I see a lot of Twitter users who don’t have a pinned tweet set up on their Twitter account.
The main reason may be that they don’t know what a pinned tweet is, how it works or how to set one up.
Pinned tweets help drive traffic to your blog or website and are a brilliant way of getting you, your books, your blog and your writing some free promotion.
What is a pinned tweet?
A pinned tweet is a tweet that users attach to the top of their Twitter timeline. It’s the first tweet people see when they visit your Twitter profile and is often the tweet that gets the most attention.
You can pin any of your tweets for which you want to get more attention. For example, upon publishing a new blog post, you may want to pin the tweet for the post to your Twitter account.
How do I create a pinned tweet?
- Find a tweet you want to pin to your profile. As I’m being featured on the blog of Teri Polen today, I tweeted the post via the Twitter share button at the bottom of her post so that it appears on my Twitter timeline.
- Click on the meatball menu (the three horizontal dots in the top right of the tweet).
- A new window menu will open.
- Select ‘Pin to your profile‘ from the dropdown menu that appears.
- Press ‘Pin‘ on the window that opens that asks ‘Pin Tweet To Profile?).
- You’ve now created a pinned tweet that will stick to the top of your Twitter timeline until you either replace it or remove it.
How often should I change my pinned tweet?
At least once a month.
Pinned tweets over a month old can look out of date and may contain out of date information.
Old pinned tweets can also make the user look lazy because they are not changing or updating their pinned tweet. Visitors who have visited before will see the same pinned tweet and may not want to retweet it again.
I always share fresh pinned tweets, whereas I don’t retweet pinned tweets I know I have shared before.
I update my pinned tweet at least once every couple of weeks. Doing so encourages visitors to my Twitter account to share and retweet my new tweet. This results in lots of new referrals to my blog or blogs where I’m being featured.
It acts as free promotion for my blog, books and my writing.
As a way of saying ‘thank you’ to those that share my blog posts via Twitter, I retweet their pinned tweet. However, if I’ve retweeted it before, I won’t retweet it.
Ensure you change your pinned tweet at least once a month.
Can I pin the tweets of other users to my Twitter profile?
No. You can only pin your own tweets to your own profile.
Do you have a pinned tweet on your Twitter account? How often do you change it?
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Hugh's Views & News 
Nice one, Hugh. I do re-retweet them, but sometimes I go to a person’s page and think ‘obviously not bothered then, if they haven’t changed it for 6 months!’ I change mine every day. I have masses of tweets that I keep in Bookmarks, and re-use them or look up new review quotes to tweet, new aspects of the books to tweet about.
I try and change my pinned tweet at least once a week, Terry. Sometimes, I will copy and reuse one that I have pinned before, and I’m usually surprised by how many times it gets retweeted again.
Oh, as I tweet my books a lot I use them all a few times before I get bored with them, then go look for different review quotes!! Or sometimes I look in the book itself for quotes. I think how much a tweet gets retweeted depends on how many RTs you do, and how many followers you have. Not because lots of your followers see it, but because if you have a lot, those with only a few thousand think ‘If I RT her she will RT me back, and get by book details out to over 90K people.’ Alas, Twitter doesn’t quite work like that!!!
I change my pinned tweet every time I publish a new blog post, which means it gets updated on a weekly basis, or more frequently if I’ve ended up doing extra blog posts.
That’s great to hear, Tory. Fresh pinned tweets always look far better on Twitter accounts than pinned tweets months and years old.
Yes, I do use pinned tweets and try to swop them out every 2 weeks to a month.
Thank you so much for sharing your post at our Senior Salon Pit Stop.
Pinned to Senior Salon Pit Stop InLinkz Linkup Shares board and tweeted @EsmeSalon with #SeniorSalonPitStop
Good to hear, Esmé. And thank you for sharing the post.
I do this occasionally but should make it more of a habit.
Slightly changing topic – you mention “thanking” people who share your tweets. I’d love to here more thoughts on this. In the book blogging world people regularly do a tweet thanking all the people who shared a particular tweet. Then everyone tagged in that thank you responds with a thank you. It generated a load of clutter in my feed and I question the value. Any thoughts?
Yes, here are my thoughts on that method of saying ‘thank you.’
It’s nice, but the clutter it can generate on your notification timeline can be frustrating and overwhelming. I always mute the conversation so that I don’t get all the notifications. That way, I don’t get all the return ‘thanks yous’, emojis, and responses of a personal nature (e.g. how’s your mum? are you feeling better? how’s the dog? etc. etc. etc.). My recommendation is to mute the conversation if you don’t want all the return clutter.
