One of the great things about social media is that it’s social: people have conversations, they reciprocate, and they interact. Things you couldn’t do with traditional media.
A favourite social media platform of mine is Twitter, and over the last 12 years, I’ve learned a few tricks to help me improve my Twitter engagement. The key to behind my social interactions on Twitter is my Notifications tab. In fact, I have that open more often than any other tab. It allows me to keep track of every time someone mentions me, retweets me, or comments on something I shared. These actions from others on content I share are what make up the foundation of what I do on Twitter.
Today, I want to share with you what you can do when someone retweets you.
But first, what does it mean when someone retweets your tweet? Well, it can mean a few things:
- If you wrote your thoughts on a subject, retweeting it could mean that the retweeter agrees with the thoughts and wants to share it with their followers
- Alternatively, it could mean they disagree with your thoughts and want their followers to be aware that there is someone out there sharing the thoughts you’re sharing.
- If you shared a link, retweeting it could be a way to show you that they found the link useful and that they think their followers might also find it useful.
As you can see, the reason behind retweets isn’t always cut and dried. After you’ve been on Twitter for a while, you start picking up on how to tell if retweets are friendly or hostile.
When you’ve determined they’re friendly, you should reciprocate with the following 3 actions.
1. Thank them
The first thing I do is thank the person for the retweet. I typically don’t thank them for retweeting content I retweeted myself because I don’t find retweeting the most engaging form of interaction, so it doesn’t mean much to me when someone retweets what I retweet.
However, if someone retweets a tweet I crafted, then they find value in something I created (even if it was based on content I curated). And I find that value meaningful, so I say thank you.
2. Retweet them
Next, I visit their profile page and I look for content to retweet. If the person’s profile is filled with just retweets, then I typically ignore them. If they have their own tweets, and they’re topical, I retweet them.
For example, with Hot Pepper Communications, I look for content related to writing and social media. If I can’t find anything, I might look for something related to entrepreneurship or general marketing.
Retweeting seems the right thing to do when someone retweets you
3. Curate them
The final thing I do is curate their content. This goes beyond retweeting tweets they wrote. I look for blog posts they’ve written (also topical), and I curate them into Buffer for sharing at a future time. I make sure to mention their username when I craft my tweet so they are notified of it and so my followers become aware of this person with great content.
So, there are the 3 steps I take to engage with those who retweet me.
What steps do you take when someone retweets you. Let me know in the comments below.
