Sometimes it’s the details that matter most. Most new Twitterers will consider their profile picture, their bio, the sorts of content they will tweet etc., but how about the number and timing of tweets? Too many tweets and you’ll lose followers; too few and you risk diminishing the effectiveness of your account.
So what’s the ideal number? It depends, of course! You’ll notice that the most followed Twitter users are celebrities who often Tweet many times per day, but widely followed brands tend to keep the number down. Users are interested in brands’ news and are ready and willing to be engaged. However, users are not as willing to sit through 15 tweets a day from Starbucks as they are from Ashton Kutcher. Brands should typically stay under 5 tweets a day, but the exact number depends on your goals, and what you’re trying to achieve through Twitter.
Let’s look at some examples. @google, the official Google account has about 2,300,000 followers and typically tweets somewhere around 2-4 times a day. The account is used to update followers on Google related news. There’s a whole lot going on in the Google camp everyday, and they easily could include a much more news, but at 2-4 tweets a day, it’s enough to be informative, but not so much to be overwhelming. @nytimes has a similar number of followers, about 2,500,000, yet they send many more tweets a day. This is because the purpose of the @nytimes account is to provide people with up to the minute news. It’s breaking news, so the constant updates are necessary and welcome. Two and half million people are interested in Google news, but it’s not so timely that they’d be willing to sift through the number of tweets @nytimes outputs.
I’ve provided the @nytimes example to give some perspective, but the vast majority of brands will want to limit themselves to a few tweets per day. There have been a few blog posts on the subject, such as this one from Hubspt that cites 20 tweets per day as the sweet spot. They argue that users who tweet between 20 and 50 times a day have more followers on average. However, they don’t prove causation, and this average is probably biased by bots who take advantage of people who have set their account to autofollow. This argument also doesn’t make a distinction between @replies and normal tweets. An important distinction.
@Replies
If you point your browser to twitter.com/wholefoods you’ll notice that they frequently tweet more than 20 times per day. They’re one of the most followed brands on Twitter, so how can this be?
The secret is in the @reply.
Most of @wholefoods’ tweets are @replies, which do not enter the stream of the majority of their followers. An @reply will only be displayed in a user’s Twitter stream if they follow both the account that’s tweeting, and the account that’s being replied to. So let’s say @wholefoods sends out this tweet: “@organicdude21 thanks for the kind words about our organic basil arugula sun-dried tomato hummus!” That tweet would ONLY be viewed in your stream if you follow both @wholefoods and @organicdude21.
So don’t feel compelled to limit yourself on @replies!
Hashtag Conversations
Twitter-wide chats take place with the help of hashtags. You’ve probably seen #ff (follow Friday) or #mm (music Monday), but many events or organizations will have a specific hashtag that allow people to follow a conversation via tweets. These hashtag conversations can be a great way to build exposure for your brand on Twitter. When participating in a relevant conversation it’s fine to exceed your daily Twitter limit. Just don’t make a habit of it everyday…
There are of course always exceptions to all of these rules, and establishing a clear Twitter strategy and set of goals will help you determine when to bend the rules. In most situations you won’t be going wrong with a steady stream of 1-4 tweets a day, but don’t be afraid to experiment!
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