How to Succeed When Your Social Media Account Goes to the Dogs
People dream about exploding the size of their Twitter account, but growth takes work and usually lots of time. Social media gains start with optimizing.
James L Katzaman
Throw a friendly bone or two to engage well with your audience
People dream about exploding the size of their Twitter account, but the reality is that growth takes work and usually lots of time.
Take the word of Jason Zackowski, a science teacher and podcaster who is well versed in explosions.
His personal account has a commendable 7,600 followers. However, his fantasy pet project, Bunsen and BEAKER — dogs who teach science with empathy, cuteness and fun — has soared to 111,000 followers and counting in four years.
People like dogs — particularly the novelty of canines barking about science — but Zackowski applies well-thought madness to his creation. As he explained to digital marketing expert Madalyn Sklar, spectacular growth starts with optimizing.
“Twitter can’t be your life if it isn’t your full-time job,” Zackowski said. “Social media can quickly take over your life. Our account is a huge undertaking. We do a couple things to optimize our pup-formance.
“We have days of the week where themed ‘fun’ tweets occur,” he said, detailing his calendar:
- Monday is The Pupdate.
- Tuesday is Hat Friend Day.
- Wednesday and Thursday are throwbacks.
- Friday is Texts From Bunsen.
- Saturday and Sunday are free.
“This allows me to have structure in my week and gives our followers expectations,” Zackowski said. “Every day I post something science related, be it a fact or some cool nugget of information from the podcast. I plan these on the weekend in a rough draft.
“To get this all done, I wake up early in the morning during the week and put all the tweets in a draft in my phone,” he said. “They get sent out during the day at different times. I can’t always know that I will be next to the computer, so my phone runs the show.”
Stirring the Right Mix
Different people optimize in different ways, but Zackowski has found his recipe works best for him.
“To optimize your Twitter account, you should first review your profile to make sure it reflects who you are, the kind of work you do and who you’re there to serve,” Sklar said. “This will help you attract the right people.”
Along with account optimization, GIFs can enhance Twitter feeds.
“GIFs are an eye-catching way to stop someone mid-scroll,” said Nick Martin of social media management platform Hootsuite.
“A GIF can add a touch of personality and humor to your tweets that sometimes words cannot convey,” he said. “They can even help express the tone, the emotion or the relatability of your tweets.”
Users can also create custom GIFs.
“Use them to establish your brand personality or products,” Martin said. “They can even be used by your audience.”
Sklar has become a fan of custom GIFs.
“They are so easy to create and so much fun to share,” she said. “They’re a huge engagement booster.
“My friend Justin Brown created a super helpful ‘how-to’ video on creating your own custom GIFs using your phone and the GIPHY app,” Sklar said.
There are more GIF pointers:
- Hear Martin talk about GIFs on Sklar’s #TwitterSmarter podcast.
- Sklar has an article about using GIFs and custom GIFs — a great way to establish rapport with your audience.
- Hootsuite has an article, “How to Make a GIF: 4 Tried-and-True Methods.”
Top Tweet Tells All
Pinned tweets are another convenient means to improve profiles.
“We realized other people didn’t know who we were and why they should follow us,” Zackowski said. “That was shocking, and they were right. Our profile and pinned tweet needed work.
“The profile and the pinned tweet for us now explain who we are — tweeting science dogs, which is already pretty confusing,” he said. “I chained a tweet thread to our pinned tweet so the story and characters of our Twitter account come to life for new followers.”
The resulting clarity made a big difference.
“People know what we are about,” Zackowski said. “Most ‘impawtently,’ the profile isn’t off-putting with in-jokes you’d only get from following us. Readers can slowly pick up the mythos of Bunsen and Beaker.”
He learned the value of property right in front of him.
“Pinned tweets are an important piece of real estate because they’re often one of the first things someone sees when visiting your profile,” Sklar said. “It’s smart to use this feature to showcase your best and most relevant content to appeal to your target audience.”
She gave examples of what pinned tweets can do:
- Showcase a piece of evergreen content.
