Making your presence felt on Twitter takes work. It is one of the leading social media platforms and has the potential to take your business to the next level.
However, with competition from every corner, you must ensure that your Twitter posts go viral or at least have effective engagement. Only then can your Twitter handle become popular and gain the trust of your audiences. For all this, producing viral tweets and Twitter threads is the best way.
What Is a Viral Tweet?
Viral tweets are a piece of content that can quickly draw the attention of Twitter users. It is retweeted, liked, quoted, and shared by multiple users on various social media platforms. There is no standard definition of a viral tweet, but it is a tweet that is a hit because it grabs people's attention.
How a tweet becomes viral could be for one or more of the following reasons:
- It poses some important questions
- It gives space to some essential debates
- It is associated with a social cause
- It is entertaining people
Your viral tweets must be able to elicit a reaction from your Twitter followers. Remember that it is only when others engage with your tweets that they will go viral.
10 simple ways to make a tweet go viral
Are you wondering how to go viral on Twitter? The solution is simple. Create a viral tweet and let it do the magic. Here are ten efficient ways to make your tweet go viral.
1. Choose a newsworthy topic
Twitter has become a hub for sharing knowledge and newsworthy content. You can share any current news having genuine information on your Twitter handle. You can also share breaking news to which you are a witness by sharing updates or videos of the event. Remember to post such newsworthy content quickly because you must be the first to break the news to gain virality.
An example of a newsworthy viral tweet is of Andy Milonakis, a US-based comedian and influencer, who tweeted about the Crew Dragon spacecraft and its test flight to the International Space Station (ISS). It got around 3.4 million likes and 6.2k replies.
2. Don't shy away from sharing a personal story
To increase the likelihood of getting your tweet shared and retweeted by people, you need to be able to share personal stories with them. Making the tweets personal and unique allows your followers to get insight into your thoughts and feelings, which is always a plus point. This is because personal stories are true, and everyone can relate to such true stories. A personal story in your tweet can appeal to the emotions of Twitter users compelling them to interact with your tweet or an incentive to share the story through a retweet.
For instance, look at this tweet by Amanda Goetz, a single mom and marketer based in Miami. It talks about how she left work early to meet her kids and informed her colleagues without feeling guilty about hiding anything. It received around 15.3k likes and 291 quote tweets as many professionals could relate to it.
3. Ask for retweets
Asking for a retweet has the potential to create a circle of retweets. Once people start retweeting your tweet, it can become a hit tweet. Asking for retweets is a sure-shot way of engaging your users and asking them to help you reach your goals on Twitter. Just be humble and use words like please retweet, retweet, etc., in your tweets without any shame. For example, this Twitter user requests his Twitter followers to retweet his tweet regarding his car washing business. He is able to appeal to his audiences and get around 3.5k retweets because he mentions that the car wash business is his only source of income.
4. Perfectly time your tweet posting
A tweet can go viral only when your followers are active. To go viral, a tweet has to be shared quickly. So you must ensure that you tweet at the right time. You want your tweet to be noticed. Use Twitter analytics to know exactly when your followers are online and time your Twitter posts to get good engagement.
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5. Host a giveaway
Hosting a giveaway is the most convenient way to interact with your Twitter followers and make them engage with your tweets. The purpose of a giveaway is not just to provide freebies to contestants. It is also ensure that they like your content, share it and refer your Twitter handle to friends for the giveaway.
This way, you can increase your followers while also making your content go viral. The Vision Direct UK is a good example of how to host a giveaway to create a hit tweet.
6. Write captivating headlines
Just like how headlines are essential for articles and blogs, enticing headlines are a crucial part of your Twitter ecosystem too. Your headline must be short, crisp, and informative enough to make your followers stop and go through your tweet completely. The whole purpose behind a headline is to encourage your followers to click on your tweet, like it, or retweet it.
You can frame your headline as a question or add numbers to it. You can create a headline that fosters curiosity leaving your audiences wanting more. You can also write a headline that addresses your audience's concerns directly and makes them feel heard. All of these strategies will make your Twitter headline grab attention and gain new followers.
