25 Tweetable Twitter Tips You Wish You Knew Years Ago

25 Tweetable Twitter Tips

Twitter hit the scene in 2006 and since then most industry experts have taken notice and have tried to master the art of promotion through this valuable and widely used social network. In 2013, Twitter was one of the 10 most-visited websites, and has been described as "the SMS of the Internet” according to Wikipedia. Updates have made the platform more valuable and given brands the opportunity to reach exponential limits. But, don’t we all wish we knew back in 2006 what we know now. Here are 25 tweetable Twitter tips you wish you knew years ago:

1. Tweet and tweet a lot. In the fast paced tweeting universe, in order to get noticed, you have to remain active and tweet a lot. Your followers will not be reading everything that you Tweet, in fact, they won’t read most of what you tweet so the more tweets you post, the better. When trying to develop a consistent presence in Twitter, I suggest tweeting three to five times per day for a beginner, 10 for a business and upwards of 20 for a personal brand. Take caution that if you are edging near the upper end of posts, be sure that you strike a good balance of posting tweets that promote and still maintaining conversations with others. Wonder if your tweeting efforts are working? A great tool for tracking frequency is TweetStats, which is one of my favorite resources for measuring my Twitter activity.


Analyze Twitter Account Statistics

2. Kill two birds with one stone. Most every good marketer uses HootSuite to manage multiple social media networks from one app. The system’s user interface supports social network integrations for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, MySpace, WordPress, TrendSpottr, and Mixi.

Twitter Management with HootSuite

3. Don’t skimp on your profile. Now that Twitter has made its redefined profile page widely available, take advantage of the new features and make the most of your Twitter profile. Your profile needs to be complete (people often take missteps here by not filling out their entire profile) and should reflect your brand identity and personality as well as bring your best content front and center. A clear, concise bio tells the story of your brand, product, or services. This is not the place to write a book, keep it short and sweet and include a trackable link to your main website or to a specific landing page to increase traffic.

Tip: Pin your most important Tweet to the top of your pro?le timeline. If you want a specific tweet to get more retweets, just pin it!

4. A picture is worth a thousand words. Choose a profile photo that visually represents your brand. Logos work, but you can also feature a person or character. Recommended size: 400x400 pixels. Image is automatically resized to ?t.

5. Twitter Search generates more leads. Use the twitter search and advanced search to find more leads in your niche.

Search Twitter


6. Retweets MUST be relevant. Don’t just retweet to retweet. Enough said.

7. Hashtags, when used right, will get you noticed. Hashtags can be thought of as conversations, places, and trends and can increase your Twitter followers.

8. Link your Twitter account to your Facebook page. If you have a Facebook Fan Page, or are the admin of one, you can post Tweets from your Twitter account to your Facebook Page. Here’s how to do it. Follow these 10 steps from the Twitter Help Center:


Twitter Help Center

  • Log in to the Twitter account you want to associate with your Facebook profile.

  • Go to your Settings menu's Profile tab.

  • Scroll to the bottom and click Sign in to Facebook and connect your accounts.

  • When prompted, select the privacy settings for who will see your Tweets posted to your Facebook wall. It is set to public by default.

  • Click Log in with Facebook and enter your Facebook login credentials.

  • Click Allow to accept permissions.

  • Your Tweets will now post to your profile Facebook wall and your username will be displayed there as well. @Replies will not be posted.

  • Follow the steps above to connect to your Facebook profile.

  • In your Twitter profile settings page, Select the page you'd like to connect to.

  • When prompted, click to allow permission to post to the selected Facebook Page:

9. Invest time, not money. Build your list organically––paying for followers might sound like the smart way to go, but it doesn’t always target the right audience and can leave you empty handed even having spent money.

10. Engage with those who are following you. It’s not just enough to grow your influence, but you must feed it with killer content and information that has value.

11. Tweet links and content that point back to your blogs, websites, and Facebook pages.

12. Create tips and how-tos that you can tweet about your industry.

13. Follow the leaders in your industry. Take notice of who’s leading the conversations and what’s trending in your industry. By following them and retweeting them, you are building credibility. Creating an authentic relationship with the experts in your filed will help your brand get recognized.

Take for instance if your industry is health, fitness, and well being, you might be interested in following Dr. Oz. He has over three million followers:


Follow Industry Leaders on Twitter


14. Create Lists. Twitter Lists have gotten a major upgrade so that users can now better organize their Twitter feed into easily viewable categories. Since the upgrade, you can now create up to 1,000 lists, which sure beats the previous 20-list cap. Lists can contain as many as 5,000 accounts.

15. Make your Twitter background visually enticing. Create a custom graphic that speaks your brand. Creativity is key here. Your header image should showcase your brand with a large, rich image. Recommended size: 1500x500 pixels. Image is automatically resized to ?t. Note that the header photo is cropped to a 2:1 aspect ratio on mobile.

16. Promote your Twitter account where applicable. Put your Twitter handle on every viable source of marketing such as flyers, business cards, online signature, website, email newsletter, receipts, and invoices.

17. Promoted tweets are worth paying for if they are directed towards a targeted audience. Promoted Tweets are ordinary Tweets purchased by advertisers who want to reach a wider group of users or to spark engagement from their existing followers. Promoted Tweets are clearly labeled as Promoted when an advertiser is paying for their placement on Twitter.

Promoted Tweets

18. Keep your Twitter account squeaky clean. Use untweeps to weed out followers who don’t tweet.

Below is an example of how one user uses UnTweep to clean house.

Clean Your Twitter Account with Untweep

19. Visually enhance your tweets. Tweeting videos and photos make a quick impact and often get retweeted more than those tweets that don’t have a visual appeal. Images and videos can bring in hundreds of new followers and likes simply in one day.

20. Customize your devices with the Twitter App for tweeting on the go. Keep connected anywhere, all the time.

21. Add the Instagram App to your device. Instagram photos need to be shared on Twitter and Facebook and can be done all at the same time.

22. Add the Facebook App to your device so that you can tweet your updates on the fly.

23. Promote a Promo. Tweet a Twitter coupon or discount for a service or product you offer. I happen to be a fan of Sprinkles Cupcakes––check out their latest promotion.

Promote a Promo Tweet

24. Embed a tweet into a blog post. Twitter has made it possible for you to display fully functional Tweets on your website or blog in a few simple steps. At the bottom of all Tweet permalink pages, you will now find a Tweet embed link that contains simple embed code that can be copied and pasted to your website. I provided you a screen shot from Twitter’s Help Center to walk you through the various forms of embedded posts.

How to Embed a Tweet

Embedded Single Tweet


Embedded Tweet Example


Embedded Tweet Example

25. Use bit.ly to shorten URLs.

Shorten Twitter URLs


In the past, @benandjerrysUK has used its website and other social networks to solicit ideas for new flavors. They recently turned to Twitter to try a fresh approach to developing a new flavor as part of a wider campaign to engage its fans.


Twitter Profile Header


Just as industry leaders use Twitter to engage with their audience and promote their brand, so can you. I encourage you to put these 25 tips into practice today and get tweeting!

 

Matthew Toren
 

Matthew Toren is a serial entrepreneur, mentor, investor and co-founder of YoungEntrepreneur.com. He is co-author, with his brother Adam, of Kidpreneurs.org, BizWarriors.com and Small Business, BIG Vision: Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right (Wiley).