Get your Tweets working for you! (Image from a public domain graphic by geralt/Pixabay)
Twitter can be a potent medium for getting your content out onto the net. Because it’s set up for public posts Tweets are intended to be read by anybody, and not just the people you already know. So a well written Tweet has the potential to bring you new readers and to spread word of your writing even further afield.
Do you just click the Twitter button on your posts, and let be will be? Or do you take the time to compose a Tweet that will help give your post wings? Here is some advice for creating Tweets that will get noticed.
If you are just clicking the Tweet button, you may be surprised to see what’s actually posting to Twitter on your behalf! Some sites just append a generic “Check this out!” to your link and the site’s mention. Others will Tweet your title (which is another really good reason to write an awesome title!)
I like to use questions to entice my followers to click, rather than to stick with just the title of the article. Whatever you decide to go with, the text part of the Tweet should give followers an idea of what to expect when they click on the link. Use a keyword or two, in order to orient followers to the topic of the post.
A Tweet like, “It’s broken,” doesn’t tell the viewer what “it” is. If they know and like your writing, they may be intrigued and click through in order to discover what it is! But with Twitter much of what we post is aimed at people we’ve never met. You might be a parent writing about a child’s broken toy, a computer geek whose laptop has died for good, or an individual who has been in an accident that resulted in a broken bone.
Not knowing what the post is about, most people will simply pass on by instead of clicking to see if they might be interested in your topic. So that’s something to think about when you decide what to say in your Tweet!
You only have 140 characters to communicate your message in a Tweet. Most social media experts recommend an optimal Tweet length of about 70-100 characters. While you can now use all 140 characters because Twitter no longer includes links and mentions in the character count, you’ll probably find people engage more with Tweets that are of moderate length.
Adding hashtags helps more people find your Tweets. You can find popular hashtags for your topics on sites like Hashtagify Me, or by watching the tags other people are using for similar content. Also watch in the Twitter sidebar, for trending tags that might fit well with your topic.
If you’re really stumped, try typing “#” into the search box on Twitter, followed by one of your keywords. Twitter will show you some hashtags that might be a good fit. If you are composing your Tweets directly on the site, adding the “#” and some text will also show hashtags that match the string of characters you’ve typed in.
Be sure the hashtags you choose are relevant to your content. Using an unrelated tag just because it’s popular tends to look really spammy, and may even get you into trouble with Twitter. Try to add only one or two hashtags to any one Tweet. Too many just looks cluttered and desperate.
You work hard to write quality content. Now it’s time to let your Tweets sell it for you!
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(Image from a public domain graphic by geralt/Pixabay)
Visuals have been shown to improve results from both our writing and our social media shares. You can add an image to your Tweets by uploading it when you compose your message on Twitter. Or you can use a social media management app like Buffer, which will pick up suitably sized images and allow you to select them when you set up the Tweet.
You can add up to four images with any Tweet. Optimal image size for Twitter is 1,024 x 512 pixels, though many other sizes will display just fine as long as the image is horizontal.
If you want your Twitter followers to pay more attention to your Tweets, you need to have a consistent presence on Twitter. First, Tweet consistently. If you send a ton of Tweets now and then don’t share anything to Twitter for days, people will stop paying attention to you. If you know you won’t be around consistently, you can schedule Tweets. Scheduling is really easy with apps like Buffer and HootSuite, which have good basic service free of charge.
Remember to Tweet content that isn’t just your own, and to take the time to interact with other people on Twitter. Retweet content, comment on Tweets, take the time to mention someone you think your other followers might want to check out, and so on. It helps to show people your more human side, and it pays off in better engagement. More people will want to click through to your content, retweet you, or follow you because they can see you have a friendly approach and aren’t just coming to Twitter to drop your links and run!
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View Comments
Good ideas there, thanks for the tutorial. I have to say I don't have much time for twitter but I do use it.
@andriaperry I used to just Tweet things as a bit of an afterthought, but I've decided to focus on building up my following on Twitter because it can be a valuable source of traffic. I think it's easiest if we take things one step at a time, but it really does take an investment of time to get things going.
Hi Kyla,
Great tips. I am happy to say I do all those things!
Janice
I knew you would, Janice! You are a wonderful example of getting things right when it comes to both blogging and social media. I know I learn a lot from reading your posts and following your example :)
Twitter is a handy tool as a social media sharing. Last week I got 1,344 impressions from persons whom I know and from unknown persons. I don't have to tweet every day or regularly for I have several blogs and my social media account are enabled to be shared to my Twitter account. So every time I have an update it goes also right away to my Twitter account and it is shared to my followers, visitors or viewers. I have other social media membership which facilitates my Facebook activities and blog posts which are enhanced by appropriate or related images to the topic of the blog.
@nakitakona13 Automated Tweets are really handy, but it's still important to have a genuine presence on the network. You need to be interacting with other users, retweeting their Tweets, etc. So while it can be a huge timesaver to automate, it doesn't replace you actually reading your feed and interacting with your followers.
Kyla what I'd love to know is how to word the tweet- by that I mean is there a general formula to follow and what should be included. I have been faking it for awhile and would love to know. Like should it be your statement with hashtags and then what about the link?
It's a little bit of trial and error, Lin. But some things to try are using questions and emotion to leave the reader wanting to find out more. I'll see if I can't research some more specifics for you, as right now I'm pretty much playing it by ear too!
@Ruby3881 I am a total failure when it comes to exploiting social sites. I am on twitter but hardly attempt to increase my presence there.
@bestwriter I think a lot of us more reserved folk tend to shy away from content promotion and social media at first. We like to let our writing speak for itself; unfortunately, it can't do that if people can't find it. It's a bit of a tradeoff...