Twitter

Founded in 2006, Twitter is a micro-blogging service that enables users to send and digest 140-character messages called tweets. 140 characters is the perfect length for sending status updates via text message. These precious characters contain information you will find valuable. Messages from users you choose to follow will show up on your home feed for you to read. It’s like being delivered a newspaper whose headlines you’ll always find interesting – you can discover news as it’s happening, learn more about topics that are important to you and get the inside scoop in real time.

Quick Links

Statistics
Setting Up A Page
Maintenance Tips
- Tweeting
- Interacting
Success Metrics
Sources

Statistics

560 million active users
45% of users are 18-29
500 million tweets sent per day
Average of 170 minutes per month spent by users
29% of users check Twitter multiple times per day
78% of active users are on mobile
Owns Vine, which has more than 40 million users

Setting Up A Page

Once you have determined that Twitter is the best platform to help you reach your goals, follow the steps below to launch your page.

Set up your Twitter page here: http://twitter.com/signup. You must sign up with your Rowan University email address. An email address can only be associated with one Twitter account at a time.
Choose your username. This will become your page’s Twitter URL. It must be fewer than 15 characters in length. If you have an Instagram account, use an identical username (character-permitting). Whenever possible, Rowan should be listed prior to the college, department or program to help build a consistent awareness of all units and broader search relevancy. “RU” should not be used unless the expanded versions cannot accommodate character limits.
Fill out your profile. Update your bio by briefly describing your department, program or initiative and how it is unique to Rowan University. Complete the location and website fields.
Customize your graphics. Profile photos must be 400x400 pixels. Use one of our customizable icons, or if you would like to create your own you must first submit it to University Web Services for approval. Your header photo should be at least 1500 pixels wide by 500 pixels high. We recommend you use this space to showcase campus beauty or something unique about your department, program or initiative. Do not use text in this area. You can also customize your page’s theme color in the Design settings. We recommend using brown and gold.

Maintenance Tips

Discovering new information is where people find the most value on Twitter.

Tweeting

New messages from those you follow will show up in a readable stream on your Twitter homepage, called your Timeline, every time you log in. Because of the real-time absorption and chronological order of content, tweeting should be considered one of your primary sources of communication on Twitter.

Follow the best practices below to get the most out of your updates. You can also visit Twitter’s comprehensive list of Getting Started tips here.

Discover relevant sources.
- Find and follow other Twitter accounts relevant to Rowan University and topics specific to your initiative.
- Create lists, or curated groups, to help digest content from specific Twitter users.
Tweet several times per day (3-5 times).
- You can even publish the same content, altered slightly, multiple times per day to reach audiences at different times when they are online.
Tweet outside of normal business hours using third-party scheduling software (ex: Hootsuite or Tweetdeck)
- Tweets posted on Friday, Saturday and Sunday have higher click-through rates than those posted during weekdays.
- 57% of customers think that a brand’s customer service response time should be the same on the weekdays and weekends.
Keep tweets prompt and timely.
- Stay alert and accessible during key events or to communicate breaking news.
Adhere to the 140-character limit.
- Tweets shorter than 100 characters get a 17% higher engagement rate.
- Save characters for mentions, replies, photos and links for followers to get more info.
Use hashtags to tap into larger conversations.
- Use no more than two hashtags per tweet.
- Use hashtags relevant to your initiative and/or Twitter’s trending topics.
- Hashtags receive a 16% boost in retweets
Always include a link, photo or video.
- Tweets with images drive double the engagement and can boost retweets by 35%.
- Adding a video to your tweet can boost retweets by 28%

Interacting

Social media encourages two-way conversation, so it’s important to converse with your community and use your Twitter as an extension of your customer service experience. It’s an opportunity for advocates to communicate with you and with each other.

Follow the best practices below to get the most out of your updates. You can also visit Twitter’s best practices for business here.

Become familiar with popular Twitter lingo found here.
Monitor page at least twice per day for mentions, replies, retweets and favorites.
- New notifications can be found in the “Notifications” tab.
Handle all inquiries within a 24-hour time period.
- 72% of customers said that they expect a response from a brand within an hour if they have a question or complaint.
- 32% of customers said that they expect a response from a brand within 30 minutes.
Acknowledge all inquiries.
- Whether it is a “favorite” or an inquiry that needs a specific response, show followers that you are listening to their input.
- Rather than directing users to a different department, do the legwork and link to more information.
- Retweet messages with a positive sentiment.
Cross-promote with other Rowan University Twitter accounts.
- Gain insight into what strategies they use and what types of tweets are garnering the most interaction.
- If something noteworthy occurs, share it with followers by tagging the handle who originally posted it or retweeting the original message.

Success Metrics

Twitter is still building out a comprehensive analytics platform, however you can track important tweet activity here: https://analytics.twitter.com. More specifically, you can see metrics about follower growth and demographics, as well as the performance of your tweets. You can export your past 500 tweets into a spreadsheet at any time through this area.

We recommend measuring the numbers below at least once per month to determine the success of your page. University Web Services may ask you for a comprehensive report at any time.

Followers

Simply, the total number of unique people who follow you on Twitter over time. Use the Tweets tab to track your follows and unfollows.

Following

The number of people that your Twitter handle follows.

Impressions

This is the number of people who saw your tweets (including any ads) on Twitter.

Engagement Rate

Arguably the most important metric, engagement reflects the total number of people who engaged with your content. Navigate to the Tweets tab to view the tweets that have received the highest engagement rate (the number of clicks, retweets, replies, follows and favorites divided by the total impressions).

People

Navigate to the Followers tab to see important demographics about your followers and the topics they find most interesting to verify you’re reaching the right people.

Traffic

How many users go to your site from Twitter.

Conversions

How many users complete a specified action on your site (i.e. applying, signing up).