Twitter: You’re doing it wrong

By: Ellen Eldridge

The first rule of Twitter:

Social media is overwhelming.  So many platforms and so little time we artists want to spend engaging when we’d MUCH rather just let our art speak for itself.

Unfortunately, the fact that we can easily self-publish and distribute the stuff we create online means we are sharing in a very crowded environment – so we have to actually engage and connect with our audiences.

The first rule of Twitter is to keep it short!  Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that allows no more than 140 characters per tweet.  So, the first thing every user must understand is the importance of shortening the URL lining to the content you share.

I use Bitly.com, a free site that not only allows me to quickly shorten any URL but also track it.  If I create a blog or care to share the link to my newest song on Soundcloud, ReverbNation or YouTube, all I do is copy the URL and open Bitly in a new tab to shrink the link and share on Twitter.  By using the shortest URL possible, I save valuable characters in my tweets.

Other methods of shortening URLs exist, and WordPress even provides a “get shortlink” option from its blogging platform.  I use Bitly because I’ve found it most convenient. I’ve also experimented with sending tweets via HootSuite.

Twitter pro tip:

To encourage more users to share content on Twitter by “retweeting” it to their followers, you want to use less than the allotted 140 characters.  When a user retweets extra characters are needed so keeping your tweet to 120 characters or fewer increases its chances of being retweeted.

Please follow me on Twitter @EllenEldridge27 and follow Target Audience Magazine @TargetAudience2