Ellen DeGeneres broke the ReTweet record (and broke Twitter!) with her #Oscars selfie. We can't all be Ellen, but we can follow her example – and the 4 R's of Twitter – and be Twitter celebrities in our own right. Read this social media case study on Ellen's success to learn more!

1. Winning Twitter
Why Ellen DeGeneres’s #Oscars Tweet won
Twitter, and how you can too.
A social media case study by Carmen Shirkey Collins
@cshirkeycollins
Senior Manager, Social Media – Citrix (Views are my
own)
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2. Ellen’s #Oscars tweet

3. Why did it break records (& Twitter!)?
S 4 Rs of social media (Twitter specifically)
S It was REAL (sort of, more on that in a bit)
S It was RELEVANT
S Ellen had REACH (which she gained from an
engaged audience)
S It was RETWEETABLE

4. How to be real
S Ellen’s Tweet was slightly staged (and a win for Samsung as well.)
BUT:
S Ellen has set herself up as a REAL lover of movies (and movie stars)
S The stars are her REAL friends (making REAL faces for a selfie – a la
Kevin Spacey and Julia Roberts)
S Taking a selfie with stars is something a REAL person would do
S For you, the first rule of being REAL is to be authentic
S Speak in a REAL voice, not like a bot or with some corporate speak
S Like you’re talking to your friends
S Post about REAL stuff
S What are you a REAL expert in? (you can’t be all things to all people)

5. How to be RELEVANT
S All brands aren’t RELEVANT to all things.
S Example, a salon might Tweet about celebrity hairdos at the
Oscars, that’s RELEVANT
S Just Tweeting about the Oscars with no obvious connection with
what makes it RELEVANT is not being REAL (see previous
slide)
S Participate in existing conversations (these are RELEVANT)
by using the appropriate hashtags (example, #Oscars.)
S Don’t jump on the topic bandwagon if you’re not going to be
REAL
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The Twitters know a fake when they see one, and you’ll be in the
news, for the wrong thing

6. What is REACH?
S To break a Twitter record, you need REACH
S The metric of potential REACH is about as NOT REAL as you can get
S Potential reach = the possible amount of followers that your followers
have that MAY see a post
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But every follower doesn’t ReTweet, or favorite, what you say. It’s a vanity
metric
S What’s your actual REACH?
S The number of people who ACTUALLY saw your Tweet

7. How do you get REACH?
S Content that gets engagement, gets you REACH
S Establish a pattern of posting things that your audience wants to
see. You’ll know what they want to see when they click, ReTweet, or
fave
S It’s not about what you want to post. It’s about your audience
S Know your audience (what do they want? Maybe ask them once in a
while)
S Measure
S Know the content that is working for you by measuring it

8. What makes something
RETWEETABLE?
S It’s short
S Twitter is short form at it’s finest, you only get 140 characters, BUT
S If you account for the characters that your ReTweeters’ Twitter
handles take up, and . . .
S You don’t want your original Tweet shortened in any way
S Aim for less than 120 characters (including the link). Less is even
better
S Ask for a ReTweet
S Ellen asked Oscars viewers to Retweet the photo
S They like her, they relate to her, so they did!
S Ask for ReTweets when you Tweet! (Sparingly. For the big stuff)

9. Thoughts?
S Comment on SlideShare
S Tweet me @cshirkeycollins