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Darrel Girardier

Est. 2013

How to Actually Find Your Voice on Twitter

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I remember my first week using Twitter.  At first I loved the service, then the newness wore off and began to wonder what I was going to tweet about. I mean, does anybody care what’s going on in my life? Do have anything to add to the conversation?

How to Actually Find Your Voice on Twitter

Finding your voice on Twitter can be a little tricky at first. It can be hard to figure out what to say, what to share and who might be interested in your content. When someone is trying to find their voice on Twitter I tell them that there are three major types of Twitter users and if you can figure out which one you are (or some mixture of the types) you’ll find your voice before you know it.

Now I am sure that I could probably add a few more types of Twitter users, but I think these three cover a majority of users. In fact, after you read this post, go on Twitter and see how many users fall into these three categories. Here are the three types of Twitter users that I’m referring to:

1. Commenter

This is the person who “comments” on life or major events. Comedians and sports writers usually fall in this category. Since they’re experts in their fields they can provide real-time insight to their followers. (Note: I think this is the hardest type of Twitter user to master. You need to be really funny or really smart.) Examples are:

Jim Gaffigan – Jim Gaffigan is a comedian and a very good one at that. On Twitter, he’s tweets about food and his love affair with it.

Bill Simmons – Bill Simmons is a writer for ESPN and creator of Grantland.com. Obviously he’s known for tweeting about sports (especially teams from Boston).

Now keep in mind this is where most Twitter users start out. It’s natural for some people to share their thoughts or ideas on Twitter. The issue is, that your ideas or thoughts need to be unique enough to stand out. That’s why the best commenters are those who have a background in being unique in sharing their thoughts (i.e. comedians or TV personalities).

2. Curator

This is a person who “curates” content from around the internet and shares it with their followers. They understand what their followers are looking for and have a sense of what works for followers and what doesn’t. This usually requires some prep work on the users part to find content that’s worth sharing and some trial and error to better understand their audience. Here’s an example:

Guy Kawasaki – Guy Kawasaki is one the original Apple evangelists and a social media expert. His Twitter feed is curated links ranging from tech stories to oddball news.

3. Creator

This is the person who “creates” content for their followers and shares it on Twitter. This content can be blog posts, videos or photography. Now if someone is a creator it means two things. First, they have to spend a good amount of time creating for their followers. Second, they’re constantly asking their followers to click and share their content. That can be a big ask that creators must be willing to earn.

Seth Godin – Okay, Seth Godin doesn’t have a Twitter account, but his blog does. His blog’s Twitter account is a feed of all his blog posts. Even though, he’s not updating it with personal updates, it has over 450,000 followers.

Now very few people fall in just one of these types. Most people are a mix of these types (I’m 40% Curator and 60% Creator). The key is to figuring out which one you are is to explore and try a different mix of tweets. Your followers will let you know (through retweets, favorites or replies) if you’re headed in the right direction. Do that, and you’ll find your Twitter voice before you know it.