Former Ohio lawmaker ignites Twitter debate over jobs, need for 'side hustles': 'Does that mean I'm poor?'

Former Ohio lawmaker and left-wing activist Nina Turner sparked a Twitter debate about the job market after tweeting that “side hustles” shouldn’t need to exist.

“Side hustles shouldn’t need to exist,” Turner wrote Monday. “One job should be enough.” 

Several users replied with their explanations as to why one job is not always enough in the current U.S. economy.

TWITTER ERUPTS AFTER BEING ASKED TO DEFINE ‘WOKE’: ‘MARXIST OPPRESSION NARRATIVES’

“One job would be enough if the State didn’t take its undeserved cut from each and every paycheck,” the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania replied.

Others explained why they work multiple jobs, and suggested Turner’s argument was arrogant.

JOB OPENINGS REMAIN ELEVATED IN NOVEMBER DESPITE FED EFFORTS TO COOL LABOR MARKET

“People should be free to work and make as much as they want. It should not be up to government to shackle anyone to any specific job,” another user said.

Some, though, high-fived Turner’s argument. 

“Countries need to speed up their economic transformation. Side hustles and advances that come with getting good jobs for young people are evidence of a failed economy @ninaturner you so right,” one user said.

NOVEMBER JOBS REPORT WAS NOT A BLOWOUT, IT WAS A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT

“Yes! I was talking to someone today about how messed up it is that needing more than one job to just meet living expenses is so normalized and how wrong that is. Imagine living in a country where no matter what job you have you have enough money to afford a 1br [1 bedroom] on your own,” comic artist Jason Piperberg wrote.

U.S. job growth rose faster than expected in November despite higher interest rates and soaring inflation. Employers added 263,000 jobs that month, according to the Labor Department.

But some analysts have argued it’s nothing to celebrate.

“The seemingly robust headline number of 263,000 jobs comes from the establishment survey of businesses, while the unemployment rate comes from the household survey,” The Heritage Foundation’s E.J. Antoni wrote.But the household survey also has a measure of employment, and that fell by 138,000. In fact, the household survey has been flat since March of this year, with essentially no jobs added over that time.”

It’s not the first time Turner, the former co-chair for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, ignited a Twitter debate. When she challenged Twitter CEO Elon Musk last month to define the word “woke,” she got several entertaining responses from social media users who took the opportunity to slam the progressive movement as being based on “Marxist oppression narratives,” or “radical socialism philosophy.” 

How To Use Twitter Campaign Planner

You’ve probably all done it: launched an ad campaign only to find it didn’t quite hit the spot. Perhaps you didn’t quite reach the audience you wanted to, and the ads didn’t convert the way you hoped.

It’s a waste of time and money, isn’t it? So wouldn’t it be good if there was a simple tool that could help you forecast your ad campaigns before putting them out there?

Well, there is.

It’s called the Twitter Campaign Planner, and it could make all the difference to your success if you want to grow your business with Twitter.

How does the Twitter campaign planner work? Read on, because I will talk you through it and explain what it could do for your marketing plans.

What Is Twitter Campaign Planner?

Twitter’s campaign planner lets you forecast your advertising results before going live with your ads by using a set of estimation tools.

You can use Twitter’s campaign planner to estimate:

  • Forecast reach
  • Impressions
  • Average frequency
  • CPM

It also takes into consideration your:

  • Audience
  • Campaign duration
  • Frequency setting
  • Ad placement
  • Budget for auction-based campaigns

It’s not open to everyone, though.

Currently, Twitter is only offering it to managed partners (official companies that Twitter partners with), and it’s available only in the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan. However, it does have expansion plans.

With this said, although the campaign planner isn’t widely available yet, by finding out more about it now, you can understand other users’ experiences and the potential this could have for testing your own ads.

How Does Twitter’s Campaign Planner Work?

As I’ve mentioned, the new feature could be a game changer for advertisers who want to test campaigns before launching live.

As Jon Morgenstern, Senior Vice President and Head of Investment, VaynerMedia, who has trialed the planner, said:

‘With Campaign Planner, our teams are better able to forecast campaign performance outcomes prior to going live, helping ensure our Twitter activations are set up for measurable success out of the gate…’

Want to test it out for yourself?

To try it, you can find the Twitter campaign planner under your Twitter account.

Twitter's Campaign Planner Tool.

Here, you enter the details of your campaign, such as:

  • Objective(optimizing your campaign’s reach)
  • Your start and finish dates
  • Frequency cap (How many impressions/days)
  • Placements (search results or Twitter profile)

You then get a forecast predicting:

  • Reach
  • Target audience
  • CPM (cost per mille, or cost per thousand impressions)
  • Average frequency
  • Impressions (how often advertisements get served on a page)

As pictured below, you can also set up a draft campaign.

Starting a Twitter Campaign draft.

Is Twitter Campaign Planner a Good Fit for Your Business?

It depends on several factors, including the stage of your business. However, you should also consider that the results are merely estimates, and you won’t necessarily see the predicted results.

That aside, here are a few scenarios that might make this new tool a good fit for you:

  • If you’re a new company with a limited budget, you may want to use the Twitter campaign planner before committing money to live ads.
  • An established business looking to break into a fresh niche. You could use Twitter’s campaign planner for a test run before launching any ads.
  • Perhaps you’re new to Twitter advertising and unsure where to place your ads or how to long run your campaign. You can test out advertising in your profile and search advertising to view your potential results and vary lengths to get an idea of the likely results; if you are new to all this, my guide to Twitter ads will get you off to a running start.
  • Do your ads reach your target audience? That’s something else you can establish with the new tool.

