My Tweet Accidentally Went Viral (5 Tricks Writers Can Steal From It)
Grab attention and engage your reader with these tips
My tweet wasn’t supposed to go viral.
My typical views are 50
But this one got 26,600
Now I’ve realised why it worked
To capture more attention steal these 5 tricks:
1. Slam on the brakes
Whether you write a tweet, an article or email.
Your first goal is to get the reader to stop. Unless they slam on the brakes. Everything else you’ve written is wasted.
You have limited tools to help you with this. Twitter has the first line. Medium has the headline & photo. Email has the subject line.
To stop the scroll and get attention only 3 things work:
Be different
The mind pays attention to novelty and ignores what is familiar.
My friend’s house is only 80% decorated. They moved in and did loads. But now they’ve stopped noticing their half-stripped hallway. They’ve gotten used to it and lost urgency. But visitors are shocked when they walk in.
It’s amazing how quickly the mind adapts and disregards what is familiar.
Are your titles and hooks the same as everyone else?
To get people to stop you need to be odd and a bit different.
Offer something
People are wired to think about themselves.
Promise something and people can’t help paying attention. The key is to persuade them this is genuinely useful. We are suspicious people want something from us rather than for us.
Don’t tell people what the topic is, be clear on what it offers them.
Raise curiousity
If you can create an itch for people they have to scratch it.
Imagine saying to a mate: Can I ask you a question?
‘yeah sure’
Then you say ‘oh it doesn’t matter’
What happens next?
99% of the time they will ask you what the question was.
Raise a bit of curiousity and people will chase you.
Which of these 3 techniques are used in our viral tweet?
Let’s look at the hook:
Please don’t laugh but…
It’s a lot of curiosity (3) and is a bit of different (1). It speaks of embarrassment. That someone is going to reveal something.
Can you see how this gets people to slam on the brakes and grabs their attention?
Give more time to developing titles and hooks if you want to stop people in their tracks.
2. Stories eat advice for breakfast
People love stories. They can’t resist them.
Our viral tweet manages to tell a story with only 3 lines.
Started on twitter 2 months ago
Initially made no progress
Now I’ve found a plan that works:
A story needs 3 points:
- a character (new twitter user)
- a problem (no progress)
- a solution (new posting plan)
The stronger and more relatable the problem the better.
An intriguing opening grabs attention but a story keeps it.
For online writing, attention is sparse so you can’t waste time with a lot of fluff. Keep your story tight. But include these 3 elements.
Stories beat advice every time.
If you’ve got advice or information for someone. How can you tell a story?
3. Put tools in their hands
People are aching for what works
But are drowning in platitudes.
My viral tweet included these 2 lines:
- 30 mins/week scheduling tweets
- 30 mins/day adding value to other’s tweets
Specificity is king. Don’t tell people to write daily. Tell when. Where. How long. What steps to follow.
You can go a step further and include what you tried that didn’t work as well.
Ask yourself — how can I make this more specific?
As Kieran Drew says, less How to’s and more I did.
People don’t always appreciate your advice but they adore your credibility.
4. Attract them with your humility
Everyone is busy telling us how great they are
But they are missing a trick.
We root for the underdog. We want to pull down those who elevate themselves. And elevate those who pull themselves down.
Success creates distance but vulnerability creates connection.
In this 6 line tweet there are 2 moments of vulnerability
- Don’t laugh = it’s embarrassing to only have 50 followers
- Initially made no progress = I was failing
Stop trying to be impressive and start being human. Don’t edit the mistakes, doubts and dead ends from your story.
Including them makes your successes more appealing.
5. Do what the writing gods can’t
My biggest shock was discovering people are interested in what a newbie says.
The viral tweet included a plan to grow to 50 followers. But it came from someone who had achieved very little. Yet people paid attention. People no longer worship the writing gods They long for someone just ahead of them to show them the way.
There’s no need to feel inferior. You have 3 advantages over the writing gods:
- Your knowledge is bang up to date. The world has changed since those with a huge following were at your stage.
- Influence research shows we are more influenced by people who are like us.
- You inspire confidence. If you can do it they can. In contrast, observing someone at the highest level does the opposite. It reinforces the idea that I will never achieve that.
Don’t feel embarrassed by your low status. Harness its power.
When we hit a home run. It’s good to celebrate.
But it’s even better to work out why it worked.
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