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Each firm on Twitter has the identical options at its disposal to create a standout profile.
Listed here are these options:
However what number of SaaS corporations make use of all of them? And are they utilizing them effectively?
To seek out out, we studied the Twitter profiles of 100 SaaS corporations.
Let’s begin on the high.
Sidenote.
Due to my colleague, Rebecca Liew, for doing a lot of the analysis for this publish. She’s the one who shares all of the helpful search engine marketing ideas, threads, and product updates on our Twitter account, so ensure that to observe us if you happen to’re not doing so already.
37% of SaaS corporations characteristic their mission assertion or tagline of their banner, making it the most well-liked choice.
Right here’s a brilliant clear instance from Zapier:
The subsequent hottest choice (25%) is a branded illustration, like this one from Asana:
Product illustrations are additionally a comparatively in style alternative, with 14% of SaaS corporations choosing them.
Right here’s an instance from InVision:
This demonstrates how its collaboration options work with out falling into the lure of displaying cluttered screenshots of the literal UI.
Sadly, whereas these sorts of banners work effectively on desktop, they’re not often nice on cell.
For instance, a lot of InVision’s banner is obfuscated by the notch and UI parts on my iPhone:
Even with out the obfuscation, the product textual content is tremendous tiny and exhausting to learn. This challenge is magnified for SaaS corporations that use their literal product UI.
Working example, Linear:
These are issues we’re at all times aware of when designing banners for our profile, as you possibly can inform from the mockup under:
As for the remaining 24% of SaaS corporations, we noticed every little thing from, um, nothing…
… to generic inventory images (significantly, Airtable, what is that this all about?)
… to of us with Swiss roll hair rollers (is that this the way you seize the millennial market? *takes notes*):
Bland, boring, and zany examples apart, one attention-grabbing pattern I observed is that many corporations don’t simply set a banner and overlook it. They swap it to coincide with new characteristic releases, occasions, new trade awards, new content material, open job positions, and so on.
Listed here are a few examples:
Given the variety of profile views SaaS corporations like Drift and Webflow possible get, this makes quite a lot of sense.
In actual fact, that is one thing we do too.
Right here’s our banner selling our list of Ahrefs hacks:
Key takeaways + our recommendation
- 62% of corporations characteristic a mission assertion, tagline, or branded illustration – These are all good selections for a “default” Twitter banner. They assist reinforce your model identification and inform potential followers what you’re all about.
- 14% of corporations characteristic their merchandise – It is sensible to swap out your “default” banner for this to coincide with product bulletins. Simply bear in mind to design them with cell UIs and notches in thoughts.
- 24% of corporations characteristic one thing else – It’s most likely greatest to keep away from zany and imprecise banners until you’re a family model or are attempting to tie your Twitter presence to an promoting marketing campaign. Nonetheless, it is sensible to showcase time-sensitive issues like upcoming occasions, awards you’ve received, job positions, and so on.
100% of SaaS corporations characteristic their brand (or some variation) right here.
Large shock, proper? So why am I even bothering to say it?
The reply is that I wish to draw your consideration to a mistake some manufacturers make, which is being hell-bent on utilizing their full text-heavy brand.
Don’t get me mistaken. There’s nothing mistaken with together with your full brand when it has a brief “horizontal size.”
Take Wix, for instance:
This works simply superb. It’s straightforward to learn and acknowledge on desktop and cell—even within the small feed icons:
However this works much less effectively for manufacturers with logos with a wider “horizontal size.”
Working example, Talenox:
That is nearly unattainable to learn on cell and doesn’t seize your consideration within the feed:
I can’t assist however really feel the icon alone could be significantly better at grabbing your consideration.
Right here’s a mockup:
Apparently, this can be a lesson discovered from private expertise. We used to have our profile picture set to our “full width” brand, however we quickly realized our mistake and adjusted it to the customized branded icon you see at present:
Key takeaways + our recommendation
- 100% of SaaS corporations set their profile picture as their brand – You most likely ought to too. Simply ensure that to make use of an icon out of your brand or a shorter model if it’s text-heavy.
Most corporations (68%) use their bio to replicate what their services or products does.
Right here’s an instance from Mailchimp:
Even if you happen to knew nothing about Mailchimp earlier than coming throughout its Twitter profile, you’d find yourself with a reasonably good thought about what it’s promoting from its bio alone.
However what about everybody else?
Effectively, 28% of corporations use it to state their firm mission.
