Twitter – the hugely successful social media network that almost everyone seems to be on, from renowned authors to presidents.
It truly is a one-of-a-kind platform whose reach has exploded over time. With 330 million monthly active users and 145 million daily active users, your brand needs a social media strategy that includes Twitter.
Starting off on Twitter, though, may feel a little more complicated than it looks. To help you get right into business, you can always use a tweet template to get your Twitter presence up and running.
Tweeting 101
Every tweet on Twitter, with a few exceptions, follows a few basic templates. Keep them at hand whenever you run short of content to put out on the social media network.
But before we begin, here’s a short introduction on how to tweet:
- Sign in to Twitter
- Start composing your tweet right above your feed or click on “New Tweet” at the top of your page
- Tweet, tweet, tweet – but make sure you stick to 280 characters
- Sprinkle with a generous serving of relevant hashtags
- Tag someone by typing @ followed by their Twitter handle
- Click the Tweet button and you’re done!
A tweet template for every occasion
For a successful content marketing strategy, you need to know what to post. Creating content for Twitter can be easy as long as you remember that every tweet boils down to a few basic templates.
Let’s begin with these simple tweet template formats that are easy to use and follow:
The basics
The following are template ideas for basic tweets that you can post. You can use these to help your followers get familiar with the brand while adding value to their feed with your content.
The simple tweet
Format: [YOUR TEXT HERE] #hashtag
The simplest of the lot, this involves any sort of information that you want to post on Twitter.
It could be an original tweet, news involving your brand, or a teaser about a new service ready to hit the market. It could even be just a greeting to start the day off on the right foot.
Recommended reading: 19 Twitter Bio Ideas Guaranteed to attract more followers
The quote tweet
Format: [QUOTE] – by author #hashtag
If there’s one thing that the Internet adores as much as cute, fluffy animals, it would be inspirational quotes. People love to read and share quotes that inspire them.
Post a motivating or famous quote and make sure that you credit the original author. The Internet is filled with Twitter feuds over things as small as the color of a dress, so let’s try to keep away from that sort of debate.
If the person is alive and tweeting, make sure you tag them in your tweet. Tagging someone is simple – all you have to do is type @ followed by the Twitter username of that person.
The good advice tweet
Format: [YOUR NUGGET OF WISDOM] #hashtag
It is a well-known fact that anyone who wants advice goes on to the Internet to search for it. Give your Twitter audience your own patented nuggets of wisdom that your followers will love to read and share.
Share your tips on staying productive during the day with your audience. Tweet about the importance of taking care of yourself while running a business.
These tweets help you create a reputable Twitter presence with extra value to offer your audience.
You can also do this in the form of a problem and solution. Ask if your followers are having trouble with something and then provide a usable solution. For instance – “Want to figure out the basics of Facebook marketing? Check out this useful article by Social Solutions.”
The “Did you know?” tweet
Format: [STATISTIC] – from source #hashtag
Treat your followers to interesting statistics and facts to make their feeds a little more varied.
You can also make this a regular occurrence. Just make a list of interesting facts that you come across and post as often as you would like.
Remember to pick statistics and facts from recent, relevant sources of information so that your followers see you as a credible source of information.
The tweets with media
While a simple tweet can do the job, you can make your tweets a little more interesting with a little extra flavor by adding media like music, images and more. This can boost your reach and improve your engagement with your audience.
Here are a few tweet templates that you can use:
The photo tweet
Format: [PHOTO CAPTION] #hashtags
While Twitter may only let you write 280 characters, a photo can say much more than that. In fact, tweets with photos are way more engaging than tweets without images.
Compose a new tweet on your account, click on the photo or video icon to add a picture, enter your caption where you would normally write your tweet and post.
Take a picture on a work trip and post it on your feed. Add a photo of a new product about to be released to your post.
You can also tweet something to give your audience a chuckle – you’ll find that fun posts with trending memes are always a good way to attract engagement.
The video tweet
Format: [CAPTION] #hashtags
Twitter’s internal data shows that there are over 2 billion video views daily on the platform. You can leverage this by posting your own videos on Twitter as well.
For video posts, follow the same basic steps for the template above and simply attach a video instead of a picture.
You might also like: 100 YouTube Video Ideas To Get You Started
The GIF tweet
Format: [CAPTION] #hashtags
GIF reactions have become increasingly popular over the years. It’s a fun way to post light content that really resonates with your followers.
Compose a new tweet on your account, click on GIF icon to add the GIF of your choice, enter your caption where you would normally add text and post.
The presentation tweet
Format: [TITLE]: <URL> by @Twitter handle #hashtags
You can even use Twitter to embed a SlideShare presentation in your tweet. Your audience won’t have to leave the comfort of their Twitter feed to view the presentation.
Simply add the link to the SlideShare presentation and it will be embedded in the tweet when you post it. You can also follow the same format to share videos and documents found elsewhere.
The response tweets
Unlike what most people believe, Twitter is not a stage upon which you stand and declare your thoughts. It was made to support and promote conversations between its users.
Twitter also lets you share tweets from another person and tag their username. It’s a great way to provide your audience with fresh content while you create a credible online image. Here are a few tweet template ideas to send you on your way:
The retweet
The retweet is used to post someone else’s tweets to your feed for the benefit of your audience. Once you come across an interesting tweet by a person on Twitter, click on “Retweet” and it will be shared with your followers.
If you would like to add your own point on the tweet, choose the “Retweet as quote” option and you can include your opinion or even react with a photo, meme, GIF or video.
