Many brands and influencers aren’t using Twitter to its full potential.
They underestimate the power of the tweet, but would rather put their efforts into other platforms (especially if their content falls under a visual niche market, like beauty and fashion). When done correctly, Twitter can have high rates of engagement return.
The problem is many brands and influencers don’t understand how to increase interaction between their content (i.e. their tweets) and their audience.
We’ve answered some of the most common questions influencer and brands have, when it comes to increasing engagement on the platform.
Check them out below…
How Often Should I Tweet? And When?
Throughout the past few years, Twitter has made two big changes to the platform.
These changes have impacted how frequently users should tweet, in order to obtain maximum levels of engagement from their audience and followers.
Firstly, Twitter introduced an algorithm. This means the most recent tweet is not always the most visible tweet in a user’s feed. Secondly, the platform increased its character limit from 140 to 280 per tweet. We can now assume that longer, creative tweets will be prioritized over shorter ones.
But it’s tough to answer questions like “How often should I post on Twitter?” and “When should I tweet?” as it varies per brand and influencer.
“A good rule of thumb would be to start with 5-7 posts per day and then monitor your results,” Hodgkinson said. “Try going up to 9-10 for a couple weeks and measure what the impact is on your results. Keep trying different numbers of tweets until you find your sweet spot.”
She also advises against skipping a day or tweeting inconsistently (i.e. tweeting ten times one day, and not at all the next).
Bottom line: you’ll need to play around with your Twitter account and watch your analytics, in order to figure out how often you should post and at what time of day.
How Do I Access My Twitter Analytics?
This is fairly straightforward and you don’t need any third party apps to help you access your analytics.
Simply go to analytics.twitter.com and log in with your Twitter account details.
You’ll then have access to the engagement levels of your tweets, audience demographic, upcoming events that might be trending on Twitter (i.e. holidays, sporting events, etc.) and much more.
Use this information to create tweets your audience will want to interact with, which will then help to increase your rates of engagement.
How Do I Schedule My Tweets?
Unfortunately, users cannot schedule tweets directly in Twitter. They will need to sign up for a third party scheduling platform, if they’re looking to pre-plan their posts.
The good news is there are plenty of social media management platforms that brands and influencers can choose from.
Buffer, Hootsuite and CoSchedule are a few of the most popular options but there are dozens of other tools out there on the market. Prices for their services can range, but almost all platforms have a free trial or account option.
Play around with different tools and figure out which one is best for you.
What is Considered “Good” Engagement?
You might think having thousands of followers on Twitter automatically means a high rates of engagement. But this isn’t always the case.
And it’s important to note a “high” rate of engagement may not necessarily mean a large number in your analytics.
- An engagement rate between 0% and 0.02% is considered to be low. An influencer with a low engagement rate on Twitter could expect between 0 – 2 reactions for every 1000 followers.
- An engagement rates between 0.02% and 0.09% are considered to be good. An influencer with a good engagement rate on Twitter could expect between 2 – 9 reactions for every 1000 followers.
- An engagement rate between 0.09% and 0.33% is considered to be high, where an influencer would expect 9 – 33 reactions for every 1000 followers on Twitter.
- Finally, an engagement rate between 0.33% and 1% is considered to be very high, with expected reactions to be between 33 – 100 for every 1000 Twitter followers.
Therefore, the number of followers you have on Twitter actually has very little to do with your rates of engagement. Watch the percentage when gaging your rates of engagement.
How Do I Increase My Rates of Engagement?
This is a tough question, as it varies per brand and influencer. Strategies that may gain high rates of engagement for one account, might not work as well for others.
Overall, any content that is news-oriented, expert insight or comic relief tends to do well on the platform. Some brands may find that simply replying to consumers’ queries in a timely manner can increase their rates of engagement.
Engaging with other accounts as well, can be a very good way to increase engagement. Be sure to follow, retweet and favourite other brands and influencers’ tweets. And don’t forget to use hashtags.
Remember, Twitter is a conversation! Be sure to be chatty, if you want to increase you rates of engagement.
Have a question for ITP Live about engagement rates on Twitter? Tell us know in the comments below, and we’ll answer them!