Look at this tweet by Dakota Robertson. It directly addresses men in their 20s and encourages them to read his other tweets. The headline of the tweet is catchy and has a touch of curiosity in it.
7. Add links to your tweet
A workable and practical solution to the question of how to make a tweet go viral is to add relevant links to it. The links should be of resources that can provide value to your followers. If they find the link helpful, they will share your tweet.
Always make sure that you share reliable links and avoid any spam content. For instance, this tweet by Douglas A. Boneparth, sharing the news of Google buying FITBIT by sharing a link to the details by The Verge, a leading portal for news and reviews related to technology.
8. Use hashtags to increase impressions and go viral
Hashtags, no doubt, are important elements of your social media content. However, hashtags should be used sparingly yet smartly on Twitter if you wish to go viral. Trending topics and hashtags can be checked from the trending section, and then tweets/threads can be posted around it to create discussions and spur excitement.
It is advised to use at least two hashtags in every tweet. Also, keep your Twitter account public to make the most of your hashtag usage. You can join conversations associated with important events and conferences, and pop culture, celebrate the holiday season, and promote your brand and its campaigns through relevant hashtags.
Look at how the Korean boy band BTS spread awareness of how Asians face discrimination worldwide by using the hashtag #StopAsianHate #StopAAPIHate. This tweet was able to garner 2.4 million likes and 120.8k replies.
9. Show your sense of humor
Being humorous on Twitter with respect and modesty should be your aim if you want your followers to engage with your Twitter handle. Everyone loves an entertaining Twitter handle that knows how to make a joke or two.
For instance, this tweet by Brooklin Nash (content writer) on the structure of an SEO article was humorous enough to resonate with people in the content marketing industry. The tweet was viewed 31.7k times; it was retweeted 85 times and liked by 363 Twitter users.
10. Follow an already-viral trend and share your opinion
The already-viral trend would be a meme, an image/video etc., that has been making rounds on Twitter for a long time. You can leverage the trend and follow it by sharing your opinion via a tweet or series of tweets.
Memes are highly popular among Twitter users. But with memes, you need to be timely, and you must be aware of the context in which the memes are being shared to avoid negative consequences. Memes will also help add humor and amp the entertainment quotient of your tweet.
Twitter is flooded with several trends, one of them being the ‘one word’ trend in September, 2022. This trend was inspired by a tweet by Amtrak, a rail service company that tweeted the word ‘trains’ and got more than 179k likes and 22k retweets. The one-word trend got traction on Twitter and many individuals and companies joined the trend. For instance, NASA tweeted ‘Universe’, and the President of USA tweeted ‘Democracy’, giving more thrust to this viral trend.
11: Additional tip to post a viral tweet: Leave space for replies
Keep your tweet length to a minimum so that there is space for others to reply to you. The space will allow your followers to get back to you with links, hashtags, and mentions. By leaving space for replies, you allow Twitter users to engage with your tweet in a better manner.
5 examples of viral tweets to get inspired by
1. Viral tweet thread: Sahil Bloom
The entrepreneur and investor Sahil Bloom shared a Twitter thread that got more than 6k retweets, 440 quote tweets and more than 22k likes. The tweet was about the paradoxes in life. In the thread, he covered a range of paradoxes sharing valuable insights and life lessons which Twitter users found relatable. It also became viral because these lessons were related to his own life experiences.
2. Viral tweet sharing a personal story: Gagan Biyani
Gagan Biyani, CEO at Maven (a company offering online courses from industry experts on a range of topics like writing, marketing, business, leadership, etc.), shared his story of getting fired from his previous company, Udemy on Twitter. The thread narrated his journey at Udemy and how he got fired and captured the attention of many.
It had around 8.5k retweets and 24.6 likes on Twitter as it shared important life lessons on not giving up and constantly improving to attract new opportunities in life.