The shared information tweet
Format: [ARTICLE TITLE]: <URL> by @TwitterHandle
Share blog posts or link to a news article using this simple format. If you are sharing a blog post written by someone else on Twitter, tag their username. Not only are you providing due credit to the post creator, the original writer may want to return the favor by retweeting your own tweets.
You can also add your own takeaway from the shared link at the beginning of the tweet.
Format: COMMENT -> [ARTICLE TITLE]: <URL> by @TwitterHandle
The engagement tweets
Your audience needs more than just a series of tweets directed at them – they are looking for accounts who will engage with them as well.
Reach out to your followers by making your Twitter post more engaging with these tweet template ideas:
The question tweet
Format: QUESTION #hashtag (or) QUESTION – <URL> by @TwitterHandle
People love being asked for their opinion. Try posting questions and asking your followers to tweet back with their own opinions and solutions. Show them that you care about their thoughts on the matter.
This is especially useful when you’re trying to develop a new product or service. You can get the information you need from the horse’s mouth.
The poll tweet
Polls are incredibly engaging posts on Twitter. All it takes is the click of a button to register your opinion.
An extension of the question tweet, the poll limits the number of choices that can be made. Try posting a poll when you have a few options to choose from and would like public opinion to settle the issue.
It’s a great way to figure out what your audience tends to lean towards.
Hashtag, you’re it!
While these templates can get you started on your Twitter journey, it may come to a premature halt without the use of something very important – hashtags. A necessary part of your marketing strategy, use hashtags properly to get the greatest benefits.
When you pick the right hashtags, you can do so much more with the content you post on Twitter.
Hashtags can group tweets together
Create a separate space for tweets using a particular hashtag. You can look for relevant hashtags to see what other people are using them to discuss.
Using the same hashtag for things like events and ad campaigns keeps tweets about these topics in a space that is easily accessible to you and your audience.
Hashtags can improve engagement
The right hashtags can give you the boost you need to reach a larger audience.
Hashtags make it easier for your tweets and posts to be discovered. Your post will show up to your own followers and others who are interested in similar content.
Your go-to hashtag research tools
Uncovering relevant hashtags and putting them to use can be quite the task. You can find a program for any type of hashtag research, including ones that offer options to download or ones that can simply be used online.
They allow you to discover and reach different demographics, monitor hashtags, understand the sentiment, and even find geographical data related to hashtag usage.
These free programs are perfect when it comes to finding hashtags that are relevant to your needs:
The easiest option for basic hashtag research is Twitter.
Not only is it a convenient method to discover hashtags, but it also lets you see the most recent and updated ones.
Learn more about trending hashtags by taking a peek at the Twitter sidebar. For something a little more suited to your tweets, get creative and type in different keywords in the search bar and see what it gives you.
Brand 24
While this one is usually used to monitor brands and products, this program has a fantastic hashtag tracking search feature.
Its features give you the options to find and track hashtags across platforms in real-time while also tracking and analyzing contests or campaigns based on hashtags. This is something that comes in handy for brands hosting giveaways and ad campaigns.
Want to know how popular a hashtag is? Let this program do the work for you by counting the number of tweets and posts under a particular hashtag.
Social Searcher
This cool social media search engine makes it super easy to track hashtag mentions. Learn what people are saying about your brand, product or service on one convenient dashboard.
Explore top hashtags on Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms, and adopt trending hashtags into your marketing strategy to get your engagement rate up.
You can also look for negative sentiments with this program, helping you stay on top of possible issues while resolving them swiftly.
Twubs
This nifty program lets you monitor hashtags performances and join Twitter chats related to a particular hashtag. Simply enter a hashtag and you can check out conversations using that hashtag.
This program helps look for hashtags and show them in different tweets, all in a single feed.
You can also customize a hashtag and register it here for a record of your claim, which can be used in trademark or legal challenges.
#onemilliontweetmap
This is a rather neat visualization program that can let you track how hashtags are used all over the world. Enter a hashtag and see where on the map this hashtag pops up.
It’s a great method to get an idea of what hashtags are trending in your area. It also features a filtering option, including setting up a time frame.
All Hashtag
What began as a basic hashtag suggestion tool has now grown to provide features like hashtag generation, creation and analysis of relevant, top and updated hashtags for your content.
Use it to find a list of possible combinations, top-ranking hashtags, hashtags with similar keywords and ideas for similar hashtags.
Talkwalker
While this program offers a free demo, you can also get a free tracking tool, which makes it easy for you to follow your campaigns and hashtags. This social search engine offers updated and unlimited data on your audience
You can also use it to follow your competitor’s hashtags to check out their Twitter marketing strategy.
Curating content for Twitter gets easier
In order to build and keep a great audience, you have to curate relevant content that fulfills your audience’s needs. Social Animal puts you on the fast track to engaging Twitter content.
Take your marketing strategy to the next level with keyword-centric design to find relevant and trending information based on your interests.
Social Animal’s powerful search helps you find the information you are looking for with ease. Narrow down your search by domain, author, keywords, and time frames. You can also combine search criteria to find niche content.
Sit back and put your legs up while we do all the work for you. Just tell us what keywords and competitors you want and would like to track. Social Animal combines it all in one helpful Daily Digest email that gives you the short version of everything that’s happening in your niche on a daily basis.
You might also like: The Ultimate List of 101 Social Media Terminologies You Must Know
As Twitter continues growing as the preferred social platform, you can build a solid reputation on the network with tweets that offer value to your audience. It’s the best marketing strategy for your business.