If it works, you keep spending on those areas. If it doesn’t, you would go back to the Twitter campaign planner and try a different strategy.

However, because this Twitter tool is still in the early stages of rollout and isn’t available to vast numbers of advertisers, it’s probably a good idea to watch and wait. See how others are using the tool, what it’s doing for their success rates, and learn from case studies.

As the campaign planner reaches a wider audience and is more accessible, then you can start to get a better idea of how it could work for you and ways to apply it.

How To Set Up Twitter Campaign Planner

Are you ready to get started with Twitter’s campaign planner? It’s simple. All you’ve got to do is follow these step-by-step instructions.

Go to the campaigns drop-down menu in the left-hand corner and find the ‘Campaign planner’ option.

  1. Fill out your Plan Details, including your aims, budget, beginning and end dates, and a frequency cap (how often people can see your ads).
  2. Next, go to placements to choose where you want your ads to appear. Twitter sets ‘Home Timelines’ as a default, so you can’t move it. You can also choose to include your ads in profiles and search results.
  3. Now, select your demographics. Which group(s) of people are you trying to reach? You can choose from demographics like age, language, gender, and location. However, the Twitter campaign planner ‘only supports country-level targeting in the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan,’ and language targeting is optional.
  4. Next, it’s time to choose your devices. This step is optional, and you can select from the operating system, carrier, and device model.
  5. Customizing your audience is another optional step. Custom audiences allow you to focus on existing followers to develop re-marketing campaigns. You can target people by website or app activity, app activity combination audiences, and lists.
  6. Targeting features (optional) Here, you can target by keywords, interests, look-alikes, etc.
  7. With all your information completed, select the ‘Start a draft campaign’ button and choose a funding source. You also need to give your new campaign and ad group a name. With that done, click on ‘Start a draft campaign’ to save everything and to copy your settings over.

When you look at the plan forecast, you can:

  • Make adjustments to your budget.
  • Select another currency.
  • Adjust the reach and budget curve. This is done by hovering along the pictured curve to see your estimated impressions and the potential reach that is possible if you change your budget. If you click on the curve, it moves the selected point to that budget level.
Twitter's Campaign Planner budget tool.

Integrating Planner Into Your Twitter Campaigns

Perhaps you’re an e-commerce company specializing in bridal flowers and want an efficient way to run campaigns. Trialing ads with Twitter’s campaign planner could be just what you’re looking for.

Here are some potential ways you could use it.

  • The first thing you could view is whether advertising on Twitter would increase your reach and impressions. From there, you could determine if launching a live ad may be the way forward.
  • Then you could test location or maybe interests and keywords to analyze whether this could get your ads in front of your ideal audience.
  • Frequency and reach are other elements you could try to see how this might increase brand awareness or campaign lengths to see if you could build further awareness of your business.

However, as I stressed in the last section, you don’t need to start making decisions about using the campaign planner yet. Learn all you can from others’ success, and when the tool becomes available to you, use their experiences as a guide.

FAQs

What Is The Twitter Campaign Planner?

The Twitter campaign planner allows you to test your advertising campaigns before launching them live. It forecasts the likely results, and you can test core areas, including impressions and reach. Twitter released the tool in late 2021 to a limited audience and it plans a wider release at some point.

How Do I Edit My Campaign?

You can edit the campaign while it’s in draft.

What Are the Minimum Budget Requirements For Twitter Campaign Planner?

The Twitter Campaign Planner has a minimum budget of $1,000 or the equivalent in the marketer’s chosen currency.

What Is the Minimum Campaign Length For Twitter Campaign Planner?

The minimum length is three days.

Conclusion

Even if marketers have an ample budget, they don’t want to waste their time or money on ineffective ads that don’t grow their business.

However, unless you’re familiar with Twitter ads and how to run them, there’s always a chance your ads will fall flat.

The Twitter campaign planner hopes to change all that by giving advertisers a prediction of the possible results.

With a better idea of what to expect, marketers can launch their ads confidently or tweak them and try again.

Although the Twitter campaign planner isn’t open to everyone at the moment, you’ve got plenty of opportunities to learn from others and how it works for them.

Would you use the Twitter campaign planner?

What Are Twitter Carousel Ads?

There’s no doubt that PPC ads work, but what if you want to take your advertising to the next level? Well, you can with Twitter carousel ads.

In 2020, Twitter Carousel Ads made their debut. More recently, Twitter announced multi-destination functionality for advertisers that want added flexibility and the capability to target different groups with unique URLs and headlines.

However, let’s not get too carried away, because I’m here to explain all the basics today. I’m also going to discuss the best practices, give you tips for creating Twitter carousel ads, and show examples, all to improve your chances of success with the format.

Ready? Let’s get started with the fundamentals.

A Quick Explanation of Carousel Advertising

Twitter carousel ads are a newer form of advertising that allows businesses to showcase multiple images and videos in a single ad.

Marketers can use these ads to tell a story or highlight a product or service, while users can swipe through the edge-to-edge images. Advertisers can also use carousels to direct visitors to landing pages and apps and combine images and videos for greater versatility.

