What’s the secret to crafting a perfect tweet? Aside from using good grammar and posting at the right time, there are many factors that contribute to the success of a tweet. We want our Twitter posts to be shared with as many people as possible — potentially even go viral. But driving engagement is tough, especially on our noisy and crowded social media platforms. Draw your community in and begin building the conversation by using these six characteristics of a perfect Tweet.
1. Reference current trends.
Understand your demographic and know when they are most likely to see your Twitter posts and re-tweet them. By tracking trending topics in news and conversations, you can incorporate useful information and provide value to your community, helping them add their own voice to the conversation.
2. Post visuals.
Our brains just don’t like walls of text. We’ll keep scrolling unless there is something pretty that makes us pause. Your goal is to draw your audience into a conversation, not bore them! Always, always use a photo, Twitter card, GIF or video to grab your community’s attention. Tweets with visuals and an attached URL receive the highest engagement!
3. Use hashtags relevant to your audience.
Compared to Twitter posts containing visuals, posts with hashtags actually receive the lowest engagement. Nevertheless, you must still use hashtags! Tweets without hashtags won’t show up in the search function or get your Tweets in front of the right people.
To take advantage of the power of hashtags, learn how to use them properly. Try to only use two or three of the most important trending hashtags. If your posts are too crowded with hashtags, you’ll only annoy your audience. Also, leverage the hashtags that are circulating among your followers.
4. Keep it short.
Twitter by definition requires concise messaging, and studies actually show that the shorter the tweet, the more engagement it generates. Keep your message short and concise — in as little as 50 characters if possible!
5. Respond to your audience.
Encourage exchanges and help your followers feel listened to by responding to their questions, comments and re-tweets. Post relevant, helpful content, and focus on creating a rhythm of discussion instead of simply “pushing out” sales-centric posts.
6. Use the correct image size.
As always, use the correct size image! Twitter photos should be 1,024 x 512 with a minimum of 440 x 220.
Use a few of these insights when crafting your next tweet. Over time, you will learn what your audience responds to and what they care about. You have knowledge now — put it to good use!