Let’s face it Twitter can be a total mine field.  The fast pace of the news feed and the sheer amount of opportunity, can make your head spin.  Twitter fatigue though…it’s REAL!   So in an attempt to retain my own sanity I have decided to formalize my Twitter research…  Since sharing is caring, I will be providing this in the form of 5 Awesome Twitter tips for Bloggers! 

Let’s brave the minefield, stream line our schedules and turn our Twitter efficiency levels up to 11!  Here we GO!

5 Awesome Twitter Tips for Bloggers

Twitter Hours

I use and recommend Twitter hours to my clients ALL the time.  I was thinking about this recently in relation to blogging.  There HAS to be some established Twitter hours that could be useful for bloggers to use to break into a new audience?

Twitter hours work in similar way to Twitter Chats.  They are established hashtags that go “live” at specific hours on specific days.  There is a full list collated by design that fits.  But for the purpose of this post I am singling out a few for each day of the week that I feel could be appropriate for Bloggers.

A brief aside – if you check out the full list at design that fits, there are loads of local Twitter hours that are useful.  You can pick the ones that are relevant to your location.  My favourite is #YorkshireHour because I’m a Yorkshire lass!

**Update**

I don’t know how I missed this but EVERY Tuesday 9-10pm #BlogHour occurs.  This is overseen by @UKBlogAwards!

Monday

• 12noon – 1pm #UKBizLunch
• 2-3pm #BizHour
• 7-8pm #WineOClock  (weeeeeeey)
• 8-9pm #CreativeBizHour

Tuesday

• 2-3pm #BizHour
• 7-8pm #FashionHour
• 8-9pm #BespokeHour
• 8-9pm #FoodHour

Wednesday

• 1-2pm #LocalLunch
• 7.30 – 9.30pm #HandmadeHour
• 8.30 – 9.30pm #GossipGirls
• 9-10pm #EventHour

Thursday

• 11am-12noon #ElevensesHour
• 7-8pm #PromotingWomen
• 7-8pm #LadiesCoffeeHour
• 8-9pm #PinHitsHour

Friday

• 10-11am #ConnectFriday
• 12-1pm #SkillWillHour
• 3-4pm #CakeClubHour
• 9-10pm #SciFiHour

Saturday

• 8-9.15am #SatChatUK
• 11-12noon #WeekendHour

Sunday

• 11-12noon #WeekendHour
• 7-8pm #PromotingWomen

Established Hashtags Specifically for Bloggers

There are numerous Twitter hashtags available specifically for Bloggers.  They connect us with each other and with the Blog Retweet accounts that work so hard on our behalf.

You may already know a lot of these hashtags, but I know I will find it helpful for them to be all together in one place to refer back to.  So once again sharing is caring!  Maybe you can find some use from this activity also 🙂

#CreatorsClan #InfluencerRT #followfriday

 #bloggerclan #bloggerloveshare #BloggingBridgesChat #BloggingBridges

Established Twitter Communities and Chats

As Bloggers we are so lucky to be surrounded by such well established Twitter communities and Twitter chats.  The people that dedicate themselves to running these Twitter communities are EXTREMELY generous with their time.   They co-ordinate Twitter engagements threads that bring each and everyone of us closer to our goals. 

If you don’t know about these Twitter Communities yet, you REALLY should get involved.  For those that already know, let’s keep engaging and growing together. 

As for Twitter chats – they are prearranged conversations covering a certain topic.  They tend to be curated by one account, following a set hashtag.   Twitter users get involved in the chat reply and include the set hashtag in their answers.  Twitter chats are excellent for boosting not just your own visibility but everyone who gets involved.

My previous posts on this subject include:

• 7 Awesome Twitter Communities for Bloggers
• Curious about Hosting a Twitter Chat? 

If this is an area you are curious about developing I encourage you take the time to read these and learn more! 

Understanding your Twitter Analytics

When you understand your Twitter Analytics.  You understand your audience.  We’d be lying to ourselves as Bloggers if we didn’t acknowledge the fact that the whole point is to reach new people whilst retaining our valued existing audience.  There is no point busting your balls with Twitter activity if no one is responding!

You need to decipher what works and what doesn’t in accordance with your Blogging goals.  By putting in the ground work you can free up your time for more productive areas of Blogging.