You create Twitter carousel ads like regular PPC ads on the platform, and you can target them to specific users based on interests, demographics, and behaviors.

Carousel ads offer businesses an easy tool to increase engagement and connect with more customers on Twitter, helping increase brand awareness, drive website clicks and conversions, and generate leads.

Why Use Carousel Ads on Twitter?

The possibilities are endless when it comes to using carousel ads on Twitter. You can also use Twitter carousel ads for:

  • Sharing short stories, customer testimonials, or even behind-the-scenes footage.
  • Promoting a sale or new product or simply introducing your company to potential customers.
  • Highlighting multiple features/products/services and promoting multiple offers.
  • Showing off multiple products or images in one ad.

Additionally, suppose you’re looking for a new way to grab attention. In that case, this is another reason why you should use Twitter carousel ads. This model offers many advantages, including:

More precise marketing: Everyone who uses Twitter knows that the character limit is 280 characters, which doesn’t always give advertisers enough space to sell their products adequately. However, adding multiple images and videos means advertisers can convey more information in a single Tweet and provide a unique URL/headline to encourage the type of customer you’re looking for.

More installs and click-throughs: When Twitter tested its carousel ads, it found it boosted average click-through rate by 15 percent and installs per impressions an average of 24 percent compared with its regular single asset ads. With Twitter’s multi-destination website carousel ads, beta testing showed a 20 percent increase in click-through rates compared with single-asset ads and a 25 percent increase in click-through rates for ‘campaigns that optimize for site visit conversions relative to single-asset ads.’

Access to analytics: Twitter offers analytics and metrics, so you have a clear illustration of how your carousels are performing, and then you can adjust your campaigns according to the data.

Ease of use: You can create Twitter carousel ads by following step-by-step instructions and adding your media.

Engagement: The carousel’s design allows users to swipe seamlessly across images for added engagement.

Achieve your objectives: Do you want more app downloads and video views or to create awareness? Well, you can set your campaigns to achieve all of these things and more.

How To Set Up a Twitter Carousel Ad

Even if you’re new to the world of marketing and you don’t know how to advertise on Twitter, it’s simple to get going with this ad format. Just follow these steps:

To set up Twitter carousel ads, begin by navigating to ‘Ads Manager.’ From there, select ‘creatives,’ and ‘Tweet composer.’ Then:

  • Add your text using the Tweet composer.
The Tweet Composer page.
  • Next, go to ‘add media.’ You can upload any creatives (images and video) with a maximum of six of your images, or choose from the Twitter stock library. For this step, ensure you follow Twitter’s media guidelines:
Twitter media guidelines.
Twitter media guidelines.
  • If you want to tweet your carousel organically, uncheck the ‘promoted only’ box.
  • Now, customize the ad destination. For the same headlines/URL on a carousel, choose the ‘Apply this headline and URL to the entire carousel.’ Alternatively, select the ‘Customize a destination’ and select a unique headline/URL for your individual media assets.
  • Publish your Tweet by pressing the black button on the right side of the page. Alternatively, you can go to the drop-down menu and choose ‘Schedule’

Finally, there’s Twitter carousel ads printable templates available if you want to brainstorm and practice before hitting ‘Tweet.’ You can download this from the ‘Twitter media guidelines’ page above.

Twitter Carousel Ad Examples

Comic book app Comico specializes in content like comics and manga; one of its main forms of income is in-app purchases. The Japan-based company uses Twitter carousel ads to share teasers of its most popular content.

By posting teasers on Twitter, Comico engages social media users and encourages them to click through and read the rest of the story.

Here’s an example of one of its posts.

An example carousel ad from Comico on Twitter.

Twitter’s carousel ads are also perfect for showcasing items. Hyundai is just one company using this format to highlight its latest vehicles with design reveals to intrigue prospects, display videos, and news.

Here’s an example from Hyundai’s Twitter feed:

A Hyundai ad.

Hyundai combines its ads with engaging, enticing text and a URL to get people to click through to its website.

Skincare brand CeraVe is no stranger to Twitter advertising, using takeovers, which offer a mass reach, allowing your brand to build brand awareness and promote tweets.

However, CeraVe used Twitter carousel ads to detail the stories of four nursing staff. When CeraVe used these ads in combination with its other advertising, it achieved a 59 percent increased engagement and +19 percent higher impressions than Twitter’s usual internal benchmarks.

CeraVe Twitter ad Twitter Carousel ads

Best Practices for Twitter Carousel Ads

When creating a carousel ad, there are a few best practices to follow to ensure that it’s effective.

First, check that all your carousel’s images are high quality and relevant to your product or message. Also, use a strong headline and call to action for each image. For instance, to spur people into action, you can offer a discount, use the word ‘free’, or create a sense of urgency with time-limited deadlines.

You can also do the same with headlines. Don’t forget to stress the uniqueness, use power words, and include ‘you’ to personalize your tweets.

Second, make sure that your carousel is well-designed. The images should be easy to navigate, and the text should be easy to read.

Third, make sure that your targeting is accurate. Only target likely users of your product or service.

Finally, test and optimize your carousel ad campaign regularly. Try different images and copy, and see which combinations work best for you.

