Looking for ways to improve post performance on X?
The platform formerly known as Twitter has taken something of a reputational hit of late, as more right-wing discussion points seemingly dominate the conversation. However, X is still used by more than 500 million people each month, and the app can facilitate connection to a wide range of audiences across various subjects.
Indeed, while political engagement on X has become a bigger focus in the discussions surrounding the app, it’s worth noting that based on X’s own topic insights, politics is down on the list in terms of most discussed subjects.
Food, music, gaming and sports all see more discussion than politics in the app, with many highly engaged, focused communities in these niches still logging in and posting to the platform every day.
So while there are brand safety concerns and possible ideological conflicts related to the platform’s ownership, there is also data that shows there is still opportunity for many brands in the app.
For social media marketers looking to make X a bigger focus, or improve the performance of updates, some recently shared notes from X and from NiemanLab may help.
- Link posts get less reach on X – X itself has repeatedly denied this, with the platform’s Head of Product Nikita Bier saying that link clicks are higher than they’ve ever been in the app. But according to an analysis of 200 tweets from 18 different publishers conducted by NiemanLab, posts with link clicks definitely see less reach.
- Sharing more context in-stream – In a recent discussion with two New York Times journalists on X, Bier said that many publications that post links are not seeing less reach because they’ve included links, but rather because their posting approach was outdated. Bier said that the NYT hasn’t experimented with its captions on X posts in 20 years, relying on a simple sentence explainer to lead users to click through to the post. Bier added that if the NYT “allocated just 1% of their Word Game budget to thoughtfully authoring content here, it would be a huge win for the world and journalism generally.” In other words, Bier’s view is that X’s algorithm favors more descriptive posts, not links, and that by providing more context within the post itself, or posting longer threads that summarize some of the key points, publishers could get more reach. This runs counter to the traditional publisher model of using social platforms to drive traffic back to their own sites.
- Breaking News – The NiemanLab study also showed that including the terms “Breaking” or “Breaking News:” drove higher post engagement. According to the data, New York Times tweets that began with “Breaking News:” saw 4x more engagement than the publication’s average posts. At the same time, X is looking to reduce the impact of using “Breaking.” Late last week, Bier said that X will soon be looking to combat “habitual bait posters who use ‘BREAKING’ on every post.”
- Don’t repost clips from other platforms – Bier said that reposts from third party networks, such as a video with a TikTok watermark, will see a 90% reduction on impressions.
These basic pointers on X posting could provide some additional guidance for those looking to maximize their X reach and resonance.
Of course, signing up for X Premium also provides a reach boost, and for brands that are serious about reaching X’s audience, this could be another consideration.
