Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages, known as “tweets”.
Twitter is an online news feed where you can find out what’s going on in the world, see what people are saying about it, and join in by following or re-tweeting. There are no limits to what you can do with Twitter: you can post photos, videos, links and more!
Table of Contents
Social Media Tools Twitter
witter tools for analytics
1. Twitter Analytics Dashboard
Every Twitter account has free access to the Twitter Analytics Dashboard. View how many impressions and engagements your tweets get at specific times of the day and week. You can also track the performance of your Twitter cards.
2. Hootsuite Analytics
Get real-time data about your key Twitter metrics using Hootsuite Analytics. Reports are clear and concise, and you can export and share them with your team.
3. TruFan
Want to know all the juicy deets about your followers? Generate first-party data that’s both ethical and high quality, and then export and re-market to those target audiences.
4. Cloohawk
Cloohawk watches your social media metrics like, well, a hawk. The AI engine continuously monitors your own activities and the actions of your user base, and then makes suggestions to improve your engagement. Cloohawk is available in the Hootsuite App Directory.
5. SocialBearing
Dig deep with this robust (and free!) Twitter analytics tool that allows you to find, filter and sort tweets or followers by categories like location, sentiment, or engagement. You can also view via timeline or Twitter map to process the data in whatever way works best for your brain.
Twitter tools for competitive analysis
6. Twitonomy
Twitonomy gives insights into anyone’s tweets, retweets, replies, and mentions. You can also view which users don’t follow you back and get analytics on keywords, hashtags, and URLs.
7. Foller.me
If a Twitter profile is public, Foller.me will let you scan it for insights. For instance, if you want to see when your main competitor’s followers are online, or what topics their audience is talking about right now. The app also reveals details that aren’t always shown on Twitter profiles, like join date and follower ratio.
8. Daily140
One of those so-simple-it’s-genius tools: sign up for the Daily140, and you’ll receive an email (daily, duh) outlining the most recent faves and follows of Twitter users you want to keep an eye on. If there’s a competitor or influencer you’re curious about, you’ll get all the latest intel delivered right to your inbox.
Twitter tools for identifying leads
9. Audiense
Build segmented audiences based on demographics, personality, interests, and values with Audiense. Engage them with content relevant to their interests and needs. You can get Audiense for free in our App Directory.
10. Mentionmapp
Expand your potential customer base with Mentionmapp. This tool makes it easy to find people, places, events, and conversations associated with your customers. Find out who your customers are talking to and what they’re saying. Adjust your marketing strategy to better target them.
twitter marketing strategy
- Complete your profile
Having an on-brand, professional Twitter profile helps you make a good first impression on new followers. Consider how each element of your profile helps to reinforce your brand and inform audiences.
Handle. This is your account name, and it’s how audiences can find you on Twitter. Generally, you want your handles to be consistent across social media and include your company name.
Profile photo. Your profile photo appears next to every tweet you send, so you want it to look sharp. Use your logo or wordmark, and make sure to use the right dimensions for a clear and crisp image.
Header image. Your header image appears on your profile page, and you may want to update it more often than your profile photo. It can reflect current campaigns, provide information, or offer insight into your company culture.
For instance, digital agency Domain7, which emphasizes “people first” design, uses a team photo as their header image
Domain 7 Twitter profile
Bio. A Twitter bio is capped at 160 characters, so keep it snappy. Use a tagline, or get creative to show off your brand personality.
Wendy’s is well-known on Twitter for cheeky humor, and they make that obvious in their witty bio.
Wendy’s Twitter profile
URL. Most of the time, your company website should live here. But you may want to update your URL during special campaigns or events. Just don’t forget about it when the special occasion is over!
Location. This may seem like a small detail, but providing a location makes your profile feel more personal and real to audiences. This is especially important for small businesses with physical storefronts, as you want customers to be able to find you offline. If you’re a global business, you might want to include your headquarters, like Nike.
