The ultimate guide to X/Twitter marketing

With so many social media platforms out there, it can be hard to figure out where to focus your marketing. But in 2019, if you want to connect with your customers and have real conversations, X (formerly Twitter) is non-negotiable.

We wish we could sum up everything there is to know about X (Twitter) marketing in 140 characters or less. But that’s not possible—so we did the next best thing. Let’s jump into Canva’s ultimate guide to designing your X (Twitter)⁠(opens in a new tab or window) as the perfect marketing space to take your business to the next level:

Before we jump into how to grow your business with X (Twitter) marketing, let’s quickly cover why you should be marketing on X (Twitter) in the first place.

Your customers are on X (Twitter)...

One of the cardinal rules of marketing is to get people where they are. And one of the places where your audience is? X (Twitter).

X (Twitter) has 326 million active monthly users⁠(opens in a new tab or window) and the number of X (Twitter) users who use the platform on a daily basis is on the rise; nearly half of American X (Twitter) users check the platform at least once a day⁠(opens in a new tab or window), and from Q3 2017 to Q3 2018, daily active users for all users jumped an impressive 9%.

...and so are your competitors

Your customers aren’t the only ones on X (Twitter), chances are, your competition is there, too.

75% of B2B business and 65% of B2C business use X (Twitter) marketing⁠(opens in a new tab or window). And if you want to keep a leg up on your competition, you need to be leveraging every available resource they are to reach your customers—and that X (Twitter) marketing.

X (Twitter) marketing works!

The most important reason you should use X (Twitter) marketing for your business?

It works.

As X (Twitter) has evolved into a more viable marketing platform—and more businesses have jumped on the opportunity—engagement has been growing like crazy. Ad engagements increased a whopping 50% year-over-year from 2017 to 2018⁠(opens in a new tab or window). And while engagement went up, cost went down—during that same time period, cost-per-engagement declined 14%.

So, in a nutshell, if you start marketing on X (Twitter) today, you can drive more engagement for a lower cost. Why wouldn’t you use X (Twitter) marketing for your business?

There’s a variety of reasons why you should be marketing on X (Twitter)—but no matter what your reason, if you want to be successful, you need the right graphics. Get started with one of Canva’s X (Twitter) Post templates, like the Colorful Shapes X (Twitter) Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window) or the Yellow Orange Photo Bright Summer Promotional X (Twitter) Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

Alright, so now that we covered why you need to be using X (Twitter) marketing to grow your business, let’s talk about how.

You can’t be successful on X (Twitter) if you don’t know what that success looks like for you and your brand—which is why, before you get started, you need to flush out your X (Twitter) marketing strategy.

Before you start marketing on X (Twitter), it’s important to ask yourself:

• What are my goals? Do you want to grow your followers on the platform? Drive traffic to your website? Sell out of your new product? Different goals will require different strategies, so before you get started with X (Twitter) marketing, it’s important to know goals are the most important to you.
• How am I going to measure my goals? Whatever goals you decide to pursue, they need to be measurable—and you need a plan in place to measure how and when you hit that goal. Going for more followers? Set a goal number—and a time frame to hit that number (for example, 1000 followers in the next month). Want to drive traffic to your website? Make sure you include trackable links so you can figure out how much of your overall traffic is coming from X (Twitter). Using X (Twitter) to sell your products? Create a X (Twitter)-specific coupon code so you know which of your customers are making purchases from the platform. The point is, it’s not enough to set a goal—you need to have a plan in place to measure that goal as well.
• What resources do I have to devote to X (Twitter) marketing? Before you get started, it’s also important to take stock of the resources you have to devote to X (Twitter)—because those resources will have a direct impact on your strategy. Ask yourself how much time, manpower, and budget you have to pour into X (Twitter), and then use that information to reverse engineer a strategy that will allow you to make the most impact with what you have to work with. So, for example, if you don’t have a lot of budget but you do have a lot of time and manpower, you might want to focus on having real-time conversations throughout the day to build your following. If you don’t have a ton of time or manpower but you do have a lot of budget, an advertising campaign is probably a more viable strategy. The best X (Twitter) marketing strategies are the ones that make the most of the resources you have available. And keep in mind, that may change; continue to take stock and evaluate your resources as your strategy progresses—and if your available resources change, you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

Taking the time the flesh out your strategy is one of the keys to success with X (Twitter) marketing. Another key? Well-designed graphics. Get started with one of Canva’s X (Twitter) Post templates, like the Cherry Cake X (Twitter) Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window) or the Peach Pool Summer X (Twitter) Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

In today’s marketing landscape, content is king—and that includes content on X (Twitter).