Here are some more best practices for Twitter carousel ads:

  • Include visual storytelling. Like every good story, each carousel should incorporate a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. The difference here is that you are doing this purely with visuals.
  • Target your audience according to the funnel stage. For example, if consumers click through to product pages, add product images, or appeal to prospects with general top-of-the-funnel images to build product/service awareness.
  • Highlight the benefits and ensure your product is clear and visible.
  • Customize your headlines and URLs to different landing pages and headlines using Twitter’s multi-destination carousels.
  • Don’t just rely on images. Include solid and captivating headlines, detailed descriptions, and compelling CTAs to spur leads into action.

FAQs

Can You Do Carousel Ads on Twitter?

Yes, Twitter started carousel ads in 2020 and introduced multi-destination Twitter carousel ads in 2021.

What is Carousel Advertising?

A carousel ad contains several images or videos that rotate (or “carousel”) as you scroll through them.

Can You do Organic Carousel Ads on Twitter?

Organic carousel ads are possible on Twitter. Just deselect the ‘promoted only’ box in the Tweet composer.

What Makes a Good Carousel Ad?

Relevance and A/B testing should be at the top of your list. However, you also want attention-grabbing imagery with a clear call to action, and detailed descriptions that detail the features and benefits.

Conclusion

Twitter carousel ads are a great way to showcase various products or images in a single ad. This type of ad is especially effective for e-commerce businesses or companies with multiple products. You can use carousel ads to tell a story, highlight different features of a product, or show off different products in a collection.

They are eye-catching and allow a lot of information to be conveyed in a small amount of space. In addition, Twitter carousel ads are interactive, which makes them more engaging for users.

When used effectively, carousel ads are a powerful tool in a marketing campaign and offer greater click-throughs and engagement.

Do you use carousel ads? How are they working for you?

12 Essential Open Graph Meta Tags for Facebook and Twitter

Every marketer knows the phrase ‘content is king’, but that content is nothing without readers and followers.

These days, there’s one sure-fire way to get your content out to a broader audience and share your awesome new blog post: social media.

With a ready audience of millions, sites like Facebook and Twitter are some of the best ways of getting the word out. However, if you want to optimize that outreach potential, there’s a super-easy way to do it: open graph tags (OPGs).

Not heard of the open graph protocol behind OPGs? Then let me explain what are they, why do they matter, and — most importantly — how do you use them?

What Is Open Graph and Why Was It Created?

Facebook introduced Open Graph in 2010 to promote integration between Facebook and other websites by allowing posts to become rich objects with the same functionality as other Facebook objects.

Put simply, it helps optimize Facebook posts by providing more control over how information travels from a third-party website to Facebook when a page is shared (or liked, etc.).

To make this possible, information is sent via Open Graph tags in the <head> part of the website’s code.

Other social media sites are also taking advantage of social meta tags. For instance, Twitter and Linkedin recognize Open Graph tags; Twitter has its own meta tags for Twitter Cards, but if Twitter robots cannot find any, it uses OGP tags instead.

Neil Patel looking at the camera.

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Why Marketers Should Care About OGP Tags

OGP tags are vital for marketers because they help ensure that when a user shares a link to your content on social media, the correct information is automatically populated. This can help increase engagement and help potential customers learn more about your brand or product.

Additionally, marketers should care about OPG tags because social media sites are the primary drivers of most web traffic. Consequently, the ability to harness the power of social meta tags is a vital skill for today’s marketers.

Also, using OGP tags can help you track how your content is performing on social media, enabling you to adapt your sharing strategy.

However, most notably: open graph tags can have a massive impact on conversions and click-through rates by solving common issues.

For instance, have you ever shared a link on Facebook only to find the thumbnail was missing, or there was a different picture than you expected?

Knowing just a little about OGP tags can help you tackle these problems and improve your social media marketing.

There’s one thing they won’t do, though, and that’s influence your on-page SEO. However, the boost you can get from the extra reach on social media means it’s worth looking into.

Now, let’s look at the most essential OGP tags for Facebook and how to optimize them for better sharing.

Understanding Facebook OGP Tags

As explained in the intro, OGP tags are crucial because they allow you to control how your content appears when it’s shared on sites like Facebook. The open graph tags let you control the title, description, and image in the post; it’s a great way to ensure your content looks amazing when you share it.

In addition:

  • Adding OGP tags ensures that you use the correct image and description, which can help improve click-through rate, while enabling you to add specific details such as whether it’s a movie, book, or product.
  • Using OGP tags allows you to track how your content is performing on Facebook. When someone shares one of your articles on the site, the OG tags send traffic data back to Facebook. This data then lets you see which articles are getting the most engagement, and which need improvement.
  • Including OGP tags ensures you use the correct image and description when sharing your links on Facebook, which can help improve click-through rates.
  • Adding OGP tags is easy, and most content management systems have plugins or extensions to simplify the process.

Facebook has several open graph tag types. You can use OGP tags to specify things like the site’s name, the image used as the thumbnail on Facebook, and the description that will appear when someone shares your page.

In this section, I cover the different types, and then explain how to use them.

An image of the inside of a car with arrows pointing to different types of ogp tags.
An example of various OGP tags being used in a post from VentureBeat.

og:title

The og: title is how you define your content’s title. It serves a similar purpose as the traditional meta title tag in your code. In fact, if Facebook doesn’t find the og:title tag on your page, it uses the open graph tag title instead.

As Facebook explains, most content is shared as a URL. If you want control over the way your content looks on its site, you must add OGP tags.

In Facebook’s own words,

“Without these Open Graph tags, the Facebook Crawler uses internal heuristics to make a best guess about the title, description, and preview image for your content. Designate this info explicitly with Open Graph tags to ensure the highest quality posts on Facebook.”

