5 Secret Twitter Hacks You Need to Know

If you’re constantly working to take your brand to the next level, chances are you’re doing everything you can to get your name out there; whether it’s offline or online. By now, you’re probably familiar with the power of social media, and more specifically, one of our favorite platforms, Twitter.  With over 500 million Tweets being sent each day and hundreds of millions of users, Twitter offers an opportunity to promote your business and of course, your stunning website. Because it’s such fast-moving and ever-changing platform, it can be difficult to keep up. Luckily, we have some tips that you can use to seriously increase engagement and save you time.

So let’s get down to the good stuff because after all, you already know how to use Twitter. Now, you’re ready for more advanced Twitter tips to step-up your game and bring your brand right into the spotlight!

Use Twitter Analytics to reach more followers

We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘timing is everything,’ and when it comes to Twitter, this should be its motto. Not posting at the right time on this social platform can make all the difference between your brand’s Tweet going viral and one that performs just so-so. That’s where your Twitter Analytics toolcomes into play. Research conducted by Wiselytics examined 1 million Tweets (all with at least 10 retweets each) to find how engagement decreases over time. The study showed that a Tweet’s average lifespan is 24 minutes.  While Moz conducted a similar experiment concluding that the number is around 18 minutes.  These findings prove that your brand needs to Tweet at the right time to reach the most potential followers and maximize exposure. The best times to post generally are 12 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., and 6 p.m.; this is when most folks are on their mobile devices. Our advice? Start with these times and then use data from you Twitter Analytics to optimize your timing based on engagement.

How to find these stats: Hop on over to your Twitter Analytics dashboard and hit Tweets. Adjust the dates to look at an overview of your statistics. Want to see how your Tweets did on a weekly basis? Adjust the dates to look to get a closer look at things; this will also give you an idea of what day works best for your audience. Some useful stats to check your engagement are link clicks, retweets, Likes and replies. You can find these neatly displayed in graph form on the side of your dashboard.

Pro tip: open a spreadsheet so you can keep track of things on a weekly basis to make sure you are hitting your target numbers.

Discover Twitter keyboard shortcuts

If you’re on your desktop as much as we are, you’re going to love these keyboard shortcuts hiding right under your fingertips! With ease, you can keystroke your way to new Tweets, check notifications, expanded photos, and more, all without leaving your keyboard.

How to access them: While on any Twitter profile, press shift + ? to bring up the list of keyboard shortcuts (or use the list below). 

Find leads with Twitter Advanced Search

Ever tried searching for something specific on Twitter? It can be a pain in the you-know-what. Luckily for everyone, Twitter has a built-in tool that will help narrow your search, saving you hours of time, so you can stop pulling your hair out. With Twitter’s Advanced Search, you can easily find the information that’s important to your brand. Looking for leads or potential clients? You can take advantage of the search fields available; you can search by Twitter handle, hashtag or even a specific word or phrase (like your business name!). This is a great way to find like-minded individuals or brands and is the easiest way to learn what people are talking about.

How to get to Advanced Search: Easy; click this link and you’ll be taken right there!

Segment your feed with lists 

If your business account is following more than a couple hundred people – (hint if you aren’t, you should be) – it can become darn right impossible to keep track of the content you actually want to see. Drum roll please – enter:Twitter Lists. Creating lists on Twitter allows you to view custom feeds of groups such as customers, possible leads, influencers, or accounts you simply want to keep an eye on. Ultimately, lists make it easier for you or your social media manager to engage properly with each group.

Bonus tip: Want to keep an eye on your competitors but you don’t want to give them a precious follow? There’s some thing called private lists! This is a sneaky way to build a feed of other brands without actually following them. Because as the saying goes, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” – ok, well, they might not be your enemies but still, it’s a good idea to have an eye on the competition. Want to learn how to do this? Follow the step-by-step instructions below on how to create lists and then when prompted to choose your list’s visibility, select Private.

How to create lists:

• Click on your profile icon to show the drop down menu. 
• Click on Lists. 
• Click Create new list.
• Select a name for your list and a short description of the list. Then select if you want the list to be private (only accessible to you) or public (anyone can subscribe to the list).
• Click Save list.
• To see the Tweets in your lists on Twitter, go to your profile page, click the Lists tab and click the name of the list.
• For more detailed instructions go to the Twitter Help Center.

• Manage your media like a boss

  Hey business owners, this one is for you! It’s not a secret that the best performing Tweets usually contain some type of media. And, if the average lifespan of a Tweet is anywhere from 18-24 minutes like we just learned moments ago, then you’ll want to be Tweeting pretty frequently over the course of a day. Even more than that, you may look to repurpose some content over time. How do you manage all of that media? By saving files to your desktop? No, no, it’s not 2010 anymore. With the Twitter Media Library! Behold, a place that stores every single Tweet you’ve ever published, every media you used – or think to use in the future, categorized by type. In addition, it allows you to compose one on the spot or schedule in advance. It doesn’t get any better than that. 
  Oh, yes, it can. You have an integrated search bar that allows you to easily find any content/media stored. The times when you used to scroll for hours to find an image (or video) are over!
  Bonus tip:  Get funky and don’t be afraid to switch it up a little:  mix up your content with GIFs, images and videos.  We recommend creating a backlog of content to use at any given moment. So, whether you want to jump on a trending hashtag or give yourself a little leeway, you have the visuals locked and loaded to shoot out whenever you see fit.  
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