This is the follow up to my previous post The Ultimate Green Twitter Hashtag List: Build Your Online Green Twitter Following – 150+Green Hashtags. This post introduces you to daily Twitter memes, explains how they work to build you followers, provides you with an overview of how they were started, and provides strategies for getting the most from green Twitter memes. The post also includes a list of the of most prominent green twitter memes and additional list of other related memes.
by Tracey de Morsella, Green Economy Post. Tracey is the co-editor of The Green Executive Recruiter Directory. Follow Tracey on Twitter @greeneconpost
What are Twitter Memes?
Like hashtags, green twitter memes categorize tweets, which makes them more findable in a sea of 55 million tweets posted each day on Twitter. [See The Ultimate Green Twitter Hashtag List: Build Your Online Green Twitter Following – 150+Green Hashtags] Green Twitter memes enable the online green community to zero in on specific topics that they are interested in, and find others with similar interests. This, ultimately will get you more followers. Green Twitter memes take hashtags to the next level. Twitter memes are a way of extending the impact of #hashtags by making it a weekly event. The first and most popular twitter meme is #FollowFriday. The most popular green twitter meme is #EcoMonday.
How FollowFriday and EcoMonday Got Their Start
Back in March 2009, #FollowFriday was started by Micah Baldwin. Mykl Roventine suggested adding the hashtag # to #FollowFriday, and with the help of a few friends to promote it, there were almost two #followfriday tweets per second at its peak on that on that first #FollowFriday. These days many people used the shortened #FF hashtag to save precious character space.
A few weeks later, in April, several green memes spouted up. Brian Wallace of NowSourcing Skyped his network about #HealthyHumpday follow meme for health-relatedTweeps, Around the same time, on April 24th, Shea Gunther, a blogger at Mother Nature Network posted 10 Green Twitterers You Should Follow. One the same day Max Gladwell, sent the original #EcoMonday Tweet. It was a flop, with very few people taking note, but Shea Gunther did. The following Monday, he posted the great green Twitter follow parade, which promoted #EcoMonday. It listed more green people to follow, and encouraged site visitors to leave their recommendations in the comments section. #EcoMonday was a hit. In its second and third weeks, #EcoMonday became a top trending topic on Twitter.
Micah Baldwin put it so succinctly, “FollowFriday is a strong example of a crowdsourced recommendation engine, which will always provide better results than an automated one.” For those following issues like sustainability, cleantech, green building, climate change and other green topics on Twitter, green Twitter memes can provide even better results.
How To Use Twitter Memes
The common practice for a typical #FollowFriday or #EcoMonday tweet is to pack as many of your favorite followers into 140 characters as possible. While this strategy is great for pinging people in your network to let them know you’re thinking of them, as well as finding many like minded Tweeps, sometimes your message can get lost in the noise. However, you can do something about that.
Four Strategies Strategies That Can Be Used To Increase The Effectiveness of Twitter Memes As Crowdsourced Recommending Engines
These strategies will show your followers and the tweeps that you are recommending that you care about quality relationship building. So, when you tweet, they will pay attention.
1. Dedicate an entire tweet to recommend one Tweep, and include information on why that person is someone that people should follow. Format: #followfriday #ff @username Why you should follow them – (their niche/group). See example:
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| 2. Recommend a group of Tweeps to follow who are knowledgeable about a specific subject like green building, solar, power, sustainability, etc. See example: |
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| 3. Use the memes to point out great blog posts. See example: |
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| 4. Consider asking who to follow in a specific specialty to engage your followers and initiate conversation. |
List of Green Twitter Memes
Monday Green Memes
#EcoMonday – #EcoMonday seeks to unite and network the green community.
Tuesday Green Memes
#TurtleTuesday – #TurtleTuesday is dedicated to tweets on all things turtles
Wednesday Green Memes
#HealthyHumpday – Created by @goodhealth, #healthyhumpday is like #followfriday for health-related Twitter accounts and links.
#WaterWednesday – A twitter meme for Tweets on water quality and water conservation
#WildLifeWednesday– On Wednesdays around the world celebrate and support wildlife. This is done at events, on TV, in publications, and in blog posts. It is also a follow meme on Twitter.
List of Related Non-Green Twitter Memes
Monday Memes
#MeowMonday – A special day on Twitter for catloving tweeps.
#MM – Mondays are the days dedicated to recommending marketing tweeps to follow
Tuesday Memes
#FollowTuesday – Follow Friday for Tuesdays
#TeacherTuesday – A day set aside for teachers to discuss all things education
#TechTuesday – #Techtuesday is a day on twitter dedicated to technology discussions.
#TumblTtuesday – #tumblrtuesdayas a way to promote your Tumblr friends (re-posting within Tumblr is also recommended).
#TwitterTuesday – A day where businesses offer specials on Twitter
Wednesday Memes
#FollowWednesday – #followfriday for Wednesdays.
#WisdomWed – Created by Mashable Associate Editor @BenParr, #WisdomWed helps spread knowledge across Twitter by sharing a piece of useful advice with followers on Wednesdays
#Women2Follow – Every Wednesday, recommend women to follow on Twitter. Started by @WomenWhoTech.
#WonderfulWednesday – Best wishes for the middle of the week.
#WoofWednesday – A special day for dog loving Twitter friends.
Thursday Memes
#FollowtThursday – #followfriday for Thursdays
#RTThursday – Thursday is set aside to thank your retweeters in style.
#ThankfulThursday – Started by @gracesmith and @themethursday, #thankfulthursday is a day on twitter set aside for telling others what you’re thankful for
#ThemeThursday – Recommend links on a certain topic that changes from week to week
Friday Memes
#GoodNewsFriday – Good news comes on Friday.
#FollowFriday – #followfriday is the original Twitter daily meme. You can read more about #followfriday here.
#FQF – Friday Quote Fest, hashtag is for sharing quotes
Saturday Memes
#Caturday – Another day on Twitter dedicated to cats and catlovers.
#WkendThx – Created by @MichDdot, #wkendthx is a follow up to #followfriday, or if you missed thanking your tweeps on Friday.
If we have missed a meme, please add it below. Additionally, please share your ideas on how to get the most from these Twitter memes. In a few weeks we will follow up with a post on Green Twitter Chats.
For more strategies on maximizing the use of Twitter as a marketing or personal branding tool check out the following free downloads:
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