John S. Wolfe

This is another in a series of reports about the Social Media Marketing 2010 conference, held June 17 in London.

A lot of people are Tweeting. And a lot of it is less than interesting, and thus less effective.

Sue Keogh of Sookio Ltd. offered a primer on Twitter at the June 17 Social Media Marketing conference in London.

Sue Keogh of Sookio identifies the good and bad in Tweets.

Her 7 tips for “Tweets that travel”:

1. In Twitter, tell the reader what the Tweet is about but tease it. Make followers want to click on the link or respond.
2. Make sure the headline is good! It’s best to include a call to action or to phrase the Tweet as a question.

   The most popular content?

   1. Lists
   2. “Insider” knowledge
   3. Advice (but it has to work!)
   4. Topical/seasonal issues
   5. Shared experience
   6. Picking a “tribe” to belong to (i.e. “What kind of pirate are you?”)
   7. Dos and don’ts

One trick is this type of Tweet: A number + an adjective + the item + the “sticky” message.

“Like ’83 Beautiful WordPress Themes You (Probably) Haven’t Seen,’” Keogh said.

1. Use the five W’s – who, what, where, when, and why – as signposts for the reader. Example: “What Apple didn’t announce at the computer show, and why.”
2. Know the search engines/aggregators and the content they provide.

   Facebook and Twitter deal with data; YouTube is what you see; Digg is about how-tos; and Reddit is more shocking, not-safe-for-work content.

   “The most popular Tweets tend to involve learning, positive content and suggestive references,” she said. “The bad is negative content, geek-y stuff and ‘-ing’ stuff.”

   She recommends being positive, focusing on the user (use the word “you” and offer help), updating social media posts, and using nouns.

3. Understand good English and use it!
4. Use “lots” of punctuation
5. Do “Twitter” math: Keep Tweets to 115 characters to allow followers to Re-Tweet with a short comment.

In conclusion, Keogh — who said she basically follows journalists and writers — noted that proper use of grammar is an asset.

“If you can write in good, clear English then you’ll have a head start on most of the people tweeting out there,” she said.

In her research for the presentation, she was reminded anew that it’s not all like that out there.

“I came across this Justin Bieber stuff and it was crazy!” she said.

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