Have you ever found yourself browsing through your twitter feed and come across tweet after tweet that contains an image, video or even a shopping product and wondered how your small business could send tweets like that?
Well inside this blog post, I’m going to slowly introduce you to a little known secret and present the Twitter Card. Amazingly, twitter cards were first introduced inside a blog entry dated in January 2014 as a response to Facebook and it’s open graph tag policy, but even after a year or so twitter cards still remain an unknown in public circles.
With over 500m tweets posted every day, statistics have proven that tweets containing a ‘Twitter Card’ generate 43% more engagement. In fact, HubSpot A/B found tweets that contained a twitter card with an image received 36% increase in clicks, 41% increase in retweets and a further 55% increase in leads.
What is a Twitter Card?
A Twitter Card begins just like any other tweet, you have your 140 characters that contain your tweet but you can also attach rich photos, videos and media experience to that have been statistically proven to drive traffic to your website or whatever course of action your tweet promotes.
By adding a few lines of HTML onto your webpage, users who tweet, re-tweet or favourite your content will have a ‘Card’ added to the user’s tweet that will be visible to all of their followers.
The Basics of a Twitter Card
Using one of twitter card tester’s very own tweets, I will run down the basics of what information can be found on a twitter card and what sets it apart from a regular tweet. This is a ‘Summary Twitter Card’ and is the most used twitter card because you can pack much more information into your tweet that any other twitter card.
Tweet / Image
Just like a normal tweet, you will be given a maximum of 140 characters to promote your tweet. You really don’t want to overkill the message by repeating what will appear in the Twitter Card so a small introduction of what your card is about is perfectly fine.
When adding an image, twitter recommends that you upload an image that has minimum dimensions of 800 pixels wide by 320 pixels high. This is because twitter can be viewed on multiple devices so the image will need to be responsive. This means that when the screen size decreases because you are viewing on a mobile or on an iPad, the image will need to adjust size.
Headline / Description
As you can see, the example given in the image is “Twitter’s approach to Email-Based Ad Targeting’. Much like any headline, the recommended length is between 55 and 65 characters and twitter will only allow you to have up to 70 characters for your title. If you are trying to be found for keywords, this would be a great opportunity to slip 1 maybe 2 keywords that will still sound natural.
The Description follows suite with any other type of tweet. Again you will be given a max of 140 characters to get your tweet across. Again if you are trying to promote keywords, this will be an even better opportunity to slip in one or two keywords a handful of times.
Call to Action
What’s great with any twitter card is that there is always a call to action. If you want your twitter card to promote a new blog, a new service or perhaps a new offer, you can provide the URL to your website or wherever you want the visitor to go.
This has proven to be a useful technique with a 36% boost in clicks compared to a regular tweet.
Free Twitter Card Options
In total Twitter have up to 7 free twitter card options. I will run through a few which I feel would be useful for any small Cheshire based business that is perhaps looking to boost web performance.
- Summary Card
- Summary Card With Larger Image
- Photo Card
- Gallery Card
- App Card
- Player Card
- Product Card
Gallery Card
The gallery card is perfect for showcasing a collection of photos within a tweet, so if you have a new product range, a portfolio or before and after photos, the gallery card is for you! This type of card lets the user view more than one single image at the URL shared.
Player Card
This is essentially the card for all media. The ‘Player Card’ will allow you to play video clips and audio streams on one platform. From a small business point of view, if you are promoting a tutorial video, a video review or just want to showcase your work then this is just the ticket for you.
Product Card
If you are looking to showcase a new line of retail products, a promotional offer or even a product reduction then the Product Card is perfect for this type of advertising. This card is designed to showcase a product via an image along with a description along with the opportunity to highlight key features about your product.
So what do you think?
Considering twitter cards are free and are easy to assemble, it really is a no-brainer! I for one will be exploring the different type of twitter cards and will be sending some tweets in the very near future so watch this space!
If you would like assistance with setting up twitter cards to promote your small Cheshire business, we want to hear from you! Call James Cox 01565 653616. Make sure you check out our twitter and keep up to date with our bi-monthly Web Grower Newsletter.
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