Nike Twitter profile
- Curate your feeds with Lists
Opening up your Twitter feed can feel like walking into a huge, noisy party with a million conversations happening at once. There’s so much going on that it’s hard to focus on any one topic.
That’s why lists are a helpful tool for zeroing in on the conversations that actually matter to your business. Lists are curated feeds from selected accounts, which allow you to tune in to relevant discussions or influential people.
You can make as many lists as you want in Twitter (well, up to a thousand— if you hit that limit, it’s time to log off!). And unlike the main feed, which is ordered through Twitter’s secret algorithm, tweets in your lists are arranged chronologically, which makes it easier to follow evolving issues and current events.
You may want to create lists of your competitors’ accounts, influential thought leaders in your industry, and your own team members. Remember that lists are public, so be thoughtful when naming them.
You can also subscribe to lists by other accounts. If an influential industry member has already made a list of accounts you want to follow, just subscribe to their lists:
Navigate to their profile page
Click the icon with the three dots above their bio, then select View Lists.
You can see the lists they’ve created, as well as lists that include their account, and lists that they subscribe to.
Click the list you want to follow.
Hit Subscribe.
To see all the lists you own, follow and appear on, click Lists in the left-hand menu on your Twitter home page.
Washington Post twitter profile “view lists” option
Cultivating your lists may take a little time, ultimately they help you use Twitter efficiently and strategically.
Washington Post’s Coronavirus Twitter lists
For even more inspiration, here are nine great ideas for how to use Twitter lists.
- Cultivate your voice to win fans
Twitter is a very chatty platform. Although you can (and should!) use images and videos, winning fans and connecting with followers requires an authentic, appealing voice.
Even if multiple team members share responsibility for your account, your tweets should have a consistent tone. While all brands (and their accounts) have a unique voice, there are a few commonalities among the best of them:
Show personality. Your brand voice should be consistent across all your platforms, and communicate your brand values. Are you edgy? Funny? Inspirational? Bold? These qualities should be conveyed through your tweets.
Be human. No one likes a tweet that sounds like it came from a robot or a script. Twitter users want to know there’s a real person listening and engaging with them from behind your account. Opt for plain, accessible language over jargon and abbreviations.
Be original. Don’t tweet the same message over and over. Posting identical messages across your social media accounts is a big no-no. Each of your tweets should be unique, otherwise you’ll seem spammy.
Be sincere. The goal of Twitter is not to attract followers by any means necessary; it’s to help you connect with customers and build trust with them.
Tip: Whatever your authentic voice is, make sure to spell-check it before posting. Unlike other social media platforms, there is no edit button on Twitter.
Still searching for your authentic voice on social? We can help.
- Run a Twitter poll
Twitter doesn’t offer as many creative options for engagement as a platform like Instagram or Facebook. It’s pretty focused on conversations: replies, mentions, and cinema-worthy tweet threads.
However, one exception to this format is Twitter polls. Twitter polls allow you to pose questions and offer up to four answers to choose from. Polls are a great way to engage your audience, because they’re simple and fun. And if there’s one thing people love to do on Twitter, it’s express strong opinions about minor topics.
And they have benefits for you, too. Polls let you gather feedback and opinions, learn about customer preferences, tease product ideas, and more. They’re no replacement for in-depth research methods, but they do provide quick and useful insights.
- Schedule your tweets for optimal post times
Take your Twitter strategy to the next level by scheduling your tweets ahead of time, rather than posting them manually one-by-one.
Scheduling helps you streamline the time you spend on social and stay on top of your content calendar. That way, you never miss sending an important tweet because your afternoon meeting ran late.
By scheduling your tweets, you can also take advantage of the best times to post and boost your engagement. These times are based on engagement for Twitter as a whole; your particular audience may be more active at different times. By measuring your performance with analytics, you can learn what times are best for you and adjust your posting schedule accordingly.
A caveat: you’ll never be able to schedule 100% of your tweets. You still need to be responding to mentions and joining conversations, which happen in real-time. But for content that you’ve planned in advance, like campaigns or links to blog posts, you can save yourself time with scheduling.
