How can you effectively communicate your message the right way on Twitter with just 280 characters? What is the best way to include a call-to-action? How can you increase your followers and drive more traffic to the website? This short guide will help answer these questions.
There are two types of tweets
We have found that there are two types of tweets: Broadcasts and Conversations.
Broadcasts are tweets where people share their content with their followers or broadcast their message. These types of tweets are common and often made by people who don’t understand Twitter. They lack the power of a conversational tweet. While broadcasts are still useful, it is better to concentrate on conversations.
Twitter conversations are more powerful because they allow people to share value within a conversation. These could be asking a person/company a question or sharing relevant content. You’ll receive likes, mentions, and retweets if you hit the mark. This has the networking effect of getting more people to see your tweet.
Although there is no set rule, it is more common and beneficial these days to use conversational tweets.
How to craft your tweet
Because only 280 characters are available, it’s essential to make every character count. Here’s how to write a great tweet, no matter if you are sending a broadcast or a conversation.
1. Grab them with a great hook
Your main tweet and should contain a question or statement that is fun, interesting and compelling enough to draw people in and get them to continue reading.
Twitter users want to be entertained and informed. They are looking for news updates, interesting content and, yes, discounts. You need to ensure that your tweets are engaging and reflect your brand’s personality.
Your tweet’s most important element is its call to action. What action do your followers want to take? Click on the link? Tweet your post? Make sure the CTA is both clear and concise.
2. Include a link
Your tweet will most likely have one goal: to direct your followers to a blog article, a website or other landing page. You will need to include a URL or link.
How should you squeeze your long URL into the limited space available? URL shorteners are a great solution. These handy tools can compress your URL into fewer characters no matter how long it may be. Check out the one used in this tweet as an example.
One option is to use Twitter’s built-in shortener, http://t.co, which automatically shortens any URL you enter. This will change URLs up to 23 characters in length, even if they are less than 23 characters. You may lose some of these precious characters.
You can also use URL shorteners like Ow.ly, Bitly, or TinyURL to save your character count and track click-through rates.
3. Use a hashtag that’s relevant
Hashtags allow you to link your tweets to a particular topic. These tags will help your tweets be found easier (when people search the topic) and enable you to engage in wider discussions within that topic.
You can use the Twitter search field to search for hashtags already in use. If you write on a broad topic and it is likely that a hashtag exists, then go ahead and apply it — #fintech for example.
If you are looking to promote a business or encourage activity in a specific area, you can create your own hashtags — #flosflowerfreebies, for example.
Caution: You should not use more than two hashtags in a tweet. You might also want to avoid hashtags if you are sending a conversational tweet to someone new so you don’t sound too spammy.
4. Mention an important person or influencer
The @mention is another useful tool you can use in your tweets. You can mention other Twitter users in your tweets, and they will see your tweet. This allows you to publicly acknowledge them or promote their tweet to your followers.
You can search Twitter for someone’s username if you don’t already know their username. Their username will appear in the search results.
It is a good strategy to mention influential people and companies. This is a key strategy to build a strong network on Twitter. It’s not worth starting conversations with random users who have few followers.
Actively research influencers in your field. Then, target them by starting friendly conversations that add value for them.
Keep your tweets professional and relevant so you don’t inadvertently offend or insult your those you’re trying to connect with.
5. Add an appropriate image
Your tweets can be significantly more engaging if you include images and videos. Think about what you do on Twitter. Aren’t you more likely to click links with images and videos?
Images should be of high quality and relevant. You should ensure that your image is free to use (no copyright issues) and that you’ve sized it according to Twitter’s required dimensions (1024×512). Consider compressing the image to save space, especially if you are uploading it to your WordPress Media Library first.
6. Make sure to leave room for retweeting
As if that weren’t enough, it is important to allow for retweeting.
It is generally agreed that 20 is the magic number for retweeting. Leave 20 characters blank at the end of your tweet so others can retweet it with room for their own message. Your entire tweet, text, link and hashtags should be no more than 260 characters. This is even less than the original 280 characters you thought was so long!
The Takeaway
It doesn’t need to be difficult to write great tweets. You will see an increase in engagement on Twitter if you think about your audience first.
How do you determine if your audience will like a tweet? Practice makes perfect. You should also be diligent in tracking your engagement metrics and refining it as needed.
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start tweeting!
