Using Twitter's Algorithm to Your Advantage: Zero-Click Tweets

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Learn what are Zero-Click Tweets and how to use them to get more engagement

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Using Twitter's Algorithm to Your Advantage: Zero-Click Tweets

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One of the biggest myths around Twitter is that adding links to your tweets reduces their reach.

There’s no official information from Twitter on the matter, but experienced users know that this is true. Some have even been doing tests and the results speak for themselves:

From experience, we can 100% ensure you that adding links to your tweets impacts reach in a negative way. Tests like the one Ryan did only reaffirm this.

And it’s understandable. Twitter wants its users to STAY on the platform, so they reward content that does exactly that.

Knowing this, how can you take advantage of it?

You need to create content that makes people STAY on Twitter. You need to create Zero-Click Tweets.

What is Zero-Click Content?

Zero-click content is the type of content that can be consumed without the need for the audience to take any further action.

We are talking about the type of content that can stand on its own feet.

It’s the opposite of posting a link to a blog post or a newsletter that requires people to click through to read it.

This means engaging content that can be consumed quickly and easily. It doesn’t need links or anything “external” to be valuable to the reader.

Amanda Natividad popularized this term in her Zero-Click Content article for SparkToro.

How does Zero-Click Content fit with your Twitter strategy?

Creators use platforms like Twitter as “top of the funnel,” meaning their ultimate goal is to use the platform to generate traffic for their projects and businesses.

One would think that the reasonable way to do that is by adding links to your content. But if we know that Twitter doesn’t reward links…what should we do?

Here’s where a Zero Click Content approach comes into action.

Its goal is not to drive traffic, at least not directly. The goal is to generate enough value for the reader that it builds trust and attention.

Then, once you have that trust and attention, you can turn them to whatever they want.

Let’s say you are a newsletter creator. How would you use a Zero-Click approach to grow your newsletter on Twitter?

You could start by chopping up your long-form newsletter into smaller chunks. Then pick some of those chunks and turn them into standalone tweets.

Or you could turn the entire issue into a thread.

If those are valuable enough, it will generate engagement on Twitter. That engagement leads to new audiences finding you. And, if your creator funnel is set the right way, those new followers will turn into newsletter subscribers.

Also, if you are looking to earn money with Twitter, this is a good way to start.

What makes a Zero-Click Tweet?

Top writers say that creating for Twitter is way harder than writing a long-form article or newsletter.

The reason is that, to write a good tweet, you need to strip down what you are trying to say into just the essentials, while still making it engaging, while fitting it into only 280 characters.

In short, a Zero-Click Tweet needs to be

Insightful

Focused (one idea per tweet)

Work as a standalone piece of content

How can you create Zero-Click Tweets?

Two parts go into making Zero-Click Tweets. The first one is getting to the core of what you are trying to say, AKA figuring out the insight. The second one is to make that insight engaging.

Let’s see it in detail 👇

1. Figuring out the insight

This part is usually way harder than the actual writing. Remember, you only have 280 characters to make your point, so you need to be very clear about what that point is going to be.

The best result is when you start from an existing piece of content (a blog post, newsletter, podcast episode, etc.).

Some creators simply turn that paragraph into bullet points to get to the core.

Personally, I like to use what I call the “Headline Framework.” In short, the focus is on generating “headlines,” AKA content ideas, to THEN create the content from there.

You can read it in detail here.

2. Make it engaging

Once we have our core idea stripped down, we need to dress it back up for Twitter.

The easiest way to do this is to focus on the type of content that works best on Twitter. We are talking about content that prioritizes blank space and follows high readability formats.

The idea is that you use some of these formats and combine them with the core insights we’ve unraveled. Some format ideas:

Step-by-step type of tweets

Lists

And bullet points

These are just a few examples of Zero-Click Tweets. You can find 7 more examples on our 10 Fill-In-The-Blank tweet templates to get more likes, retweets, and followers article.

Each of these tweets shares one core insight (steps to success, tool stack, and journey to writing well).

They all are insightful, focused, and work as a standalone piece of content. They are Zero-Click Tweets.

Trust the Zero-Click process.

When you create Zero-Click content, you are keeping people on Twitter, which is exactly what the platform wants. At the same time, your tweets will generate more engagement because they will be 100% geared to that.

That trust and attention that you are building will turn into traffic. And not just any type of traffic. High-quality traffic from an audience that trusts you.

I know it feels counterintuitive to not redirect your audience DIRECTLY to what you want, but you need to trust the process with this one.