The best performing tweets

This October featured some unique and controversial posts that got a lot of viral success. And One Direction isn’t dominating the rankings for once! Well, not as much as usual at least.

The most interesting top tweet this month was made by Gary Lineker, who was being attacked after defending the rights of refugees. David Davies then suggested that dental checks should be done on children to verify their age. Gary Lineker responded with disdain, calling their treatment “racist and utterly heartless.” He then received tons of negative feedback from Tory supporters. People even started demanded that he get fired, just for defending the rights of refugees.

It eventually led to Lineker tweeting the third most successful post this October. People we’re ready and willing to show their support for Lineker’s outspokenness, which manifested as lots of likes and retweets.

Getting a bit of a spanking today, but things could be worse: Imagine, just for a second, being a refugee having to flee from your home.

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) 21 October 2016

Once again, doing the right thing get’s someone a ton of engagement and attention on social media. It’s not always the best idea if you’re a brand, as you risk alienating a lot of your fans if they don’t agree with your stance on moral issues. Be sure your audience will appreciate your views before you try something like Gary Lineker.

Many successful strategies

The other top posts were diverse in their paths to success. Dan Howell posted a grammatically broken tweet joking that he’s keeping someone locked in his basement. His post did well because of humor and making it relevant to a timely event – Halloween. Emma Watson cracked the top 5 with an image-text post, a call-to-action for women to make their voices heard in the upcoming US election. It proved a bit controversial and sparked a lot of engagement. And Zayn had the top post with an animated photo of himself, showing off a bit of creativity.

helo it halween so dan letme out basement just fore one wek pls sned help v scare
-doot

— Dan Howell (@danisnotonfire) 26 October 2016

pic.twitter.com/gNs07Q9AQf

— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) 25 October 2016

pic.twitter.com/fOqFcXQo7C

— zayn (@zaynmalik) 11 October 2016

So that’s kindness, humor, timing, controversy, and pics all helping people make successful tweets. They won’t all help your brand, but a bit of analyzing will help you figure out which ones will.

The most engaging and fastest growers

The most engaging profile this October by far was Dan Howell, with 3.1 million engaged users. That’s nearly double of second placer Little Mix (1.6 million), and almost triple Manchester united (1.2 million). He’s been doing very well recently on Twitter, getting his personal brand just right.

The fastest growing pages were One Direction (+ 397 thousand followers), Gareth Bale (+ 284 thousand followers), and Emma Watson (+ 262 thousand followers).

The most popular hashtags

The top performing hashtags this October were #MUFC, #PurposeTour, and #StandUpToCancer. MUFC stands ahead of the rest by a large margin, with fans consistently showing their support for their favourite team. Purpose Tour refers to Justin Bieber’s latest worldwide tour, supporting the release of his last album. #StandUpToCancer refers to the UK organization Stand Up 2 Cancer and their latest movement trying to build awareness for the disease.

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