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017 4 Keys for Creators Trying to Get the Hang of Twitter DOC 08-26-2024
Curiosity: How can you make Twitter easier to grasp for IG + TIKTOK creators?
Category: Insights
For creators who’ve spent time mastering their angles, video edits, and IG captions, Twitter (some people call it X) can feel like a completely different planet. Trending topics have more impact on the conversation, and if you don’t already have people to engage with, it can be jarring. However, if there was ever a platform that rewards you for time spent, it’s Twitter.
TWITTER IS A GIANT GROUP CHAT
Twitter is more like a giant group chat than a typical social media platform. Where Instagram and TikTok reward you most for the content you create, Twitter rewards you more for your activity. If you think about your groupchats, they function pretty much the same way.
How boring is a group chat filled with people you have no inside jokes with?
Who don’t share your interests?
Who don’t even reply?
The main reason people feel lost on Twitter is because they’re tweeting at “people” and getting engagement from “people,” but it might as well be bots because there’s no real connection that’s sustaining the interaction on the platform.
If you can create your core community and curate that “group chat” experience, you'll start to enjoy the benefits of Twitter just like any other social platform.Those who don’t have to start from scratch are lucky. But for those looking to take a fresh look at Twitter and its new monetization opportunities, keeping these four things in mind will make the transition much easier.
Here’s how to do it:
1. SHRINK YOUR GROUP CHAT
More than 200 million people are active on Twitter at any given time. Trying to speak into that giant ocean of thoughts, memes, gifs, pictures, and videos that flow endlessly is enough to make anyone decide not to.
Instead of engaging with the millions of global users, niche down and get specific about who you want to talk to and what you want to talk about. When it comes to creating online content and building a community on Twitter, specificity is key.
Why?
Because people are trying to shrink their group chats just like you are. They’re more likely to engage with topics and media that connect to their own experiences, aspirations, or even fears. The more general your account, the more artificial it feels, and the less likely people will find it.
Think about your personal interests, what you want to share, and the kind of media you enjoy consuming. Let that guide you in curating a group chat that attracts the right audience and community, making it more fun to be part of.
2. BE YOURSELF, NOT JUST YOUR INFLUENCER-SELF
If you’ve curated your group chat and niched down, you’ve probably found a group of people you enjoy engaging with, who post tweets you like and share too. You’ve also started to realized that Twitter is far from polished. If Instagram is LA and TikTok is Miami today, then Twitter is Hollywood in the ’80s or New York in the ’90s on any given day.
This is where you need to deviate from the structured content creator format and focus on making more meaningful connections by tweeting in a way that reflects who you are — good, bad, and indifferent.
It’s not about being another influencer; it’s about being YOU.
The easiest way to do that is by taking a less structured approach to building your community and being open to expressing the more relatable and unpolished parts of yourself. If you love something, love it out loud. Think the Knicks are better than the Heat? Say it with confidence. Been playing Tems all week? Share your favorite songs. Found a workout routine giving you amazing results? Break it down and make a thread about it.
You’d share the secret sauce of a fire taco spot with your group chat, right?
It might seem obvious, but for creators who’ve built audiences by tailoring their content to specific styles and topics, this can feel uncomfortable.
Think about it this way:
- What can you not shut up about?
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What do you wish more people didn’t shut up about?
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What excites you that you’re willing to learn more about?
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Who are you in your friend group, show up on Twitter the same way?
3. REPLY AND HAVE CONVERSATIONS
If you’ve shrunk your group chat and are being yourself, chances are you’ve seen solid engagement and are finding Twitter more fun.
But it’s not just about fun, right?
You want to leverage the platform to build your audience, find brand sponsorships, or create another revenue stream. Nothing helps you do that more than replying to people and having real conversations that remind them you’re genuinely there.
You don’t have to fake it. Let the replies flow naturally, just like they would in person. The algorithm loves it, too. According to Twitter’s algorithm breakdown on GitHub, replies are weighed far more than likes, and replying to replies on your original tweets can boost engagement by at least 75 times.
Twitter’s monetization opportunities are growing, and for creators who want to tap into them, your ability to maintain high impressions is mandatory. Whether you’re talking about Subscriptions, which allow you to charge for exclusive content, or Ads Revenue Sharing that pays you a portion of ads being served in the replies of your posts, you have to be a consistent draw for engagement; Twitter rewards users for putting in the effort to grow their account.
4. RESIST THE URGE TO MAKE THINGS MORE “EFFICIENT”
I get it. Adding another social media platform to your plate can be overwhelming, especially if you’re starting closer to 0 than to 10K followers. But you can’t let that feeling override the fact that activity is needed, especially in the beginning. You’re going to have to tweet, tweet regularly, and engage with more people than you might be used to on other platforms.
If you can resist the urge to automate things or use ChatGPT for your tweets (people can tell), and if you’re willing to reply to comments, be yourself unapologetically, and niche down early on, you’ll have a lot of fun using Twitter while getting the most out of the platform.