3. Viral tweet posing a question: Jason Kirk
Jason Kirk, Senior editor at The Athletic, asked his Twitter users a question that elicited entertaining responses from his users. He asked them if they could defeat a famous person who shares their first name in physical combat. He also added a poll in the tweet, which made it more engaging.
The Twitter poll results showed that the poll by Jason had more than 1.50k votes. His tweet had more than 4k likes and more than 1k retweets. It also went viral because users mentioned celebs like John Cena, Patrick Stewart, Jason Momoa, etc. while tagging some of them on the thread.
4. Relatable viral tweet: Bella Ciao
A Twitter user named Bella Ciao tweeted this meme from a popular comedy Bollywood film- Hera Pheri to depict the disruption in WhatsApp services in October 2022. His tweet became viral as it received over 28k retweets, 2k quote tweets and 111k Twitter likes.
The tweet was able to garner engagement as it was timely as Whatsapp users had turned to Twitter to check if Whatsapp services were really down, so the meme was posted at the best time. And it shared information in a humorous manner that many users found entertaining.
5. Viral tweet sharing valuable information: Fabian Arbor
Fabian Arbor’s tweet shares valuable information on the number of animals left in the world by depicting the number in the form of pixels in the picture. The tweet is creative yet sad because it highlights the harsh reality of the endangered species of Galapagos Penguines, Amur Leopard, Rhino and Tiger. The number of colored pixels on the pic represents the number of each species alive on Earth. This informative tweet from Fabian got 1.6k retweets and 6.2k likes on Twitter.
Actionable steps you can take to make a tweet go viral
1. Write consistently on Twitter for 90 straight days
You cannot expect to go viral on Twitter until and unless you keep posting for at least ninety days. Your followers must know that you are an active user of Twitter. To this end, post regularly and diligently. With continuous posting on Twitter, your content will also improve as you will be better aware of current trends that work on Twitter.
2. Balance tweet and thread mix
Posting tweets on your Twitter handle has to be done daily. But you can sometimes also post interesting threads posing questions or sharing vital information with your followers. You can choose viral tweets topic from the trending section and post a thread on it. This is essential if you want to keep your Twitter feed up-to-date while at the same time keeping your audiences engaged.
3. Follow and interact with Twitter fellows
Your virality on Twitter depends on your followers. If you do not interact with them, you will not be able to build lasting relationships with them. This would mean that they would slowly lose interest in your Twitter content. So instead, keep engaging with your followers. Follow them back, retweet and like their content whenever you find something appealing. You can get in touch with them on DMs as well.
4. Write a concise and appealing Twitter profile bio
Your Twitter profile bio will provide you with an online identity through which your followers will know and relate to you. Therefore, it has to be written appropriately and concisely. It should introduce you to your Twitter followers and make them aware of the kind of content you will share on your handle.
5. Share visual and audio content
Do not just post tweets with textual content. You can always switch to audio-visual content to offer something new to your followers. Such content will enhance the retention capacity of your followers and even emotionally appeal to them.
The point is to be creative with your viral content by sharing memes, infographics, videos, images, GIFs, etc., in your tweet, which will improve your following on Twitter. You will also get an opportunity to express yourself creatively, highlight essential data, showcase yourself and differentiate yourself from other Twitter users.
6. Add data/numbers in your tweet
You can add data and numbers to make your Twitter post attractive. Please do not write the numbers in a text format but in their numerical form, as that would grab more attention and is easy to read as well. Adding numbers would create more visibility for your tweet than plain textual content.
Write a viral tweet that makes an impact
You do not have to brainstorm alone when writing a viral tweet post when Scalenut has got you covered. Scalenut is an AI-powered SEO and content marketing platform that can help you generate content that is engaging and entertaining.
Scalenut’s social media post generator tool is easy to use and can create content for any social media platform like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. You just have to provide a little bit of context and once you click on generate, you get posts that have the potential to grab the audience's attention and create a buzz.
Sign up on Scalenut now to make it a partner in your journey to becoming viral on Twitter.
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