All you need to know about Twitter Cards
Are you using Twitter Cards? There are some new features you should know about.
Twitter Cards have had a revamp. Not everything has changed, but there are a few new options that can provide great brand visibility and provide some more detailed engagement analytics of your social media and digital marketing campaigns. The enhanced engagement analytics includes data on the top pages tweeted from your website as well as the top influencers who tweeted pages from your website.
It’s just as easy to get started with Twitter Cards. By adding a few lines of HTML to your webpage, when content from that page is included in a tweet, Twitter will add a “Card” to the newsfeed that’s more visible than regular tweets and automatically includes the direct link back to your website.
Let’s have a look:
Summary Card
What it’s good for: information-rich pages from your website, such as articles, blogs, news and case stories.
The summary card shows a thumbnail, title and description, What’s changed is that now it includes the option of a large image. These new summary cards have replaced the photo card, gallery card and product card that you may have used in the past.
App Card
What it’s good for: Showing off your latest app.
The App Card allows iOS and Android users to see the details of the app relevant to the device they’re on at the time. Your viewers can also download an App directly from the App Card due to the download button connecting directly to the app store they use.
Player Card
What it’s good for: streaming video footage direct from your website
Just like sharing a video from YouTube, the Player Card lets you actually play video from your website directly on Twitter. Note: this is the only one of the Twitter Cards that must have approval from Twitter before you use it. Check the Approval Guide to see how you can get your videos approved.
Using Twitter Cards for Ads
Twitter Cards for Ads can provide a range of features that other social media advertising can’t, such as buttons that match your followers favourite tweet hashtags and activities. The Twitter Cards used for a Twitter ad campaign are essentially the same as the Twitter Cards for websites, but with a bit more control.
Website Card – this allows you to choose the image, title and description – it’s not auto-generated from your website. Using the Website Card for Twitter Ads also lets you preview your Card to see how it will look on different devices. NOTE: Not all devices allow the same character limit for headlines, so always opt for less rather than more.
Lead Generation Card – this works by directly pulling the user’s information from Twitter and sending it to the advertiser. The user will not have to click away from Twitter to register on a website. If you’re using marketing automation software such as MailChimp, Marketo, LoopFuse, Salesforce, etc, Twitter will send that lead information directly to your software. If you’re using other CRM or marketing software, it’s easy to export the CSV files from Twitter and import them into your system manually.
The Lead Generation Card is also useful if you’re providing freebies such as an e-book/podcast or other downloadable gift because you can use the Destination URL settings to send your users anywhere you want them to go.
Instant Unlock Card – The purpose of this card is to entice your audience to engage by offering hidden content. Simply clicking on the tweet button will unlock the hidden content.
Conversational Cards – Very similar to the Instant Unlock Card, but with that single click shares their message of support for a favourite team/argument in a conversation, etc. Clicking on a Conversational Card shares a pre-populated Tweet that also allows a choice of up to four hashtags users can choose from.
App Cards for Twitter Ads
There are three different types of App Card that you can use in your Twitter ad campaign.
- Image App Card – allows you to share the details of your app as well as provide a custom image
- Video App Card – allows you to add custom video footage instead of still image
- Basic App Card – will pull the details of your app automatically from the iTunes or Google Play app stores
The significant benefit of using App Cards in your Twitter Ad campaign is the fact that you can configure the campaign to automatically check if your target audience already has your app installed and based on that knowledge, you can customise your Call to Action to either target non-users to install the App or prompt users to re-engage with the App. This is particularly useful for developers of free apps that rely on in-app purchases.
iFactory provide a wide range of clients with social media strategy and digital marketing advice, including Twitter Cards. If you’re looking for some fresh ideas and flawless execution, contact us today.
