How to Perfect Your Headlines with Twitter
The internet provides us with an endless number of ways to test and perfect our marketing communications. Like mad scientists, we can experiment with our website using Google’s Website Optimizer, continuously tweaking it to better. Tim Ferris even talks about testing product names and price points using eBay listings and AdWord campaigns.
Something that I’ve been playing around with is using Twitter and the url shortening service, Bit.ly, to test the effectiveness of headlines. It’s a quick way to find out which phrasings work and which don’t.
Here how you can gain quick insights to perfect your headlines:
1. Pick a URL Shortener
First pick a url shortening service that will let you create two or more short urls for your link and that collects click data on your urls. I like Bit.ly because it is easy to use and it displays data in an clean format that takes no time to digest. (Plus it is the most common url shortening service.)
2. Select Your Content
Now find the content that you want to test headlines for. In this example, I picked an article on the Dachis Group‘s Social Business Design.
3. Create Two Different Short URLs to the Content
Copy the url from the content page you want test headlines around. Create two different short urls linking to this page.
4. Pair Each Short URL with a Different Headline
Pair each of the short urls to a different headline that you want to test. (Using Bit.ly, this is when I rename the link titles so that I know which headline I used for each link.)
5. Tweet the Headlines Followed by the Paired Short URL
Tweet the first headline you want to test with the url to the content page. Then wait a few minutes and tweet the second headline and url.
6. Track the Results
Using your url shortening service, track the number of clicks on each headline. If you are using Bit.ly, the top number is how many clicks there have been and the bottom number is how many clicks there have been total, through Bit.ly, to the long url. That is why the bottom number for both links is the same, because they are both linking to the same page.
So from this we can see that “Social Business Design” is a much more effective headline hook than “Improving Value Exchange.”
7. Repeat to Find the Perfect Headline
This is where you start the process over. Go back to step 1 pairing up the most clicked headline from the first test with a new headline variation. As you do multiple tests make minor variations in the headlines in order to better understand the results. (e.g., instead of using the word “design” you might try using the word “blueprint.”) Do as many tests as you want, until you are satisfied with your headline. Depending on your timeline and what you are testing for will determine the length of time you want to spend testing.
I should point out that there are some limitations to this testing method:
- For this to be of any value, you need to have a history of participation and a following of enough size to accurately make a comparison.
- There is no way of knowing whether or not users clicked on both links.
- Participants on Twitter won’t always match up to the audience you are crafting a headline for.
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That’s it! A quick way to experiment and perfect your headlines.
Thoughts?
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How to Perfect Your Headlines with Twitter – http://bit.ly/3lvN4V
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How to Perfect Your Headlines with Twitter http://bit.ly/QyD71
Social-Media.alltop
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How to Perfect Your Headlines with Twitter http://j.mp/FJgBT
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How to Perfect Your Headlines with Twitter | The Marketing Fresh …: The internet provides us with an endless .. http://bit.ly/XaWD2
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How to Perfect Your Headlines with Twitter
http://bit.ly/FxOKq
#twitter
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How to Perfect Your Headlines with Twitter | The Marketing Fresh … http://bit.ly/3cHi9q
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How to Perfect Your Headlines with Twitter | The Marketing Fresh … http://bit.ly/4qLp1M
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Find perfect headlines using Twitter: http://j.mp/2UVWkp …but be careful not to Twitter-spam
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fun. rt @Twitter_Tips: Find perfect headlines using Twitter: http://j.mp/2UVWkp …but be careful not to Twitter-spam
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Find perfect headlines using Twitter: http://j.mp/2UVWkp …but be careful not to Twitter-spam #iranelection
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Find perfect headlines using Twitter: http://j.mp/2UVWkp …but be careful not to Twitter-spam (via @Twitter_Tips)
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“Find perfect headlines using Twitter: http://j.mp/2UVWkp …but be careful not to Twitter-spam” -@Twitter_Tips
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Find perfect headlines using Twitter: http://j.mp/2UVWkp …but be careful not to Twitter-spam: Find perfect head.. http://bit.ly/L40Zf
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Find perfect headlines using Twitter: http://j.mp/2UVWkp …but be careful not to Twitter-spam: Find perfect head.. http://bit.ly/L40Zf
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How to Perfect Your Headlines with Twitter from @freshpeel http://bit.ly/70ZDo
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Find perfect headlines using Twitter: http://j.mp/2UVWkp …but be careful not to Twitter-spam http://bit.ly/GTdki #news #twitter
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How to Perfect Your Headlines with Twitter {via @freshpeel} http://bit.ly/70ZDo – Easy core campaign strategy!
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Alltop_TW: Find perfect headlines using Twitter: http://j.mp/2UVWkp …but be careful not to Twitter-spam http://.. http://bit.ly/8dIDe
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How to Perfect Your Headlines with Twitter – http://shar.es/1dR8O
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Chris Wilson (@FreshPeel) shares a neat idea for testing content headlines with bit.ly and Twitter. http://bit.ly/70ZDo #testing #fb
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How to Perfect Your #Headlines with #Twitter | http://bit.ly/OsUPe
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great post re: testing links in twitter: http://bit.ly/4pZoIw
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Chris,
I’ve done the same thing to test blog post titles. I agree it’s an effective method to see what resonates with your Twitter stream, but would caution against over-testing, since tweeting the same content over and over (even with a different headline) will get tiresome for some of your followers. And the more engaged they typically are with your content, the more it will annoy them.
How to Perfect Your Headlines with Twitter http://bit.ly/V5G9i (via @FreshPeel)
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Mandy,
Thanks for the comment. You bring up a great point. It’s important to keep your audience in mind here because if you don’t you could quickly become a nuisance at best and possibly a spammer, if you aren’t careful. I hope to address this topic again in the future, because I’ve found that there is even more opportunity in tracking all of your content in this way so that you can zero in on which words and phrases hit home with your audience. When apply theory to more than just a single headline or single piece of content, you can reveal greater insights and there is less risk becoming annoying because you aren’t linking to the same post or article every single time.
How to perfect your Twitter headlines…and improve clicks! Seriously good read! http://ow.ly/vUjs
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How to Perfect Your Headlines with Twitter http://ow.ly/wya7
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