I never realised I could mute a conversation – just found that today. What a relief not to have all those cluttering messages. Now if only there was a mute button for Gifts and images of cats
The ‘mute’ button is something I’d like to see on WordPress, too. It would be a valuable tool for all those comments that add no value or are from those just wanting a free promotion ride.
Wouldn’t that be wonderful!
Good reminders Hugh. 🙂 xx
I hope so. Thanks, Debby.
Indeed. Will share in my next Writer’s Tips 🙂 x
That’s so kind, thank you, Debby.
I’m a bit in the SM camps with Liesbet, Hugh, I need to tweet more. Instagram and FB are more for personal use now and I hear more people quit those daily. I do like the platforms for some things, but I still feel Twitter is too fast. Thanks for the reminder to pin my tweets, since I post once a week, this will work. I also haven’t used Pinterest much to share my posts, nor LinkedIn. At the end of the day, Twitter may work best for blogging. Lately, I have mostly been using Twitter exclusively to share Sunday Stills posts if bloggers have Twitter. And I better check my Twitter profile again 🙂 Happy Weekend!
Your Sunday Stills posts are perfect for pinning to your Twitter account, Terri. They’ll get changed every week, which is what pinning tweets is all about as more visitors to your Twitter profile are likely to retweet fresh pinned tweets.
As we all know, social media can suck away so much of our time. It’s one of the reasons why I recommend sticking to just a couple of accounts. That way, you’ll have more time to spend on them rather than trying to spread yourself too thinly.
Like anything else, the more time you give something, the better it’ll work for you. My Twitter stats are a great example of that. And many other bloggers can say the same thing about certain social media accounts they give more time to.
Great advice and I will definitely be doing more tweets from my home page and pinning, Hugh! I just updated my profile and rewrote a couple of items about myself.
Thanks for another very useful tip – I sometimes pin posts on Facebook but hadn’t realised that I could do so on Twitter!
You’re welcome, Sarah. I’ve just retweeted your new pinned Tweet.
Thanks for also sharing this post on Twitter.
Reblogged this on The Reluctant Poet and commented:
Check this out!!! Another Great Tip from Hugh!!
I pin other tweets from twitter
I’ve never been able to pin another user’s tweet unless I share their content via a share button (like I explained in this post). Can you tell us how you do it?
Exactly my experience Hugh
I hope she replies because I’d love to know how she does it. From what I can see, it can’t be done unless you retweet their tweet first.
I came to that conclusion too having tried it a few times
Interesting and timely post, Hugh. I recently listened to one of Sally Cronin’s podcasts about book marketing via Twitter and she mentioned the importance of a pinned tweet too. Yes, I still have to do that. Actually, I need to start focusing on Twitter more in general, but I’m already spending too much time on social media as it is. Something will have to give. Probably Instagram. Even though I enjoy taking photos and sharing them. But it’s not very author-like. Priorities… And that constant push and pull between being a writer or a traveler.
You are a master at Twitter (and WordPress) and I truly appreciate you sharing your tips and knowledge. Have a lovely weekend.
Social media can be such a drain on our time, Liesbet. It’s one of the reasons why I always recommend not to spread ourselves too thinly by sticking to just a couple of social media accounts. That way, we’ll have more time to give to them. Like anything, the more time you give to something, the more it’ll work for you. I used to be on Facebook and Instagram but found them not to my liking. We all have favourites and should stick to the ones we like best.
Very informative post Hugh. I use this feature whenever I publish a new blog post. That is every week. I use the auto-share feature in WordPress to share my latest blog post to Twitter and then I pin it to my Twitter profile 🙂 It is very helpful to direct my profile visitors to read my latest blog post.!
I’m glad you mentioned the auto-share feature WordPress offers, Ganga. It’s a great time-saving way to help promote our posts on our social media accounts. Thank you for mentioning it, and it’s great to hear you’re already making use of ‘pinned’ tweets.
That’s great advice, Hugh. I’ve used Twitter for a long time, but I did not know this. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Dan. Being the host of Thursday Doors, you could change your pinned tweet every Thursday.
That’s what I was thinking. Thanks again.
I have pinned a post from time to time on Twitter but didn’t realize it should be changed every now and then. Thanks for that info.
