Twitter is all the rage today and many people, businesses and brands have flocked to it to spread their information to their audience. In this effort, many brands have changed their ways in publishing content to Twitter to be more dynamic, full-duplex like and to actually care and engage in their audience.
However, there is one phrase that has agitated me nearly every time I read it, “Please RT.” This translates to “Please Re-Tweet” and sometimes abbreviated with “Pls RT” following a message. There are several reasons why you should not append it on your Tweets.
The very purpose of Re-Tweets (RTs) are to enable people to share a piece of relevant content to their audience that is someone else’s. Often, it’s a measure of Twitter engagement and overall success on a content. During the early ages of this (tweet)meme, people would usually append “Please RT” on the end of their cause-related messages to encourage more people to RT their content.
It worked. But not anymore.
Too many people Re-Tweet too many things for the activity to make a difference. There are exceptions to this, such as AMBER Alerts or similar emergency-related Tweets that intend to help serve the community. But even then, not even those Tweets require the presence of a “Please RT” text in their 140 character passages. After experimenting a lot on Twitter with over 8,000 published Tweets (I could probably write a book with all of them), I’ve hammered out my thoughts on the use of “Please RT” into the points below:
Why You Should Not Use ‘Please RT’ on Twitter
- Good Tweets Get Re-Tweeted. Many of the world’s best Twitter messages already get rebroadcast on their own merit by people. If you want more Re-Tweets (I think we all secretly want to), post relevant and helpful content that people wouldn’t be ashamed of sharing.
- “Please RT” == Desperation. Whenever I see someone append “Please RT” on their Tweets, I instantly think it’s an act of desperation for them to be heard. I might look at it to determine the merit, but they drop a few levels in my book if they don’t have worthy content. If I happen to RT them, I omit their needy request.
- Not Effective. I’ve tested on various subjects, content and audiences and trust me when I say that when “Please RT” is present in a Tweet, it doesn’t bring in any more traffic, RTs or any other success metric. In fact, RT-worthy content was not Re-Tweeted as a result.
- Not Everyone Will Re-Tweet You. Not everyone will Re-Tweet you. Even at the optimal “22 Daily Tweets,” there comes a point where it’s information overload and asking people to contribute to the problem won’t help. It’s OK. The lack of a RT is not saying people don’t like what you post, but it is a measure of feedback like other measurable social media factors. Be yourself and you will naturally be Re-Tweeted appropriately.
- It’s Annoying. The quickest way to bug people is to beg them to RT your content that has no relevance. Let them find their own relevance and share it on their terms. The audience on Twitter is sensitive to anything that smells like bull-excrement, so don’t bother; produce quality information for them.
This is completely relevant for small businesses — I’m emphatically talking to you – be relevant. It’s the only way that you will sink or swim on Twitter and enjoy doing it. People who RT your brand should be thought of as advocates in your court and thank them. Not just for the RT but go further and ask for their thoughts on it. It’s a fun way to control an uncontrolled conversation. See?
If you found this blog entry helpful in some way, why not RT it? Otherwise, it’s cool, I still appreciate the time you spent checking this out.
What do you think? Leave a comment and let the world know what you think of when people include Please RT in their Tweets!
[Photo by Honkiat, modified]
