The Science Behind a Pinned Tweet: 5 Ways to Get Noticed

Back in 2014, Twitter revamped the profile view. One of the most notable changes during that update was the addition of the pinned Tweet feature. Pinned Tweets are Tweets that stay static on the top of your profile. When people visit your profile, the pinned Tweet is the first thing they see, regardless of when you Tweeted it. That gives it prime real estate on a social network that typically moves lightning fast.

How to Pin a Tweet

Pinning a tweet is simple:

1. Go to your Twitter profile.
2. Find the Tweet you want to pin.
3. Click on the three dots.
4. Select “Pin to your profile page.”

Ever since the feature was first launched, businesses and marketers have tried to figure out how to effectively utilize it. If you’ve been shying away from pinned Tweets, or don’t feel like you’ve been making the most out of it, here are five things your pinned Tweet should include:

1. A High Level of Engagement (Likes and Retweets)

Whether we choose to admit it or not, social proof has a big impact on the decisions we make. Whether it’s buying products because they have great online reviews or Retweeting a Tweet just because you saw that 20 other people already have.

On Twitter, social proof goes beyond just your number of followers. When your Tweets have been liked and Retweeted several times, it motivates other people to follow suit. You can take advantage of social proof by pinning an existing Tweet that already has some engagement. That way when someone arrives to your profile, the first thing they see is a Tweet that looks popular and important because so many other people have engaged with it.

2. An Eye Catching Image

You should try to include images in as many Tweets as possible because photos boost Retweets by 35%. But it’s particularly important for pinned Tweets.

Even though the Tweets you pin show up at the top of your profile, they can still be overlooked if they just blend in with the rest of your Tweets. In order to make sure people don’t just scroll right past it, include an eye catching image.

The bright orange in this pinned Tweet from Greatist really stands out because it’s colorful and vibrant. Can you imagine going to this page and not giving this pinned Tweet a second look?

3. A Strong Call To Action

Your pinned Tweet is kind of like an ad spot, except you don’t have to pay for it. Take advantage of this free advertisement by using your Tweet to push users to take an action. The action could be reading one of your blog posts, signing up for your email list or even trying a new product.

Think of your pinned Tweet as a 140-character billboard. You need to clearly state what you’re promoting, and let users know what to do next. Otherwise, they’ll just keep scrolling to the rest of your Tweets.

H&R Block used this pinned Tweet to help promote its #HRBCLUTCHCONTEST. The gif and messaging makes it clear that H&R Block is promoting a contest, yet it doesn’t give out all the details so people have to click the link for more information.

If you’re promoting a contest like H&R Block or any type of special event, make sure that the landing page you’re linking to is a smooth transition from the Tweet. You can achieve this with a well thought out call to action phrase. Notice how H&R Block’s landing page uses the same hashtag and even integrates Twitter with user generated content at the bottom.

4. A Trackable URL

Another important tip, particularly if you’re using a pinned Tweet to link to a landing page, is to include a trackable link. This will allow you to measure and monitor how effectiveness of the pinned Tweet.

Using UTM Parameters, you’ll be able to track conversions, as well as how visitors that come to your website through the pinned Tweet engage with your content. You can also compare how your pinned Tweet performed against your regular Twitter content.

Using Sprout Social’s powerful Twitter analytics software will help you keep your ear to the ground when it comes to the activity, engagement and clicks on your pinned Tweet. For a free 30-day trial, click here!

5. A Hashtag

The importance of hashtags on Twitter can’t be stated enough. Not only do they make your Tweets more discoverable, but they also allow you to keep track of conversations about your topics. For pinned Tweets, there are generally two approaches that businesses take:

1. Create your own hashtag.
2. Use an existing popular hashtag.

The first approach is what you see in the examples from Greatist and H&R Block. This is more effective for companies that are established and already have a decent following on Twitter. Trying to get people to use your custom hashtag when you only have five followers will be a challenge.

The second approach allows you to jump on the back of hashtags that are already popular. Take this pinned Tweet from Workable for example. It uses the hashtag #hrtech, which is commonly used by people in the human resource industry.

Start Pinning

If you feel like your best Tweets are getting lost in the noise of Twitter, then use pinned Tweets to give your call to actions more visibility. Toy around and experiment to see what gives you the best results.

Are you pinning your Tweets yet? Leave a comment and let us know how you’re implementing pinned Tweets into your Twitter strategy.