To get the best from OGP, you also want to think about the way your text appears and its length.

Keep in mind that the text shown on a Facebook feed is bold and extremely eye-catching. It must be compelling, just like a good post title.

There is no limit on the number of characters, but it’s best to stay between 60 and 90. If your title is longer than 100 characters, Facebook will truncate it to only 88!

Example:

<meta property=”og:title” content=”Your eye-catching title here” />

og:url

When you share a link on Facebook, you can add Open Graph tags. These tags help Facebook display rich information about the link, such as an image, title, and description.

This is how you set the canonical URL for the page you are sharing. This means that you define one page to which all your shares go. It’s helpful if you have more than one URL for the same content (for example, using parameters). Important note: URL provided is not shown on the Facebook newsfeed, only the domain is visible.

Example:

<meta property=”og:url” content=”http://www.yourdomain.com” />

og:type

This is how you describe the kind of object you share: blog post, video, picture, or whatever. The list to choose from is long. Here are some examples:

Web-based:

  • website
  • article
  • blog

Entertainment:

  • book
  • game
  • movie
  • food

Place:

  • city
  • country

People:

  • actor
  • author
  • politician

Business:

  • company
  • hotel
  • restaurant

You can see the complete list of types here.

This tag is important if your page has a “Like” button and represents a real-life object (like a book or a movie). It determines if your content appears in a user’s interest section of her profile in the event they “Like” it.

In most cases, you will use the “website” value since what you are sharing is a link to a website. In fact, if you don’t define a type, Facebook will read it as “website” by default.

Example:

<meta property=”og:type” content=”website” />

og:description

This metadata descriptor is very similar to the meta description tag in HTML. This is where you describe your content, but instead of it showing on a search engine results page, it shows below the link title on Facebook.

However, unlike a regular meta description tag, it won’t affect your SEO, but it’s still a good idea to make it compelling to get people to click on it.

Og: description tags don’t limit you to a character count, but it’s best to use around 200 letters. In some cases, depending on a link/title/domain, Facebook can display up to 300 characters, but I suggest treating anything above 200 as something extra.

Example:

<meta property=” og:description” content=” Your entertaining and descriptive copy here, if your meta description is good, use it.”/>

og:image

This is the most interesting OGP tag for many marketers because a picture always helps content stand out. This is how you ensure that Facebook shows a particular thumbnail when you share your page, and it can be beneficial for your conversion rates.

Make sure you set the og:image you choose, otherwise, Facebook shows something stupid like an unwanted ad banner scraped from the page or nothing. You definitely don’t want that!

Here’s a few more pointers:

  • It’s important to remember that if your page is static and you don’t use any sort of content management system (CMS) (like WordPress), you need to change the og:image manually for each of your pages.
  • If you control your website with a CMS and you install the relevant plugin, the og:image tags are assigned automatically for each page. Look for the list of plugins further down.
  • The most frequently recommended resolution for an OG image is 1200 pixels x 627 pixels (1.91/1 ratio). At this size, your thumbnail will be big and stand out from the crowd. Just don’t exceed the 5MB size limit.
An example Facebook post used to represent og:image tags.
An example of the og:image OGP tag with the image rendered at full size.

If you use an image that is smaller than 400 pixels x 209 pixels, it will render as a much smaller thumbnail. It’s nowhere nearly as eye-catching.

An example facebook post showcasing a smaller thumbnail image as an example of thumbnail size.
An example of the og:image OGP tag with the image rendered at a smaller size.

Keep in mind that the picture you use as an Open Graph image can be different from what you have on your page.

Why wouldn’t you leverage that opportunity to stand out even more?

For example, if your title is good, but the picture you are using is not very exciting (not an infographic or a good-looking person, etc.), consider using an image with a good line or two of copy instead (see example below).

One thing you need to remember if you do this: place your text, or the most significant part of it, in the middle of the image. This matters because Facebook trims the sides of thumbnails.

An example facebook post showing where to use text in thumbnails.
An example of putting text in the most effective part of a thumbnail.

Example:

<meta property=”og:image” content=”http://www.yourdomain.com/image-name.jpg” />

For an easy way to add OPGs, there’s an online generator.

Advanced Facebook Open Graph Tags

The Open Graph tags above are the ones you need to know. However, you can use other, more advanced tags to provide even more in-depth specifications.

For example

  • og:locale – defines the language; American English is the default
  • og:site_name – if the page (object) you are sharing is part of a larger network
  • og:audio or og:video – to add additional audio or video files to your object
  • fb:app_id – for linking to a Facebook application (e.g., FB Comments) with the object

Check Your OGP Tags

Once you’ve set up your open graph tags, you need to check they’re working okay. To do this, you can use the Sharing Debugger to see how the information displays when you share your website content on Facebook, Messenger, and other places. Also, the Batch Invalidator will let you refresh this information for multiple URLs at the same time.

To use it, simply enter the URL of the page you’re having problems with and click Debug.

Facebook’s debugging tool has two beneficial functionalities.

First, when you type in the link you want to check, it returns any errors and suggestions for OG tags, if there are any. You can also check what the og:image looks like, your description, and so on.

Second, it clears the Facebook cache. Imagine this: you post a link to Facebook, but then you see a mistake in the thumbnail, so you go back to your site and adjust the OGP tags, and you post it again on Facebook.

