.png)
Unless Twitter is your full-time job you don’t need to spend hours every week writing tweets to fill up a schedule. But, if you want to grow on Twitter you are going to need to show up with some value.
I spend less than an hour a week writing and scheduling tweets, so I can spend the rest of my time engaging on Twitter. Lot’s of people are uncomfortable with talking about scheduling tweets, but for me it’s necessary so I can get on with more important work on Twitter — engaging with people.
I’m a natural sharer.
I love to share what I’m doing and what I’m learning. I’ll easily take a screenshot, record a quick loom video or write out a process if I think it is interesting. I love taking a peek ‘behind the scenes of other processes too.
There are two secrets to being able to be a highly leveraged Twitter writer and scheduler. Firstly you have to constantly be collecting ideas. Secondly, you need frameworks to help you write tweets faster. I’m going to show you how I do both in this article:
Always be collecting ideas. If you do not have a list titled: Tweet Ideas somewhere in your favourite note-taking app. Stop reading and go and create it now (OK, maybe wait till the end of the article).
One of the worst ways to waste time as a creator is sitting down to a blank page. There are things going on every day that you notice, think about and if you’re not writing them down you are doing yourself a disservice.
All week I am writing ideas, things that come to me, things I’m noticing or learning or reading. So when it comes time to write my tweets, I have a list already pretty much ready to go.
You’ve done the heavy lifting throughout the week so the real heavy lifting of writing doesn’t seem so heavy after all.
👉 Start a list in your favourite note tool called Tweet Ideas👉 Throw random ideas in throughout the week👉 Batch write your content once a week from that list.
I have Airtable & Notion Databases for EVERYTHING from headlines, to tweets, etc. I’m always clipping things that catch my attention so I can learn from them and most importantly use them later.
The difference between artists and creators is that artists treat every painting like a commissioned artwork. Whereas creators think of themselves like chefs at serving time… shipping that creative work over and over again.
If you want to be a prolific creator AND someone who is growing on Twitter you can’t treat every tweet like a commissioned piece of art. You need to learn to hone your craft and ship the work.
This is where my Twitter Frameworks come in. Once I have a bunch of ideas in the bank, I can bring up my Twitter Framework Library and start to figure out what ideas will work with what frameworks.
And that is where the real magic happens. I never start anything from scratch. I’ve got a quick brain dump of the idea and I’ve got a Framework and the writing becomes relatively easy.
Here’s a timelapse of me writing tweets
.gif)
OK. So let’s get into these Top 10 Framework I use to find ideas and get ideas out into the world.
These are the top 10 frameworks I use when writing tweets. I’ve included an example for each one.
For each essay I write I go back and extract content to use for tweets:
👉 Quotable Thoughts👉 Listicles👉 Questions
This tweet came directly from an essay I wrote:
At the end of each day I ask myself ‘What did I learn today?’ and jot that down in my tweet ideas list. This one was just an observation about how I learned to press buttons
In @austinkleon’s book Show Your Work he suggests sharing small parts of things that you are working on. Screenshots, videos and photos work well. I love to share videos of parts of my products that I’m working on
As I’m processing notes and tending to my Zettelkasten, I’ll craft tweets from what I’m reading or discovering.
Schedule conversations with other creators. You’ll find it a powerhouse of ideas and insights. Then jot down interesting things in your idea list. This one was a result of a conversation with @learningobsessed
People love to see behind the scenes of how you work. Whether it’s a way you use your tool or wield your craft. Share your workflow to help others. This is one I wrote on how I practice writing better headlines
There are probably things you do every day that are obvious to you, but not obvious to someone else. Like this little tip about sorting youtube videos by date uploaded rather than letting the algorithm show you the same old stuff.
You’re a curious creator, share cool things you find each day. Maybe it’s a cool new app, a book you’ve just bought or a new favourite lunch spot. I found a new Twitter app that I was excited about here
Use other people’s tweets to fuel your own opinions. Add to the conversation your unique voice. This tweet was inspired by something I read about needing to have it all figured out to get started.
As you consume content take screenshots, highlights, notes and more and add them to your ideas list. This is a screenshot I took from @OneJKMolina newsletter that really resonated
OK, this isn’t my framework. It comes from @CarolineAtmos and has inspired me to start thinking about what my future self might want to hear about. Absolute gold 💎
Writing for Twitter has been one of the best decisions I’ve made as a creator. Not only have I been able to share so many valuable ideas, but I’ve met so many great friends in the process.
It doesn’t have to be hard either. With a few frameworks combined with your fresh ideas, you can be crafting a week's worth of tweets in no time.
If you like this article, you can catch more content from me on Twitter (Duh) about creator workflows, knowledge management & lifestyle design.
