RIP, volume engagement. Among Twitter’s algorithm changes in 2018 was a move that forced content marketers to redefine how to engage with audiences on behalf of brands. The platform updated its terms of service to stipulate that accounts can no longer cross-post or repurpose identical content on the platform. It they do, they risk having their accounts being locked or banned.
This bold change has produced positive effects, curbing millions of fake accounts, bots and malicious tweets. But it also complicates the lives of social marketers, because many subscribe to the idea that a single piece of content, tweeted once, is unlikely to result in a blinding flash of social adulation.
After all, 100 percent of any brand’s relevant audience isn’t on Twitter all the time or even perhaps at what data analytics suggest is the “best” time.
What does this mean?
Social teams need to follow Twitter best practices by developing a quality curated approach in both content publishing and engagement if the goal is to define, build and own audiences.
In our own work, this has sometimes meant reducing the volume of tweets for brands, adding variation in the tweet copy to each piece of content, automating a publishing pipeline via RSS and pivoting to a more engagement-focused model through social listening.
Here’s an example from one of our programs. Our engagement team’s adjustment in strategy and tactics over six months—aligned to the updated Twitter algorithm—began to show some results and a bounce back from the change:
A program that emphasizes building relationships, crafting strategic engagements and cultivating key audience interactions will be positioned for successful organic engagement on Twitter.
