When I look at my Twitter-stream, I find that there are some people whose tweets regularly stand out. They offer a beguiling mix of information and wit that burst onto my screen like verbal fireworks. Beautifully formed thoughts that give the impression of having just rolled effortlessly off the keyboard.
A friend of mine, Mark Wnek, who moved out to The States to become Chief Creative Officer of Lowe NY, is a masterful Twitter writer. He’s got a brilliant mind, a razor sharp wit and doesn’t suffer fools. His tweets sometimes read like the verbal assaults of an ego-maniac, but they’re always underpinned by self-deprecation and humanity. Love him or hate him, his tweets are a joy to read. How the hell does he do it?
Well, for starters he’s a copywriter with 25 years experience behind him. A writer who’s taken years to learn his craft. If you come from a background of press ad and poster writing, you can’t help but feel at home on Twitter. (The optimum length for a poster headline is 6-8 words.)
For the would-be Mark Twain of Twitter there’s a lesson in this: follow the right people. Make sure you read at least some top quality tweets each day for inspiration.
But, like the spoken word, tweets barely even exist before being swept away by a never-ending torrent of newer posts. Does it really matter what you write? Well, unless you’re happy talking to yourself, yes it does.
So, what makes a good tweet?
It’s a remarkably difficult question to answer. Inevitably, it’s a combination of factors: brevity; wit; interesting information; timing; personality.
If you have established an engaging tone of voice, then a few words from you can have a huge impact. Stephen Fry, for example, sounds witty saying almost anything. Easy if you’re him, but since you’re not, you’ll have to work at it.
If you’re tweeting on behalf of your charity, you need to ask yourself:
1. Are your tweets the optimum length?
2. What should the mix of messages be?
3. How often is it okay to ask for support?
4. How do you write a tweet that will get re-tweeted?
5. How do you track your tweets?
(Answers at the end.)
There are some tweeters who come totally left of field. One of my favourites is Drsamueljohnson. He (or she?) writes every tweet in the style of the esteemed 18th century author. Believe it or not, it works. The tweets are unmistakable and often hilarious.
One of the ways to become a good writer on Twitter is to become a good listener. What I mean by this is learning to spot subtext.
There is a constant stream of people ready to denounce Twitter for being banal. Even Ken Burnett recently, rather wickedly, described Twitter as ‘drowning in a sea of trivia’. He was being deliberately provocative, I know, but the point I want to make back to Ken is: learn to read between the lines, you’ll get a lot more out of it.
For example, I saw a tweet the other day from someone who’s a real social media ‘pro’, which read (I’m paraphrasing):
“Goodness it’s 3.30, where has the time gone?”
Can you get more trivial than this?
Think about it again.
This is a guy who keeps up a pretty constant stream of tweets and has a huge following. He’s been off air for hours. His tweet is telling me that he’s back (sorry if he ignored me in the interval); he’s telling me that he’s up for a chat; he’s telling me that he’s been incredibly busy; he’s saying hello. Trivial? I don’t think so.
There is another reason it’s worth honing your craft when it comes to Twitter writing. It will make you a better writer – period. Being brief, concise, witty, attractive and informative all leads to writing that is more effective. If you can write for Twitter, you can write for anything.
Now, back to those questions I posed earlier. You can get the answers to all of them, plus a whole heap of really useful tips, at Writing For Twitter, the course I’m running on 5th October. Hope to see you there.
