Those small business owners and entrepreneurs out there that use Twitter may find this article as interesting as we did. Hubspot viral marketing scientist Dan Zarrella spent nine months analyzing roughly 5 million tweets and 40 million retweets (symbolized with an “RT” on Twitter) to scientifically figure out what characteristics are common in retweeted tweets. Here are a couple of tips for those of you that want your tweets retweeted by your followers:
1. Link Up (But Don’t Use TinyURLs)
In Zarrella’s sample, links were three times more prevalent in RTs than normal tweets (19% to 57%), suggesting that their mere presence could help buoy your bon mots. (Not sure whether that holds true for sporadic use of French terms.) But choose your URL shortener carefully: Newer, shorter services, such as bit.ly, ow.ly, and is.gd, were much likelier to get retweeted than older, longer services, such as TinyURL. Ouch.
2. Beggars Can Be Choosers
Although conventional wisdom suggests that SPAMmy pleas, such as “PLEASE RETWEET,” would be generally ignored, Zarrella found the opposite. “Please” and “retweet” were his third and fourth “most retweetable” words, preceeded only by “Twitter” (duh) and “you.” Also worth noting: “Check out” and “new blog post” were Nos. 19 and 20, respectively.
3. Avoid Idle Chit-Chat
Okay, let’s face it: We all occasionally tweet about “boring” activities, such as sleeping and watching TV. But alas, these are the types of words and phrases Zarrella dubs “least retweetable.” “There are a number of ‘-ing’ verbs, including ‘going,’ ‘watching’ and ‘listen-ing,'” that were not retweeted very often, he writes. Translation: Unless you’ve got a really interesting life–Shaquille O’Neal, anyone?–do not legitimately answer Twitter’s “What are you doing?” prompt.
Read the other six tips on the Fast Company blog.