The overlap between content marketing and journalism will probably exercise industry bigwigs for some time. How far should useful content be tilted towards sales? No matter which side of the debate you sit, the skills of a journalist are undoubtedly relevant in many areas. Most notably:

– clear, concise writing

– good interview technique

– maintaining a healthy news diary

– and, editorial consistency.

But the debate also extends beyond content creation and into content dissemination. If you are employing the skills of a journalist to make content for your brand, why not also copy how a journalist gets the message out?

With this thought in mind, Content Desk recommends trying to read this academic paper The effect of wording on message propagation: Topic- and author-controlled natural experiments on Twitter. And we stress the word ‘try’, so replete is it with mathematical rigmarole and academic grit. In fact, it is nearly as hard to comprehend as this LinkedIn news release about the company’s plans for marketing funnel dominance.

Luckily, those folk at Journalist’s Resource have decoded the paper (we think) and set out some easy-to-follow tips for getting the word out on Twitter.

Make direct appeals for others to share your content.

This means writing “RT” or “Retweet” at the end of your message

Make longer, informative tweets.

Not only are these messages useful, they are more likely to be shared if they use the language and style of the intended audience.

Imitate news headlines.

Messages that mimic a news headline style are generally more successful. This includes negative as well as positive words.

Ditch Twitter handles and second-person pronouns.

“You” and “your” in tweets do not really increase sharing rates.

Talk like a footballer.

Well not quite, but using simple vocabulary also improves your chances of being retweeted.