Thread by @oliverjumpertz

I started to take Twitter seriously in March 2020.

Since then, I grew a community of over 30,000 awesome and unique human beings (and some bots).

Here are some lessons I learned along the way that might also help you.

A thread. ↓

1. You need a real goal

I'm not gonna lie. When I started, I thought to myself:

"Let's see how many followers I can get."

But this is not a great goal. There is no end to it.

After 1k followers come 2k, 5k, 10k, 50k, 100k...and so on.

This is a treadmill that is most likely going to lead to burnout.

You'll get depressed when there are days with super slow growth and become ecstatic when you have days with ultra growth.

And this goes on and on and on.

This is why you need a goal not directly associated with your Twitter.

Here are some honest and good ones:

- I want to make money online
- I want to build my business and create awareness for it
- I want to get a job and thus market myself
- I just want to help

It is fine if you want to earn money online. But then work towards exactly this goal, and not for the next 1k to 2k followers.

You can even sell something when you only have a few hundred or thousand followers. And your sales are a way better metric for your success.

2. A community is better than an audience

Social media has social in its name for a reason.

I acted like a content bot for way too long, only interacting from time to time.

The average engagement I gave to someone commenting on my tweets was a like.

But this left out my personality, and it didn't do right to those who took their time to interact with me.

By really interacting with my community, I made many friends, and I still make new ones.

Some of them might leave one day, but for now, we know each other.

We talk through DMs from time to time, we have a slight idea of what currently happens in each other's lives, and it brings all this to a personal level.

Interaction is important.

- Ask for feedback
- Provide your opinion
- Show real interest in your community

Give back from time to time.

If someone asks you whether you can help them through a DM, consider doing it. If someone asks you something publicly, respond.

It makes the experience better for everyone: you, your followers, and those who might soon become.

3. There is no one right way to do things

I read and watched a lot of guides since I started Twitter, and many of them usually try to give you that "one way."

But here is the issue: This is the way that worked for the creator of that course/tutorial/article.

It doesn't necessarily have to work for you.

Even what I share here might not really work for you because you are built differently, have another personality, or have other views.

You need to find out for yourself what works for you.

For you, it might work better to post 6 times a day, or you are better off posting one larger post/thread each day.

Experimentation is what helps you to find your way.

Try a new format out for a week or better two, and then see how that worked.

You can always measure your success rate by taking a look at your actual goal metrics.

- Have your sales increased?
- Did you get more positive feedback?
- Have more thank-you replies and DMs found their way to you?
- Did you get a job offer?

4. Staring at the numbers makes you crazy

I loved to look at the numbers.

I had no real goal, and thus the number of likes, retweets, and new followers, was the only thing I watched.

I can tell you, this takes a toll. And mental health can deteriorate fast.

Any day your numbers don't grow is a bad day.

You try to analyze what happened, why that thread didn't go viral, or why you only gained 50 new followers instead of the 250 like the days before.

Stop this. Better now than later.

If you only aim for follower growth, you might leave your existing followers behind.

And you should never forget that all those who still follow you actually brought you where you are now.

Don't forget them.

Focus on content creation and reserve one spot where you look at your last day's analytics.

And once a week, take a look at your content and see what worked and what didn't.

This is more than enough, and it helps you focus more on the process than the outcome.

5. Talk about what you love

I tried to focus on JavaScript at the beginning because:

- I saw it worked
- I had no clear goal
- I could create enough content for it

But at one point:

- I got tired of it
- Couldn't come up with ideas
- Hated doing it

It is fine to choose a certain topic, but if you are not sure you can talk about something for ages, you better choose a broader niche than a more narrow one.

Create a good mix of things that you can fit into a broader niche.

This gives you enough stuff to talk about.

I am more than only JavaScript.

I learned to love marketing because of content creation. My degree consisted of ~35% business. I own a business. I know more languages than only JavaScript. Etc.

You are also probably more than only one topic.

Whenever you feel like you want to talk about something or create content about it, then do it.

An ultra-focused creator can, of course, come far, but it's not worth it if you don't like to talk about one specific thing forever or at least an extended amount of time.

6. It's okay to go through an evolution

Only because you chose a certain topic once doesn't mean you can never talk about anything else again.

If you grow out of a certain niche, change your direction.

The worst thing you can do is stay where you are and enjoy creating content less and less.

If you want to broaden your scope, that's fine.

If you completely want to change what you talk about, that's also fine.

Goals can change, and so should your strategy to support them.

Perhaps you don't want to look for a job anymore but instead, become a freelancer or create a SaaS.

And perhaps you want to talk about this.

If so, don't hold yourself back and go for it.

7. Don't neglect the world outside of social media

It may seem tempting to sit on Twitter all day, but there is a world outside it.

People won't unfollow because you go dark for a day or work on something.

You will always lose a few followers but those never intended to stay.

If you want to build your business, then actively work on it. This will bring you way further than hours on Twitter.

It is actually way more likely that more people follow you if you have success in real life to show.

A few high-profile users here on Twitter don't post all day and still have millions of followers.

This is because they succeeded in life, built a profitable business, acted in movies, or else.

If your goal is to sell ebooks and courses, then work on those and try to finish them.

You won't come far with them when you spend too much time on marketing yourself.

Don't misunderstand me. Marketing yourself and your personal brand are important, but not everything.

8. Giving without expectations is the best way

This was a really crucial lesson for me.

Whenever I put something out, I don't expect anything.

I share my thoughts, my tips, my threads, but I never expect anything to happen.

I am happy for all the support I get, but I never take it for granted.

You should do the same.

If you let it out, it's out and over. Move on to the next piece of content, and provide because you want to provide.

Interestingly, there is a difference between the content you create with expectations and the content you create without.

In my experience, content created without expectations is the most honest and really valuable.

Those are the real tips, formed from your experience, e.g.

There is no catch to it. It is just there. You are trying to help someone who might have the same problem as you.

This is the content that I personally love the most. This is the content that I, at least, want to provide.

You should consider this, as well.

9. You can neither control nor really understand the algorithm

I struggled with this a lot in the beginning, and it even gives me headaches nowadays.

The Twitter algorithm can be crazy sometimes.

Shitposts go viral. Something you put heart and soul into gets buried.

You should never take this personally. It is how it is.

Your content simply doesn't spread that much on some days, no matter how much work you put into it.

This doesn't mean your content is bad. It is simply the algorithm not showing it to enough people so they can engage.

This is why you should never expect anything when posting.

Be happy when it works. From time to time, take a look at whether you really have to adjust.

But never let it pull you down.

This also leads to the next important point, caring too much about quality.

10. Putting too much time into quality is wasted time

This might be controversial, but here is my personal take on it:

You can put a lot of time into your portfolio and blog posts, but you shouldn't work on your Twitter content for too long.

Thanks to the algorithm, even the most insanely valuable content can get buried, and you will have spent all this time only to see it fall into the void.

Better focus on our overall message and pour out more of it.

Infographics are still valuable if they aren't fancy, e.g.

If you spend all the time you pour into making your infographics ultra-fancy into additional ones, you'll profit way more off it.

The same goes for threads.

Yes, you can format them forever until they are perfect, but if they fail, you've wasted a lot of time.

When you think you are finished, take a second look. But after this, push them out.

Twitter content is too short-lived to justify this level of quality.

You can increase the quality as soon as you gained the experience to do so in less time.

11. Thread end

You've come to the end of this thread. Thanks for reading all of it.

I hope you found something useful in it for you!

If you enjoyed reading this thread, consider dropping a like, retweet the first tweet, and follow me (@oliverjumpertz) for more.