The stats don’t lie – if you want to share better tweets, you need to think visually.
Images for Twitter score your tweets more clicks, favorites, and retweets, so it’s no surprise that tweets with photos have 200% more engagment.
But just like you get writer’s block when you’re trying to outline your next blog post, you might get creatively blocked when you’re trying to think of an Twitter images.
Images for Twitter
Everybody gets a little stuck sometimes. Not sure what kind of visual would go best with your next tweet? One of these classics is sure to do the trick.
1. Quotes
Twitter is literally made for sharing soundbite-sized thoughts, making it just about the perfect venue for quotes. They’re super-shareable, which can help you reach tons of new fans in a short period of time, and since they so rarely become outdated, you can put together a list in one sitting and then share them in a trickle over time.
Putting your quote of choice on photos for Twitter makes it more noticeable (and, statistically, more shareable), it gives you the freedom of not adhering to the 140-character rule, and it allows you to add your own commentary. The image doesn’t even have to be particularly bold – all you really need is an attractive typeface, and you’re done.
All there is to it!
Of course, you can always add a snazzy background if you want, too:
Just make sure that your quote is easily legible, and you’re good to go! (Looking for images that make for great quote backgrounds? We’ll have a list of resources where you can find free Twitter images at the end of this post.)
2. Blog Post Pics
Images are perfect for drawing attention to the links you tweet – which is pretty important when you’re using Twitter to drive traffic to your blog. How are big names on Twitter doing it? Usually, in one of two ways. First, treat the image like a header to your post – and that means including the title. Darren Rowse of ProBlogger does it for his podcasts:
That image doesn’t exist at the destination link – it’s something that was created specifically for promoting it on social.
Social Media Examiner, on the other hand, creates images for each of its blog posts that are designed to be used both as a header for the post itself and as a shareable image on social:
And for one more example, Career Contessa takes the headers to its blog posts and modifies them, creating a consistent aesthetic for its blog promo tweets:
Don’t want the tweets promoting your blog posts to be so, well, promote-y? There’s another way to do things, too.
Just like we mention in our guide to writing better blog posts, your posts should already have images throughout – they’re useful visual aids, they break up huge walls of text, and they give you material for your social sharing.
This tweet from Help Scout is the perfect example:
That image itself isn’t explicitly promotional – it was created to go in the body of the blog post – and that means it promotes the post indirectly. We do the same thing with our own tweets that promote blog posts:
(Plus, that one promotes a blog post AND features a quote! Score!)
Charts, stats, and graphs are perfect for this, too. Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media frequently uses these types of visual aids in his blog posts, and they’re perfect for catching someone’s attention on Twitter, too:
Keep your social media in mind while you work on your blog posts – that way, you’ll have the best Twitter pictures that perfectly complement the links you’re tweeting all lined up and ready to go!
3. Behind the Scenes
Twitter’s handy for casual, conversational, off-the-cuff kinds of updates – and that includes giving your followers a peek behind the scenes of what you’re doing!
Sometimes a behind-the-scenes pic is a way of sharing special insights. Case in point? Most live events like conferences and seminars actually encourage people to share their best Twitter photos using a branded hashtag, so anyone interested can easily find more content from other attendees. (That could include you!)
You don’t have to go to special events to tweet behind-the-scenes pics, though.
Sometimes it might just be a look at your workspace, like this one from author Maureen Johnson:
Or a glimpse at what keeps you going, like this one from author Bethany Jett:
(Clearly, authors have got this Twitter thing down.)
Lifestyle and travel bloggers are also total role models when it comes to how to post photos on Twitter. On the one hand, yes – their type of behind-the-scenes image is especially relevant to their brand, and may not be as good a fit for just any business.
On the other hand, though, a tweet like this one from Little Miss Katy shows how you can take something simple, sprinkle in some style and personality, and turn it into an eye-catching peek at what goes on in your biz:
Even if your everyday lifestyle isn’t your business quite the way it is for bloggers like these, they’re still a great source of inspiration for this type of tweet!
4. Promotions
Promotions are one of those things that you can easily tweet without an image – but given how effective images are, why would you?
Even if you could make the same point using text alone, an image tweet is more noticeable and likely to get better engagement – and whipping one up is easy no matter the occasion.
Melyssa Griffin of The Nectar Collective, for example, uses them to draw attention to her upcoming Twitter chats:
Cat Crawford uses them to announce webinars:
Whatever you’re promoting, an image is the perfect way to share relevant details that might go unnoticed in a text-only tweet. Like in the case of the Nectar Collective tweet above, you might not even be sharing a link – just using the image to spruce up an announcement, though, can make it go a lot further.
Our Favorite Resources
Ready to start whipping up some images of your own? Try these free resources to create images your followers will love:
Image editing
Free images
What will you try first?
You now have plenty of inspiration to up your game with Twitter pics. Do you have a preferred way of sharing pictures on Twitter? Which idea will you try first? Let us know in the comments!