I’m going to start with the basics so that I don’t single anyone out.  For those that already know, I’m sorry!  Let’s start with where to find your Twitter Analytics.  I’m assuming you are already logged in at this point 🙂

On your homepage, head to your little profile circle (technical name.)  Click on it and then click on “Analytics.”

A screen that looks similar to the image below will load!  This is a 28 day summary of your Twitter activity.  It is separated out into

• Tweets
• Tweet Impressions
• Profile visits
• Mentions
• Followers
• Percentages

But what does it all mean??

Tweets

This is the total number of tweets throughout this 28 day summary.  This is a good area to keep an eye on.  For example, if there is a month in which you have less Tweets BUT you see a sharp rise in engagement… You did something right!  Take a closer look at your individual Tweet analytics.  This will help improve your Twitter game moving forwards. 

Tweet impressions

The total number of times users saw your Tweets on Twitter.   This includes:

• views on your Tweets that have been retweeted by others
• views from people who follow you already 
• views from organic searches through Twitter

The more impressions you gain, the wider your audience can become.

Profile visits

The number of total profile visits you have received during this period. 

Mentions

Every time your username is tagged on Twitter with the @ symbol this accounts for a mention.

Followers

The amount of followers you have gained / retained in this specified period.  If the number of Twitter followers you have rises sharply in a month…Examine your Tweets individually to find out what has been working for you! 

Percentages

If you want to delve deeper you can look at how each of your individual Tweets have performed over the same 28 day period.  Apparently people don’t relate so much to my fish n chips Tweet….huh?!  It’s food though!

In the “Tweets” section of your analytics, it includes engagements. 

Engagements are actual interactions with your Tweets by others, including:

• all clicks anywhere on the Tweet (e.g. hashtags, username, avatars and Tweet expansions.)
• Retweets
• Replies
• Follows
• Likes

Impressions are amazing, but engagements mean that people have cared enough to “act.”  By paying attention to your engagements you can get a true picture of what your audience wants and respond accordingly!

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by analytics!  The best thing to do is to set yourself a goal that is measurable.  For example if you want to achieve more engagements in a month, you can focus on that aspect within your analytics to inform your posting choices.

Streamline your Posting Schedule with Tweetdeck

If you’re not aware of Tweetdeck already it is a free scheduling tool specifically for Twitter.  In my humble opinion it is well worth exploring.  Although Tweetdeck is available on mobile, I personally find it easier to navigate via a desktop/laptop.

I must admit from a visual point of view I find Tweetdeck to be less over facing  than the Twitter newsfeed.  It some how feels less noisy?  You can  choose how you arrange the columns within Tweetdeck dependent on what you need from it.  I have a column set aside for each of the following:

• Key word or search term – to monitor industry conversations in real-time.
• News feed – to see what’s happening in the world of Twitter
• Notifications – to keep up with the interaction occurring on the business page
• Private messages – to respond to queries
• Pre scheduled content – In order to review scheduled Tweets

You can keep on top of all of the above simultaneously without having to leave Tweetdeck.  This makes it so easy to have an overview of all aspects of your Twitter game in one place!

If you have never used Tweetdeck before follow these steps:

• Log into your Twitter account through your chosen browser.
• Open a separate tab to access Tweetdeck – it will automatically link to your Twitter.
• The scheduling section is on the left hand side when you first login in (see below).

The scheduler is really easy to use and it can feel quite therapeutic to know you can schedule bulk tweets in one place.   The pay off is having spare time and energy to engage with what’s happening on Twitter in real time!

For reference here is an overview of what my Tweetdeck looks like.

As mentioned before you can also use dedicate a column to the search function.  Here is a quick example.  I have typed “blogging” into the search field.  Hey presto a list of tweets related to blogging!

The best part is you can interact with everything directly through Tweetdeck!  Which means you can accomplish more with your precious time!

**Update**

It came to my attention that I had not tried Hootsuite when initially writing this post.  I have since written a post introducing the free Hootsuite plan.  Click the image below if you are interesting in learning about another scheduling platform.  It’s like Tweetdeck but for ALL the Socials!  Happy happy joy joy! 

In Conclusion

Thank you for stopping by 🙂 I really hope you can take something useful away from this content.  Do you have any good Twitter tips?!  Please comment with anything that I have missed!

P.s. If you appreciate the content I share here, why not buy me a coffee? 🙂

Let’s connect on the socials!