Probably, nothing will happen. The thumbnail will stay the same. This is because of the cache. The Facebook Sharing Debugger will refresh the cache on your links after any adjustments, so remember to use it each time.

A screenshot of the backend of facebook's debugging tool.
The Facebook Debugging Tool.

Open Graph Tags for Twitter: Twitter Cards

If you’re not familiar with Twitter’s cards, they allow you to attach media files and add extra information to your tweets. This can be useful for increasing the visibility of your tweets and providing additional context for users who click through.

Although they’re not the same thing, Twitter’s cards use the same open graph protocol and it looks similar to OGP tags. Implementing these tags makes it much easier to create Twitter cards without duplication issues.

Like Facebook’s Open Graph tags, Twitter Cards let you stand out from the crowd of tweets. In short, they allow you to generate some additional content from your 140-character tweet.

This doesn’t show up on people’s feeds automatically, but it adds a little “View summary” button below the tweet.

You can use open graph tags to specify your content’s title, description, and image, and to determine your page’s content type and the audience you want to reach.

A screenshot of a tweet with the "view summary" button highlighted.
An example of open graph tags for Twitter.

When you click it:

In example of the different tpyes of open graph tags for twitter and what they look like.
An example of how title, description, and image tags are used on Twitter.

The Twitter card is tempting to click and provides a handy summary of the shared page. However, surprisingly, not many sites take advantage of these tags, giving you a great opportunity to make your tweets stand out from other feeds.

Installing these cards isn’t difficult, and there’s a quick workaround, even if you’re not tech-savvy. Just install a WordPress plugin.

WordPress SEO by Yoast does the job perfectly well.

To activate Twitter cards in Yoast:

A screenshot of WordPress SEO by Yoast.
Showcasing how to activate Twitter cards in Yoast.
  • Log into WordPress
  • Go to your dashboard,
  • Choose the ‘SEO’ option from the list.
  • Click on SEO and choose social. Click.
  • Go to accounts and click on your Twitter username
  • Select the ‘Twitter’ tab by clicking
  • Scroll down to ‘Add Twitter Card Meta Data’
  • Click ‘enabled’
  • Finally, save any changes.

If the above method isn’t an option, ask your web developer and give them the ready-to-implement Twitter Card tags. Here’s how you’ll make them.

twitter: card

This required tag works in a similar way to og:type. It describes the type of content you are sharing. There are seven options: summary, photo, video, product, app, gallery, and “large version” summary.

Depending on the type of content you choose, the link at the bottom of your tweet changes. You can get “View summary” for summaries, “View photo” for photos, etc. If this tag is not set, Twitter reads your link as a “Summary” by default.

Example:

<meta name=”twitter:card” content=”summary” />

twitter:title

This basically does the same thing as its OG counterpart. You specify the title for your article that will show up in bold. It’s smart to avoid repeating the same text you have in your tweet. Make the most of the space provided and let the two pieces of copy play on each other to reinforce the message. Use up to 70 characters.

Example:

<meta name=”twitter:title” content=”Your title here” />

twitter:description

Use this tag to write a descriptive lead to the page you are sharing. As with Open Graph tags, don’t focus on keywords because they won’t matter for your SEO. Create compelling copy that nicely complements your tweet and the title. Twitter limits this part to 200 characters.

Example:

<meta name=”twitter:description” content=”Your 200-character description here” />

twitter:url

This sets the canonical URL for the content you are sharing. (For more information, review the description for the equivalent Facebook Open Graph tag above.)

Example:

<meta name=”twitter:url” content=”http://www.yourdomain.com” />

twitter:image

Yes, you guessed it. This is how you set the picture to go with your tweet. Twitter allows two options, a card with a smaller or a larger image.

You decide which one you want in the type tag. If you go for the large option, make sure it has a resolution of at least 280x150px and that the file size is not more than 1MB. You can consider using the same trick as the Facebook thumbnail: add some text to the image to boost the message.

Example:

<meta name=”twitter:image” content=”http://www.yourdomain.com /image-name.jpg” />

Request Approval from Twitter

Adding cards to your tweets is easy – all you need to do is include some extra code to the end of your tweet. The code tells Twitter which card type you want to use and how you wish the content to look.

There are several types of Twitter Cards, so you can choose the one that best suits your needs.

However, keep in mind that, before you can fully benefit from Twitter Cards, you need to request approval for your page from Twitter.

Fortunately, this only takes about 15 minutes and can be done easily using their Card Validator.

To get started,

  • Select the type of card you wish to use.
  • Add your meta tags
  • Check the URL with Twitter’s validator tool.
  • Test in the validator or get approval for your card, then tweet the URL to see your card displayed. https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-for-websites/cards/overview/abouts-cards

Once you get approval, Card Validator serves the same purpose as the Facebook Sharing Debugger, allowing you to check your links before committing.

Twitter Card Plugins

Like with Facebook, plenty of plugins are available for implementing Twitter Cards. Here are a few:

How to Implement Open Graph Tags?

How do you implement OGP tags? Basically, they belong to the <head> part of your page’s HTML. If you don’t manage the code, you’ll need to ask your web developer for help. You can prepare the whole package yourself using the tips above to save their valuable time.

If you are using WordPress, just install one of the plugins that neatly implements the code for you. As I’ve explained, I like to use WordPress SEO by Yoast, but there are some other free tools you can use, including:

A screenshot of Yoast's social tab.
How to implement open graph tags through Yoast.

