In case you didn’t know, Twitter is one of the most powerful ways to get publicity in a relatively short period of time. When you think about it, our tweets and re-tweets have the potential to be seen by tens of thousands of followers on any given day of the week.  Publicity via Twitter has proven to boost readership of blogs, articles as well as generate sales. Speaking from personal experience, Twitter helped catapult my most recent book, How to Get on the News Without Committing Murder to #1 on Amazon a couple of years ago.

But that’s not really what this article is about. It’s about when and why you should re-tweet someone else’s post.

Here are some of my tips:

Only re-tweet a post that offers relevant information, an inspirational message you like or a valuable ‘how to’.

If someone is sending a blog or article, ALWAYS check the link to make sure it works. If the link is broken and you re-tweet without checking, it says you’re really not paying attention to your followers.

There are people on Twitter who are trying to make money. If you respect them and what they do, there’s no harm in re-tweeting their offers to help them with their publicity campaign.

If someone is sending a blog or article, try to read the post first before you re-tweet. It may not be something you want your name attached to.

If someone is doing nothing more than sending tweets and asking for re-tweets without engaging you in some form of other communication, I wouldn’t re-tweet. This person is self-serving and only interested in you helping to promote his or her agenda.

Always thank the person who re-tweeted your message and go the extra mile in re-tweeting something they’ve written. That’s why Tweetdeck is good to have.