We’re humbly bragging that ‘we knew it would’ for this reason alone – our clients are the best storytellers in the biz. Now, they have a new avenue to tap into their endless creativity. 

Here are the best examples posted within hours of SND’s launch of Twitter Carousels for organic Tweets:

7. Bears Head Coach, Scroll through Finalists

SND is part of Twitter’s pilot program for its new ‘Carousels’ feature so this is just the beginning-which is pretty exciting! Wondering what’s next for ‘Carousels’?… Two things; we’re working on analytics so you can get the data you need. And more of your good ideas. Keep them coming and tag @socialnewsdesk in the comments. 

If you don’t have SND Dashboard yet, but you want to test this feature and others, email us.

The post Twitter ‘Carousels’ Takes Off (Because SND Clients Know What To Do With Great New Features) first appeared on Social News Desk.

To create a Twitter Carousel, create a new post and select a Twitter account. Click the “Add Twitter Carousel” option under the Post Text box.

Add your first link in the Website URL field. SND will automatically scrape the metadata from the URL. You can customize the headline for the Twitter Carousel item. If you wish to upload a custom thumbnail or a video, click the Upload button. You may need to crop the thumbnail image to conform to Twitter’s guidelines. Keep in mind that you can use all photos or all videos, but you cannot mix media types in a Twitter Carousel.

To add additional items to your Twitter Carousel, click the Add More button. If you have multiple Twitter Carousel items, you can reorder them by dragging and dropping using the 6-dot handle on the left side.

The post How to use Twitter’s new ‘Carousels’ feature for organic Tweets first appeared on Social News Desk.

Breaking News

When a news story is fresh, you may only have a couple of photos from the scene. Add each photo to a Twitter Carousel and link each to the story on your website. Consider adding a Twitter Carousel item linking to your main website, and another to your news app to encourage followers to download and stay on top of updates.

Severe Weather Coverage

Add multiple carousel items to highlight links directly to the latest radar images, severe weather watches and warnings, and updates on storm damage. You can also include videos to showcase the storm’s path and a brief update from your meteorologists. Add a Twitter Carousel item to link directly to your app download page, so followers can stay ahead of the storm.

COVID-19 Updates

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, make sure you’re giving followers the complete story. A single Twitter Carousel can contain updates on case counts, the latest information on where to get tested, and reminders about quarantine procedures in case of positive test results.

Ongoing Investigative Coverage

Major news investigations often have several facets – as new details are uncovered, additional stories may be published. Adding multiple Twitter Carousel items gives your followers the background they need to understand all aspects of a complicated story.

Sports Roundups

Use Twitter Carousels to produce a mini-sportscast. Share highlight videos with links to individual stories from the wide world of sports, or add score updates from multiple games to a single Tweet. Sports columnists can share their latest column, and add additional links to related stories.

User-Generated Content

From sunset photos to Halloween costumes to first day of school photos, sharing user-generated content is still a fun way to make social media a two-way conversation. Feature up to 6 photos at once, and link to the full gallery on your website for additional traffic.

Looking for more? Reach out to us anytime.

The post 6 creative ways newsrooms can use Twitter’s NEW ‘Carousels’ feature in SND first appeared on Social News Desk.

It’s called ‘Carousels’ and even though Twitter is still testing it… Social News Desk is part of the Pilot Program so that means it’s live right now in SND Dashboard. And you can be first to get in on it by logging in now.

If your news org’s Twitter account has long been on Autopilot (that’s SND’s version of intelligent automation) – you’re in the majority. It’s an easy way to consistently get content posted regularly.

Enter ‘Carousels’ – ready-to-use organic carousel formats for organic tweets that enable to you change the way you push out news on Twitter. Here’s how:

1. Customize the Format
2. Deliver Better Stories
3. Drive Calls to Action (note: Calls, plural)

If you’re already using SND Dashboard, it’s yours to try right now. Here’s why you should…

• Improve Storytelling – deliver richer content that grabs attention on Twitter.
• Multiple Media Types – Carousels allows image, video and article carousels. You can use all of it.
• Interactive, Swipeable Cards – horizontal media swipes provide a format change.
• Customized Destinations – add single or multiple destinations to diversify your message and URLs.

^^^ Pattern interrupt! That’s killer. It means you can send traffic more than one direction and tell a story with multiple elements.

Can you do all this through SND? YES! That’s why we’re doubly excited. Here’s a quick video to show you how it works…

Why Use Carousels?  

1. To Drive Engagement (stand out in the crowd, get attention, drive engagement)
2. To Foster Immediate Action (the multiple calls-to-action has our head spinning in every direction)
3. To Have More Flexibility (creative, customizable, but easy)

Coming Soon: The Data Will Be All Yours:

• More Data Available to You: Analytics are a mix of Ads and Public API data.
• More Granularity: You’ll get engagement metrics for each slide.
• General Metrics: Track RTs and other engagement metrics just like regular, organic Tweets

We’ll keep you posted as ‘Twitter Carousels’ data becomes more available!

Newsrooms we’ve talked to see this as a huge opportunity to get content noticed, increase engagement and drive extra traffic. And by the way, if you’re having trouble figuring out how to post a Carousel natively on Twitter… that’s because it isn’t available there. So you can stop looking.

We can’t wait to start showing off creative Carousels courtesy of our clients. Tag @socialnewsdesk in the comments of yours and we’ll feature it!

Need inspiration? Here are 6 ways to use Twitter’s New ‘Carousels’ for organic tweets.

Want to chat about it? We’re here for you – support@socialnewsdesk.com

The post Twitter just launched ‘Carousels’ for organic Tweets – and it’s live in SND first appeared on Social News Desk.