Is it worthwhile to repeat yourself?
Most folks who have a blog and use Twitter will send a tweet that links to a new blog post (either manually or through an automated means). That’ll drive traffic, but how many of your Twitter followers will see it?
Hint: not all of them. Probably not even a majority of them. If someone is following more than a few people on Twitter, they’re not reading everything. Twitter users drift in and out of the stream of tweets, catching whatever happens to flow by while they watch. If you’re tweeting while someone happens to be away, your tweet probably isn’t being seen.
One way to help your tweet reach more viewers is to repeat the tweet. One option is an automated tweet scheduling service such as that offered by FutureTweets or SocialOomph.
Another method (and the one which I use) is to manually post a tweet at a later point, referencing the post which someone might have missed. For example, see this tweet which was the automated tweet when my post-SXSW thoughts went live, and then I manually posted a follow-up tweet later that evening to catch a crowd that might not have seen the original one.
You don’t want to overdo it and post too many times… after all, the folks that are paying close attention don’t want to see you advertise the same post over and over and over, but I’d argue that tweeting a link 2-3 times is completely appropriate.
And so I ask… is it worthwhile to repeat yourself?
Photo by wonderferret, used under Creative Commons licensing
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