If you want to be successful with X (Twitter) marketing, not only do you need to create content that’s going to grab your audience’s attention, but you also need to make that content easy for your audience to find.

But how, exactly, do you do that?

Have content you really want people to see? Then give that tweet an extra boost!

Promoted Tweets

Promoted Tweets are X (Twitter’s) answer to paid ad placements. With Promoted Tweets, you can target specific audiences and get your content featured in their X (Twitter) stream and search results. Obviously, you don’t want to pay for every tweet you send—but if you have important content you need to get eyes on, Promoted Tweets is a great way to do it!

Promoted Tweets will help you show up in search results—but once you’re there, you need to make an impact on your customers with an eye-catching image. Break through the clutter and grab your ideal customer’s attention with one of Canva’s X (Twitter) Post templates, like the Black and White Classy Masculine Fashion X (Twitter) Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window) or the Colorful Photo Exhibition X (Twitter) Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

Twitter Moments

People don’t want to search through 1000 tweets to find what they’re looking for; they want content that’s easy to find, easy to digest—and, if they like it, they want immediate access to more content like it.

And that’s where X (Twitter) Moments comes in.

X (Twitter) Moments allows you to organize your X (Twitter) content into different categories—while lets your followers easily find and engage with the content they’re looking for. You can organize by topic, event, news, product...the sky’s the limit!

Make your X (Twitter) moments more memorable (and visually interesting!) with one of Canva’s X (Twitter) Post templates, like the Simple Trees Photo Weekend Twitter Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window) or the Orange Watercolor Smear Twitter Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

Include your X (Twitter) link on your website and other social platforms

Most X (Twitter) marketing happens on X (Twitter) (obviously)—but if you want to increase the impact of your X (Twitter) marketing, you should also use any other platforms at your disposal to introduce people to your X (Twitter) content.

Look for opportunities to promote your X (Twitter) account whenever and wherever you can (for example, you can add your X (Twitter) feed to your website or share your X (Twitter) content on Facebook). The more people you drive to your X (Twitter) feed, the more people you’ll have to market to—and the more successful your X (Twitter) marketing will be.

It doesn’t matter if you’re sharing your X (Twitter) content on Facebook, on your website, or on X (Twitter) itself—if you want it to make an impact on your customers, it needs to look professional and well-designed. Nail the professional look with one of Canva’s X (Twitter) Post templates, like the White Triangle Border Spring Promo Twitter Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window) or the Orange Mountain Photo Valentine’s Twitter Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

X (Twitter) is a conversational platform—and if you’re not using it to have conversations with your customers, you’re missing out on a huge marketing opportunity

On X (Twitter), you can’t just send a tweet and forget about it. If you want your X (Twitter) marketing strategy to succeed, you need to use the platform as a place to have engaged, real-time conversations with your audience.

Here are some general rules of engagement to make the most out of your X (Twitter) marketing strategy:

Respond to your customers

Engagement goes both ways. So if your customers tweet at you, make sure you’re responding! You might not be able to respond to every single tweet (especially as you grow), but the more you can engage, the better.

Host a X (Twitter) chat

As mentioned, X (Twitter) is a conversational platform. But if you want to have a better sense of control over the conversation, you should definitely consider hosting a X (Twitter) Chat.

Think of a X (Twitter) Chat as a virtual “town hall” for you and your customers. You set a specific time, date, topic, and hashtag; invite your followers; and when the time rolls around, all your customers have to do is search your X (Twitter) Chat-specific hashtag to join in on the conversation.

X (Twitter) Chats are a win-win for you and your customers. Your customers get your undivided attention and an opportunity to share their thoughts, feedback, and get answers to any of their burning questions—and you get to set parameters on the conversation (including start and end time) instead of just letting tweets and comments roll in at random.

