Twitter is a ‘microblogging’ platform which limits you to posts of 140 characters. There are over 214 million active users every month, 181 million of these connecting to Twitter using mobile devices. Here we list some considerations to ensure you’re making the most out of Twitter.

Listen

Twitter is perfect for listening to chatter about a topic area and seeing what people are saying about it. If you click on a hashtag within a post, you’ll be able to read through all of the tweets including it.

You can also do this by clicking on the ‘trending’ hashtags and topics on your homepage. These topics will be the most talked about within a given location and can give you an idea of major topics currently being discussed. If you have a particular hashtag or keyword in mind, you can also search for these using the search bar in the top right of the page.

As well as getting a general picture of current discussions, this can also provide an opportunity for you to find content that is of interest to you, or conversations you would like to join.

Using hashtags

As stated above, you can use hashtags to view conversations about a certain topic. Therefore, if you use them yourself you are likely to reach a wider audience. If you’re attending an event, see if there is already an official hashtag in place and use that to join the conversation and find others attending the same event. If you’re not sure which hashtags to use, use the search bar to look at whether the variation is being used at all or use a tool such as Rite Tag. If you’d like to know more about the importance of hashtags on social media, have a read of this blog.

Timing and frequency of your tweets

If you’re running a Twitter feed, it is important to consider when your tweets are most likely to be seen. Who are you targeting? If your audience are working professionals then they might not be accessing their Twitter account as soon as they get in to work, so time your tweets accordingly.

You can use Twitter’s new analytics features to see which tweets usually have more ‘impressions’ (how many of your followers have seen your tweet) and adjust your timings accordingly. You can find your analytics dashboard by clicking on the small thumbnail of your profile picture in the top right corner of the page, then select ‘Analytics’.

Although Twitter is often considered a high volume platform, it is important not to bombard your followers with too many tweets – try and space them throughout the day if possible. To do this you could use a scheduling tool such as Hootsuite, TweetDeck or Buffer.

Using images

Images receive more engagement on Twitter compared to a text-based tweet. Attaching an image can make it more eye-catching, so attach a relevant one if you can. However, consider whether you have permission to use that image before posting – take a look at the social media toolkit for more information.