A Review of Twitter and the Best Twitter Practices

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Twitter is one of the major players on social media, and it continues to grow in popularity and use. According to a study conduced by Global Web Index, the number of Twitter users increased by 40% during the last 6 months of 2012 making it the fastest growing social platform worldwide during the last two quarters of 2012. By understanding the nature of Twitter and how it works, brands can utilize Twitter to communicate with customers and prospects and build brand awareness. But first, it’s important to understand what Twitter is and how it became such a popular social channel.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is an online social networking service and microblogging platform that is used to communicate short messages to followers called tweets. A tweet is a text- based post of 140 characters or less. Tweets are posted on a user’s profile page for others to see. A person can decide to only deliver tweets to his or her friends or to make tweets public for anyone to see. Twitter has revolutionized how we communicate by forcing Twitter users to summarize their thoughts into short messages.

Why do people use Twitter?

Twitter is used for a variety of reasons. Users can use Twitter to post updates about what is going on in their lives, share photos and links to articles, and follow other Twitter users and brands. Basically, Twitter is a great platform to share information and to engage in conversation with other users.

How did Twitter Start?

Twitter has an interesting history. Like most great ideas, it began from a need to survive in the world of business. Twitter was created by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, and Biz Stone who were programmers at Odeo Inc., a podcasting company in San Francisco, California. When the company learned that Apple was going to be allowing free podcasting through iTunes, Dorsey, Williams, and Stone started to brainstorm to find a new project to work on. This led to the birth of Twitter a little over seven years ago.

Although Twitter wasn’t available to the public until July 2006, Twitter was officially launched on March 21, 2006, with the first tweet, “just setting up my twttr” sent by Jack Dorsey. Since it began as a service to text short messages on cell phones to communicate with others, its text is limited to 140 characters. Twitter didn’t immediately take off flying. It wasn’t until a South By Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, in March of 2007, that Twitter gained its wings. Concert events were tweeted on large screens. As a result of the use of Twitter at this event, the number of daily tweets tripled and have continued to grow ever since.  Twitter has become a popular social media platform used by individuals, businesses, and brands to communicate and share short messages with others .

How many people use Twitter? Who uses Twitter?

Twitter reports that 200 million people worldwide actively use Twitter and post on average 400 million tweets daily.  Based on data found in the Pew Internet and American Life Project 2013, eMarketer reports that 18% of Internet users are using Twitter. There are slightly more males (18%) than females (17%) on Twitter. Adults between the ages of 18-29 had the greatest percent of Twitter users (30%), while adults aged 30-49 came in second (17%). The numbers of Twitter users is expected to grow in the future, especially since Twitter is mobile friendly. A study by eMarketer (2013) estimates that 28 million people in the US will access Twitter through mobile devices in 2013, which is a 22% increase from 2012.

What do these statistics mean for brands? Brands can use these statistics to understand the audience that uses Twitter and target their content to meet the needs and interests of their audience. An infographic by KISSmetrics reports that 64% of Twitter users state they are more apt to buy from a brand they follow on Twitter. Such statistics suggest that brands and businesses should use Twitter to communicate with their target audience and to acquire new followers by building brand awareness, especially since so many people are using this platform. But before tweeting, it’s important to understand how Twitter works.

The Basics of Twitter

Before tweeting, you must first open up a Twitter account. Then you can read other users’ tweets to see what people are talking about. If you are a brand, you need to search for tweets about your company by using Twitter’s Advanced Search tool so you can see what conversations users are having before you join in. You can reply to someone’s tweet or start a conversation by using a user’s name with the @ symbol in front of the name. If you want everyone on Twitter to see your reply, you can add a period in front of the @ symbol. You can also send direct messages (DM) to one of your followers.

Retweets are taking someone’s tweet and reposting it. They begin with “RT” followed by the person’s name who posted the tweet first. Retweets are very valuable for getting content out into the Twittersphere and in front of a new audience. When someone retweets your tweet, it will appear on the feed of all the followers of that person. This is where brands can generate new leads. This special feature of Twitter has great value to brands and businesses since it can cause a tweet to go viral. This is where content comes into the picture.

Content Counts

A tweet is only as good as its content. This applies to all social media platforms. The quality of the content is the key to maintain and engage an audience on Twitter. According to a study released by Nestivity (2012), Notebook of Love is the brand with the most followers on Twitter.  Branden Hampton, the CEO of the company that created @Notebook, states the reason for his success is the following: “It all has to do with creating high resonating content."  Quality content engages the user. The content needs to be meaningful to the audience and address their interests so knowing your audience is key. A brand needs to establish themselves as a resource for the audience.

Effective Twitter Practices

Many studies have been conducted that analyze the effectiveness of a tweet and what works best on Twitter. It’s important to understand what these practices are and to use them as a guide when using Twitter.

Keep Tweets Short

Although tweets are limited to 140 characters, shorter tweets do better than longer ones. According to a report from Buddy Media, tweets that were under 100 characters had 17% more engagement. A shorter tweet gives others a chance to add some words of their own before they retweet the content.

Add a link

The report by Buddy Media also showed that tweets with a link attached have 86% higher retweet rates. Links add a higher level of engagement, especially since tweets are so short to begin with. If you grab a user’s attention with your tweet, then you can use links to offer more relevant content. URL shorteners such as  bit.ly  help shorten your link. According to DanZarrella.com, bit.ly is one of the most recognizable link shorteners and leads to the most retweets. Links can include photos, blogs, videos, or articles.

