Optimize Your Tweets, Maximize Your Effectiveness
I'm often asked by clients, "When should I tweet?" "How often should I tweet?" and "What words should I use in my tweets?" I find myself giving the same answer over and over again...it depends. And it does. It depends on your audience, your goals, and your brand. Clients are rarely satisfied with such a response, but it's the truth. To satisfy the need for a quick fix, I usually provide the client with statistics that show average answers to the above questions. I caution clients not to put a lot of stock in these tips because every audience is different, their goals may not coincide with the tips, and the common words recommended may not be on-brand. Recently, Dan Zarrella, the Social Media Scientist for HubSpot, created an infographic called, "How to Get More Clicks on Twitter." This seems to be a solid synopsis of data that could potentially help clients from all industries better their Twitter performance. Again, I recommend establishing your brand, goals, and defining your target audience before diving into a full blown campaign. But if you're eager to start optimizing your tweets today, use these tips to do so. Evaluate the results and adjust where need be.
- Write tweets between 120 and 130 characters
- Place links about 25% of the way through
- Tweet your links at a slower pace
- Choose the right words and phrases
- Experiment using the paper.li system
- Use action words: more verbs, fewer nouns
- Tweet on the weekends
- Tweet later in the day
Which Twitter strategies have you found to work the best for you and your business?