Practise tweets without links get more traction on Twitter? Hootsuite'southward social media team had a hunch that they do. So they decided to test the theory to find out.

Plus, nosotros unpacked the results with Hootsuite'due south global social date specialist, Nick Martin.

Could it be that Twitter's algorithm favours tweets that keep people on the platform? Or are linkless tweets merely what the people want?

Probably a flake of both. But there'southward only one way to find out: Let'south become into it.

Bonus: Download the free 30-day plan to grow your Twitter post-obit fast, a daily workbook that will aid you plant a Twitter marketing routine and track your growth, so you can show your boss existent results after ane month.

Hypothesis: Tweets without links will get more appointment and achieve

In social media marketing, we often over-rely on data to inform ideas. But sometimes it takes an idea or an observation to uncover a data trend.

In this case, Hootsuite'due south global social engagement specialist Nick Martin noticed when @Hootsuite tweeted without links, the tweets seemed to get more than appointment than tweets that include links. "It'southward just something that we stumbled across," he says.

How exercise we define "linkless tweets"? For the purposes of this experiment, nosotros define a linkless tweet every bit a tweet that only contains obviously text. That means no images, videos, GIFS, polls, or even hashtags and @ mentions. And obviously, no ow.ly brusque links, long links, or other links of any kind. Just words.

Methodology

For this loose experiment, Hootsuite's social media team carried out its usual Twitter strategy, which includes tweets with and without links.

Betwixt Oct 2020 and January 2021, the fifteen-week period nosotros measured, Hootsuite's account published 568 tweets. When we eliminate replies and retweets, we air current up with 269 tweets. Roughly 88% of these tweets incorporate a link.

In other words, almost 9 out of every 10 tweets sent from Hootsuite'south account during this menstruum contain a link.

In that location are a couple of variables worth noting. Within this timeframe, a number of Hootsuite's tweets were promoted into paid ads. None of them were linkless tweets.

Hootsuite's social media team also used Amplify, an employee advancement tool, to boost engagement on select tweets. Again, none of them were linkless tweets.

In short, linked tweets had the upper hand.

Methodology Overview

Time frame: xv weeks (October 2019—January 2021)

Number of tweets: 269

Percentage of linkless tweets: 12%

Linked tweets: Some paid + Dilate

Linkless tweets: Organic

Results

To compare the functioning of tweets with and without links, we used the Twitter Report in Hootsuite Analytics. From the Twitter tabular array, tweets can exist sorted by Retweets, Replies, and Likes.

TL;DR: Tweets without links, on average, got more engagement and reach. More than than half (56%) of Hootsuite's almost engaged with tweets did not contain links to external sources.

That's pretty significant considering just 12% of Hootsuite's tweets during the experiment time frame were linkless—and they were all organic. The #one most liked and retweeted tweet—by a long shot—was a 1-sentence linkless tweet with a grand total of 11 words or 67 characters.

Permit's look a little closer at the results.

Results based on retweets

Linkless Tweets results table

Source: Hootsuite

V of the superlative 8 nearly retweeted tweets are linkless. For perspective, that would be similar The holy see (the least populated country in the globe) winning the almost gold medals in the Olympics. Linkless tweets are conspicuously punching mode higher up their weight.

Remember, not merely are there mode fewer linkless tweets, many linked tweets were promoted or supported past Dilate, which is the case for all iii of the linked tweets here.

"If we left a linked post without boosting it, it would never receive the level of appointment our linkless posts receive," explains Martin.

Results based on likes

Linkless Tweets results table based on likes

Source: Hootsuite

Hither again, five out of the top eight most liked tweets are linkless. If you include the respond to the McDonalds tweet, linkless tweets business relationship for 75% of @Hootsuite'due south most-liked tweets.

It'south the equivalent of Gritty single-handedly skating circles effectually the all-time v-player hockey shift the Philadelphia Flyers could throw at him. That'south a lot of grit.

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Get the gratuitous guide right now!

What do the results mean?

Most of Hootsuite's linkless tweets are a mix of witticisms and reminders. Virtually all of them flaunt Hootsuite's friendly, tongue-in-neb brand personality.

"We try to make sure every mail strikes an emotion," says Martin. "We aim to be inspiring, humorous, or tug a little at the heartstrings."

And then what makes this formula click? Here's our analysis:

Link CTAs may deter engagement

The well-nigh obvious reason why linkless tweets outperform linked tweets is that at that place'southward usually a telephone call-to-activity involved with the latter. "When there'southward no CTA, there are no expectations," says Martin. "We're not trying to push button anything, we're but joining a conversation."

Calls to "click here" or "read this commodity" may distract people from tapping the eye, retweet, or answer icons. That may be fine if conversions are what yous're after, merely because the Twitter algorithm favours appointment, a direct CTA could hinder the reach of your tweet.

Linkless tweets may boost overall date levels

Turning social into a two-way chat builds trust, community, and engagement. And that engagement can eventually transfer to linked posts. "Since we've started sending out more linkless tweets, nosotros've seen the engagement levels of our CTA posts go up a fiddling," Martin says.

Aim to strike a balance between linked and linkless tweets.

"When yous build community and push CTAs less frequently, it makes your telephone call-to-actions seem more valuable and important," says Martin.

Twitter'southward algorithm may favor linkless tweets

Martin suspects linkless tweets are likely favoured by the Twitter algorithm, too. "A tweet without a link in it won't directly people abroad from Twitter," he says.

They also don't direct people away from engaging with the tweet. And the Twitter algorithm favors tweets that get engagement.

Information technology'due south worth tapping a trending topic

For the most office, brands should focus on their subjects of expertise. "Sympathize what your brand talks nigh, and own that topic," says Martin.

That fashion, when in that location's an opportunity to share your brand'southward perspective to a trending bailiwick, you can.

A little personality goes a long way

"When you add personality, you're not a faceless make anymore," explains Martin. "That'south why I think Wendy's has done so well. They've been a prime example of a make that successfully stepped away from sounding robotic on social media."

Images don't e'er boost date

Conventional social media wisdom tells the states that a captivating prototype is required to get attention. Merely that's non always the case, at to the lowest degree on Twitter.

"In our tests, linkless tweets with an image or a GIF don't perform as well every bit plain text, at least at the moment," Martin says. Same goes for hashtags.

Less is more when information technology comes to word count

Hot takes, 1-liners, morale boosts, and pithy statements are what the Twitter community excels at.

"The posts that work all-time for us are often only one sentence," says Martin. "Don't be as well long-winded. If it's a wall of text, people might scroll correct by information technology."

Never underestimate the Swift effect

If nosotros've learned annihilation hither, it'south that the Swifties are e'er on standby. Hootsuite'due south tweet nigh Taylor Swift was the most popular past all accounts.

So if Taylor Swift could share her popularity tips, that would also be cracking.

Conclusion

So, how to explain the ROI of hot takes in your next social media written report? Social media can be weird and wonderful (and awful). For the most part, social marketers have the whims of the algorithms and the people to give thanks for that.

Only when y'all take a footstep away from the data, it only makes sense that tweets without a sales calendar practise better than those with 1. And then consider adding a little personality and community-building to your Twitter strategy.

That way when it comes time for the pitch, you might just have more people listening

Manage your Twitter presence alongside your other social channels and save time using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard, you tin can schedule and publish posts, appoint your audience, and measure out operation. Try information technology free today.

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