5 Keys to Twitter Headlines
Twitter headlines are about short striking descriptive tidbits that get retweeted frequently.
First we had social media now we have Twitter.
No joke. You don’t do social media optimization anymore. You have to optimize for Twitter.
Getting retweeted poses some special challenges though, one of the foremost is the retweetable headline.
It’s a mix of SEO and SMO as Twitter headlines need both keywords and the “awesome” effect needed on other social sites as well.
The most difficult thing about these headlines is of course fitting them in the shortest possible form.
Thus I present to you the 5 keys to Twitter headlines. Please note how short my examples are.
- Eye catcher: how to, 101, free
- Emotion: “wow”, “cool”, “LOL”, “FAIL”, “WTF?”
- Keyword/s: Twitter, UX, social media
- Names, brand names: Apple, Elon Musk
- Value: tools, list, DIY, guide
- With an eye catcher you manage to get noticed. The usual suspects work also on Twitter.
- You need to get emotional, otherwise people won’t see a reason in clicking the link you tweet if you don’t even care for it.
- For those who search Twitter for keywords you need to add some. “Twitter” as a keyword works for everybody, for my followers “SEO” will work.
- Use names and brand names people know on Twitter and Twitter users love or hate. Make sure to promise value in your headline. No “all tweet and no meat” tactic will work. You need to offer something of value.
Will these simple 5 keys to Twitter headlines make you popular on Twitter? Not really, you need followers, the right ones.
You need to tweet at the right time – when Americans are awake – or wherever your audience resides. Tweeting at night might be a good idea when you want to attract the night-life crowd.
Last updated: February 27th, 2017.
All good tips, i’ll try to incorporate them into what i do.
Though the 5 keys to twitter headlines are ones that can be used in nearly any marketing exercise. People search for certain words.
Definitely, you’re right, one must still offer something that has a value and not a nonsense one. Indeed, these are very helpful tips. I’m looking forward for more useful tips that you’ll share.
Good info here. For Twitter or a Blog post, balancing between an interesting keyword-rich headline and good content to back it up is vital.
Best tip for getting info resent or ‘retweeted:’ remember Brian Solis’s phrase, “120 is the new 140.” Create your strong headline and stop with 20 characters left. This allows space for the term RT, and for the @username of the person resending the message out; it might even allow them room to add a comment like [good post].
By the way, I’d love to connect on twitter, but I don’t see any real name, or twitter username. AM I missing your “about me” page, or a twitter widget/link? my comment name is my twitter handle – my 1st nae and website URL.
I’m late to the Twitter game. I’ve tried using it in the past and I just can’t seem to “click” with it. I truly figured this might be a fad about 8 months ago and now I can see it’s here to stay. Rumors are going around that Google might be interested in acquiring them. Time to learn yet another Web 2.0 app…
I still can’t believe how quickly StumbleUpon died. We tech marketers are such a fickle bunch, jumping from one service to the next.
Great post! I am starting to enjoy Twitter now via Twitdeck. I have found a good quote with a shorten URL attached is a great way to get Retweets by other users. Here is my best Twitter post to date:
“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.” Chinese Proverb
I’m with Jon above – I truly didn’t “get” Twitter until I started using Tweetdeck. Then, suddenly – Twitter started making sense.
I like the “emotional” tweet tip. This is a nice, unique list. Thanks!!!
Thats a great list of useful twitter advice. I never really bothered with twitter as I though it was restrictive but now I can see benefits.
I thought maybe Twitter would just be a fad but it really passed that point.
My wife said that Oprah did a show about Twitter last friday and now she and her co-workers want to try it.
You are the best. Although I do not comment but I have been following ur blog since a few weeks now. Your tips are really great. Thanks for another one of them.
I am new with twitter and still confuse on how it works for marketing. Thanks for the fabulous tips you have here in your site specially about twitter. I badly need those.
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These are great tips. Same as with any copywriting, but with Twitter there’s the challenge of doing it in 140 characters (or 120 as suggested above – also a good idea.)
A tip I can give you about creating great headlines is go take a look at AOL’s homepage. Take a look and see how they use short headlines to get clicks on their rotating ads. It should help you to make some great tweets.
Yup that’s really true twitter is really proving itself as a powerful tool for gathering good quality traffic. Awesome article looking for more these kind of articles.
A really well written article and I especially agree with the first part about writing in an eye-catching way.
The terms specified have been used as parts of thousands of top title tags for the web pages people bookmark and visit on a regular basis.
“A really well written article and I especially agree with the first part about writing in an eye-catching way.”
I agree with you !
Thank you for your post !
Took me a while to get into twitter. I can’t believe how it has grown and all the celebrities are using it and it is constantly mentioned on TV now too.