7 Secret Twitter Features You Should Be Using #TechTuesday
Warren Knight
Futurist | Digital Disruptor | Award-winning Keynote Speaker on A.I., Creativity, Innovation, Future Thinking, A.I. Driven Digital Transformation | Corporate Consultant & Trainer I 2 x Author I 2 x Tech Founder
DID YOU KNOW: A DAY’S WORTH OF TWEETS WOULD FILL A 10 MILLION PAGE BOOK?!
I have always said that Twitter is my favourite network. Ever since Twitter hit the social media scene in 2006, it has been my preferred platform to connect with my audience.
1. TWITTER POLLS
I wrote an article focused on Twitter Polls at the end of last year which explains how to create a poll in under 60 seconds. They are one of the best ways to get feedback from your audience. They are completely free of charge to run, but don’t over do it. Only run a Twitter poll with a specific purpose in mind.
2. @MENTION
This might sound crazy, but I still see businesses posting a Tweet mentioning a person or another business without @ mentioning them. If you have been doing this, the reach of your tweet will be heavily impacted. The tweets with an @ mention will show up in the notification tab of those you have mentioned, meaning that a reply or a potential two-way conversation is more likely.
3. PINNED TWEETS
Just like Facebook business pages, you can “pin” a tweet to the top of your Twitter profile. If you have a Tweet you would like to receive more engagement with, or one that is particularly important to your business, pin it to the top so that when someone visits your page, this is the first tweet they will see.
4. TWITTER LISTS
The same as Twitter polls; I have also written a dedicated article on the importance of Twitter lists and how to create one. If there are 300 million active Twitter users, with over 500 million tweets a day, how can YOU hone in on what’s important to you, and your business? Creating a Twitter list allows you to do this.
5. DIRECT MESSAGING
The Twitter direct messaging feature has caused a lot of controversy because of how “spammy” it can become. With this in mind, direct messaging on Twitter is still a great way to reach out to your audience. Opening with a sales type message is not the way to go. Say something that will welcome positive engagement from youraudience.
6. TWITTER CARDS
A Twitter card is a type of tweet that allows you to add a rich photo, video or media file to drive traffic to a desired URL. Using this will need a little bit of technical work in the form of a few lines of HTML but this isn’t difficult. Once this has been done, Tweets with links to your website will have an automatic “card” added to tweets. There are many different types of Twitter cards. To find out more, see the Twitter website here.
7. YOUR TWITTER PROFILE
Whilst this is not a “secret” feature, I have noticed that a lot of businesses are not utilising the power of theirTwitter profile. Do you have a nice profile picture and header image? Have you got a biography that is keyword rich and explains what you do, and how you can help your customer? This is the first thing a potential customer will see if they are looking for you on Twitter so make sure it is brand consistent.
How many of the above Twitter features have you been using?
?? Event-Tech, ??? UGC, ?? SaaS ?? CEO at Walls.io, Founder at Swat.io
8 年Thanks for sharing these secrets with the world, Warren! What are your thoughts on using hashtags and mentioning other people or companies in the profile descriptions? Most have mixed feelings about these practices, but others swear by them. Most of the strategies you described in this post act as fantastic methods of getting the ball rolling. By using them, individuals and businesses can increase not only other people’s engagement with their tweets, but can also help the number of followers to skyrocket.
Owner, MAG3 Notary Services (Retired from the IT profession)
8 年One additional comment, related to Twitter but unrelated to this thread. I was Googling this morning on "how to tell if you've been 'muted' by someone you follow on Twitter." Muting is a way of suppressing tweets from people that follow you but that you don't want to hear from in your timeline, without having to "Block" them. When you "block" someone, Twitter notifies that person that you blocked them, and neither you nor them follow each other anymore. When you "mute" someone, they are not notified, but they still can follow you. The Google results all pointed towards a trick (clue: all articles dated circa 01/05/2016) based on a loophole in Tweetdeck that allowed one to create a "home" column for any Twitter ID. If you did that, and you didn't see any of your tweets in that column, it was most likely that the Twitter user in that column has muted you. Well, sorry, but Tweetdeck seems to have plugged that leak. You are now only permitted to create home columns for your own Twitter IDs, not anyone else's. I no longer see a field to allow you to enter anyone else's Twitter ID. That's good from a security/privacy standpoint, but I would kinda like to know if I've been muted, sometimes, if only to not waist time trying to tweet to someone that isn't listening/doesn't want to listen. I don't want to force myself on anyone that doesn't want to interact with me.
Head of Digital Operations at Media Matters Agency
8 年These aren't "secret" twitter features..
Owner, MAG3 Notary Services (Retired from the IT profession)
8 年Excellent post! I'm a huge fan of Twitter. May it "live long and prosper!"
Digital Forensics Professional || Cybersecurity Enthusiast || Ethical Hacker || Penetration Tester || Adjunct Lecturer || Expert Witness || Cybersecurity Instructor || Security Analyst
8 年Awesome