Series
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How to create a befitting Twitter profile for your business – series 1
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How to effectively create a Twitter content strategy – series 2
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Track your Twitter marketing goals: What to and how to track – series 3
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Enhance your Twitter Marketing Goals with Twitter ads – series 4
Now that you’ve set up your profile, it’s time to talk strategy. Sure, you can get started at any time firing away Tweets left and right, but without a concentrated strategy that aligns with your social media goals, you might as well be standing in your office, shouting your Tweets at your coworkers.
Before delving into how you can effectively create a Twitter content strategy let’s take a quick look at Twitter posting Rules so you won’t transgress against any of these rules and have your account flag off.
A Quick Overview of Posting Rules
In addition to general safety rules (no violence, abuse, hateful content, etc.) Twitter also has a handful of account behavior rules to abide by.
Twitter Rules:
- No automated account following or unfollowing is allowed
- Repeatedly posting duplicate or unsolicited replies will get flagged as spam
Tagging unrelated Tweets with trending topics can result in account suspension - All Tweets that include advertisements must be labeled as “Promoted”
- Organic, non-promoted Tweets including paid product placements, endorsements, and advertisements must be labeled as “Paid Partnerships”
- Posting duplicate links to flood a search result may lead to suspension
Steps to develop an effective Twitter content strategy
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Develop a Posting cadence (structure)
How often you post will depend on your overall Twitter goals, as well as current events and platform trends. As a general rule of thumb (due to the minimal content and fleeting nature of Tweets) the more Tweets you post, the higher your engagement will be.
Does that mean you should let loose on a Twitter rant every night? Of course not. But what it does mean is that overall, the more Tweets, the better.
To add some structure to your posting cadence and the strategy you use when scheduling Tweets, it’s recommended that standalone Tweets (not including replies and Retweets) are posted:
- 14 times per weekday, at most once per hour.
- 7 times per weekend day, roughly every three hours
When it comes to posting replies and Retweets, they are not subjected to a set cadence because they cannot be scheduled. Instead, how you use replies and Retweets to directly engage with your followers will be decided in relation to your overall Twitter strategy.
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Develop a Content Strategy
When it comes to what you are tweeting, this is where it’s time to really let your signature and unique brand personality shine. Are you a sweet brand? Silly? Or serious? As said earlier, whatever the tone of your Tweets may be, the key is that they are consistent and should align with your overall brand tone, Don’t confuse your followers. As far as the content you can post on Twitter, there are many different types.
Types of Tweets
- Text only A classic Tweet with up to 280 characters.
- Embedded photos or videos Up to 4 images per Tweet and videos max out at 2 minutes and 20 seconds.
- Audio files Also known as Voice Tweets can also be up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds long.
- Quote Retweets The act of commenting on a Tweet while reposting it.
- Polls Interactive Tweets with up to 4 polling options.
- Branded content Blog posts, podcast episodes, ebooks, and more.
- Twitter space. I called it Twitter town hall meeting. You can also host a space – inviting your followers and your follower’s followers to enlighten them about your brand or one of your products – you can talk about anything but don’t divert away from your brand.
The type and frequency of content you post will all depend on your specific Twitter goals. If you want to increase engagement, then you’ll want to post fun or quirky call and response text Tweets or polls. If you want to engage in societal discourse, then you’ll want to share articles from other sources and write quote Retweets.
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Develop a Tweet Style Diversity Strategy
Speaking of all the different types of Tweets out there — as well as mixing up your Twitter content, you also want to diversify the style of Tweets that you post. Posting solely text-only Tweets can borderline on being a bit boring. Meanwhile, tweeting too many polls in a row can look like you are desperate for engagement. A natural, approachable Twitter presence requires balancing all of the different Twitter tweeting styles to create your own unique blend of Tweets.
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Develop an Engagement Strategy
On Twitter, the name of the game is engagement.
As mentioned before, engagement on Twitter can look like: Likes, Retweets, replies, and quote retweets
Developing a lucrative engagement strategy takes time, and a fair bit of trial and error. Most importantly, direct engagement with followers should also always abide by your brand voice and style guidelines to maximize consistency and trust in your brand.
When you will like, Retweet, and reply to Tweets should be determined before you hand over the reins of your Twitter account to your Social Media team. All posting on Twitter, including engagement, should be intentional. Remember, there are over a million eyes on Twitter at any given moment.
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Chose a posting software
Having Twitter management software will enable you to ace your Twitter profile. A Twitter management software will give you insight into your Twitter overall performance, help you schedule tweets, and help you track your Twitter goals.
How to Choose Posting Software
A useful tool for brands looking to make the most out of their Twitter strategy is posting software. Using an automated posting tool, you can pre-schedule Tweets and then plan out time to spend engaging with replies. It’s helpful to use a platform that includes an option to monitor your brand’s Twitter feed and filter out things like customer service requests or questions.
With many posting software options available, choose one that allows you to:
- Create multiple Tweets at a time to post immediately or at a later time.
- Draft and schedule Tweets in bulk.
- Hone your Twitter strategy by scheduling Tweets for specific times of the day based on engagement.
- View your Twitter usage holistically through automated reports.
- Easily rearrange your scheduled Tweets to optimize your strategy based on current events, trends, and engagement spikes.
- Track metrics like impressions, Retweets, and views, and compare high-performing Tweets to one another
And fortunately one among few of the Twitter management software that has successfully aced the above terms is Hubspot social media management tools.
With an intuitive analytics tool like HubSpot’s Social Media Management tool, you have access to extensive reports of how well your Tweets perform in great detail. You can hone your Twitter engagement strategy to optimize how you interact with the platform and your followers. In HubSpot, we recommend setting up Twitter streams focusing on things like questions or direct replies to your posts, especially during promotions or live events.