How to Get Retweeted and Build Authority

Retweets are one of the best indicators for assessing authority on Twitter. A retweet is arguably more important than the original tweet because it acts like a third party endorsement. When someone else comes along and says, “I like this, so I’m sharing it with more people”, it reveals something about the original post that is very difficult to achieve in isolation.

A retweet is what makes Twitter viral. By itself, a tweet is merely a mass broadcast message — much like words called out through a PA system. But when someone repeats what you’ve said, your message has suddenly become social.

Imagine what happens, when you get a retweet of a retweet of your original tweet.

Retweets don’t just qualify as word of mouth; they qualify as a very loud word of mouth. The retweet possesses the power of amplification such that, the more something is retweeted, the more audible it becomes.

Think about it…

You tweet to 100 people and they each tweet to 100 people. Your message has reached 10,000 people in a very short space of time.

It’s phenomenal!

More importantly, retweets show that someone has derived value from your content. Just because you gain traffic from Twitter doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good traffic. Visitors sometimes only stay for a very short time. Similarly, a conversation on Twitter is rarely deep or complex and certainly not at the levels at which business is often conducted.

A retweet on the other hand, means someone really did like your content, and they endorsed it and this builds authority.

Whether your audience is large or small, Twitter’s value is in sharing your message. Therefore, your first consideration should be in encouraging retweets or, at the very least, providing content that inspires them to retweet.

Retweets are Twitter’s barometer for social relevancy. They are the easiest way to go viral. Most importantly, they show that someone values your content.

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