Twitter Account Strategies

Introduction/ Allowances and Constraints

Twitter is a social media outlet that allows its users to publish their thoughts in 140 character
messages to a global or private audience depending on each users preferences. Twitter is self-described
as The best way to connect with people, express yourself and discover what's happening. Twitter
affords users to have a globally heard voice and a connection to 271 million users. Users can post text
and photos to convey their intended message. Twitter lends the opportunity to connect with any user
on the site by following and/or tagging them- including celebrities and important figures. Twitters direct
message feature allows for private communication within the social app, however the messages are still
limited to the 140 character constraint. When you begin to follow users on twitter, the site notices
trends and will recommend others to follow that are similar. Users can also import contacts from their
email account to see if any of those individuals are active on the site and are then given the option to
follow them.
Twitter allows for global movements and awareness through the use of hashtags and retweets
which create trends that can be tracked on the site. Trending hashtags invite users to tweet and reply to
each other, beginning a mass-scale conversation on a given subject. Twitter can also gives the option for
tweets to be geo-located so it shows where you are posting from and allows the user to see trends on
twitter in their area. Tweets can be published from and read on multiple devices including but not
limited to computers, tablets and phones. Since there are apps for Twitter on all mobile devices, users
are able to integrate their tweets into other social media like Facebook and more. The power and
potential of Twitter can be harnessed by media companies and business alike to spread their content
and/or market their products. These companies typically take advantage of third party sites like
Hootsuite.com where they can schedule content to be posted throughout the day and on multiple
media sites like Facebook and Instagram.
Twitters greatest constraint is its 140 character maximum. This places a hold on the amount of
characters a user may tweet, thus challenging the writer to be short and concise with their message.
Unfortunately messages can sometimes be misinterpreted, making it crucial for the writer to
communicate their thoughts clearly and direct within these character limitations. Users have the option
of expressing themselves in multiple tweets or using third party apps like TwitLonger which allow for
tweets that are longer than 140 characters or url shorteners like bitly, which allow for longer links to fit
into the allotted space.
When writing on the internet, the author usually has a certain audience in mind, but there will
always be an unknown number of second and third party viewers. Some users will opt to have their their
account protected which only allows a selected audience to view their content. This places a voluntary
limit on the reach their tweet gets, especially since the content cannot be retweeted or seen on
hashtags.
As a social medium, Twitter has multiple allowances and constraints. As a whole Twitter is an
effective social media that would greatly contribute to the #WhyIWrite narrative.

Planning
With our Twitter account, we will do the standard Twitter strategy and update the status of the
Initiatives profile. Status updates will be posted daily, if not more, depending on the happenings within
the project. Occasionally, we could choose to feature a participating freshman, by retweeting their
status and/or sharing their work, recognizing them as new writers. Links to our website would be

Twitter Account Strategies

regularly included as our presence on Twitter grows, along with related images and videos would be
posted to capture the attention of those on Twitter.
One of the affordances of Twitter includes the prospect of trending hashtags, which appear on
the left-hand side of the screen, as users scroll down their feed. One can start conversations by the
trends that appear, which usually reflect the most popular media, culture, and news. Trending hashtags
also takes into account the users location and picks up what specific tags are trending in that users
area, revealing what is most important to that particular demographic. Examples of potential hashtags
include #writeright, #WIW (Why I Write), and #writemotivation.
Connecting trending hashtags with spreading the initiative, users may create hashtags that
correlate with whatever audience they are working to reach. This can be utilized internally within Florida
State across departments (in some sort of competition among the majors), statewide with other public
Florida universities, and/or connect with other schools in the ACC conference (much like the Road
Scholars have done this past semester), where the possibilities can reach national levels.
The Twitter account ought to have a personal feel with its own persona and attitude. This can
either be done by a person within the Writing Initiative, or preferably by someone outside of it but still
connected. When this spreads to multiple universities across the state, we would have a celebrity
representative at each institution. For example, at Florida State, we could have Red Lightning run the
account. The account would change hands every year to someone else at a different institution after
National Writing Day has passed. In this way, the voice will continuously change and remain fresh and
engaging, garnering a wider audience interested in the Initiative due to the self-representation of each
respective institution.
In order to create a more diverse audience, we could provide tangible rewards and
incentives. For example, at Florida State we could offer students things such as Spirit points for how
much they participate in and promote the Writing Initiative on Twitter (tracked through their hashtags
and retweets), creating an effective way to get people involved and spreading the word quickly across
campus. Other institutions could figure their rewards systems out independently. This would require a
lot of cooperation with the university officials, and may not necessarily be feasible, but even if it were
only manageable at Florida State, it would give the Initiative a good base of support.
Twitter Strategies
In order to run a successful Twitter campaign, we must think of ways to integrate our marketing
into Twitter. In other words, we cannot think of Twitter as a separate entity, but as another way of
conveying our message to the proper people. The best ways to achieve this are listed below.

Follow accounts that are similar and will help convey our message.
o It is important that accounts we follow show the campaigns interests as it serves to show
what we are about as well as offers access to other accounts followers may be interested
in. Additionally, following accounts that are similar may get them to follow us and they may
in turn spread our campaign and raise awareness
Integrate visual content.
o Using visuals can help make tweets standout in a timeline. When someone is scrolling
through their twitter, an image or a video may catch their eye amidst a sea of other
tweets. Additionally, a picture can be more interesting sometimes.
Engage the audience.
o The content of our account should be interesting so that followers will actually want to
follow us. If our tweets do not interest people, then no one will follow, retweet or mention

Twitter Account Strategies

us. Additionally, we should interact with followers in order to build our presence within the
community.
Make twitter important.
o Do not just tweet for the sake of tweeting. The tweets should serve to further our goal and
make people interested in our campaign.
Update at the right times.
o Certain groups of people have certain periods that they are most likely free. For college
students, the best time is probably during the day or at night. Students often have random
periods of down time so steady tweeting through the day will catch students when they are
most likely to be checking twitter.
Use hashtags.
o Using a hashtag makes tweets twice as engaging. A hashtag allows us to reach people that
do not follow us. Additionally, it will allow new people to find the account because they
have a similar interest. Hashtags are perfect raising awareness.
Keep tweets short.
o Research shows 100 characters is the ideal length for a tweet. Shorter tweets are easier to
be digested and also more friendly to being retweeted. Additionally, leaving 40 characters
allows followers to add their own comment to the message.
Share the right types of tweet.
o A good thing to do is maintain a ratio of the types of tweets you send, like four links to every
mention, for example. This makes sure you are sending the right types of content.

Twitter Account Strategies

Bibliography:
http://writingspaces.org/wwsg/whats-different
DeMers, Jayson. "How To Build A Winning Twitter Strategy In 2014."Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 01 Apr.
2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
Lee, Kevan. "Twitter Strategy Guide: 14 Twitter Tips to Take You to the Next Level." Buffer Social. N.p.,
23 Apr. 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
https://support.twitter.com/articles/14016-about-public-and-protected-tweets#
https://about.twitter.com/