- Link your most recent content.
- Display the opt-in freebie for your email list.
- Promote your latest offering.
Sklar also has an article all about pinned tweets.
Magnetic Attractions
Follower counts help bring accounts to prominence, yet numbers are not the total solution.
“Follower counts do matter,” Zackowski said. “We reached a point around 40,000 to 50,000 followers where the analytics showed that nearly every tweet was pulling in new followers. A tweet spreads farther the more followers you have.
“Large accounts — just by having large amounts of followers — may entice others to say, ‘Hey. This account must be kinda important,’” he said. “We are so thankful for each and every one of our followers. We never take their following us for granted.”
Zackowski then had to ask more important questions:
- How did you get that follower account?
- Was it one viral tweet or image?
- Do you just retweet other stuff?
- Did your follower account grow because of what you constantly provide to your community?
“We have never bought followers. Ever,” Zackowski said. “While I’m sure there are bots that follow us, our followers are organic.
“It didn’t happen overnight,” he said. “Having tons of followers who dig you does increase the spread of your message.”
Relationships form from interactions.
“While it’s great to have a large audience on social media, that audience means nothing if they aren’t engaged,” Sklar said. “It’s more important to have quality followers who are genuinely interested in what you’re sharing.”
Organically growing an account’s reach will have the most benefit.
“You can't hope to rely on a mega tweet or a viral moment,” Zackowski said. “Don’t get me wrong. We’ve had a couple that have helped.
“However, you have to give your followers something of value,” he said. “You grow when you provide value by whatever metric you want to measure it.”
Entertainment and Education
In Zackowski’s case, daily doses of cute and kind dogs draw unsuspecting people to a dollop of education.
“We bait and switch and throw science in there,” Zackowski said. “We add videos, images, hashtags and comment on other accounts to create a network. Our cute content always does best, but people stay for the science.
“We promote ourselves on other platforms like Instagram and TikTok by taking screenshots of our tweets that perform well,” he said. “You have to put the work in to grow. You have to find what works. Wit, intelligence and cute content works for us.”
To keep everything in perspective, Zackowski emphasized that his prized account started with one follower like everyone else.
“You have to engage,” he said. “Unless you’ve got some mega viral tweet that netted you 100,000 followers or more overnight, you have to engage with your community.
“It’s tough now as we are so big, but we do engage,” Zackowski said. “We truly care about our followers.”
That means being on call whenever needed.
“If you want to organically expand your reach, show up more often,” Sklar said. “Start by posting consistently, engaging with others on the platform and participating in Twitter chats related to your niche.
“I’d also recommend taking advantage of Twitter’s various features to find new and exciting ways to show up and get yourself out there,” she said. “For instance, join and host Twitter Spaces and publish voice tweets for something that’s new and different.”
To explain, Sklar has published an article all about Twitter Spaces.
Expanding the Family
Those new to social media should not expect followers to automatically translate to customers.
“No, not at all,” Zackowski said. “You have to work at marketing and developing products that people are interested in.
“We work really hard at establishing a community and providing so much content that when we do have a product, it’s almost like our followers are supporting a family member.”
That reinforces his attitude of gratitude.
“We are so grateful for each customer,” Zackowski said. “They are deciding that what we do is worth enough to buy a shirt, calendar, stuffie or support us on Patreon.
“It’s not a relationship we take lightly and not one we didn’t build without hard work,” he said.
Fortunately, Zackowski’s four-legged outreach was warmly returned.
“The Beaker stuffie that we released has so much feedback and love in it from our mega fans that it’s almost like we built it together,” he said.
“It has Beaker’s serious face because that’s who she is,” Zackowski said. “It has pink glasses because science is also for girls.”
Years of experience also proved to Sklar that followers don’t automatically translate into customers.
“You need to gain a following of the right people — those in your target audience,” she said. “Focus on building a connection with them first. Then they’ll consider buying from you.”
In many cases, experimenting will resolve best ways to reach new people within a target audience.
“I do test tweets every couple of weeks,” Zackowski said. “I try out something new and see how our followers react.
