Track Social recently conducted an extended study of major brand activity on Twitter. The results have been collected in the 10 Keys to Optimizing Twitter Engagement, available for download here.
The white paper includes surprising new insights and accompanying charts ranging from the best time of day to tweet to the most compelling kinds of content.
We look at four areas of Tweet Optimization: Content, Frequency, Length, and Timing. Each individual area can yield improvement of over 100% in response levels via Retweet.
Exactly how each insight applies to a specific brand will vary, however when used together, as part of an ongoing program, the benefits of using these insights will be significant.
Here are some of the Keys to Optimizing Twitter Engagement.
1. Ask for what you want.
As seen with Facebook, asking for an action is by far the best way to get it. Though one cannot ask for a Retweet every time, used in moderation it should be a part of your overall program, since it can result in dramatic increases in response levels.
2. Hash tags increase exposure and response rate.
Twitter popularized hash tags and they remains an important part of the culture. We saw use of hash tags causing a 35% increase in response.
3. Say it with pictures.
Images work well in Tweets in general, almost doubling Retweet rates, yet they are underused by brands.
4. Increase Tweet frequency and monitor the results.
As Tweet Frequency increases, Response per Tweet decreases. However Response per Day continue to increase. When we did a weighted average of these two metrics we observed somewhat of a flattening out around 20 Tweets per day, but no decrease. The upshot: it is probably possible to Tweet a lot more than you are without negative consequences.
5. The ideal range for Tweets is 70-100 characters.
Shorter Tweets do not say anything of substance, unless coupled with an image, and longer Tweets do not allow room for response to be added when retweeting.
To get the full list of 10 Keys To Optimizing Twitter Engagement, download the full white paper from Track Social.
Track Social offers enterprise clients an advanced program of Social Content Optimization. For more information, and to apply for a free assessment of your brand's social performance, go here.
To get our Optimizing Facebook Engagement white paper, go here.
For the methodology of this study, go here.