Twial & twerror: (noun) The Twitter version of the trial and error method. This is something a lot of people *don’t* do because they’re afraid of failure. Check your terror at the Twitter door, and try something new. It will eventually pay off. See also: @Call_Me_Bookish’s favorite way to keep your original content poppin’!

Original content, original content, original content.

I know, you’re all sick of hearing that phrase everywhere. From me. From social media experts. From anyone on Twitter who is worth their salt. All will tell you that the key to being an Internet sensation is putting that dreaded phrase into practice.

That’s all fine and good, but thinking up original content is a lot harder than it seems. Each time I’ve written about the importance of original content, at least one person sends me a DM, desperately asking, “Yeah, yeah original content, I know, but what do I tweet?”

I never know how to answer this without sounding impossibly rude! Original means it comes from you, not from me! However, as someone who has experienced an original content rut and felt that same desperation, I get where they’re coming from.

Here are some tips to keep your original content on Twitter (and elsewhere) fresh and oh so fun:

1. Trial and twerror. Never be afraid to try something new, even if there’s a risk that you’ll ultimately look stupid. If you start to share a different side of yourself on Twitter and it doesn’t resonate with anyone, who cares? Maybe no one will understand your deep love of steak fajitas or your obsession with Zach from Saved By The Bell‘s hair. Maybe you’ll find kindred spirits. You won’t know until you try!

2. Talk about your personal life, but don’t get too personal. I’m not saying that you need to share every waking moment of your day. In fact, please don’t. I’m just suggesting that you tweet the more entertaining aspects without sharing too much info with people you don’t even know. This allows everyone to get a sense of who you are while concurrently finding humor in the mundane. For example, I tweeted a picture of my dog licking her *red-bearded* face after she stole food from the table. Is that intellectually high-brow? No, but people loved it. It’s life. It’s relatable. It’s funny.

3. Ask questions. When in doubt, or in a serious Twitter rut, ask a question. Your page shouldn’t be about you, you, you anyway. It can be simple; like me, you can do a Twitter check-in and ask people how they are. I ask for their good news and bad news, which really gets conversation going. You can always ask a daily question that can revolve around a specific theme or that can be part of a sweet medley of randomness. You can even ask if your gel deodorant will be allowed on the plane. Someone will answer and it will be super helpful. How do I know? Because I’ve asked that. Thank you, Tweeps!

4. Play games. People come to Twitter to be entertained, right? So entertain them. Recently, I’ve started to do a #CMBDare each day. It’s where I dare people to do something, and ask them to tweet the result post-dare. No, they’re not I dare-you-to-go-streaking-and-lick-a-fire-engine kind of dares! My dares are more along the lines of “pay someone a compliment today and actually mean it.” Competitions are great too! Choose a trending hashtag and tell people to use it in a tweet to you. The best tweet with that hashtag wins and gets RTed! Something like that.

Seriously, don’t stress about your original content. Be you. Have fun. Twitter fame will follow.

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