Hootsuite can help you here, with a bulk composer tool that allows you to schedule up to 350 tweets at once at optimal times.
Bonus: Download the free 30-day plan to grow your Twitter following fast, a daily workbook that will help you establish a Twitter marketing routine and track your growth, so you can show your boss real results after one month.
Get the free guide right now!
- Let’s get visual (for higher engagement)
A picture is worth 1000 words, which is especially useful on Twitter, where you only have 280 characters to work with.
Visual assets can help you communicate more with each tweet. Complement an informative tweet with a chart or infographic, or reinforce an inspirational message with a stunning photo. A video can help you capture and hold attention, ideal for product launches or campaigns.
Plus, adding images and videos to your tweets is a surefire way to boost engagement. Tweets with images get up to three times as much engagement, while tweets with videos get up to ten times as much engagement.
GIFs provide another delightful addition to your tweets— and a 55% increase in engagement. You can add them directly into your tweets through Twitter’s GIF library.
As a bonus, images (including GIFs) and videos don’t count towards your 280 character limit.
Tip: Ensure your videos are optimized for mobile, since Twitter reports that 93% of video viewers are watching on a handheld device.
- Become a hashtag master
Hashtags are a feature on every social platform, but they were born on Twitter. And they remain an invaluable tool to boost your engagement and discoverability on the platform.
Understanding how and where to use hashtags on Twitter will make your content more impactful and help you reach new audiences who share your interests.
Find the right hashtags. Use hashtags that make sense for your industry and niche. Checking out what hashtags are popular among your competitors can provide insight.
Create a branded hashtag. This is a hashtag unique to your business, which can be used to collect and organize content about your brand. They’re ideal for promoting campaigns and finding user-generated content.
Sirius XM promoted post using hashtag #Quarantunes
Follow trends. Twitter’s Explore page displays the current trending topics, including hashtags. Joining these conversations will help new audiences discover your posts. Just make sure you understand the context, to avoid any embarrassing mishaps.
Don’t overdo it. One to two hashtags per tweet is optimal.
- Tune in with social listening
Twitter isn’t just about speaking— it’s also about listening. “Social listening” means paying attention to conversations happening on Twitter that provide insights into your customers and community.
Not only can you find out what people think about your brand and products, you can also learn from other trending topics and discussions. Social listening helps you to refine your messaging, build loyalty and trust, and address pain points and complaints proactively.
Some of the topics you should pay attention to include:
Your business name
Your competitors’ names
Industry hashtags or buzzwords
Relevant trending topics
Use Twitter’s advanced search tool to find out what people are saying. You can also use Hootsuite to set up streams that will monitor keywords, hashtags, mentions, and other important data.
- Run an ad campaign
Once you’ve got a handle on using Twitter organically, it’s time to level up and run your first ad campaign.
Advertising on Twitter can help you grow your audience, promote your products, drive traffic to your website, and more. You can choose to promote your account to gain new followers, or promote individual tweets to boost engagement and campaign visibility.
Sobey’s promoted Twitter post
Twitter Ads allows you to target your audience very selectively, and provides detailed analytics on campaign results and cost-per-action. As a result, you can reach the right people with your campaign and quickly learn what campaign messages are most effective.
Learn more about advertising on Twitter to learn how to launch your first campaign!
- Use UTM parameters to measure your success
If you’re ready to get a little more sophisticated with your social media data and analytics, then say hello to UTM parameters.
These are short text codes that you can add to your links in order to hone in on traffic and conversions. They can specify the source, medium, campaign name, and more. You can add them directly in Hootsuite Composer, or through Google Analytics.
By capturing this data, UTM parameters show you exactly how people navigate to your website, which tweets are most effective, measure the ROI of your influencer campaigns, and more. They’re incredibly useful for understanding how your Twitter strategy (and other social media efforts) impact your business bottom line.
Conclusion
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