Use Hashtags

A hashtag is a # symbol that is used before a tweet to make it searchable. Using this symbol makes it easier to find and share information about a topic.

The study conducted by Buddy Media showed that using up to two hashtags per tweet doubles the engagement rate. However, getting carried away and using more than two hashtags decreases engagement by 17%.  It’s important to use hashtags, but don’t use more than two per tweet.

Include a Call to Action

The study by Buddy Media also showed that including a specific call to action increased the number of retweets a brand received from followers. When brands specifically asked for a retweet in a post, the retweet rate increased by twelve times. If the word “retweet” was actually spelled out, the average retweet rate increased by 23 times (http://askaaronlee.com/twitter-strategies/). Including a call to action is a great technique to increase engagement and interaction.

Optimal Time for Tweeting

Timing is everything, even on Twitter. Since Twitter is an interactive network, there are certain times of the day and week that people are more active on Twitter. Those are the times to take advantage of when trying to ensure your tweets are reaching your target audience.

According to the study conducted by Buddy Media, brands have 30% higher interaction rates when they tweet between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. and a 17% higher engagement rate on Saturdays and Sundays. Therefore, weekends are an important time to share content since people are more engaged. According to an infographic presented by KISSmetrics, the best time to tweet to optimize your chances for a retweet is 5 p.m. local time, while click through rates to websites occur more often on Wednesdays and weekends at noon and 6 p.m. EST. It’s also important to keep times zones in mind. If you want to reach the largest numbers of people in the US, you will need to plan tweets for Eastern and Central time zones since 80% of the US population lives in those time zones.

There are many tools available to help schedule tweets to post automatically including Hootsuite and Twitterfeed.com. Other tools help companies optimize tweets. Tweriod is a tool that can help brands determine the optimal time to reach their followers. Google Analytics allows brands to see when they receive the most CTR to their websites, and Twitter traffic reports in Advanced Segments can be used to analyze how much traffic Twitter drives to the website.

How Often Should You Tweet

As with any social network, it is important to be consistent when using Twitter. The optimum number of times to tweet a day according to Buddy Media is 4. Any more than four tweets a day starts to decrease engagement rates.

Integration with other Social Channels

Twitter does integrate with other social channels. You can connect your Twitter account to your Facebook page, Google+, and Tumblr, which increases the number of people that see your tweets. You can also upload videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and Vine directly onto Twitter. Since Twitter has integration with other social channels, it’s easier to share content. Having a unified presence on multiple channels really increases a brand’s opportunity for reaching a greater audience.

Twitter and Mobile Devices

Twitter is mobile friendly. Twitter reports that 60% of users access Twitter from mobile devices. Twitter offers different features that make it easy for customers to use Twitter on their phones. Twitter apps are available for Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, and Blackberry phones. If someone doesn’t have a Twitter account, they can sign up to receive updates on Twitter by simply sending Follow (username) to 40404 on a cell phone. Customers that are interested in receiving coupons or notifications about sales or promotions can sign up in the mobile settings on their Twitter accounts to receive text message updates any time a brand tweets. Businesses can use Promoted Tweets to send valuable information to a target audience directly through mobile devices. Since Twitter can be accessed on mobile devices, it’s a great platform for businesses to use to stay connected to customers and potential customers and to be able to communicate with them at any time.

Images and Videos

One of the best features of Twitter is that it allows users to share photos and videos. This feature increases the level of engagement that followers can have with a tweet. Studies have shown that using visual content on Twitter makes a big difference and increases the chances of your tweet getting spread through the Twittersphere.

Nestivity reported that 76% of tweets with a photo and 18% of tweets with a video attached were shared. Another study conducted by Buddy Media (2013) showed that tweets that have links to images have double the engagement of tweets with only text. It’s easy to add a photo to a tweet. All you have to do is click the symbol of the camera that is located in the lower left hand side of the Tweet box and upload your image. Although you can only post one image per tweet, the file size of your image can be up to 3MB.

Videos are just as easy to add to a tweet. Twitter is compatible with YouTube and Vimeo so you can choose a video you want to share and add it to your tweet.  There is also another option to use to post videos on Twitter. Vine is a mobile app that allows users to create and share 6 second videos on Twitter. Even though Vine is a separate network, it integrates with Twitter. Businesses and brands can use this app to increase engagement on Twitter. Steel (2013) states, “Whether it be photo, infographic or video, people prefer to see their information displayed visually and are more likely to reply or retweet a video than dig through a mountain of text. This app can be used by businesses to create short videos that engage viewers visually and wet their appetites for more. It could also be a great way to share information about promotions and sales. By using a video, rather than just text, companies can increase engagement that could lead to sales.

Why should brands have a presence on Twitter?

Twitter is a unique social platform since its message is so short. It’s a great channel to give the target audience small bits of information to keep them interested and wanting to learn more. According to Brito (2009), Twitter can be used by brands to create conversation, build brand awareness, and inform followers. Twitter has another unique feature. According to Bornstein (2013), “Twitter is the fastest viral content.". The potential to have someone share your tweet with all their followers is great. Tweets that are shared have the ability to reach a huge audience, which makes Twitter an important platform for brands and businesses to use. Furthermore, a study by Compete shows that people on Twitter follow six or more different brands to receive information on discounts, promotions, upcoming events, sales, free items, and to gain access to content.  Twitter is a great platform to use to interact with followers and build your brand so find your target audience and start tweeting!