#KnowYourGrowth Social Media 101: Twitter

The #KnowYourGrowth: Summer of Social Media workshop was a 4-part workshop series that provided a deep dive into today’s biggest social media platforms: Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok. As a follow-up to that series, we’ve created these Social Media 101 guides for each platform to help you grow your brand and expand online. 

What is Twitter?

Do you remember how fast all the gossip and rumors could spread in high school as soon as something happened in (or out of) the classroom? Now imagine that on a global, instantaneous scale — that’s Twitter.

Whenever there’s breaking news about current events, celebrities, global tragedies, big tech announcements, or really anything else, Twitter is always the first place you see the news trending worldwide. With a single 240-character tweet sent out into the world, anyone or anything can become a trending topic faster than you can say “how did this happen?”

So how can you put the chattiest place on the internet to work for you? Here are a few of our top tips.

Twitter Key Best Practices 

1. Join the Conversation 

   • Start Conversations: Ask questions. Talk about what’s interesting to you. Get curious about your followers.
   • Tap into Trending Topics: Scan the “Trending” section for topics where you can chime in with your unique perspective. 
   • Curate with Lists: Keep track of smaller groups of influential users or topic experts with Twitter’s “Lists” feature. And join their conversations. 

2. Join in on Trends

   While your Twitter strategy shouldn’t be based solely around trends, it’s a good idea to incorporate them every now and again to boost engagement. So if all of Twitter is talking about their #UnpopularOpinion (and that’s on brand for you), feel free to post yours and get people talking.

3. Make your Content Accessible

   • Closed Captioning: When you post video content, closed captioning is always beneficial for the deaf or hearing-impaired. The captions also allow users to engage with your content, even if they keep their sound off or are in a noisy location without headphones.
   • Hashtag Format: It seems small, but make sure you use title casing when using hashtags with multiple words, for example: “#PatreonCreator”.

Patreon Growth Tips for Twitter

1. Show Don’t Tell

   Share what cool things you’re offering on Patreon, but avoid making it “salesy.” This can include a highlight reel of what you’ve been doing with your Patrons month over month, special offers you’re running, or anniversaries you’re celebrating.
   Example
   • Don’t: For $5/month on Patreon you get access to our bonus episodes 
   • Do: We’re doing a Patreon bonus episode series about 90’s movies. What should we watch first?

2. Review your Analytics

   Keep it Casual: You don’t have to spend a ton of time setting up tracking spreadsheets. Even scrolling through your own feed every few days and making notes about which tweets generated more engagement can help you develop new ideas.

3. Metrics that Matter

   Consistently looking at a few key metrics will help you spot what’s working faster than reviewing every stat in detail.
   • Engagement – Likes, Retweets, and Replies
   • Audience Growth – Net new Followers 

4. Trust your Gut

   Metrics get you 80% of the way to understanding what’s working and what you can try next, but they don’t give you the full story. Bring your intuition and critical thinking too.

Additional Twitter Features to Utilize 

Spaces:

These are like Clubhouse, but on Twitter (so basically a live, unedited, potentially interactive podcast).

No Crop:

They’ve changed up how images display in the Twitter feed, so you don’t have to worry about images getting cropped in strange ways anymore.

Tip Jar:

You can directly link your Patreon page to your Twitter bio so folks who like your Tweets know the best way to pay you for your creative work. 

For additional resources, please check out our other social media guides on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok to improve your social strategy.