I've ghost-written tweets that have had thousands of likes.
And gained clients thousands of profile clicks and followers.
Here are 9 tricks from my toolbox that will 10x your tweets right now.
(All these results are from sub-10k accounts btw.)
Hook the reader.
If the first line doesn't hook them, they're not going to read the tweet. They'll just skip to the next one. Make it irresistible by starting with questions, numbers or unfinished thoughts.
Simplify everything.
People are not on Twitter for deep thought. They're scrolling and half paying attention. The simpler your language, the better. So Remove jargon and long words. Simplify your sentences.
Focus your point.
The most important tweet writing tip I can give: Only make one point per tweet. (Even on a list. Think about it.) Try to make more than one point and you'll fail to make either. It's like trying to run in two directions at once. You fall over.
Relate to your audience.
Are you tweeting about something that makes sense to you? Or to your audience? Relate it to THEM. They're the ones that matter. You win Twitter when people read your tweet and think: "Hey, that's me".
Make it flow.
Every line should draw you on, every phrase should lead to the next. It should be impossible to start the tweet and not get to the end. Don't let any clumsy words interrupt the flow. Read it out loud if you have to so you see any sticking points.
Hit it home.
Get rid of nuance. Nuance sucks on Twitter. There are exceptions to this rule, but see how qualifying that just killed the tweet? Nuance across the timeline, not in the tweet. Hit one point, hit it hard. Short, strong words. Drive it home.
Remove mistakes.
Typos can increase your engagement when the "akshully" guys come out to correct you. But many big accounts won't share a tweet with a mistake in it. Especially not the ones that just look dumb like confusing less/fewer. Take a second to proofread.
Use concrete language
You want to spark imagination. So use language that makes it easy to picture. Say Starbucks instead of coffee, McDonald's instead of fast food, Netflix instead of TV. You get the idea. Make it easy to picture.
Make it sing.
There's no way to learn this but practice. Use rhetorical tricks and flourishes, develop an ear for what works. Learn from the best. You want your tweets to be more than momentary soundbites and have a rhythm and a beauty to them that makes people remember.
But you wasted 18 years at school listening to English teachers preach rules that don't work in the real world.
Here's all the things they should have taught you (but didn't)
//Thread//
Be direct.
There are no word counts in real life. Good writing is clear. Good writing is concise. Good writing uses as few words as necessary. Ditch the filler, adverbs, prepositions, and fluff. Say what you mean. Say it well.
Vary word length.
School teaches you to use the long words. Twitter teaches you to use the short ones. Instead, use the right ones. Sometimes, the long word is the best. Sometimes, the short one is. Think about the precise meaning and emotion you want. What is the best word?