Tapping into a user base of 353 million people, it’s safe to say that Twitter is a part of many people’s daily lives. Made primarily for conversation, thought sharing, and engagement with other users, Twitter and its tweets have reached every corner of the world.
After nearly 16 years of activity, changes to the platform sustain its relevance in our ever-changing world. That’s why The Orchard is happy to share our updated 2022 Twitter Best Practices to help you understand the latest features, monetization options, and interphase changes to the platform.
Twitter New Features
An Updated Look
The latest design guidelines for Twitter are focused on clearing visual clutter and highlighting the different actions you can take on the platform. These include an official font change to “Chirp”; an alignment to the left side of the screen for western languages; black and white official colors now featuring high contrast and less blue; high contrast buttons; more space between text; and fewer grey backgrounds.
Twitter Blue
The first substantial new feature that Twitter has introduced this past year is its new paid subscription add-on service, Twitter Blue, which allows users to access exclusive tools and services. Some of these tools include:
- “Undo Tweets,” where you can preview and revise your Tweet before it’s live.
- Access to 10-minute video uploads.
- A bookmark folder
- Customizable app icons
- Pinning conversations to the top of your DM inbox
- “Reader” form, where the user can transform long threads into an easier reading experience.
- A custom navigation bar
- Ad-free articles
- Ability to see articles your audience is talking about in “Top Articles”
The service is currently available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It works across iOS, Android, and web. Twitter Blue is priced regionally at $2.99 in the US, $4.99 in NZ, $3.49 CAD, or $4.49 AUD. There is currently no free trial option for this feature.
Spaces
Next up are Spaces: live, voice-only chat rooms started by “hosts” to discuss specific topics. Spaces are public, and anyone can join. There can be up to 3 co-hosts and there is no limit to the number of attendees. Hosts have the ultimate control of moderation and can allow up to 10 speakers at once.
To utilize Spaces to their maximum potential, here are some best practices to think about:
- Make sure to prepare your topic(s) of discussion ahead of time.
- Invite speakers that will stimulate a compelling discussion.
- Have a pre-discussion with your speakers about the flow of the event before going live.
- Promote your planned Space event ahead of time.
- Share your Space to your timeline with the custom Tweet card provided when the Space goes live.
- Allow your audience to engage in your discussion.
- Note: You can schedule spaces up to 2 weeks in advance on the platform.
Monetization Services
If you meet certain criteria, Twitter has two monetization services that can provide some income to creators on the platform: Ticketed Spaces and Super Followers.
These services can be accessed on your Profile menu under Monetization. The former feature allows creators to earn money from tickets sold to their Ticketed Spaces. To have access to Ticketed Spaces, you must be at least 18 years old, have at least 1,000 followers, and have hosted at least 3 Spaces in the past 30 days. Creators can earn up to 97% of the revenue generated from ticket sales after platform fees.
Super Followers
Super Followers is a paid subscription option for creators to earn monthly income from exclusive bonus content and features.
Super Followers will receive exclusive Tweets from you and have designated badges that distinguish them from regular followers. To access this feature as a creator, you must be at least 18 years old, have at least 10,000 followers, and have tweeted at least 25 times in the past 30 days.
Communities
Communities are private, invite-only groups that contain Twitter users who share a common interest or affiliation for discussion. They feature a specific feed only accessible to members in the community and are similar to Facebook Groups. This feature is currently in Beta testing for selected users.
Twitter For Professionals
This feature is the creation of a new account identity option for businesses and notable public figures to distinguish themselves from the regular Twitter user, allowing professionals and businesses to have enhanced profile features and a visual professional branding to their profile. It is currently only available to U.S. users.
There are currently three types of setups for Professional Accounts on Twitter:
- About Module is a standard Professional account setup that features more detailed info about the creator or business.
- Shop Module provides the option to integrate your store to your profile.
- Newsletter Module allows your followers to subscribe to a newsletter through your profile.
How to integrate your music into the platform
Now that you have an understanding of how the platform works and which tools are at your disposal, it’s important to understand how you can use Twitter to promote your music and expand on your narrative as a musician. This can be summarized in three ways: promotion, conversation, and action.
Informing Fans (Promotion)
To announce your new projects and ventures as an artist, you want to let fans know when you release new music, collaborations, collections, and more. This can be done on the platform by adjusting your profile picture, bio, banner, and link in your profile to reflect your latest music; tweeting out project release dates, details, graphics, and streaming links; pinning a tweet about your latest music to the top of your profile, and tagging specific collaborators or DSPs to certain messaging to appear on their profiles
Engaging with Fans (Conversation)
To explain the story behind your music and involve fans in this process, you want to have conversations with fans on the platform who are curious about your music and are already talking about it. This can be done by in numerous ways. Here are a few suggestions:
- Reply to fans that are talking about your music or asking thoughtful questions about it.
- Create Q&A threads where fans can ask questions and you give answers to them in an organized thread that others fans can easily access for reference.
- Like fan tweets that talk about or react to your music.
- Hold your own Space to talk about upcoming music, a specific record, or general things pertaining to you as an artist.
- Create your own Super Follower subscription model for super fans to have a chance to know things ahead of time from the rest of your fans and have more direct access with you for conversations and exclusive content
Redirecting Fans (Action)
Lastly, you then want to redirect fans to listen to your new music and take a look at your latest music videos or other artist projects. Below are a few suggestions for redirecting your fans to content:
- Tweet out your specific multi-retail link for your latest release.
- Share press articles talking about your music.
- Encourage fans to pre-save your music with DSP pre-save/pre-add links.
- Attach YouTube music videos or official content links in your tweet.
