Twitter Engagement: How to Connect With People on Twitter

Wondering how to increase your reach on Twitter?

Want tips for building your audience and boosting engagement?

To explore the Twitter algorithm and creative ways to interact with others on Twitter, I interview Andrew Pickering and Peter Gartland.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers, business owners, and creators discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode, I interview Andrew Pickering and Peter Gartland, also known as Andrew and Pete. They authored Content Mavericks, and are known for creating highly shareable content, specifically on Twitter and YouTube. They also have a podcast called The Andrew and Pete Show.

Andrew and Pete explain why engagement is essential to increasing your visibility on Twitter.

You'll discover different types of tweets Andrew and Pete use to add value for their audience.

Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below.
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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Twitter Engagement
Andrew and Pete's Story

Andrew and Pete's "bromance" started in 2008. They met at university, became great friends, and bonded over their ambition to one day rule the world. Although they planned to run a business together after graduation, Andrew also wanted to move to the other side of the country to live with his girlfriend so Pete decided to move to Newcastle and be the third wheel.

As new, young kids in a big city, Andrew and Pete had no contacts and no customers but wanted to run a marketing company. Although the duo did the things they read about (tweeting, posting on Facebook, and blogging on their website), their online presence was doing nothing. However, in-person networking was bringing them a ton of business.

At in-person networking events, Andrew and Pete stood out as a little bit wild. They threw chocolates across the room and always had party poppers. Soon they became known in their local area as the fun marketing duo.

Andrew and Pete were personable and up for a laugh in person, but their online presence was corporate and boring. So they decided to put what was working for them offline into their social media content. After they began using social media to interact with others and create engaging content, their online presence started to take off. Their content would get shared and people started to know them online.

This was in 2011 when there was only Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Twitter was the one that really suited them best. It was fun, fast-paced, engaging, and quick to use, but most importantly, open. Twitter was like those open networking rooms. They could walk in and say hello to whomever they wanted.

Listen to the show to discover how we met at Social Media Marketing World 2015 and the impression Andrew and Pete made on me.

The Twitter Algorithm

When Twitter began using an algorithm to determine what users see, the algorithm didn't make drastic changes. That's because Twitter classifies itself as a news site, not a social media platform, and wanted users to continue seeing timely tweets. Even with the algorithm, Twitter is still the best place to find out what's happening right now. Facebook is more about what's happening this week, and Facebook's algorithm shows you more posts that are older.

To understand the Twitter algorithm, start with the two main elements of your Twitter feed: your main timeline and a new bit called "In case you missed it." The main timeline is no longer chronological. You might see a tweet from half an hour ago, one from 2 minutes ago, and another from 7 minutes ago. What you see is ranked based on your interests, but Twitter still tries to make what you see fairly timely. Also, Twitter sometimes slips a tweet from someone you don't follow into the timeline.