At Social Media Today we’re always working to bring you the latest insights into the world of social media marketing. Our newsletter can help deliver that directly to you daily.

Explore more: 

40 useful things you can share on Twitter besides blog posts

I was never good at 'pass the parcel' when I was a kid. I blame it mainly on being over zealous. That and my unhealthy competitiveness - always had to win (which didn't always make me the best birthday party guest!)

Twitter reminds me of pass the parcel a bit - RSS readers are ripped open first thing in the morning and then the shiniest blog posts get circulated and shared...like a good prize should I suppose.

But shiny doesn't always equal useful. In fact, I'd argue that the more unusual and varied your stream is, the better - both for you and your followers.

Making variety a pillar of your approach, coupled with the recognition that time is a finite resource, definitely means there is a place for short and sweet too (and how many blog posts can you really read in one day anyway?!?!?)

So, I had a bit of a think and compiled a list of things to consider sharing more often...here goes...

40 useful things you can share on Twitter besides blog posts

  1. Flag up a hashtag you are following for the day and why (or list a few that you think are worth a look)
  2. Discovered a new app / tool that's useful? Provide a brief description and share the direct link i.e. MyTweeple.com is a great follower manager tool
  3. A link to a Wikipedia entry from your niche can be very useful - especially if its been updated
  4. Link to someone's Twitter favourites - they are usually full of hidden treasures both for you and your followers
  5. Spotted a glitch or alteration to a platform you're using? Let people know what it is and how to address it
  6. A specific conversation / thread might be going on - highlight it and link to it (actually share conversations)
  7. Some great discussion might be being made around a Facebook post - highlight it and link
  8. A link to a transcript from a Twitter chat - these usually packed full of useful insights and maybe highlight one key point
  9. Been given some invites to a new edition of a platform? Share those around i.e. the new Digg.com
  10. A link to a poll taking place that might stimulate some thought / encourage interaction
  11. Simply introduce two people that you think might hit it off - "@TomA meet @TomB, you guys have loads in common..."
  12. A link featuring a special offer or product that might be of interest / add value to your community
  13. A link to a YouTube video of interest to your niche
  14. A link to an example of a good 'terms of use' page on a blog you've visited (or similar)
  15. A link to a directory of blogs from your niche (or a great blogroll) is a nice share
  16. A link to a Twitter list you think is worth following and why or one from tweepml
  17. A link to a news aggregator and a brief explanation as to why it is useful
  18. Spotted a Flickr gallery / group being used in an interesting way? That's worth a share
  19. A link to a place / directory where your followers blogs can be featured - adding great vale to them
  20. Interesting Twitter accounts are always worth sharing i.e. @CleverAccounts
  21. Flag up an event that's coming up and possibly of interest to your community - link to the details
  22. A link to something light - @jeffespo does it beautifully with his 'cartoon to start the day' tweets
  23. Spotted a contentious issue developing? Create your own poll and encourage people to vote
  24. If you've discovered an interesting special on Foursquare - share it via Twitter
  25. Pull an interesting quote / stat out of a news item and feature that (as opposed to the prescribed headline and piece)
  26. Link directly to an interesting presentation on Slideshare.net
  27. Specific pages on blogs / sites can sometimes reveal more than the the daily live content - share interesting examples of those i.e. an about page or privacy page
  28. Google Chrome extensions always make life easier - started using a good one? Share it
  29. Explain why someone should follow a particular blog / author, as opposed to just just linking to individual posts with no context
  30. If you're heading to an event, share the #hashtag and link to that event before / during / after
  31. Sometimes a link to a robust and engaged Facebook community page is worth sharing 
  32. A link to a good example online customer service i.e. Twitter complaint response 
  33. Go back in time -great timeless content is always worth a share - even if it has a 2007 date on it, share it
  34. Use TwitPic differently - take and share shots of use / value, not (just) pics of the beach while you are on holidays
  35. Have you just joined a new community? Let people know where they can find you with a link / user name tweet
  36. Use TweeShot to share a screen grab of interest (especially controversial tweets that might be deleted)
  37. Link directly to a relevant podcast
  38. Sometimes really basic but useful websites are launched - like this one - link to 'em
  39. Figured out a short cut / easy way of doing something.  Flag. it. up.
  40. Over to you...
I wrote this post for a selfish reason too - I'd love to know what other people share besides blog posts.
Can you recommend any other things that people find useful on Twitter?
Being useful opens the door to engagement for both individuals and organisations...let's brainstorm!

