Are you using Twitter for business? If you’re an avid reader of the Catalyst Marketers Blog, then you know just how much we love using Twitter for business. With that said, there are effective Twitter strategies, and some not-so-effective Twitter strategies. One thing that we love about Twitter is that it allows you to reach, and build relationships with, more people than you ever could without using Twitter. The key is to find the RIGHT people to engage, and then to engage them the RIGHT way.

In today’s post, we are going to talk about the power of ReTweets, and why it’s important to say “thank you” to those who ReTweet your content. ReTweets are a sign that other people respect & value your content. When someone ReTweets your content, it goes out to everyone who’s following your ReTweeter. That means your content gets in front of that many more eyeballs. The more people who ReTweet your content, the more eyeballs your content gets in front of. There are a few things that you can do to encourage people to ReTweet your content. The first, and most important, is to tweet relevant information for your audience. It’s good to let your personality show through on Twitter, but do not tweet about everything you’re doing (ie. hopping into the shower). Tweet content that your Twitter followers are going to find valuable.

Another thing to keep in mind when tweeting your content, try to keep your tweets to less than 140 characters, in order to leave room for others to ReTweet your content. When someone ReTweets your content, their Twitter username & the letters RT (ReTweet) must go into their tweet. Some people even like to comment on the content that they ReTweet. By you keeping your tweets as short as possible, you cause less work for those who want to ReTweet your content, as they don’t have to modify your content in order to keep their tweet at 140 characters.

When people begin to ReTweet your content, it’s imperative that you thank them for doing so. As we discussed above, you want as many ReTweets as possible for your content (as long as they are coming from QUALITY Twitterers). Just like you would thank someone for passing along your business card to an associate, you want to thank them for ReTweeting your content. There are a few ways to go about saying “thank you” to your ReTweeters.

What we like to do here at Catalyst Marketers (when it makes sense), is to ReTweet the ReTweet…stay with me now. If someone ReTweets your content, you can then ReTweet that tweet, and say “thank you” in your tweet. It’s a great way to get your original tweet back into the Twittersphere. Here are the steps we take to make this happen:

• Click ReTweet on the Retweet from one of your followers
• Delete the “RT” that comes up in front of your ReTweeter’s Twitter username
• Delete the colon after your ReTweeter’s Twitter username
• Insert the following copy, “Tx 4 the RT on –>”
• Keep your original Tweet copy & link after the “–>”
• The final product, our Thank You Tweet, usually looks like, “@JeffMoskovitz Tx 4 the RT on –> Drive Traffic to Facebook with Facebook Window Clings http://is.gd/cpXvI” – If we have room to spell out “Thank You for”, we usually do that. If not, we shorten it like you see here.

The example above is what we like to do when saying “thank you” to those who ReTweet our content. With that said, if you get a lot of ReTweets around the same time, on the same tweet, then you shouldn’t do this for EVERY ReTweet. The goal is to get a lot of ReTweets, so if you find that multiple people are ReTweeting your content, we recommend that you create a generic “thank you” where you add ALL of your ReTweeters usernames to one Tweet and then add “Thank you for the ReTweet”. That tweet usually ends up like, “@AutoConversion @AutoBurstWebs @RyanTaft Thank you for the ReTweet!”.

Another way to thank your ReTweeter is to send him or her a Direct Message saying “Thank you for the ReTweet. Have a great day!”, or something to that affect. However you approach saying “thank you” to people who ReTweet your content, be sure to do so, as being polite is the basis for many long-lasting relationships, and that’s what we are all after, strong relationships with like-minded folks. Twitter is a great platform for building those relationships, but it takes effective Twitter strategies, like saying “thank you” to those people who ReTweet your content, in order for Twitter to work hard for your business.