Using Twitter to promote your newsletter

Anna from Revue

Hi there,

Since Revue joined Twitter in January 2021, we’ve been building some great ways to help writers connect their Twitter audience with their newsletter.

We’re not done building useful tools and integrations, but I wanted to collect the best advice we have (so far!) for how to use these tools — including detailed tips on how to make the most of their visual appeal.

Let’s dive in.

Add your newsletter to your Twitter profile

This one is a no-brainer. If you have a Revue newsletter, make sure it’s front-and-center when people land on your Twitter profile.

Your Twitter profile is where people decide that they’re interested enough in you and your work to tap follow. Why not give them the opportunity to subscribe to your newsletter in the same moment?

We built an easy way to do that — here’s how to enable it in Revue. And here’s a great example of a writer, Kevin Roose, using it really well for his newsletter Futureproof:

Here are some tips on making the call-to-action look as great as Kevin’s:

The image that shows up with your newsletter is your Revue profile image. For striking results, pick something different from your Twitter profile image that goes with the tone/topic of your newsletter.
The Subscribe card will use your Issues Description for the text underneath the newsletter title. On Android and iOS, it will truncate with a “…” after 2 lines of text (about 12 words). If you can describe your newsletter in a snappy way, readers will have a clear idea of what they’re getting without it cutting off halfway through. The example above is short and sweet — you can edit your Issues Description by going to the Profile tab in Account Settings.
Pick a striking newsletter name. This one isn’t make-or-break, but the example above doesn’t include the word “Newsletter” in its name, which keeps the card super clean by preventing the repetition of “newsletter” from the section title. We could learn something from that here at The Week in Newsletters…

But your profile isn’t the only place on Twitter where people can subscribe directly to your newsletter.

Tweet links to your Revue profile or newsletter issues

This feature is a new one, and we’re really excited about it. In case you missed the announcement, here’s how it works: when someone Tweets a link to a Revue profile or issue, people who see it in their timeline can subscribe directly from that Tweet.

It’s only available on web right now, but we’re working on bringing it to iOS and Android soon.

Tweeting Revue profiles

When composing a Tweet, add the link to your Revue profile at the end and Twitter will automatically generate a link preview that includes a ‘Subscribe’ button. Like this:

Example of someone Tweeting a Revue profile.

Here’s how to make the most of the profile link previews:

Just like in the example above, your Revue profile picture will show up in your newsletter preview card. We love the absolutely precious photo writer Maureen Gil chose of her dog, Joe Paw, for her newsletter My Life With Joe.
And, once again, Twitter will show your Issues Description underneath the title of your newsletter in the link preview. It will truncate to about 12 words so short and sweet is best.
You’ll notice that the preview card also makes it clear that the content being shared is a newsletter, and it shows the number of subscribers. You can hide that, if you like, by going to Account Settings, then selecting the Settings tab and scrolling to Subscriber Count. Select ‘Hide the number of subscribers on my profile page’.

But that’s not all — Tweeting Revue newsletter issues also generates a link preview.

Tweeting Revue newsletter issues

If you want to show a specific issue of your newsletter instead, add the link to the issue you want to show and Twitter will generate a link preview of the issue. When someone clicks through to read the issue, a ‘Subscribe’ button will appear when they return to their timeline. Like this:

Example of someone Tweeting a Revue issue.

Here’s how to make the most of the issue link previews:

If you have a specific image you would like to use as your thumbnail, you can upload that image when scheduling or sending a newsletter. The preview will use that selected image.
Your subject line will appear as the title of the post, with the name of the newsletter and issue number just under it. It’s always smart to be snappy with your subject lines because they’ll look better in your reader’s inbox. 6-10 words is the sweet spot.
Write a great subject line/preheader combination. If you set a preheader for the issue you Tweet, Twitter will show the it in the preview. Learn how to add a preheader to your issues here — and check out this post for tips on how to nail them.
If you don’t set a preheader, Twitter will show about 30 words of your introductory text before truncating. If you don’t add an introduction, Twitter will show the first 30 words (approximately) of text in the issue. Since introductions are often dominated by greetings or welcomes, we’d recommend using the preheader feature to give your readers more information about the issue itself.

Coming next…

I’ve gone into detail here about how to make the most of the tools we’re building — but engaging with an audience on Twitter is about more than just Tweeting links and asking people to subscribe to your work.

Next week, I plan to go deep on how to use Twitter to build your community, and how to create a feedback loop between your timeline and your newsletter. Let me know if you have any particular questions in that area that you’d like me to address — just hit reply and I’ll see your message.

That’s all from me today. See you back here next week!

Until next time,

Anna

Did you enjoy this issue? Yes No

Using Twitter to promote your newsletter

Older messages

How to merge your newsletters

Subscribe from Tweets: Best practices

Subscribe from Tweets: A new feature for Revue writers

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