“We started ‘Beaker Tweets’ Tuesday where Beaker tweets in all caps,” he said. “She’s super sassy. That was hugely popular and brought in a ton of new people.”
Maintain Flexibility
Out of necessity or just for a different pace, those on social media should be ready to change and adapt.
“Look at your niche and see what your competitors are doing,” Zackowski said. “Do more. Do it better. Work harder. Build better stuff. It’s hard work with very late nights and sometimes stressful.
“Expand with your skills set,” he said. “For example, try Twitter Spaces. If you have the skill to use your voice, Twitter Spaces has been a game changer for us to network with amazing people.”
Zackowski has the advantage of tapping into his strength as a teacher and podcaster.
“We only followed scientists and dogs before Spaces,” he said. “Now we are part of a global community, which is helping us reach new audiences.
“I struggle with TikTok videos, so I tinker with them when I can,” Zackowski said. “On the other hand, my skill set is awesome for Spaces. So, use your skill set to grow your audience in the direction of what you do best.”
Sklar has mastered several outlets.
“If you want to reach new people, participate in Twitter chats for opportunities to make connections,” she said. “Join Twitter Spaces that others are hosting. Add your two cents to the conversation. You can even host Spaces of your own.”
To measure the growth of your Twitter account, Zackowski suggests asking these questions:
- How many likes and retweets are you getting?
- Is it more than six months ago?
- Do you have more followers?
- What’s your engagement rate in analytics?
- Are you doing better?
- Are you innovating?
- Are you promoting new content, new products, new ideas?
- Are you networking with new people?
- Are you shooting your shot?
Wide Open Spaces
“For us, the addition of Spaces has allowed huge innovation,” Zackowski said. “We still are science dogs, but now the human has a voice to bring a new world to our account.
“Just ask people to help you on Twitter,” he said. “You might get ignored — people are busy — but you may just get climate scientist professor Katharine Hayhoe on your podcast or cosmologist Katie Mack on Spaces.”
Metrics will also tell a story.
“Dive into your analytics to track your follower count and to see how much engagement you’re getting,” Sklar said.
“It’s not enough to just gain new followers,” she said. “You want to know that they resonate with your content, too, by seeing likes, shares and comments.”
Ultimately, audience engagement drives everything else.
“Engaging with your audience is how you’ll establish strong connections that ultimately turn followers into customers,” Sklar said.
“People buy from brands they like and trust,” she said. “That starts with getting to know one another through genuine conversation.”
There is a trade off Zackowski works against as his world expands.
“Engagement doesn’t play nice as your account grows,” he said. “When we were small, I could have a great chat with each person who commented.
“Now, posts get 50 to 200 comments — and I post six to 14 times a day,” Zackowski said. “It is a massive undertaking.”
Let Followers See All
Through it all, he tries his best:
- Like as many comments as you can.
- Comment back on the first 20 percent if you can.
- Retweet the best comments.
- Show that you are listening and you care what your audience thinks.
- Try to read every single comment.
“Include your followers in your development,” Zackowski said. “Our patrons love being part of the giant team that develops new merch ideas, slogans and yes, even song lyrics. I cherish their ideas. They are my family.
“Our Patreon community has been cheerleaders for us when I’m down,” he said. “Our account rarely talks about the struggles I have occasionally, but I do let our Patreons know. I’m just a normal guy. I’m not superhuman and have failings. That makes you real.”
A loyal community makes all the efforts worthwhile.
“You would be tweeting into the void without your followers,” Zackowski said “They are important and deserve that you to interact as best you can.
“It is a ton, ton, ton of work — one hour a day just liking and reading comments,” he said. “It’s so worth it.”
About The Author
Jim Katzaman is a manager at Largo Financial Services and worked in public affairs for the Air Force and federal government. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
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James L Katzaman
Jim Katzaman is a charter member of the Tealfeed Creators' program, focusing on marketing and its benefits for companies and consumers. Connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as well as subscribing here on Tealfeed.
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