When going into sports journalism, you realize that Twitter is a great tool to get your name out there and help reach a broad audience with your content. A quote from the book "Twitter as News Source" stated, "Twitter has become a convenient, cheap and effective beat for journalists in search of news and information." With that in mind, the fact that people go to Twitter is a sort of new outlet. That allows us, journalists in any industry, to push our content to the audience we desire. Most active Twitter users attach themselves to a Twitter Journalist or a journalist who uses Twitter as one of their primary drivers of pushing content. Twitter and the live game go hand in hand in the sports media world. A significant, controversial, funny, or highlight play occurs. You will 100 percent see it on Twitter within minutes of it happening. Whether it's live sports coverage or sharing other content, Twitter is an imperative tool to assist one's growth.
Six Tips for Enhancing Twitter Exposure:
Grammar and Formatting- Having correct grammar is imperative as it shows your credibility. When Tweeting with 100 plus characters, two or more hashtags, mentions, and images/gifs, that can remarkably assist in increasing engagement with visibility, exposure, and interest in sed content. Use hashtags, but do not overdo it. For the sports industry, video is essential. Using video content will draw viewers in for more than a few seconds, but do not try to keep their attention too long; many people have attention problems nowadays. Also, a video with a short, clever caption goes a long way. Another thing that can draw eyes is emojis, and You can use them on all sorts of content to show some personality.
Increase your Following- Follow a ton of people. Your entire biography and profile show up in their notifications when you follow them, and some of those people will follow you back. Here are some ways and websites to help increase your following: participate in Follow Friday (#FF), use http://twiends.com/, use https://followerwonk.com/, link your account on all your socials (use LinkTree), and find and follow your LinkedIn connections and vice versa.
Have Character- You have to have the character in the sports media industry. Humor, edginess, being daring with opinions and having wisdom are all great ways to show your personality through content. You have to give the people a reason to follow you. Of course, stay classy, but with a unique perspective using cheerful humor, you can draw in the people who do not know you and your coverage.
Reaching Out to People- Identify the top people within your industry and try to engage with them. They may not answer, but you will eventually catch their eye, and they will react to some capacity at some point. The same goes for people who are not as prominent people within your industry. Engage with everyone. The more your name is out there, the more chances you have for people to see your name, click on your content and follow you.
Consistency- Posting every day if you are a sports reporter is super important. Continuously providing the public with information can only do you good. One thing in the sports industry that is very important is that real-time events are constantly occurring and it is imperative that you have the flexibility to create content before it is too late. Be in the moment (live) and flexible with social posting. One tip for being up to date with all of the real-time events is to set up your Twitter notifications on certain people's accounts so that within the sport you cover. This will help you be aware of something the moment it occurs. If people follow your content, they will want to hear your opinion on many other topics and real-time events as well, even if it is not the sport you cover. Being a consistent commentator on the sport you cover, and others will boost your activity within an entire city of fans, not just within one sport.
Posting Different Content- For posting your articles from your journalism website. Link the article and ensure that the photograph is displayed correctly. Create an in-depth comment that draws people to click and includes hashtags to reach a broader Twitter community. If you feel like one of your Twitter friends would like the article, send them the Tweet. For video content, link the video and post short clips that grab people's attention and will draw them to the entire video. These posts will also include a clever caption. It does not need to be super long, and also add hashtags to help improve the engagement. This goes for anything on Youtube and TikTok. People tend to not click directly on the links that go directly to the other website. You need to get them to do so.
Sources:
18th, D. K. | F., says:, S. B., says:, J. J., says:, R., & says:, S. W. (2020, June 23). 7 ways to promote your content on Twitter. Search Engine People Blog. Retrieved May 2, 2022, from https://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/150231055-twitter-content-promotion.html
Broersma, M. (2013, May 30). Twitter As a News Source [web log]. Retrieved
May 2, 2022, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17512786.2013.802481?scroll=top&needAccess=true.
Liu, L. (2016, December 10). 8 tactics to maximum the visibility of your tweets. Entrepreneur. Retrieved May 2, 2022, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/285999