Always address the negative

X (Twitter) isn’t all sunshine and rainbows—and, chances are, you’re going to have to deal with some negative blowback from your customers.

Whether it’s deserved or not, it’s important to always, always, always address any customer complaints, negative feedback, or pressing questions about your brand, products, or services.

Ignoring negative customer tweets—or worse, deleting them—will just make your customers angry (and can have a negative impact on your overall marketing strategy). Instead, address their consumers with openness, honesty, and transparency. (If you feel like things cross the line and a customer is being abusive, you can report the issue to X (Twitter) directly.)

Part of an effective X (Twitter) marketing strategy is engaging your audience. And part of engaging your audience? Including the right graphics. Get started designing high-quality images for your X (Twitter) marketing with Canva’s X (Twitter) Post templates, like the Grey Fashion Spring Sale Twitter Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window) or the Monochromatic Fashion Shoes For Men Twitter Post⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

Want more targeted tips to take your X (Twitter) marketing to the next level? Here are some additional strategies to make the most of your tweeting:

Add a GIF…

People love GIFs—and if you want more people to love your tweets, just add a GIF!

Tweets with GIFs get 55% more engagement than tweets without⁠(opens in a new tab or window)—which makes adding GIFs to your X (Twitter) marketing strategy a complete no-brainer.

When it comes to choosing a GIF, have fun with it! GIFs are a great opportunity to be funny, silly, and to show your customers that you don’t take yourself too seriously.

Tip: If you're looking for the coolest or cutest GIFs, look no further as Canva gifts you with an extensive library of free GIFs to choose from!

...or a video

There’s no doubt that GIFs can up your Tweet’s engagement level. But when it comes to getting people to engage with your tweets, you won’t find a better add-on than videos⁠(opens in a new tab or window).

Tweets with videos attract 10X more engagement than tweets without⁠(opens in a new tab or window)—so whenever you can find a way to insert a video into your tweet, you should definitely take advantage. Just make sure your video is relevant to your tweet content; for example, if you’re tweeting about a new product launch, the video should showcase that new product—not a video tour of your corporate office or a Q+A with your CEO.

Tweet at the right time

What you tweet is obviously important—but so is when you tweet it. An analysis from Hootsuite found the overall best time to tweet is between 3 PM and 5 PM on weekdays⁠(opens in a new tab or window)—so if you can send your tweets within that time frame, you’re far more likely to see results than if you sent between 3 AM and 5 AM.

If you’re a B2C business, you also want to consider how and when your customers can check their X (Twitter) accounts (which, for many people, isn’t while they’re at work)—so tweeting before or after normal work hours can also be a great time to engage with your followers.

Schedule your tweets ahead of time

X (Twitter) can be a time-intensive platform—so if you want your X (Twitter) marketing to be effective, you need to look for ways to be efficient with your time.

Scheduling your tweets ahead of time using a platform like Hootsuite⁠(opens in a new tab or window) not only ensures you’re sending the tweets you want at the times you want to send them, it also frees up more of your time during the day to respond to your customers in real time.

Partner with influencers

When you hear the term “influencer marketing,” you probably think Instagram—but partnering with influencers to grow your brand is just as effective on X (Twitter).

40% of Twitter users have made a purchase based on an influencer tweet⁠(opens in a new tab or window), and 49% of users say they rely on recommendations from influencers. That’s not an insignificant number—so, depending on your brand and the audience you’re trying to target, influencer marketing might be a worthwhile strategy to try.

And the best part? You don’t need an influencer with millions of followers in order to make an impact. Micro-influencers—X (Twitter) users with smaller but engaged followers—can be just as (if not more) effective⁠(opens in a new tab or window) than the Kylie Jenners of the world.

Do a quick #hashtag search, or use tools like Hashtagify⁠(opens in a new tab or window), to find the active voices in your industry—and then engage those influencers to get them on board with your brand. In many cases, a single tweet from a relevant influencer can do more for your brand than an entire ad campaign!

X (Twitter) marketing can be an incredibly effective way to connect with your customers, increase brand recognition, and drive engagement and sales. And now that you know exactly how to market your business with engaging and strategic posts and graphics on X (Twitter)⁠(opens in a new tab or window), all that’s left to do is get out there and get tweeting!