Guest post by Logan Strain.
There are few things more satisfying to an online marketer than witnessing your brand’s Twitter account reach critical mass. All the work you put into building a large social platform is paying off, and now your account, which was once only followed by your coworkers, is now a social media powerhouse. But after that success, how do you make the most of Twitter as a traffic driver to your blog posts, landing pages, and other valuable content?
Image credit: Flexspan
Merely providing links to your followers without thinking about presentation isn’t enough. Through a few tactical tweaks to your tweets, you can achieve a higher click through rate and more traffic to your digital properties.
Here are five simple ways to improve your tweets for a higher CTR.
Create Custom URLs
You’re already using a URL shortener to make the most of the limited space you have on Twitter. But are you carefully crafting those URLs, or are you letting your shortener turn them into a nonsensical garble of words and numbers? Random characters in a link have the whiff of spam, so they may get unfairly overlooked on Twitter.
Bitly, one of the most popular link shorteners, now features vanity URLs, which means that your social media links are 100% customizable. So you can turn “bit.ly/jd59i8” into “bit.ly/PrettyLink.” The latter, since it contains an actual word, is appealing and is more likely to earn those coveted clicks from your audience.
Choose An Eye-Catching Image
Gaining followers is only half the Twitter battle. Since your followers scroll through countless other tweets on their feed, you also need to stop them in their tracks when they see your tweets. When we promote blog posts on Instant Checkmate’s Twitter account, we create a banner image for both the blog post and the tweet. This not only makes the post itself more visually appealing, it creates a graphic that can help your tweets get noticed.
Fortunately, you don’t have to be a graphic designer or spend half an hour tweaking an image in Photoshop to create pro-style images. Online graphic creators like Canva can help you make high-quality, customized Twitter graphics in mere minutes. Simply create an image that contains your content’s headline and a visually striking background and your tweets will stand out.
Command Them To Click
Experienced marketers and salespeople know that you have to ask for what you want. Ambiguous calls to action produce lackluster results. But for some reason they consistently fail to apply that knowledge to their social posts. If you want your followers to click the link, tell them to do just that. Commanding your audience with a simple, brief “click here” or “check this out” will turn more Twitter followers into website visitors.
Tweet Multiple Times
When pushing your content through Twitter, there’s no reason to take a “one and done” approach. When scheduling your posts, set your most valuable content to be tweeted multiple times throughout the week. Just like you, your followers have other things to do and might miss tweets relevant to their interests. A tweeting schedule that pushes your best pieces multiple times gives them many opportunities to see your content.
Leverage Hashtags From Industry Events
Relevancy always increases click through rates. If there is a major conference or Twitter chat that is relevant to your industry, take advantage. Include the event’s hashtag in your tweets to promote your content. You’ll get in front of a brand new and intensely passionate audience for your content. By using this technique, you won’t just gain new traffic, you’ll probably also see a bump in followers.
Logan Strain is a web content creator who regularly contributes to Instant Checkmate’s blog, a father, and a podcast addict. When he’s not browsing Reddit, playing with his daughter, or binge-watching Netflix, he’s creating top notch web content. Follow him on Twitter @LM_Strain.