The Twitter Algorithm - What Exactly You Need to Know in 2021?

Twitter is one of the top platforms that is used by many creators, solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, and influencers to create their brands. How your posts are shown to users depends totally on the Twitter algorithm.

Source: Unsplash

The algorithm changed in 2017 with “While You Were Away” with “In Case You Missed It”. If you’re following hundreds of accounts, you can’t catch up on all the posts.

This is the major reason to change the algorithm in 2017 and its post-engagement continues. Before we get into the further details of the current algorithm, it’s important to know these things:

1. The Twitter timeline is a mix of various content such as algorithms and real-time.

2. You can turn off the Twitter algorithm in your Twitter feed if you want.

3. Twitter’s algorithm is constantly evolving.

Turn off Your Twitter Algorithm

In 2018, the option was added on Twitter to toggle between the latest Tweets and top Tweets in your real-time feed. You can turn off your Twitter algorithm with just one click on the sparkles icon on the top menu.

Most of the users don’t want to scroll in real-time, they want content that catches them faster when they visit the platform. But most of the users want to see others’ posts other than their followers. So, that’s why it’s difficult to understand how the Twitter algorithm works.

Source: Twitter Home Page

The Twitter algorithm changes with the release of new features- but how does it affect your reach and exactly how you can avoid low engagement on your content in 2021? Overall it depends on the various features that marketers should use to reach out to more audiences.

The 5 key Ranking Factors that Decide the Ranking of Posts

Like many other social media platforms, Twitter also shows content in reverse chronological order in its early years. But now Twitter intelligence decides which posts have to be ranked on the top of the user’s feed.

The algorithm checks some ranking standards of your posts while making decisions. Let’s look at what exactly you need to follow to rank your post and visibility on the platform.

According to Twitter, the ranking factor of a tweet depends upon how many accounts you interact with, engage with, and much more. Every algorithm has its sauce of ranking. Here’s what Twitter has shared about their ranking factor of top tweets.

1. Recency

• How recently you published a tweet.

2. Relevancy

• Keywords used in a tweet and how much people are engaged with that same hashtag used by other creators.

3. Engagement

• How much a tweet gets likes, comments, and retweets.

• How many users are engaged with other tweets of the same user?

• How many people connect regularly with the tweet author?

4. Graphics

• The type of graphics used in a tweet (GIF, pictures, videos, polls)

• The type of media with which most of the users interact.

5. Other Factors

• The number of followers of the account.

• The location of the account to the relative other users.

Things You Should do to Boost Your Visibility and Followers

1. Find Your Niche Audience

The most important thing is the theme of your account. Maintaining a theme for your account shows that you’re a professional in that particular field. If you’ll get more engagement on your post in that field, then Twitter gets a signal that you’re a professional and it’ll show your posts whenever someone searches for a keyword related to your niche.

For choosing a theme, you should know your area of interest and then you can choose the field that suits you and in which you have experience as well. You can mix 2 to 3 niches as well, as per your knowledge and interest. Fill a gap in society and you can choose a micro-niche instead of a macro one.

2. Write Down Your Tweets Neatly

Writing a tweet neatly helps a reader to find the line of his interest that gives them a signal to read more. Well-structured posts are easy to understand what the creator wants to say. You just have to follow the main message, second if you have any links, put them in the end, hashtags and if you still have space then add an afterthought.

3. Use Trending Page

A trending page is a great way to reach a wider audience. Most people use their homepage to read out the tweets but many people scroll on the trending page and find posts. You have to target these people because they’ll be your audience.

Post at least one tweet with the trending hashtags. Keep this thing in mind that on Twitter many controversial hashtags are also a trend. Don’t post anything negative by using them because people unfollow negative accounts very quickly. Give your opinion that doesn’t harm anyone’s feelings.

Source: Twitter

4. Follow Super Heros of Your Niche

Who is your niche audience, those who follow the giants of your niche? Here Superheroes means the experts of a particular niche. Experts of your niche have a wider audience of one category. Those who want to read about some particular topic.

They’re your target audience and to reach out to your audience, start commenting on the posts of your niche superheroes. When their followers see your comments that match their interests and find your comment interesting.

Then some of them will check your profile to know more about you and if they find your profile engaging, they will start following you as well.

Source: Katy Perry Twitter Handle

5. Use Threads

Threads are the sure-shot formula to get more engagement. These days twitter threads are used by many new creators and they saw a massive increase in their post-engagement in a short time.

New trends on the platform are always pushed by the algorithm and people also love that content. In threads, people share something in depth, so the users get everything in one place.

When creators help a user then the audience starts following them for more information. If you find a sweet spot of your content that algorithm and people both are like. Then you hit the ball out of the park.

6. Follow Twitter Etiquettes

Etiquette is the most important thing on every platform. Don’t spam because spammers can’t survive long on any platform and don’t build an audience as well.

There is a thing on social media that the more you post and engage with your audience, the more they connect with you. But that doesn’t mean that you post anything and expect them to engage with your posts.

You can post 10 Tweets a day but think about your followers, if you post 10 posts in one hour then their home page will be filled with your posts only. You can post tweets at a different time in a day, according to the rules of Twitter.

7. Tweet the Highest Retweeted Tweets

The tweets that have a good number of retweets are the ones that are liked by many people. If you retweet the same tweet then your followers or new users will see that tweet and in that case, you’ll also get engagement because of that tweet.

So, always find the tweets with the highest number of retweets that will help you to grow your audience as well.

Through retweeting, you and the tweet holder of you get a benefit because of that particular tweet. The followers of both will see that tweet, and that’ll help you to increase the engagement on your profile.

Source: Twitter Support Handle

8. Pay Attention to Twitter Timing.

You spend hours on a post while researching, creating, editing, and then the next step comes when you should publish that post. It’s important to tweet at a peak time to get more responses, especially when your growth depends on these posts.

According to research from Hootsuite, the best time to post is different for different people and platforms. For increasing your organic growth, follow your Twitter analytics and the time according to your search. View your account analytics to check when your audience came online and post at that time for higher engagement.

9. Use Hashtags

Hashtags are a great way to get the attention of users, increase viewership. Use trending hashtags, these hashtags will help people to find your content. Don’t overuse them because using a lot of hashtags may look cool but that’s not good for your reach.

According to Twitter 2 hashtags are good for a tweet, not more than that. Follow hashtags that are used for search optimization because they’ll help users to find your content. You can create your hashtag as well, and share that while connecting with others. They can follow that hashtag for updates.

Source: Lay's India Twitter Handle

10. Use Twitter Analytics

Use your Twitter account analytics to track what works and what’s not for your reach, and use analytics wisely for better reach accordingly. You can check your best performance tweet and share similar tweets for more engagement. You can make your strategy through Twitter analytics for your next goal on Twitter.

Your Twitter analytics is the best tool that you have, if you use it wisely then you can grow your followers fast and organically. Everything about your followers, tweets, retweets, comment and like, you’ll get to know everything.

Conclusion

The Twitter Algorithm is not rocket science to understand but you have to know the basics of it to grow your audience.

Gaining responses from users is not a big task, you just need to follow the right strategy. Use the effective tips of the article and see a massive change in your account.