How to write the #perfect tweet

We’ve all heard of the content dilemmas that those 140 characters can bestow , but if you run a business you need to have a Twitter account and to allocate time to it.

But rest assured, creating the perfect tweet – that not only generates a buzz but also converts to traffic – will seem like child’s play once you understand Twitter.

Here are five basic rules to generate engagement from a single tweet:

1. Don’t just hashtag anything

It seems to be the norm to tweet with as many hashtags as possible, but unless there is a point to your post, no one is going to care that you can hashtag. Do it right – if you want to use a hashtag, first look it up. There is no point including one that was last used 12 months ago as it’s not going to generate any visitors or engagement. Popular business hashtags such as #startups #entrepreneurs or #businessgrowth have avid audiences, giving your post a platform to be seen. Used correctly, hashtags are a good way of increasing engagement with your posts, as well as favourites and re-tweets.

2. Write statements not sentences

A lot of people find it difficult to stick to the 140-character limit, but if you write statements that summarise your views on a topic, 140 with a link should be enough.

3. Get on a list

Lists are all the rage on Twitter and if you are on someone’s list, your post has more chance of being seen. Comment and re-tweet industry influencers and you will soon see people adding you to their lists and following you.

4. Timing is everything

You could have the perfect post with all the relevant hashtags but if you post it during a peak time it can get lost in news feeds, and if you post it too early or too late you may miss your audience. It’s recommended that businesses tweet 14 times a day with gaps of one or two hours. Use a content scheduling tool such as Hootsuite to make sure you constantly have fresh content being posted. After a month you should be able to see engagement patterns emerge on certain days, times and topics.

5. Drive traffic with visuals

Add images to your tweets. It has been proven that posts with images have an 18% higher click-through rate than those without.

There are hundreds of ways to optimise the content you put on Twitter – the biggest challenge SMEs face is not dedicating enough time to analysing the results. The most common objectives of using Twitter are to draw engagement to third-party content or grow a community. Take time to set out your objectives, it will make planning a tweet so much easier.