Here are other OG plugins/extensions/add-ons for:

Like Facebook. Twitter offers a tool to validate your OGP tags, Twitter Card Validator is a tool that allows you to test and preview how your tweets will appear when they are shared on other websites. To use the validator, enter the URL of the website on which you want to share your tweet and click “validate.”

The validator will show you a preview of how your tweet will appear on the website, and display the title, description, and image.

FAQs

What Is Open Graph, and why was it created?

Open Graph Protocol (OGP) is a set of tags used on websites to define the structure of a web page so that it can be more easily shared on social media platforms. OGP tags allow web admins to control how their content appears when it is shared on social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.

How do you find Open Graph tags?

You find open graph in the webpage’s <Head> section.

What is SEO OGP?

This is a type of metadata which Facebook introduced back in 2010. It allows semantic integration into Facebook’s HTML, allowing website owners to show Facebook how they would like Facebook to index their sites. https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/facebook-application-development/9780470768730/ch006-sec012.html

How do you check OGP tags?

There are free tools available to check your OGP Tags. Sites like Facebook also offer a validator so that you can check your tags for errors.

Conclusion

The final code for both Facebook and Twitter should look more-or-less like this:

A line of code showing what optimized Twitter and Facebook posts should look like.
Optimized code for both Facebook and Twitter posts.

It might seem a bit confusing, but luckily several tools make the process easier — you don’t need to know how to code.

There are three main types of Open Graph meta tags: og:title, og:image, and og:description, and taking the effort to implement them has distinct advantages, including better click-throughs and engagement, which can all lead to added conversions. The additional measures of adding Open graph also increase visibility.

However, despite these advantages, it’s surprising how few people optimize these tags. It’s worth doing because it helps you stand out and draw more clicks and views, and it can even help improve your SEO —all things that lead to more profit.

Have you implemented open graph meta tags? How has it impacted your site?

How to Use Twitter Trending Topics in Marketing

Trends come and go. Bell bottom jeans, Rubix cubes, flannel. How are you supposed to keep up with it all?

This is even more of a puzzle in a digital world. Trends don’t stick around for a decade or a year. Sometimes things change overnight.

Harnessing what’s trending could be a powerful fuel for your digital marketing strategy, for the content you are creating, and for reaching your target market with a message that resonates.

Luckily, Twitter trending topics are an up-to-the-minute resource for staying on top of what’s hot. You’ll learn what people are talking about, how they’re feeling, what they’re wondering about, and what’s the general buzz. From that, you can build campaigns and content around topics that matter.

What Are Twitter Trending Topics and How Do They Work?

Have you seen Twitter trending topics as you scroll the news or check out the latest updates from your favorite content creators?

Twitter trending topics are based mainly on Twitter’s algorithm. Twitter figures out what many people are talking about to determine what is popular and shares it.

Under Twitter trending topics in the “What’s Happening” section, you’ll see not only popular tweets that are being reshared and commented on over and over again but also a synopsis of the stories and headlines associated with those tweets to give you some context.

How to Use Twitter Trending Topics - See What's Popular In Your Niche

Twitter uses data based on your interactions and what you’ve liked and followed to share tweets and topics that Twitter thinks you’ll be most interested in. This is especially helpful because what’s trending in your networks and with your friends may not be what’s trending on the other side of the country or world, or even what different demographics are talking about.

To find your trending topics, click on the “For You” link on the website or magnifying glass icon on the Twitter app. Then you can use the tabs to explore certain trending topics and figure out which bandwagons you can hop on, which conversations you can contribute to, and where you can focus your marketing efforts.

How to Use Twitter Trending Topics - See What's Popular In Your Niche

8 Ways to Use Twitter Trending Topics

You can use Twitter trending topics to give you insights into what’s going on in the world and help you understand your target market’s interests so that when you reach out, you speak directly to what’s important to them.

1. See What’s Popular in Your Niche

By default, Twitter is going to show trending topics tailored to your interests. This will be even more specific when you are active on Twitter. If you’re already active in following and interacting with content related to your niche, you’re going to start seeing trending topics that reflect those interests.

This can also be a gut check for you as you try to figure out what people are talking about and what’s important to them right now. You may feel like you know what the big topics of the day are: TV shows, products, music, and more are, but you need validation.

This is especially useful if you aren’t personally in the same demographic or interest group as your target market. You may not already know what the hottest trends are.

2. View Related Tweets to See Users’ Opinions on the Topic

Once you start getting an idea of what’s trending, you can dive deeper to find out how people are reacting and feeling about a topic.

Oftentimes, trending topics reflect news stories or happenings around the world. In addition to seeing those headlines, you can explore real-world tweets from users.

The big picture here is that every topic is nuanced and primed for a variety of emotions. Those real tweets can serve as an unbiased focus group, where you can hear from your target market about the trending topic.

3. Check the Trending Topics Frequently to See What’s Consistently Trending

In addition to seeing what’s new and happening in the world, Twitter trending topics can help you see what’s consistently trending. By checking in regularly, you’ll start to get a feel for what is remaining popular, rather than just being a flash in the pan.

Some trends come and go in a blink of an eye, while others start to frame our conversations and drive our narratives. They start to really become part of who we are and what’s happening in our lives.