Adam

Join The Conversation

  • Jun 1 Posted 5 years ago Bonnie Banters (not verified)

    I try to tweet helpful info related to my subject:  food, home and life.  Thanks for some very helpful ideas!

     

     

  • Feb 11 Posted 6 years ago computer monito... (not verified) I like to acquire breaks in the course of the my working day and look by way of some blogs to determine what other people are talking about. This blog page occurred to indicate up in my searches and I couldn't aid clicking on it. I'm glad I did since it was a incredibly satisfying study.
  • Dec 2 Posted 6 years ago carolina Totally agree about not taking the time to reflect - I have numerous blog posts and articles bookmarked in Reader or on Delicious but rarely (if ever) take the time to review them and consolidate all that knowledge and information. It's been on my mind to spend some time doing exactly that and to stop adding to them for a while...but now I don't have to! cheers! meet me @brain dumps provider
  • Sep 10 Posted 6 years ago Adriane Sanford (not verified)

     

    Great Post! Very useful tips. Thank you.

  • Sep 10 Posted 6 years ago Christine Fife (not verified)

    Great list of items! Thanks for writing it up. For businesses, however, don't forget it's also important to Listen to what your audience is saying on Twitter. Not just about your company/products, but also about what they need and want that your products/services might help them fulfill. Twitter and other social media outlets are great Speaking platforms, but they're also fabulous opportunities to Listen and Build Relationships with influencers and customers.

  • Sep 10 Posted 6 years ago Kari Rippetoe (not verified)

    What a useful post! I especially love the event-related ones you mention, as well as tweeting about a Twitter chat transcript.

    How about tweeting about a LinkedIn group you find interesting? Or a question you've jus asked in LinkedIn Answers?

  • Sep 10 Posted 6 years ago Kelsey (not verified)

    I shared this on twitter. :) Good sites I hadn't heard of.

  • Sep 7 Posted 6 years ago Gabriele Maidecchi (not verified)

    That's so true, sometimes one's Twitter stream is just an endless list of links you have seen over and over, I admit I have been (and am still at times) guilty of this myself. However, I try to vary a bit my realm of interest.

    After all, my (and anyone's) interests are not focused solely around one single topic, and with the help of great apps like Flipboard for the iPad you can quickly glance at other interest topic and news that sometimes are worth spreading, I can think of design blogs or photography ones.

    I still haven't found someone complaining for a share of a design or art discovery.

  • Sep 6 Posted 6 years ago Paul Gailey (not verified)

    thanks - the cynic in me would say, no1. use your imagination. However this list is a useful pointer to those that all too often say "but I ain´t got nothing to say on twitter" as soon as they open their account.

    p.s. I just did no.5 and did lots of no.28 recently.

  • Sep 4 Posted 6 years ago Jack Bremer (not verified) Thanks, this is great - will share with some clients, Twitter can be a mystery to people at the start and this should really help!

Webinars On Demand

Whitepapers
http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/40-useful-things-you-can-share-twitter-besides-blog-posts
www.socialmediatoday.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2017-09
104764
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:R4RQHQLBYOWAA5OWI7YUALSZYO554ZC7
<urn:uuid:14f9937f-ba03-4689-949b-90fb5b8e137d>
2017-02-23T14:28:56Z
104.25.182.27
sha1:DSBMGTCAEOMNP3CHXA7M2UJIY4WGSBHX
<urn:uuid:62ea1464-22b7-4d56-a9f4-9f965c28bc37>
http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/40-useful-things-you-can-share-twitter-besides-blog-posts
length
response
<urn:uuid:7ae5ba75-592a-4202-9384-7316836c75d4>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-09
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for February 2017
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf