To tweet, or not to tweet? Is that really the question?
Nope! Tweeting is a given for any brand trying to build awareness, it’s just that what we thought we knew about tweeting has changed.
Is there really a right or wrong way to tweet?
Believe it or not, there is. Here we’ll cover some myths on using Twitter and we invite you to share your own.
Twitter Myth #1: Hashtag Stuffing
Now wait a minute. How annoying is it to #see #every #word #in #a #sentence #with #a #hashtag #in #front #of #it? Super fun, huh? Well for those of you who are ‘hashtag-stuffer’ fans, it’s time to put an end to it. Best practices now suggest only using 2 hashtags tops when tweeting.
Recently, Buddymedia did a study that showed when using more than 2 hashtags, your engagement ends up dropping 17%. And, if you don’t use a hashtag at all, you’re missing out; tweets that do use hashtags get twice the engagement than those who don’t. Plus, if you add so many hashtags to your tweet, you’ll be considered a spammer. Check out the 5 Clues That You’re Reading Twitter Spam from MediaBistro.
Twitter Myth #2: Tweet Many Times Every Day
You would think that the more you tweet, the greater chance you have of someone following you and engaging with your content. Well, that’s not necessarily the case. When a brand tweets a lot, and every day, it risks dropping followers either due to too many postings, not exciting content or irrelevant content. If you’re worried about quality content, check out “What Makes A Great Tweet.” Sometimes the brand gets so caught up in getting tweets out, that it meanders away from it’s original content focus. And now, there are numbers to support this.
According to BuddyMedia, tweet engagement starts to drop off after tweeting 4 or more times a day, so it’s important to keep the amount of tweets per day small. It’s also important to make sure you’re tweeting during the busy hours of 8AM ET to 7PM ET since this is the time when most twitter users are using the service. The study also points out that tweeting on the weekend during this time works best for most industries. To see when your industry should be tweeting, read this study.
If you’d like more information on whether or not you tweet to much, take a look at “How Often You Should Tweet” and also a quick article on twitter co-founder Biz Stone who discusses how “Tweeting too much is ‘Unhealthy'”.
Twitter Myth #3: Fill Up the 140 Character Tweet
Don’t even think about it! For starters, what if someone wants to retweet your post and add to it? Well, if you fill up the whole tweet – they won’t be able to! If a user sees your tweets as being “full” all the time, they’ll be less likely to retweet it because they don’t want to spend time removing words to add their own comments. Tweets that have fewer than 100 characters receive a 17% higher engagement than longer tweets do.*
Twitter Myth #4: Don’t Ask for Help – If It’s Worth It They’ll Retweet
Perhaps this is partially true. If you have groundbreaking news and want to be one of the first to share it, you’ll retweet. However, it is now known that if you ask for a “RT” or “retweet” your chances of someone duplicating your content increase. Data notes that asking followers to RT gives you a retweet rate 10 times higher than average, while asking followers to “retweet” gives you a 23 times higher retweet rate.*
Twitter Myth #5: Avoid Links and Pictures – I’m Just Giving a Status Update
While Twitter has always been considered somewhat of a ‘status only version of Facebook,’ it has actually turned into much more than that. When we tweet, sharing a link or picture increases the chance that our followers will engage with that content. Tweets with links earn an 86% higher retweet rate.*
Want to learn more about how to use Twitter effectively? Check out Using Twitter as an Effective Marketing Tool.
The Modern Marketing University now encourages you to retweet this post with your friends. Perhaps you’ll teach them something about tweeting and start seeing better tweets! We encourage you to comment in the box below about various twitter strategies you’ve found effective for your brand, and which industry you are in, so you can help others in preparing their tweets.
*Note: Data from Buddymedia study “Strategies for Effective Tweeting: Statistical Review.” We encourage all brands to download this informative study to learn more, or visit www.buddymedia.com.