You can get a handle on those more foundational trends by checking on Twitter trending topics regularly. When you start to see the same (or related topics) coming up frequently, you can use those topics for pillar content.

4. Identify and Avoid Downward Trending Topics

On a similar note, you can use Twitter trending topics to help you see what’s losing momentum. As we get busy with our marketing agenda, we can lose touch with what’s going on in the day-to-day lives of our target market.

As we sit down to create a marketing campaign, it’s easy to look backward and think about what’s been working for others or what’s been discussed over the past few weeks or months.

However, by the time your content or ads roll out, is that still going to be the hot topic? Short of a crystal ball, it can be difficult to know if a topic will still be trending in the next week or month. Twitter trending topics can be the place to forecast trends.

Are the tweets growing in emotion, passion, and frequency? Is the conversation growing or waning? Is the conversation dying down? Are fewer people tweeting about it as time goes on? Is that topic not regularly making the Twitter trending topics list?

Steer clear of declining topics in your upcoming content and lead generation to avoid being out of date or yelling into the wind. (You can also cross-reference with Google Trends to see if topic searches have increased or decreased as well.)

5. Find Local Trends in Your City and State

It’s great to know what everyone in the world is talking about, but if you have a locally-based or locally-driven brand, you need to know how people are feeling in your particular area.

There’s a lot of major news and topics that roll through every day. Are people in your area talking about it? How do they feel about it? How is it impacting them?

You will be able to see local Twitter trending topics by interacting with local events and allowing Twitter to access your location on the desktop or app. Twitter can then use your location to share area-specific trending topics.

You can also get specific by typing your topic or hashtag into the search function. You can use the “advanced search” settings to look for tweets sent from a geographical area.

local listings twitter trending topics

This is great to engage with and even lead the conversations regarding those topics. Be involved.

6. Identify Connected Keywords and Hashtags

Growing your awareness of Twitter trending topics can not only give you general feelings about the latest things going on in the world, but it can also give you specific insights into keywords and hashtags that people are using surrounding those topics.

Which words and phrases are people using in regards to those topics? What are they specifically not using? You can learn a lot from researching top tweets.

If you are creating pay-per-click ads or keyword-driven ads, knowing those natural keywords and phrases can help you lean into those.

If you are creating a social media campaign, knowing those hashtags can help you reach that same audience.

7. Content Ideation

When you’re not sure what to write about, turn to Twitter trending topics for some inspiration. Here you can pick up tips about what people are talking about.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to write about the specific topics that come up in those trending tweets but may serve as inspiration. What are the general concepts that your target audience seems to be talking about a lot?

For instance, maybe every four years, it’s the Olympics that are drawing everyone’s attention. You don’t have to mirror the same stories that everyone is sharing, but now you know that those anecdotes of inspiration and perseverance are popular with your audience.

8. Take a Stand

Sharing a broader vision can bring authenticity and humanity to your brand. As you are seeing certain news stories dominate the Twitter conversation day after day, don’t be afraid to share some of those words of justice, hope, and change.

You don’t have to reshare or retell the stories to jump into the conversations. Speaking to the issues that your target market is truly passionate about can help you feel relatable—and can work for the greater good by sharing resources or education.

Bringing new value and insightful thought to a conversation can help you generate notice, helping increase your brand awareness and following. Just tread lightly here and don’t try to appear to fit in, when it’s obvious it’s not OK for brands to chime in.

Why Are Trends Important in Marketing?

If only you could guess what your target market was going to want in the coming days, weeks, months.

To create campaigns that speak natively to your target audience, you’re going to have to be aware of what’s trending. What are they thinking about? What are they likely to be thinking about in the future?

It’s impossible to read your audience’s minds, but careful research can help you stay aware of the topics that matter the most to them.

On the other hand, one of the worst ways to waste time, money, and energy in your marketing is to create an amazing campaign or piece of content that falls flat by not connecting with your audience in authentic ways that matter to them.

Being timely and relevant are two of the most important ingredients in any digital marketing effort. Use Twitter trending topics to help you stay abreast of what’s happening, and capitalize on topics that work!

Twitter Trending Topics Frequently Asked Questions

What is trending now on Twitter?

You can find out what’s trending on Twitter by going to the “Explore” section on the desktop or mobile versions. For the app, you can click the magnifying glass icon to access what’s currently trending.

How do you find local Twitter trending topics?

Twitter will show you local trending topics if you have your location turned on in the privacy settings. You can also search for tweets coming from specific geographic locations using advanced search settings.

How can I use Twitter trending topics in marketing?

Twitter trending topics give you specific insights into what real people are talking about and thinking about. You can find out what’s growing and declining in popularity and use these topics to inform your SEO, content, ad, lead generation, and social media strategies.

How are trending topics related to keywords?

Twitter trending topics reveal the stories and concepts that people are talking about, as well as real-world tweets about those topics. These tell you the words and phrases people are using to speak and search about those topics.

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Conclusion of Twitter Trending Topics

Twitter is more than just a place to check the latest news or updates. You can dive deeper and find out what your target audience is interested in. That’s a powerful insight that can drive your content marketing and social media marketing strategies.

Make sure that as you are following Twitter trending topics, you remain engaged with your niche so that the Twitter algorithm can continue to show you more about that area of interest. Dive into geographical areas to learn more about local audiences and opinions.

Let this research drive what and how you talk about key issues in your content, website, social media, and more. You may even learn something new!

What trending topics have you recently discovered?