it.
A7: One of the most valuable things is that it reinforces the idea that you should constantly be on the lookout for new (sometimes scary) opportunities.
You don’t grow by not letting new ideas in. ?#TwitterSmarter
— GiveWP (@GiveWP) June 10, 2021
Our guest’s ideas were to explore Twitter Spaces, and if that’s a bit overwhelming, try Twitter’s voice tweets. Use it to share your expertise.
A8: Twitter experiment ideas:
1. Dive into Spaces. Schedule weekly sessions.2. Unsure about Spaces? Start with Twitter Voice. 2:20 audio nuggets. Give coaching or product tip or need or motivation. #TwitterSmarter
— ? Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster) June 10, 2021
JMatt shared another great idea: Observe what other people are doing. Implement the ideas that you like and learn from the ideas that you thought didn’t work. Just make sure that your experiments align with your brand.
A8: Consciously consume – what do you like that others are doing (and what don't you like), start implementing those ideas into your content but with your brand's voice. Ideas worth trying are everywhere. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/7JGeSxgR3Z
— JMatt (@JMattMke) June 10, 2021
Well, folks, that’s all from me this week. Thanks for reading through, and for more insights from our chat with Jennifer, check out this Twitter thread. If you think this summary was good, then you’ll love our live chat. Come see for yourself—we’re on #TwitterSmarter every Thursday at 1pm ET.
About me, Narmadhaa:
I write all the 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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