Rising Creators Forum

I've been trying to write tweets that get traction but most of my tweets barely get 5-10 likes. i see people with similar follower counts getting hundreds or thousands of likes and i don't understand what i'm doing wrong

Is there a formula for writing tweets that people actually engage with?

Unpopular opinion: stop trying to write viral tweets and just be authentic

i grew to 15k followers without a single viral tweet. just consistent valuable content that resonated with my specific audience

chasing virality usually means:
- copying trends that don't fit your voice
- saying controversial things you don't actually believe
- optimizing for engagement instead of value

my non-viral growth strategy:
- tweet daily observations and lessons from my work
- share behind the scenes of my projects
- reply thoughtfully to people in my niche
- occasionally post threads with actionable advice

average engagement: 50-100 likes per tweet. nothing viral. but every one of those 15k followers is engaged and actually cares about my content

viral tweets often bring low-quality followers who never engage again. they followed because of one tweet, not because they care about you

would you rather:
- 50k followers from viral tweets with 0.1% engagement rate
- 5k followers from consistent valuable content with 5% engagement rate

the second one builds an actual audience you can monetize and build relationships with

stop chasing virality and start building community

There's definitely a pattern to tweets that go viral. I've had 3 tweets hit 1M+ impressions and here's what they had in common:

viral tweet formula:
1. strong hook in the first line (make people stop scrolling)
2. relatable problem or emotion (people think "omg that's so true")
3. simple language (write at 5th grade reading level)
4. clear takeaway or punchline
5. easy to retweet (stands alone without context)

Also timing matters for viral potential. tweet when your audience is most active so you get that crucial initial engagement that tells twitter to show it to more people

but honestly most of your tweets won't go viral and that's fine. focus on consistent value. i have 50k followers and 95% of my tweets get under 100 likes. the occasional viral tweet brings new followers, then consistent valuable content keeps them