You’re welcome, Darlene. We all like seeing fresh content, don’t we? so changing a pinned tweet at least once a month makes sense. That way, more people are likely to share it.
Good information, Hugh! I use the pin feature, but I should probably change my pinned tweets more often – you give good reasons to do that. 🙂
Yes, people are more likely to retweet fresh pinned tweets rather than keep retweeting the same one, Barbara. After all, we all like seeing fresh content, so it makes sense to change it at least once a month.
You’re right! I just changed mine 🙂
I’ve retweeted it for you.
Thank you!
Is it actually called a meatball menu? It did make me smile! 🙂 I used to change my pinned tweet fortnightly when a new post was published in my blog series, but my current one is about a month old now so will change it. Will follow you on Twitter too 🙂
Yes, those three dots you see all over the web are referred to as a ‘Meatball Menu’. When the dots are vertical, they’re referred to as a ‘Kebab menu.’ I don’t know who give them those names, but they kinda make sense and are fun.
You learn something new everyday!
I like the pinned tweet feature, Hugh. My pinned tweet are heading to 500 retweet!
That’s a great achievement. Well done, Miriam.
Thank you, Hugh.
I did not know this, but I do now and it works! Thanks again maestro!
I’m glad this post has helped, Paul. Remember to change your pinned tweet at least once a month. That way, more people are likely to share it.
Okay thanks, I’ll set myself a reminder!
Oh golly! I haven’t changed my pinned tweet in way too long! Mine is more philosophical as I’m not trying to promote anything right now. Still, you’re right. I’m lazy!
I didn’t even know you were on Twitter because whenever I’ve clicked the Twitter share button at the bottom of your posts, @WordPress.Com shows. Have you connected your Twitter account to your blog? I can point you in the right direction on how to do it.
https://hughsviewsandnews.com/2020/11/18/how-to-connect-your-twitter-account-to-your-wordpress-blog-via-the-new-wordpress-dashboard/
Once done, your Twitter user name will show at the end of tweets whenever anyone clicks the Twitter share button at the bottom of your posts.
Thanks for this amazing tip, Hugh!
You’re welcome, Nadine. I’m glad it’s helped.
I have benefited from a few of your tips! Thanks for sharing them Hugh!
Thank you. I have done this after reading the post about pinned tweets that you made.
By the way I’ve been following you on twitter. My twitter username is @uncchucom. May I request a follow back from you? Thanks.
I’m glad this post has helped. Remember to change your pinned tweet at least once a month so that returning visitors have something new to retweet.
I’ve followed you back on Twitter.
Thanks for following me back on Twitter. Greetings from me.
I’ve set a reminder in the calendar to always change the pinned tweet on twitter.
I am so happy to have found a great blog owner like you. Of course, with writing that is really very useful for bloggers like me.
I’m glad to have been of some help. I’ve learned a lot about blogging over the 8 years I’ve been doing it and enjoy sharing these tips with my readers.
Thanks Hugh, the pin tweet option is useful when you want to add something additional from the profile information and also for sharing timely posts of relevance like the latest work.
Have to admit not updated mine in a while as it extends on my ‘profile info’ but will probably look to refresh soon.
I’d definitely recommend you change your pinned tweet often, James. Even if with a slightly different tweet, people like myself (who dislike retweeting the same pinned tweets) will retweet it for you, thus getting you to an even wider audience. As a ‘thank you’ to those who retweet some of my posts, I will retweet their pinned tweet (only if I’ve not retweeted it before).
I am so excited for this post. I recently started using Twitter and to be perfectly honest, I have no idea what I’m doing. Thank you for explaining a pin post, I am doing mine now. 😁😁
I’m glad this post came at the right time for you. It’s great that you’re using Twitter. Take your time with it, and be sure to engage with other users on it. The more you engage with others, the more followers you’ll get and the more it’ll work for you.
Feel free to leave a link to your Twitter account here so we can follow you on there. I can then share some of your tweets.
Thank you so much Hugh. 😁 Keep in mind when looking at my Twitter page that I am still learning and figuring things out. I’m reading as much as I can and hopefully I will look like a pro soon. 🤣
https://twitter.com/BlogsWebb?t=SD5fRIuRAbLAWqYBF4SrMQ&s=09
As with blogging, it all takes time. But the more you use Twitter, the better acquainted you’ll get with it.
I’m now following you on Twitter.
I like Twitter better than fb