What Makes a Great Tweet?

Getting Twitter right is difficult, and it's easy to take the wrong examples by looking at trending tweets.

Twitter is ruthless.

When you begin posting on Twitter you're likely to get no engagement at all.

A logical step to improve engagement is to look at trending Tweets. However, these are frequently from accounts with a large following.

If you dive in deeper and take a closer look, you actually discover the Tweet doesn't perform that well — with engagement rates hanging around 1%.

Once you obtain a large following this engagement combined with posting frequently will be enough, but if your following is somewhere in the low hundreds or thousands it's unlikely to get you anywhere.

That's why I analysed hundreds of accounts, large and small, to uncover the types of Tweet that performs exceptionally.

Guess what?

During my research, I noticed that the best tweets revolve around events, research, or activities people were doing already anyway — and didn’t require them to do anything else besides sharing.

Otherwise, it often comes across as not authentic or becomes a full time job to prepare the content.

Just like this Tweet is based on research I did to better understand Twitter:

Here are 23 types of Tweets with excellent engagement:

1 Experiments: Whether it's an actual or theoretical experiment if it contains some humor, combined with a bit of awe, it's by far the most effective Tweet I came across.

• Engagement ratio: 274.87%
• Tweet features: Experiment, Image, Humor
• Tweet author: @roshanpateI

2 Emails: Screenshots of email that explains something well, drive great engagement. When they're controversial and written by industry leaders all the better.

• Engagement ratio: 113.01%
• Tweet features: Celebrity, Email, Controversial,
• Tweet author: @pitdesi

3 Self Discovery: Every once in a while we come across an insight, it either occurs spontaneously or is shared with us. It's likely that this will be insightful to others.

• Engagement ratio: 110.19%
• Tweet features: Quote, Personal, Advice
• Tweet author: @stephsmithio

4 Conversation: A screenshot of a conversation that contains humor, offers advice, or gives an explanation, frequently performs well.

• Engagement ratio: 88.64%,
• Tweet features: Screenshot, Conversation, Satire,
• Tweet author: @roshanpateI

5 Discovery: Stumble upon something astonishing? Tweet it! Especially if it relates to a famous brand or product.

• Engagement ratio: 68.28%
• Tweet features: Discovery, Brand
• Tweet author: @awilkinson

6 Statistics: Sharing a statistic with the intention to start a discussion can lead to invaluable insights, as well as great interaction.

• Engagement ratio: 58.71%
• Tweet features: Celebrity, Statistic, Question, Conversation
• Tweet author: @stephsmithio

7 Demonstrate: Visualize several key-steps of a process that demonstrate how to accomplish a successful end-result.

• Engagement ratio: 51.66%
• Tweet features: Example, Tutorial, Image
• Tweet author: @JustinMezzell

8 Motivate: Share insights that shed light on what it really takes for amazing things to be accomplished — motivating others to keep going.

• Engagement ratio: 34.68%
• Tweet features: Brands, Relatable, Advice
• Tweet author: @mijustin

9 Product Demo: Built something cool? Tell the story behind why you built it, record a screencast, and share it!

• Engagement ratio: 34.15%
• Tweet features: Relatable, Innovative, Personal, Screencast
• Tweet author: @mddanishyusuf

10 Context: Observe a rising trend that you know to be different or incomplete? Share an example and provide the necessary context.

• Engagement ratio: 28.35%
• Tweet features: Satire, List, Advice
• Tweet author: @marckohlbrugge

11 Before-After: People love before and afters, it could be anything: your workspace, house, product evolution, or best of all the transformation of someone or something famous.

• Engagement ratio: 23.43%
• Tweet features: Celebrity, Before-After, Image
• Tweet author: @ajlkn

12 Quotes: Stumble upon an insightful quote during a podcast or conversation? If it's by someone famous and hasn't been shared a billion times already. Share it.

• Engagement ratio: 22.72%
• Tweet features: Quote, Celebrity, Advice
• Tweet author: @immad

13 Satire: Observe a trend picked up by so many people that it’s becoming a bit too much? Have some fun!

• Engagement ratio: 20.55%
• Tweet features: Satire
• Tweet author: @bentossell

14 Meme: Combine your emotional response to a major event with a popular meme or a famous movie scene, and you have a viral sensation on your hands.

• Engagement ratio: 19.88%
• Tweet features: Celebrity, Humor
• Tweet author: @yongfook

15 Summary: Share a summary of a hot topic that provides extra depth in a way that's easy to consume.

• Engagement ratio: 18.54%
• Tweet features: Letter, Celebrity, Summary
• Tweet author: @Suhail

16 Misconceptions: Whenever the general understanding of something doesn't accurately cover reality, this makes for insightful content.

• Engagement ratio: 16.58%
• Tweet features: Observation, Advice
• Tweet author: @andreasklinger

17 Technical Demo: Built something technical or setup an automation? Even this can be shared as long as you add visuals.

• Engagement ratio: 15.14%
• Tweet features: Innovation, Personal, Screencast
• Tweet author: @alyssaxuu

18 Wit: Have something witty to say about a trending topic? Go for it! A bit of clever humor always does the job.

• Engagement ratio: 14.42%
• Tweet features: Clever, Short, Trending, Humor
• Tweet author: @levelsio

19 Tutorials: Create a simple step-by-step breakdown of how people can accomplish common goals; ex. making money, becoming fit, launching product, or building a business.

• Engagement ratio: 11.59%
• Tweet features: Listicle, Advice
• Tweet author: @ImSamThompson

20 Highlights: Next time you highlight something, ask yourself if this could make for useful content.

• Engagement ratio: 10.29%
• Tweet features: Highlight, Excerpt, Screenshots, Advice
• Tweet author: @rrhoover

21 Tips: Are you aware of any common pitfalls? Help others avoid them and share the solution.

• Engagement ratio: 10.02%
• Tweet features: Relevant, Experience, Advice
• Tweet author: @aaditsh

22 Breakdowns: Simplify big goals or complex ideas by breaking them down into smaller, more manageable steps.

• Engagement ratio: 7.47%
• Tweet features: List, Goals, Observation, Question
• Tweet author: @dvassallo

23 Product Updates: Always tracking the latest features and product updates? Others might be keen to know as well— especially if it solves a common problem.

• Engagement ratio: 7.28%
• Tweet features: Brand, Discovery, News
• Tweet author: @dinkydani21

24 Visualize Principles: An image or video says a million words, so if you stumble upon something that perfectly visualizes a principle — share it!

• Engagement ratio: 4.38%
• Tweet features: Humor, Statement, Video
• Tweet author: @rrhoover