Let’s put it in a simple way. They are not just tweets. They are actionable tweets.
Twitter cards add a unique dimension to your tweets. Apart from the message and an eye-catching image, you let your readers take an action with your tweets. It might be an email sign up form, or a “Learn more” button redirecting to your blog or an app download opportunity directly via the tweet. In other words, if you are serious about Twitter marketing, Twitter cards may prove to be the major player for you.
What is a Twitter card?
Have you ever come across of a tweet that asks you to make an action, like the tweet below? Then you have already met Twitter cards. In simpler terms, these cards are the easiest way to add call-to-action to your tweets.
Why to use Twitter cards?
Apart from the idea of drawing more attention to your tweets with rich media and call-to-action, these Twitter cards can be used for a number of reasons.
- First of all, Twitter cards are an important marketing tool. Each Twitter card has a different marketing role to play. All you need to do is, select the right type of cards for you and set them up.
- If you have a new product to launch, you can do it with Twitter cards by adding high resolution product images and crisp description. This is effective for creating buzz on the network.
- If you are aiming at creating a brand awareness, Twitter cards will help you. People easily spot businesses that are doing things differently. These cards will work for you and at the same time will help you get closer to your business goal.
- Twitter cards are an effective way to send the traffic back to your website and blog. As they are easily spottable and invoke a sense of curiosity with the action button, people click on them more often than normal tweets.
- If you want to share videos on Twitter, these cards will prove more beneficial than simple tweets. This works best for businesses that are more focused on video marketing. Twitter has a dedicated card for multimedia content.
Types of Twitter cards: There are 9 types of twitter cards available currently. And each one of them serve a unique purpose.
Summary Card: This is the default card set on your Twitter Ad dashboard. As the name suggests, this card is designed to let the readers take a sneak peak into a webpage, so that he knows what to expect before clicking on it. This card consists of title, description, Twitter handle and a thumbnail.
Summary Card with Large Image: This card works similarly as summary cards, but instead of the thumbnail, you can post a larger image. It offers a rich photo experience to the reader. There are three clickable areas to the landing page: The image, the title and View on Web link.
It’s the best option for websites that have plenty of information to give on their webpages. Bloggers, pay attention!
Photo Card: Photo cards contain only images. Additionally, you can have a caption for the photo and also can add a link, back to the website.
However, on twitter.com and their mobile clients, the text appears above the image. If you set up photo cards, make sure the images are at least 140 pixel high and 280 pixel wide. They are the simplest of all to install.
This is the best option for businesses that are image-focused like fashion boutiques, photography, eCommerce, restaurant etc.
Gallery Card: Gallery card works pretty much like photo card, but as the name suggests, you can add multiple images (4 at most) into one tweet. However, the embedded tweet shows only one of all four images, but Twitter users can view all of them. If you click on any of them, it expands to its full size.
The Twitter attribute of the owner of the content is highlighted just above the gallery. If you have plenty of explainer content or how-to guides or DIY processes to showcase, you can install this card. It’s an excellent way to tell a story.
App Card: The app card is a cure-all option for you, if you build or sell apps. With this card, you can push your customers to download the app directly from a tweet.
Desktop users can't download the app directly from the tweet. For downloading the app the user has to visit the website. But it works differently on a mobile device. The user can instantly download the app from the tweet. You can refer to the above example.
The card contains app details like app name, price, rating, a brief description and a CTA to download the app. However, if the person already has the app on his mobile, he cannot view the CTA. The card is available for Android and iOS devices, but not for mobile web.
Player Card: A player card lets businesses use multimedia content with their tweets. For example, if you have any audio or video to promote, you can easily include them in a tweet and allow your users to view or listen and click through it.
No need to duck, it’s a Rainbow explosion! RT @NikaHarper SKITTLES EXPLOSION http://t.co/HXWpbiaeG8 #sample
— Skittles (@Skittles) May 6, 2014
If your business is like Vine or YouTube or SoundCloud, player card is a must for you.
Website card: If you want your audience to visit your website, this card is the ideal solution. It is designed in a unique way that the message does not get truncated on Twitter feed. They contain a large horizontal image, text description, a link back to your landing page and CTA button.
It’s an excellent way to get attention to your website from Twitter. It drives huge traffic back to your webpages.
Product Card: Product card contains title, description, Twitter handle, a thumbnail of the product along with product details like price, availability, location and rating.
Every eCommerce sites and businesses involved in product selling should try product cards.
Lead generation card: As the name goes, if you want leads from Twitter, these cards will help you. These cards help users sign up for a deal or offer. Twitter does a trick to make this card work. It automatically fills in the email address, associated with the Twitter account for whoever clicks on the card. For every business, collecting customer data is very important. Twitter lead generation card ensures the best way to collect email address of your target customers.
Lead generation cards are great to collect leads and try filling in the gap between your website and Twitter.
How to set up Twitter cards: There are two ways to integrate Twitter cards. But before that, you need to select the cards, you want to go for.
- If you choose website card or lead generation card, you don’t need to add codes on your website. Go to Twitter Ads Dashboard and create one.
- But if you go for the remaining ones, you need to add codes to your website.
After you set up the Twitter card, it’s time to validate the card type via Twitter Card validator. Twitter may take a few weeks to approve it. Once approved, you will get an approval notification, like the one from Buffer App’s blog.
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