Twitter for Bloggers

How to use Twitter as a Blogger

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With over 330 million monthly active users, Twitter is easily one of the world’s most popular social media networks. Both individuals and businesses use the platform to share thoughts and ideas, read news stories, and engage with a variety of other content. It has particularly become an important app for content marketers and businesses looking to stay in touch with customers. If you are thinking of ways to include Twitter in your overall strategy as a digital marketer or blogger, or wondering if it’s worth it, keep reading.

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First, what is Twitter?

Twitter is often described as a micro-blogging platform because it allows users to share updates – called tweets – in 280 characters or less. Tweets can be text only but are commonly accompanied by images and videos. Visual tweets tend to get more engagement than those which are text-only. In addition to creating tweets, Twitter users can interact with content on the platform by liking, retweeting, quote tweeting, and commenting on other people’s updates. Users also follow hashtags to keep up with conversations surrounding various topics.

Founded in 2006, Twitter has rolled out several new features in recent times. These include the ability to post voice updates, a Spaces feature that enables users to take part in live discussions, and the possibility to post disappearing status updates called Fleets. The network has unlocked tipping for some of its top users as well, and there have also been reports of plans to release a newsletter feature.

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Where does Twitter rank among social media platforms?

Twitter is the number one app in Japan and is one of the fastest growing in some European countries. In Germany, for instance, Twitter grew by 30% in 2020 alone. With that said, in the U.S., which is Twitter’s most dominant market, the app is ranked just sixth in terms of usage among the population. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and LinkedIn all rank higher.

But that does not take away from its influence. In fact, Twitter is considered one of the most influential social networks when it comes on to breaking news stories, amplifying political matters, and driving conversations around pop culture topics. This has been evidenced in many viral campaigns, including past presidential elections.

Some of the top-trending hashtags have sparked high volumes of online activity. In 2020, for example, Twitter was pivotal in spreading news and updates around the #COVID19 hashtag, which was used over 400 million times. The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag also hit its peak during the George Floyd protests in the same year.

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Twitter for digital marketing

The influential nature of Twitter has not been lost on brands looking to amplify their messages and connect with their target audiences. Evidence of this is shown in the fact that over 67% of B2B currently use Twitter as part of their digital marketing efforts. There are several reasons why the platform has become so important to brands.

Customer service delivery: The on-the-go, real time nature of Twitter makes it an ideal platform for people who want to connect with brands and get immediate customer service. Companies can use Twitter to quickly provide support, as well as post general information for those who may want to know more about their offerings. Brands using Twitter to enhance customer service delivery have seen a 19% increase in customer satisfaction. Moreover, 76% of consumers said they would likely recommend a brand after receiving friendly service.

Monitoring conversations: Twitter is a great social listening tool, which brands can use to monitor what people are saying about them. This is important since 80% of active Twitter users have mentioned a brand in their tweets at least once. Not only can companies monitor certain keywords and hashtags, but they can also get feedback from users through Twitter polls and questions. Keeping on top of conversations makes it possible for brands to respond to any negative backlash as quickly as possible, as well as adjust their marketing to suit consumer preferences based on feedback received.

Brand awareness: According to a Twitter survey, 54% of its users have taken an action after seeing a brand mentioned in tweets. This means people are using the platform to learn about different brands they might be interested in. Companies can share useful content and ideas while engaging with their followers to help spread awareness and spark interest in their offerings.

Advertising: Twitter reports that it has close to 190 million “monetizable daily active users” as of year 2020. At the same time, ad engagement on the platform increased by 27% while cost per engagement (CPE) declined by 9%. All this means is that there is a great opportunity for digital marketers to reach a wide audience and get more engagement for less by advertising on Twitter.

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How bloggers use Twitter

Twitter is not only good for companies looking to improve their brands. It is also a useful platform for bloggers who want to expand their audiences and better connect with readers. Some of the ways bloggers can use Twitter to gain more traction include:

1. Driving traffic to your blog

The information-driven format of the Twitter platform makes it suitable for the marketing efforts associated with blogging and journaling. For starters, sharing links to new blog posts can result in followers clicking, retweeting, and commenting on them. However, just sharing links is not enough to effectively increase traffic to your blog.

First of all, you want to have a strong profile that lets users know exactly what you are about while raising curiosity. A good practice is to have a high-quality profile image, a short bio, and a link back to your blog.

You can also boost engagement and the attractiveness of your blog posts by using images, videos, and jokes to promote your content. For instance, you can pick a standout quote from your blog post and turn into an image quote, or you can create a short video that sums up the article.

Another good idea is to pin your newest or top-performing blog post at the top of your timeline. Pinned content tend to get more impressions, which means there is a good chance you will continue to get traffic to your blog by having a tweet that everyone who visits your profile will see.

2. Increasing your Twitter following

While the most obvious benefit for bloggers using Twitter is to gain traffic, being popular on the site comes with other perks. It can help to establish you as an expert in your subject area, for instance. This means people will be more comfortable sharing your content and suggesting your work to others, as well as being more inclined to interact with you.

Growing your Twitter following requires a strategic approach, including taking the time to interact with followers, tweeting on a regular basis, posting a varied mix of content, and being helpful.

3. Better understand your audience

The better you understand your audience, the easier it will be to tailor content to suit their needs. There are a number of tools you can use to get feedback and insight from Twitter users. Running polls is one of the top ways to tap into the opinions and preferences of readers. You can also act as a host on Twitter Spaces to discuss topics that are important to your followers. In addition, Twitter gives users access to analytical data that can let you know how and when people are interacting with your tweets, and even what topics they are most interested in.

Whether you are a blogger or business owner, boosting your online presence is important for achieving success. Using Twitter is a recommended step where this is concerned.

Until next time!

—Casey