Right here’s an instance from Asana:
If you happen to’re none the wiser about what Asana truly is or does after that, be part of the membership. And this isn’t even imprecise in comparison with some. Take a look at Cialfo’s:
Fortunately, the ultimate 4% of corporations are being a bit extra artistic. They appear to both spotlight what to anticipate from following them like BrightLocal or go for a pure enjoyable strategy like Shopify.
(I like how BrightLocal notes “Tweets by Jenny.” Positively provides a private contact!)
Key takeaways + our recommendation
- 68% of corporations clarify what their services or products does – That is at all times a secure wager that helps potential followers perceive what you’re all about.
- 28% of corporations state their mission or tagline – That is most likely not the only option until you’re already a family identify and it’s extra necessary to convey a “message” than what you do.
- 4% of corporations use their bio for one thing else – I’d keep away from the zany “enjoyable” bios until you’re a family identify. They’re imprecise and unhelpful normally. As for telling potential followers what they’ll count on from you, that is sensible—particularly if you happen to solely publish very particular issues on Twitter like product updates.
- Private touches are… a pleasant contact – Hardly any SaaS manufacturers do that, however I feel including “Tweets by [name]” is a good way to humanize your model (assuming the tweets are literally by one individual, in fact).
Most SaaS corporations (58.4%) don’t make the most of bio hyperlinks.
Right here’s what we imply by bio hyperlinks, by the method:
They’re those which might be truly within the bio (not the devoted “web site” hyperlink).
Principally, any URL or Twitter deal with (e.g., @ahrefs) you point out in your bio routinely will get become a hyperlink.
For instance, right here’s me organising my bio…
… and the consequence:
However of those who do use them, what do they use them for?
Right here’s the knowledge:
Sidenote.
These don’t add as much as 100% as a result of some corporations embrace a number of hyperlinks.
60% of SaaS corporations embrace assist hyperlinks.
These are both hyperlinks to devoted assist Twitter profiles (e.g., @asksalesforce)…
… web site assist hubs
… or each:
19% of manufacturers hyperlink to a standing web page or profile:
Apparently, a lot of the manufacturers doing this are challenge administration (Airtable, Monday, Miro, and so on.) or neighborhood apps (Slack, Circle, and so on.). Given how a lot it will possibly impression your day when these sorts of instruments go down, that makes good sense.
19% of manufacturers hyperlink to their homepage:
(Provided that the homepage hyperlink is nearly at all times duplicated within the profile link, this looks like a waste of area to me. I’m undecided why it’s so frequent.)
And the ultimate 26% of manufacturers hyperlink elsewhere, corresponding to to a publication signup web page…
… their social profiles and communities
… and even branded hashtags:
Initially, I believed the branded hashtag was a little bit of an odd alternative for fairly a small model. Nonetheless, it truly is sensible, because it’s mainly a feed of success tales (large and small) from prospects who love the software program.
Listed here are a few examples:
Key takeaways + our recommendation
- 58.4% of corporations don’t make the most of bio hyperlinks – This can be a waste. Each firm has one thing it might promote right here.
- 60% of corporations hyperlink to assist pages or profiles – Provided that pissed off prospects typically take to Twitter
to complainfor assist, this looks like an effort to maneuver the dialog someplace much less public. That is sensible, particularly as prospects are most likely going to get sooner responses elsewhere anyway. - 19% of corporations hyperlink to a standing web page – This looks like a good way to scale back the variety of assist requests throughout outages.
- 19% of corporations hyperlink to their homepage – This looks like a waste of area, as most profiles have a homepage hyperlink within the web site hyperlink part.
- 26% of corporations hyperlink elsewhere – Publication signup pages, communities, and jobs pages are all in style choices that make sense. I’d keep away from branded hashtags until you’re selling them elsewhere. In any other case, I doubt they’ll get a lot engagement.
Consider it or not, 7% of corporations don’t have a profile hyperlink.
Of those who do, 95.7% hyperlink to their homepage.
This is sensible. It’s the apparent place to hyperlink to and possibly the perfect one to direct followers to study extra about your product or model.
A lot of the remaining 4.3% hyperlink to a Linktree (or one other comparable various):
This strategy appears extra frequent with particular person “influencers,” however I feel it will possibly additionally work effectively for SaaS corporations.
Yotpo is an effective instance. Its Linktree hyperlinks to:
- Jobs web page – Is smart. If you happen to like a model sufficient to observe it on Twitter, there’s an opportunity you is perhaps concerned with working for it.
