3 reasons to always mention on Twitter

Hey there,

So I understand why people don't always mention other people, entities, organizations etc. that appear in their tweets. It involves an extra bit of Twesearch if you're not already connected to them, to see if they are on Twitter and what their handle is. And for others, maybe it's just not even something that they're familiar with.

But for those ready to take the leap, that little bit of time and energy, to make sure you always mention anyone or anything you tweet about is definitely a great example of the Rule of Three at work in social media, in terms of what you put out, you get in return three-fold. So here it goes

When you mention someone:

1. They will be notified that they've been mentioned in a tweet (maybe even by email, depending on their notification settings), and will see yours when they go to their Interactions or Mentions page. This is particularly good if it's someone you actually have a personal or professional relationship with, as they are that more likely to engage with your content and/or even share it. And because of just how much content is shared at any given moment, and most people don't spend their lives on Twitter, mentioning someone is just the thing to help put your content above the noise and make sure at least they see your tweet, instead of hoping that they're following you and happen to be on Twitter at the same time and...well you get the picture.
2. Next, mentioning another Tweep creates a link in your Tweet...yeah I'm talking about code, which you normally don't really have to know or think about. But you should at least be aware of it here. This link is good because of SEO, as long as your links aren't spammy. Case in point, when I Google my handle AWayofLife0 (which I use almost consistently across platforms), making sure to hide my personal results, my Twitter pops up above my Blogspot, my YouTube, etc. Now, I'm not saying that mentions are the ONLY reason it shows up first, but it's definitely a large part of it.
3. Finally, when you mention someone, you give your followers a chance to become engaged with that person as well, for better or for worse. In social media, as with all things online, it becomes a matter of the path of least resistance. And I would wager that seeing the handle of someone is more likely to inspire a response, than if you just typed the name out, particularly because it is visually different with aforementioned hyperlink capabilities.

So there you go. All of this is just to back up another point I sincerely believe in, in terms of not auto-syncing social media platforms. While there are exceptions, I would say that Facebook and Twitter are not one of  them.

Check out this post of mine from last year, if you're interested. But because each platform has its own mechanics, while some people might think they're saving time if their Facbeook content automatically shows up on Twitter, you miss out on the benefits of actually using Twitter to the best of its capacity, with mentions being a huge part of that.

Not a social media sermon, just a twitter thought.

Let me know what you think in the comments,

JR