Twitter is the home of microblogging, but there's only so much you can say in 280 characters. The content of the tweet is essential to its visibility and popularity. Many experts compare Twitter to standing on a busy street corner and shouting, so to get engagement from your target audience, you'll have to provide a powerful message.
The value of the message, however, is as significant as the way you deliver it to your audience. To aid businesses in figuring out the ideal methodology for connecting with their Twitter followers, 11 contributors to Forbes Communications Council dissect some of the crucial aspects of a quality tweet.
1. Keep It Human
Focus on one actionable tip that connects people and leads to better experiences for all humans as employees, customers and other hats we wear. Using more than one per tweet may lead to no engagement or action. - Stacy Sherman, Schindler Elevator Corporation
2. Target Your Followers
When tweeting, always think of your followers and who is really your audience. What do they need to know and why? Provide value in your tweets, whether it's news, curated content or the beginning of a discussion. What's true universally applies to Twitter as well -- always pick quality over quantity, in characters and in the tweets themselves. - Pini Yakuel, Optimove
3. Tag Relevant Audience Members
When you tag the right audience members, whether they are influencers, customers or partners, your tweet is much more likely to be retweeted and replied to. Remember, it's social media, so make your post personalized, conversational and honest. Finally, when people respond to your tweet, be sure to keep the conversation going and reply in kind. - Holly Chessman, GlowTouch Technologies
4. Tweet Like A Journalist
To ensure optimal Twitter brevity, think headline and subhead. Decide the main point you want to get across and just like a headline, write your first sentence to immediately catch a reader's attention while conveying the central message. Your next sentence should be akin to the subhead -- it expands the story with smart concision and just as much attention-grabbing panache. - Melissa Kandel, little word studio
5. Keep What’s Most Important
I like to start with a complete thought, and even without first checking the character count, I’ll keep it brief. After I’ve expressed the thought, I’ll check the character count and then start making cuts where I feel the words are extra. I keep the core message/thought complete, and if possible, I try to keep the grammar correct and avoid abbreviations (to keep it professional-looking). - Jackie Freyman, Moors & Cabot
6. Use Everyday Language
Since Twitter allows us to quickly communicate with our audience, use everyday language to convey your message. Brief, catchy, memorable copy that speaks to individuals captures their attention nearly every time. After all, small words plus short sentences help us convey big ideas. - Marija Zivanovic-Smith, NCR Corporation
7. Don't Sweat Being Grammatically Perfect
When you compose a tweet, particularly on behalf of a company, the temptation is to phrase everything with perfect grammar. This isn't desirable nor is it expected by Twitter users, leading to an excess of obsolete words that don't serve your message's purpose. Instead, be clear, concise and to the point -- that's what will resonate more effectively as you compose a short, sharp and punchy tweet. - Patrick Ward, Rootstrap
8. Remove All Unnecessary Words
Edit and edit again. Before you tweet, ask yourself, how can I make this more clear and concise? Consider having a second set of eyes on it to help you remove unnecessary words. The best writing is simple and clear. - Holly Tate, Vanderbloemen Search Group
9. Use Visual Content
Visual communication is increasing and will spill over into Twitter more heavily in 2020 to grab followers’ attention. This is especially critical if marketers want to attract the youngest generations, who spend hours on Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. By combining tweets with images, content is both more appealing and informative while not being restricted by a character limit. - Mary York, William Mills Agency
10. Focus On The Engagement Aspect
When constructing a quality business tweet you should put some sort of call to action, a link to an article, to your website, or request feedback. In the end, Twitter is all about engagement with customers, and getting their thoughts on subjects. If there is more than just some babble and something for the viewer to do they are less likely to just scroll by your tweet. - Sarah Lero, Peerless Products Inc
11. Don't Automatically Share An Article Title
Capturing all the information you wish to include in your tweet can be a challenge. Don't automatically jump to share the title of the article, which is oftentimes automatically preset when clicking on the Twitter share icon next to an article. Titles displays below your post content regardless. Instead, pull facts and interesting quotes from within the article, or offer your own thoughts. - Maria Sotra, GEOTAB
