Retweets are an indication of just how active your followers are, or how important your content is.  The more retweets you have, the more your content and blog or website is exposed to people who are not following you on Twitter.  This means that more people would be able to see you and perhaps follow you in turn.

But how do you get more people to retweet you?  We have talked about that before, but we would like to talk about it some more today.  By taking a look at the most retweeted messages last year, we think we would be able to learn some things from them.

The five most retweeted tweets from businesses in 2011 were:

• With 30,178 retweets: “A guide on how to get more free space with Dropbox! http://t.co/nljwo0nM Retweet for a chance to get +100GB!” @Dropbox
• With 1,845 retweets:  “Damn You Auto Correct Reveals 9 Funniest Texts of the Year http://t.co/yaCovGr0″ @mashable
• With 994 retweets:  “Alice is 15 & has terminal cancer.  She created a list of things she would like to do.  Can anyone help? http://goo.gl/X8Vdc” @ChrisBrogan
• With 523 retweets:  ”At #eG8, government acts as if it should protect us from the internet.  Instead, the internet need protection from the government.” @jeffjarvis
• With 466 retweets:  “Facebook is now the size of the entire Internet in 2004: The State of Social Media 2011 by @briansolis http://t.co/VDwMFp8n/@FastCoLeaders” @FastCompany

What You Could Learn

1. Tweet about your service, product or company.  People follow Dropbox on Twitter because they use the service and would like to get more information about it as time goes by.  One of the things you should know about Dropbox is that a majority of its users use the service for free, which means they have limited storage.

Dropbox’s tweet was very attractive because they know their user base and they know what they want: more storage.

When tweeting, know your customers.  Hey, if you are thinking of a giveaway, why not take a look at your users or customers first, then find out what they need most.  Then give them a chance to get it!

2. It helps to mention popular things, people or authorities connected with your brand.  Fast Company and Jeff Jarvis are known for their blogging.  They have a following that rely on them for the latest news and reliable information.

Use that authority to talk about something within your industry and your bit of info just might help you gain some retweets.

3. Good content gets retweeted.  What is the hubze squad’s definition of good content: entertaining, informative and education.  Humor is one of the easiest content to go viral.  Everyone needs a laugh right now.

Mashable knows this and because iPhone autocorrect mishaps are part of the scope of their brand, they win a lot of retweets by sharing something humorous.

So invest in creating good content consistently.  This will establish you as a source for reliable information and entertaining stuff and would help you get more exposure.  Good content pays for itself!

4. Human interest helps too.  Sometimes, it’s not about your brand or your business.  If you tweet something that would touch the heart of your followers, they may be moved to retweet you.