By Guest Blogger Ovetta Sampson, Write Way Writing

The Tweet Factor – A Must Have for Businesses?

Nearly three out of four Internet users belong to some sort of social media website, including Twitter. Twitter is not a fad. With 100 million users, if you’re not using Twitter to connect with your customers you are losing a grand opportunity to increase sales.

What is ReTweet, Please?

A ReTweet is when someone takes your Twitter message and links to their Twitter feed. This allows your Twitter link to be seen by their Twitter followers. It’s like paying for local airplay and having someone playing that ad in front of a microphone at ALL radio stations around the world.

Should I Tweet?

When people ReTweet your content, your marketing message spreads throughout the ReTweeter’s network. This allows you reach hundreds, if not thousands, of potential customers to find out about you. These are not just random folk either. We’re a nation of tribes and people who like the same things tend to have the same social media groups. So chances are, when your marketing message is ReTweeted it’s going to someone who may be interested in your product.

The SEO Factor of Twitter

The ReTweet me factor creates more in-bound links to your online content. In-bound links are essential to your search and page rankings and having more people link to your website or blog through ReTweets can only help. So let’s review why ReTweet me important.

• Retweet me builds buzz.
• Retweet me connects you to a potential customer's friends, family, and anyone else following them.
• Retweet me builds back links to help with search engine rankings.

• Retweet me leads to new followers.

Just Saying ReTweet Me Isn’t Enough

You need a Retweet me strategy. Like anything else on the web, popularity rules, people link to GREAT Web content. So let’s look at the king of the ReTweet me strategy – Rev. Run.

Rev Run’s brand is positivity and love. So his tweets all have common elements. They are:

• Inspirational.
• Profound.
• Uplifting.
• Hardly ever self-promoting.
• And he nearly always uses the word that has the highest ReTweet me factor:  YOU!

You can delve deep into the science of ReTweet me with HubSpot’s excellent webinar, The Science of ReTweets by researcher Dan Zarrella. There is a science to being ReTweeted , including best time for ReTweets (around 5 p.m.), best day (Friday) and best type (news).  Check out the webinar to get scientific proof, but here are some tips on how to up your ReTweet me factor.

1. Address the royal “you.”  According to Zarrella, “you,” is the most retweeted word. (Doesn’t surprise me at all since everyone’s most favorite word is the sound of their own name.) Address your tweets about others not about yourself.
2. Don’t self-promote!  (Just had to repeat that.)
3. Give good offer. Another popular ReTweet word is “free,” so offer free stuff – a free consultation, phone call, iPad, whatever you can.
4. Be polite and ask for ReTweets.  Zarrella says “please,” is the third most popular ReTweeted word as in “Please, ReTweet me.”
5.  Upgrade level of your content. This may sound counterintuitive but ReTweets are “smarter,” than most Twitter feeds.  
6.  Tweet Urgency – Twitter is an on demand service. Make your tweets unique and add urgency, something like” ReTweet this and win a chance to get an iPad TODAY.” 
7.  Tweet Links using URL-shorteners. Remember you only have 140 characters so use your tweets to attach links to other content using URL shorteners such as bit.ly or ow.ly. 
8. Be inspiring.  You’re a business owner. You’re inspiring; Share the inspirational messages that have gotten you through. The first Twitter feed I followed was Zappos.com’s CEO Tony Hsieh. I love his quirky, sometimes profound missives from his mind.
9. Be real. Let’s face it people don’t follow companies on Twitter for ads. They want to be real with you. Be real with them.
10. Be responsive. A new survey found that 75% of consumers trust companies who use social media like Twitter to respond to questions and complaints etc. So if someone Tweets you a question, be responsive to consumer requests.