Twitter announces “Sometimes we need more than one Tweet to express ourselves.  A thread on Twitter is a series of connected Tweets from one person. With a thread you can provide additional context, an update, or an extended point by connecting multiple Tweets together.”

You’ll see from the sample below that a thread has great benefits from a commercial perspective, such as:

• You can add more text/ characters outside of the limit, so if you have something to say that is longer than an extended tweet – this is great!
• You can use it to tag certain topics or themes in your posts, for example, if you are attending an event and are live tweeting on the day, this provides a great tool to say more and capture more engagement from audiences by saying more.

How to create a thread:

It’s so very simple – click ‘add a tweet’ and you’ll see a small + icon at the bottom of your screen, next to the usual ‘post’ button – as shown below. Simply type out your posts in each thread – then publish – and ta-dar, they all publish together on your feed!

Once you have posted a thread, you can always add additional Tweets from the thread detail page. Simply click or tap Add another Tweet to post additional Tweet(s). 

For help with your Twitter marketing, call our experts today at Brighter Directions on 01246 586330 or email info@brighterdirections.co.uk

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But – there is still significant misconceptions and understanding about ‘how’ businesses can use hashtags to maximise their digital activities. Even after ten years of use online, it’s clear than consumers have a much better understanding of their activity, than B2B environments – thanks to the likes of popular TV channels who have build engagement up between live TV and social media.

So, what better time than today, for us to share our top insights on HOW you, as a business can utilise #hashtags effectively:

What are hashtags on Twitter?

Put very simply, hashtags on any digital platform are essentially a very quick and easy way to ‘categorise’ or ‘tag’ a certain topic or phrase online.

These ‘tags’ provide a simple way to find or engage through a word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#), used widely on social media websites and applications, especially Twitter, to identify messages on a specific topic.

Should businesses use them?

Yes, and no.

The issue is that although hastags can be a great source of exposure, they can also restrict the visibility of posts if the hashtag is not relevant, or a relevant enough tag… which is where many of the businesses we see fail when using them.

This brings me on to… How should businesses use hashtags?

Can you tag onto great topics quickly and without preparation? The answer is of course yes, but, be mindful that this may not always be the best strategy, unless you are an active user and understand the concepts.

There are a few things you should do before/ when aligning your marketing with hashtags:

1. Research the # first – do this by searching the tag in Twitter – look at the engagement around it, who is using the tag, how large is the reach? Are the posts suitable for what you had in mind?
2. Then compare the search without the tag – how do the results compare?
3. Once you have the answer, then go ahead and use it within your posts!
4. Make sure your post is directly related to that tag, and relevant for the audience
5. Track it – after the post, review the positives and ways you can improve next time

One thing to bare in mind is that sometimes using a #hashtag actually limits the reach of your post, so ensure you complete the above ‘check-list’ before you click.

Final question we get asked a lot around hashtags….

What are our top tips for using hashtags on Twitter:

• Be specific: If you’re using a hashtag to join a conversation, make sure the hashtag is specific and relevant to your topic.
• Keep it simple: Hashtags, like links, look like spam if they are used too often. Three hashtags should be the maximum
• Give context: A tweet that contains only hashtags is not only confusing — it’s boring.

Follow our simple rules above, and you can’t go wrong with #hashtags!

Are you looking to maximise your Twitter and social media accounts more professionally, or effectively for your business and build audiences for your brand? If you’d like expert support or advice, please contact us today to see the reason why we are known as one of the UK’s digital agencies!

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The announcement from Twitter says this change to replies is rolling out to all users across the web, iOS and Android.

As a refresher, Twitter was originally designed as something of a public text messaging service. SMS messages are limited to 160 characters, so Twitter went with a character limit of 140, thinking to leave room for a username ahead of the tweet.

However, the @usernames in Twitter replies did end up counting towards the 140 characters, as did other media attachments, including photos, GIFs, videos, and polls. That left precious few spaces for a user’s actual thoughts.

This also led to informal conventions like “tweetstorms” for sharing longer thoughts, and “Twitter canoes” – large, multi-person conversations which eventually break down because so many people join, there are no characters left to actual post responses.

Twitter has been trying to rectify the problems with its 140 character limit over the past several months by changing its user interface and lifting various technical restrictions. It already stopped GIFs, images, videos, and quote tweets from counting towards the 140 characters. (Links still do count).

With today’s change to replies, Twitter’s interface on web and mobile will now display those you’re replying to above the tweet text, instead of within the tweet, which frees up more characters for your thoughts.

The change to replies marks an end of an era for Twitter. The company helped to popularize this format and bring it into the mainstream. Today, using the “@” symbol to mention someone is supported across a range of services, including Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Slack, and even Outlook, among others.

So far the test launch of this today has been really successful and received some positive engagement, but we’d be interested to hear how you feel about this and if it will in fact change your strategy while using the platform?

Do you struggle to compose effective, accurate content for your business Twitter account? Let our experts help. Speak to our friendly team today on 01246 252855 about our Twitter content, or Twitter management packages and see how we can excel your online engagement, and build your brand on Twitter!

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Twitter updates on DM

From today, Twitter is removing the 140-character limit from direct messages. The move was originally announced in June, and will enable ‘tweeters’ to share longer, more in-depth messages which is great news for brands to better contextualize their Twitter content!

The micro-blogging platform has a lot of planned changes over the coming months, particularly around developing the customer service channel, something Twitter’s been working to emphasize in an effort to get more brands on board – plus, creating a more rounded visual ‘experience’ for users (including the ‘look’ of the icons, coming soon in our next blog).

From the official announcement:

“While Twitter is largely a public experience, Direct Messages let you have private conversations about the memes, news, movements, and events that unfold on Twitter. Each of the hundreds of millions of Tweets sent across Twitter every day is an opportunity for you to spark a conversation about what’s happening in your world. That’s why we’ve made a number of changes to Direct Messages over the last few months. Today’s change is another big step towards making the private side of Twitter even more powerful and fun.”

Additionally, restrictions have been lifted around who DM’s can be sent to; users now have the choice  to receive direct messages from anyone – and the addition of group direct messages for wider, private group discussions, whereas before you could only DM those who you was mutually connected to.

An increasing number of consumers are turning to Twitter to get a response from brands, meaning more organisations should take note and maintain a presence on the platform.

If you are looking for support to grow your Twitter profiles and commercial identity, call our social media experts today for a free initial discussion on 01246 252855 or email info@brighterdirections.co.uk for a call back request.

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