The 7 Archetypes of Twitter Accounts

The Archetypes of Twitter accounts Which accounts to followw and those to avoid In this analysis of the 7 archetypes, we have focussed on individual accounts as opposed to corporate or branded accounts. We have also excluded the troll, spam or porn profiles. For each of the 7 individual Twitter archetypes, we have provided a description, an image, a rating out of 5 stars and a key insight. C The SOCIAL Eurepe's Premier PC Event Personal Brand @PersonalBrand STAR Is a successful entrepreneur or holds a top executive position in a forward-thinking organization. Plenty of street creds. Author. Speaker. Expert. London, San Francisco • personal-brand.com 19,116 2,762 1,119,056 Following TWEETS FOLLOWING FOLLOWERS "they have a big following thanks to Description: The quintessential Twitter user, the Social Star is a person who has created a serious following on Twitter, probably in line with his/her offline activity. The Social Star is active on Twitter, despite having a successful career - or perhaps the success has come in part because of his/her Twitter providing consistently strong content" activity? The Social Star has a big following thanks to providing consistently strong content, and yet follows others and interacts with them rather democratically. There are a number of great examples. We will cite a few here, as they represent gold standards: Dorie Clark @dorieclark, Ann Handley @marketingprofs, Mitch Joel @mitchjoel, Brian Solis @briansolis, Gary Vaynerchuk @garyvee, Jeremy Waite @jeremywaite - And, you might consider following each of them if you are not already doing so! Key insight: If content is king, you'll need to think context in order to gain traction with the Social Star, if such is your goal. You will want to look carefully at the people they follow. INTEREST TO FOLLOW The BUTTER Suave Mariposa FLY @SuaveMariposa Keen on marketing in the new digital era. Fast, Fun and Fo- cused on Results. Work with the best. Tweets are my own. London, England • suavemariposa.com 196,918 26,733 79,170 Following TWEETS FOLLOWING FOLLOWERS "they interact with all types of users" Description: The Butterfly is a major Twitter user. By some accounts, Twitter could be his/her primary channel. The Butterfly interacts with all types of users, throughout the day. The Butterfly is socially engaged and active, and likely delivers or redistributes good content. They tend to have a high number of followees, but will likely have an significantly higher number of followers. The Butterfly is an exemplary Twitter user. There just aren't that many of them (@AmyPorterfield, @jeremarketer, @Beautyanthedirt, @FrankEliason)! INTEREST TO FOLLOW Key insight: A Butterfly that also provides strong content is a pearl. The DISTANT STAR Deep Planet @DeepandDistantPlanet Author of several books and may be a regular feature on a rādio or TV show. Smart and quite ambitious. New York, NY USA • deep-planet.com 5,880 20 6,419 Following TWEETS FOLLOWING FOLLOWERS "the Distant Description: The Distant Star may be something of a celebrity (at least is well known in a domain); but, he/she is probably not much of a social Star likely has influence" animal. The Distant Star is likely more comfortable offline and his/her active community could very well be there as well (or on another channel). The Distant Star likely has influence, but depending on his/her level of interaction with other users, has a tendency to be more of a recluse, prefering his/her privacy. Key insight: Check to see if they create lists rather than straight out following people. If you can become a valued followee for such a person, you know you are se- lected with great care. INTEREST TO FOLLOW The PRIVATE CA ON Behind Closed Walls @behindclosedwalls EYE Sketchy data. Tweets are private. Obscure, Country • May or may not choose a link ITHIS IS SPARTA OXOZOEO Z0EOZO 14,350 360 196 Following TWEETS FOLLOWING FOLLOWERS Description: According to Beevolve, approximately 12% of Twitter "they are accounts are "protected," meaning the user needs to approve you as a more active than the follower (in order to see their tweets). These types of accounts are 2/3 owned by female users. On average, they are more active than the typical user in terms of number of updates. typical user" Note: Just because they are private, does not mean they can't amass interested followers, as witnessed by @WIDIKIDIW with over 400,000 followers. A 2012 blog post from Twopblog post, analyzing the latest 100 million Twitter accounts, suggested that the number of protected accounts was on the decline. However, the Twop site usually considers all types of accounts, including the fakes which may skew the analysis. INTEREST TO FOLLOW Key insight: Depends entirely on the subject or nature of the person. You need to look for clues in the bio. The CYC LER Aimer 2B Followed @RECIPROCATEPLEASE I typically am involved in #social #media and/or digital #marketing. My bio probably has a number of #hashtags and @links to other accounts. Friend to robots. Mostly North America • Aimer2BFollowed.com 24,147 27,415 25,213 Follow TWEETS FOLLOWING FOLLOWERS "tends to Description: Has a lot of followers, but is typically also following a large, cycle through the Twitter if not larger number. The Cycler has a dedicated (often very automated) strategy of following people and will only keep on following if the user follows back. This profile tends to cycle through the Twitter community, community" trying to pick up a maximum number of followers. It's a numbers game. Key insight: When the Cycler has accumulated a large number of followers and followees, the challenge is to get through the clutter. My advice is, if you are interes- ted in a particular Cycler profile, to engage with him/her by sending a mention or DM, and see if he/she replies. At some point the Cycler may drop the ball and mass unfollow or just tire of the process. INTEREST TO FOLLOW The LISTENER Cautious @CautiousandAttentive Not much here. 27 353 78 Follow TWEETS FOLLOWING FOLLOWERS "is not prepared to participate, at least not Description: About a quarter of all Twitter accounts never emit a single update/tweet. This does not necessarily mean that the account is inactive. Among the inactive accounts, there are those who have just reserved the username (aka handle). Otherwise, the Listener can be someone discrete, even in a position of power, but who is not prepared to participate, at least not heavily and not heavily and not yet" yet. They may tweet on occasion, as if testing the waters. Often times, the Listener prefers to start in the protected mode. Key insight: The Listener can have influence in other channels. To follow a Listener who might be following you is to be able to send a Direct Message. The more the Listener has filled in his/her bio, the more potential that user has of "going live." INTEREST TO FOLLOW The EGG HEAD Unknown Name @AnonandUninteresting 11 Follow TWEETS FOLLOWING FOLLOWERS "a newbie to Twitter" Description: Very likely a newbie to Twitter, the Egghead profile is incomplete, the number of tweets will be negligible and the number of followers is decidedly anemic (or at least much lower than the number they are following). INTEREST TO FOLLOW Key insight: Unless they are a direct acquaintance, this account doesn't bear much relevance... yet. With 550 million accounts and counting on Twitter, the big challenge is finding the right people to follow to make Twitter a valuable asset. One must decide how many people one wants to follow and curate that set of people. Creating lists is useful to segment people of interest (and you need not follow everyone in your list). Final Tips: Don't forget to follow some random people (serendipity pays) and give before you expect in return. Brand Talking yopps. DIGITAL MEDIA AGENCY THE MỹNDSET. BY NC ND 2013 © The Myndset - All rights reserved