Using the Built-In Twitter Analytics to Improve Your Tweets

A person sits at a desk looking thoughtfully at a computer screen with text that reads analytics.

When it comes to social media, you want to make sure you’re paying attention to your analytics. Inside your analytics is a wealth of data that can help you shape your content strategy and generate the ROI you desire. For those reasons, they simply cannot be ignored!

Luckily, many platforms have their own built-in analytics. That provides easy access to this essential information. However, more often than not, creators seem to neglect those built-in analytics platforms in favor of the data provided by their social media scheduler. This seems to happen time and time again, especially when it comes to Twitter analytics.

With this article, it’s time for that to change! Gone are the days of not using Twitter analytics. If you want to truly become a power user on the platform, now is the time to dive in. All you have to do is keep reading and you’ll discover everything you need to know about using this feature.

What’s Twitter Analytics?

Twitter analytics is a built-in dashboard that provides creators with pertinent information regarding the performance of their accounts. Here, you’ll be able to view key metrics such as follower growth/loss, impressions, engagement rate, and many others. In many cases, it provides more information than third-party tools. That’s why it’s a worthwhile feature to explore.

Which Accounts Can Use Twitter Analytics?

Before we go any further, there are eligibility requirements your account has to meet in order to access Twitter analytics. Here’s what you need to know:

  • Your account has to primarily tweet in one of the following languages: Arabic, Brazilian, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, English, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, or Turkish.
  • Your account must also be at least 14 days old.
  • You also cannot be in violation of any of Twitter’s policies.

How to Access Twitter Analytics

All you have to do is visit the desktop website for a full view of the analytics dashboard. To do this, open Twitter in your web browser. Once you’re there, click “More” in the navigation on the left (look for the circle icon with three dots). Then, click “Creator Studio,” followed by “Analytics.” The full dashboard will open in a new window, providing you with access to all the information you want. Another way is by going directly to analytics.twitter.com.

Unfortunately, the Twitter mobile app doesn’t feature the analytics dashboard. However, it is worth noting that, while on mobile (and desktop too), you can view tweet activity for individual tweets. This will show you things like impressions, engagements, etc. Handy for when you’re on the go!

What Are the Benefits of Using Twitter Analytics?

There are a couple of key benefits of using Twitter analytics that should make this a staple when it comes to your social media management efforts.

1. You’ll Discover What Resonates With Your Audience

Inside your Twitter analytics, you’ll find valuable insights that will show you which posts are most popular with your audience. After all, some tweets are bound to generate more engagement than others. Then, you can replicate the success of those tweets with the content you publish in the future.

For instance, which tweets of yours produce the most engagement? Are they tweets that are centered around a specific topic? Do they feature a photo, video, or GIF? Are they polls? Whatever it is, find ways you can create similar content to improve your tweets.

According to my analytics, one of my top tweets in the past month was me experimenting with a super long tweet.

2. It’s the Easiest Way to Track Growth

If you’re serious about social media marketing, you’ve probably created a spreadsheet or two to track specific metrics over time. It’s a fantastic way to measure growth over months, quarters, and years.

However, one handy thing about Twitter analytics is that there’s a 28-day summary that displays growth (or declines) in some key account metrics. This is visible on the home page of the analytics dashboard, displaying tweet impressions, profile visits, mentions, and followers.

Screenshot inside Twitter analytics, showing the 28-day summary.

Having this information right at your fingertips allows you to quickly assess your account performance. From there, you can make adjustments to your strategy as needed to encourage growth in specific areas.

Using the Built-In Twitter Analytics to Improve Your Tweets

Now, let’s dive into exactly what you can track with Twitter analytics. Let’s break it down by page so you’ll know which metrics to access and where.

The Analytics Home Page

When you first open Twitter analytics, there is a dedicated home page that is essentially an overview of your most important metrics. At the top of the page is the 28-day summary, which was mentioned above. But as you keep scrolling, you’ll see highlights from previous months.

Those highlights include the following:

  • Top tweet (based on number of impressions)
  • Top mention (based on engagement)
  • Top media tweet (ones that include an image or video)
  • Top follower (the person with the most followers who started following you in that month)

Screenshot of Twitter analytics, showing the top tweet, top mention, and more for one month.

But how are you supposed to use this information as a creator?

Well, you can try to recreate the success of your top tweet and your top media tweets by creating similar content. When you create content that resonates with your audience, they’ll be more inclined to follow you and engage. That’s crucial! However, you may also want to pay attention to your top follower because they could be someone you’d like to work with for an influencer marketing campaign in the future.

The Tweet Activity Page

For a more in-depth look at how your content performed, the “Tweet Activity” page is a must within your Twitter analytics. This will provide a glimpse of your top-performing content during a specified timeframe. At the top of the page, the first thing you’ll see is a graph showing how many impressions your tweets earned. By default, it shows data for the last 28 days.

From there, you can begin exploring metrics for individual tweets. You can filter this based on tweets in general, top tweets, tweets and replies, and promoted tweets. Here, Twitter shows you the impressions, engagements, and engagement rate for each tweet.

In the right-hand sidebar, there’s more information to explore, including:

  • Engagement rate
  • Link clicks
  • Retweets without comments
  • Likes
  • Replies

Screenshot of Twitter analytics, showing the tweet activity page.

One great way to utilize all of this information is to pay attention to the number of impressions your tweets are receiving. Odds are, you can be doing something to improve this number. After all, everyone wants more eyes on their content, right? So, why not make it happen? Let this data inspire you to find new ways to get your content in front of more people. For instance, tweeting at optimal times or using more relevant hashtags.

As you explore your Twitter analytics, it’s also worth noting which tweets receive the most engagement and have the highest engagement rates. Is there anything that stands out about those tweets that you can recreate? For instance, do the tweets with the most engagement ask questions or feature a poll? Is there an eye-catching graphic? You want to find ways to boost engagement with everything you post.

Related: How to Increase Your Twitter Reach

The Video Activity Page

If you haven’t posted any videos on Twitter, this page is going to look pretty empty for you. However, it’s worth mentioning because Twitter video is a fantastic medium to explore if you haven’t already. And if you start posting videos, you’ll want access to this data to see if your hard work is paying off.

Upon opening this page, you’ll see a graph that displays how many views your videos earned over the specified time frame. It’s set to the last 28 days by default, but this can be changed.

Keep scrolling and you’ll find metrics for individual videos you’ve posted. Twitter analytics will display how many views each video received, as well as their completion rate.

There’s more information in the right-hand sidebar, including:

  • Total minutes viewed
  • Retention

Having this information at your fingertips is a must if you’re creating videos. It’ll help you see whether or not people are actually watching the videos you film. Plus, you’ll be able to see which ones generate the most views and which ones people are watching in full. If you notice your video completion rate is low, you may want to switch up your format. For instance, you could create shorter videos or change your filming style to hold interest.

What Else is Inside Twitter Analytics?

There are some additional Twitter analytics features you may want to explore, however, they won’t be necessary for all users. Those features are an app manager, conversion tracking, and an events manager.

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