Creating Content Worth Sharing

By: Delisi Araceli Duarte

This month, Nathan Cone, Texas Public Radio’s director of marketing and digital content, was the guest speaker at the PRSA luncheon at The Bright Shawl. His presentation discussed three ways to tell a story, nine types of ways to engage an audience, and seven steps to Twitter dominance.

As a social media lover with 827 Twitter followers, I found the seven steps to Twitter dominance most interesting. I had been wondering what to do in order to join the ranks of highly-successful Twitter accounts with several thousand followers, and often asked: Is there a method to this? Should I try to be more entertaining? Am I tweeting too much? Should I use more hashtags?

Cone’s presentation quickly helped me realize my problem might be that I do not address or focus on anything specific. My tweets vary from humor, to pictures of my Maltipoo using Instagram, to breaking entertainment news, to the problems that occur when planning a wedding, and everything in between. Rarely do I engage in a conversation on Twitter (one of Cone’s seven steps), unless it is with someone that I know. I had my “ah-hah” moment when Cone listed the final step in Twitter dominance. Share your work with important people.

When I became President of the PRSSA Chapter at UTSA, I made it a point to follow other PRSSA presidents and Twitter accounts that focused on leadership. Every leadership account I followed had an audience of several thousand, and I quickly found out why. I found almost every tweet valuable. Here’s how it went: I learned something, tried to apply it to myself and shared it with others. “Ah-hah!” I started to interact with the Twitter accounts with several thousand followers by sharing their information, and I saw an almost immediate response. The tweets with substance, from accounts that had value and importance, helped the performance of my own Twitter account in ways I never realized.

Sometimes the answer is right in front of you and you never even realize it. In my case, Cone’s presentation helped me realize I have the tools to dominate Twitter—it is just a matter of using them wisely.