This document provides guidelines for writing effective tweets. It recommends keeping tweets short (under 100 characters), including links and images to increase engagement rates. Hashtags should be used to mark keywords and topics, with 1-2 hashtags used per tweet. Influencers on Twitter should be identified and tagged when relevant. Calls to action like "retweet" or "share" increase retweet rates and should be included to motivate sharing.

1. July 8, 2012
Writing for Twitter
Citrix Social Media Team

2. • Real-time communication platform
• 140-characters or less
• 140 million active users
• 340 million Tweets per day
Twitter Basics

3. 1. Grab attention
2. Inspire action
3. Motivate sharing
Three Goals for Writing Tweets

4. Keep it Short
• Tweets that contain less than 100 characters receive 17% higher engagement
than longer Tweets.
• Use bit.ly to shorten links and track clickthroughs
• Create a free account to track clicks over time

5. The Value of Links
• While there’s an almost even split between Tweets that contain a link and those that do
not, Tweets that contain links receive 86% higher Retweet rates than Tweets with no
links.
• Tweets with image links (such as pic.twitter.com, yfrog.com, instagr.am and
twitpic.com) have engagement rates two times higher than Tweets without image
links.

6. Leverage Hashtags
• A #hashtag is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet.
• Tweets with hashtags receive two times more engagement than those without
hashtags
• Tweets with one or two hashtags have 21% higher engagement than those with three
or more hashtags.
• Research hashtags using search.twitter.com and http://hashtags.org/
• #Cloud
• #IT
• #CitrixSynergy
• Etc.

7. Identify Influencers, and Tag’em When Relevant

8. Include Clear CTA
• Tweets that specifically ask followers to “Retweet” or “RT” receive 12
times higher Retweet rates than those that do not use this call to
action.
• Other CTAs
• Clicks here
• Share this
• Read more here:
• Tell us what you think
• Etc…

9. In Summary
1. Keep it short
2. Include links/photos
3. Leverage hashtags
4. Identify and tag influencers
5. Include CTA

10. Source
Data for this deck was collected from Buddy Media’s Social Media and Marketing annual report:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/67355794/Booz-Co-Buddy-Media-Campaigns-to-Capabilities-Social-Media-and-Marketing-
2011

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