- Weblog publish – Particularly, one which explains the advantages of “zero-party knowledge,” which is what its product helps enterprise homeowners accumulate.
- Touchdown web page – That is for its “model accelerator program” (an initiative to assist black-owned small companies develop).
- Press launch – This talks about the way it made Forbes’ list of the top 100 private cloud companies.
- Homepage – Ah… we acquired there finally!
Sidenote.
The web page additionally hyperlinks to a marketing campaign to “nominate an incredible girl in ecommerce,” nevertheless it’s a 404.
Key takeaways + our recommendation
- 95.7% of corporations (if they’ve a profile hyperlink) hyperlink to their homepage – I’d advocate this for just about each SaaS firm too. It’s a stable alternative and helps potential followers study extra about what you do.
- 4.3% hyperlink elsewhere – Largely to a Linktree (or comparable). This can be a superb alternative if you wish to promote a number of issues to followers, like job openings and awards.
Solely 55% of SaaS corporations use the pinned tweet characteristic.
Most of those who do (60%) characteristic a product-related tweet.
Right here’s an instance from Intercom:
Apparently, I noticed quite a lot of manufacturers utilizing movies for this. This is sensible, as there’s actually no higher solution to display a product characteristic or clarify what your software program does. It additionally means that you can match extra data into your tweet than you’d have the ability to with 280 characters.
Sidenote.
The tweet character restrict for Twitter Blue subscribers is technically 4,000. Nonetheless, a) not all manufacturers have Twitter Blue and b) 4,000 characters are apparently between 571 and 1,000 phrases on common—who of their proper thoughts desires to learn that a lot copy in a plain textual content tweet?
10.9% of manufacturers characteristic an occasion, contest, problem, or ballot.
Right here’s an instance from Litmus:
Clearly, these aren’t simply “set it and overlook it” pinned tweets. As soon as the occasion, problem, contest, or ballot is over, manufacturers swap them out for one thing else.
What else?
Weblog posts and Twitter threads are frequent, with 5.5% and three.6% of manufacturers respectively showcasing these in pinned tweets.
Listed here are a couple of examples:
Provided that Twitter customers nearly definitely desire native content material, you’re most likely higher off turning a weblog publish you wish to promote right here right into a thread as an alternative. You possibly can at all times promote the weblog publish on the finish.
That is exactly what we did for our present pinned tweet:
These 18 hacks started life as a weblog publish. However we knew we’d possible get far more engagement by turning them right into a Twitter thread.
We then promote our publication on the finish of the thread:
The remaining 20% of SaaS corporations characteristic different issues, like awards they’ve received…
… rebrand bulletins
… and white papers:
I feel these all make sense—apart from white papers.
Even if you happen to’re focusing on enterprise prospects, I simply can’t see many individuals looking Twitter and pondering “Oh, cool—a white paper! I’ll obtain that proper away!”
Key takeaways + our recommendation
- 45% of corporations don’t have pinned tweets – Don’t be one in all them. Pinned tweets are a helpful solution to spotlight import updates, campaigns, and initiatives.
- 60% of corporations have product-related pinned tweets – This can be a secure wager, however I feel it’s greatest to make use of an enticing format like video if attainable. This additionally extends the quantity of data you possibly can put in your pinned tweet past the 280-character restrict.
- 10.9% of corporations characteristic occasions, contests, challenges, or polls – This is sensible, as you normally wish to draw as a lot consideration to all these occasions as attainable in a restricted interval of time.
- 5.5% of corporations characteristic weblog posts – I’d keep away from this, as I feel few Twitter customers wish to devour content material off the platform.
- 3.6% of corporations characteristic threads – I feel there are too many threads on Twitter, however they’re clearly in style so… what do I do know? Both method, that is one other good solution to successfully lengthen the 280-character tweet restrict.
- 20% of corporations characteristic different issues – Awards, bulletins—mainly no matter they wish to draw consideration to in the intervening time. Simply don’t attempt to pressure customers to obtain white papers; I actually don’t assume anybody on Twitter desires that.
Closing ideas
The way you arrange your organization’s Twitter profile relies on the impression you wish to make and the stuff you wish to promote. Simply ensure that to make the most of all of the options Twitter offers you to create a standout profile.
If you happen to’re quick on time, right here’s our greatest recommendation to get your profile up and operating quick:
Received questions? Ping me on… you know where.
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