My most successful tweet to date was posted last week. It was in reference to #Shaqretires.

(Notice the 21 retweets! Unfortunately, Hootsuite no longer shows you who has re-tweeted your tweet only that is was shared 21 times. I checked on twitter and it only showed a sampling of how many people shared this tweet.)

Not only was this tweet successful but another person approached me and told me how much they like my tweets. They have never mentioned me or re-tweeted something I have posted. Yet, they still follow and get value from my tweets.

For these reasons and others, I began to think about the “Art of the Tweet”. What goes into writing effectively for Social Media, specifically for Twitter.

1) Posts contain content of value. I share articles I find interesting and direct them to people who have those interests. I share videos, audio files. And re-tweet items that  have good content.

2) Authenticity, I tweet about my life, my interests, etc. In this way I am creating original content in my tweets. In some cases, I may post my own content (a blog, post, a video) for me this is not the priority. The tweet itself becomes the content.

3) Learn how to write a tweet. Like anything practice makes perfect. So, I tweet alot. I view writing a tweet similar the way I view writing a poem. It’s concise, it’s meaningful, and slightly open. Not every tweet follows this rule. The idea is you want to make people think. I treat it as a puzzle. How can I fit what I want to say into 140 meaningful characters?

4) Follow the best. Musicians are some of the most masterful tweeters because they know how to say something meaningful in a phrase. Questlove and Pat Carney are two exceptional tweeters. Carney recently had a much talked about twitter war with Lady Gaga fans. By re-tweeting the best of the worst insults, Carney expertly defeated the Little Monsters. And showed that Gaga’s crusade against Bullying has not translated to her fans.

My earliest twitter-sensei was K’naan (@iamknaan), who much to the determent of my Twitter timeline left the service for several this past winter. He is back but does not post at the same frequency. A brand that uses twitter well and has a great blog is Free People (@freepeople). The master of  the tweet is Ochocinco (@ochocinco) , a one-man brand, he is funny, engaging, and sincere. If you only follow one person to learn about how twitter works and how to use social media successfully and positively, it should be Ochocinco.

Of course, this is just a sample of who I learn from on twitter. Usually, it is the everyday tweeter, small business owner, academic, or friend, that share incredible stories in their timeline. This is what makes the tool alive and is turning it into an intriguing art form.

Stay tuned for my list of “the best tweeters you should be following but probably aren’t”