Introduction
Staying top of mind on Twitter is essential, but constantly creating compelling tweets is tough. This causes many accounts to post sporadically or even abandon Twitter altogether.
But did you know that consistent posting leads to a whopping 150% higher engagement on average? Scheduling tweets enables maintaining this steady cadence easily.
While third-party schedulers were once required, Twitter launched native functionality to queue tweets in May 2020. In this 2,500 word guide, we’ll dive into step-by-step instructions for using Twitter‘s built-in tool to schedule tweets 100% free.
You’ll learn:
- How to access Twitter‘s scheduling tool
- Choosing optimal posting times
- Managing existing scheduled tweets
- Pro tips for scheduling tweet success
Arm yourself with an efficient scheduling workflow to save time, organize content, and watch your Twitter grow.
Why Scheduling Tweets Matters
Posting consistently keeps you front of mind while enabling audiences to expect and look forward to your tweets. But crafting fresh, engaging tweets daily poses an immense challenge for most accounts.
This leads to sporadic posting or even abandoning Twitter as social managers struggle balancing creating content with their other responsibilities.
However, analyses reveal that accounts posting frequently see over 150% higher engagement on average compared to inconsistent counterparts. Maintaining a steady cadence is that impactful.
Additionally, scheduled posting enables planning content around your audience’s most active times to increase visibility and response potential even further.
But how can you keep content flowing consistently without spending all day on Twitter? This is where tweet scheduling comes in clutch…
The Power of Tweet Scheduling
Tweet scheduling tools empower you to carefully plan, organize, and queue content in advance for automated posting later.
Instead of scrambling to craft tweets on the fly each day, you can carve out blocks for creative ideation and content creation upfront. Schedule these tweets out over the subsequent days or weeks so they get published automatically even when you’re focusing on other tasks.
Strategic scheduling stabilizes posting consistency while freeing up time compared to daily manual tweeting. Planning ahead also reduces repetitive stress injuries for heavy social media users compared to constant typing.
In addition to conserving time and energy, scheduling tweets based around your audience’s peak engagement windows directly boosts visibility and response potential.
Increased Engagement Rates Prove It
Studies by Sprout Social and other leading platforms verifyTweet scheduling’s value, with scheduled posts seeing much higher engagement on average:
As you can see, carefully scheduled tweets attract far more likes, retweets, clicks and conversions.
But scheduling was only possible through external social media management platforms until recently…
Twitter Launches Free Native Scheduling
Recognizing the demand for more efficient social media management, Twitter introduced built-in functionality to schedule tweets natively starting in 2020.
This removed the requirement of using third-party scheduling tools. But Twitter‘s free tool does come with certain limitations:
Limitations
- Only available on desktop site, not mobile app
- Allows scheduling only one year in advance max
- Time zone automatically set based on your location
- Does not provide robust analytics compared to paid tools
- No social inbox to handle DMs and mentions
So while convenient for basic scheduling, many social media managers leverage paid platforms providing expanded capabilities. These can offer posting farther in advance, team collaboration tools, deep analytics, a social inbox, and more.
But for scheduling tweets alone, Twitter‘s free built-in functionality works perfectly fine. Now let‘s explore setting this up step-by-step…
Step 1: Access Twitter‘s Desktop Site
The first step is accessing Twitter on your desktop rather than mobile. This is because the native scheduling tool is only available on the desktop version as of now.
Open Twitter In Your Browser
Visit www.twitter.com in any browser on a laptop or computer. Ensure you do not open their mobile website or mobile app though, as scheduling won‘t be possible there.
Many attempt scheduling through the Twitter app at first since we’re so accustomed to using our phones. But take an extra minute to sign in on desktop for this.
Step 2: Click Compose New Tweet
With Twitter open in your desktop browser, click the quill feather icon on the left sidebar to open the window for composing a brand new tweet.
This is the same place you’d normally create a regular tweet. But now you can also schedule them for release at a later date/time.
Draft Your Tweet
In the new tweet window, craft your 280 character post just like usual. You can append hashtags, mentions, links, images, GIFs, or polls as well.
Then you‘ll define when you want it to publish.
Step 3: Access Scheduling
This next part is what makes Twitter‘s native scheduling possible — the calendar icon found within the tweet composer.
Click The Calendar Icon
At the bottom underneath your new tweet, you‘ll notice several icons including a calendar symbol. Click this to open up Twitter‘s own scheduling tool rather than posting this tweet immediately.
This calendar icon may blend into the background at first. But locating this small yet vital button enables all your scheduling superpowers!
Step 4: Pick Date & Time
Upon clicking the calendar, you‘ll be presented with date and time selectors allowing you to queue this tweet for the future instead of tweeting instantly.
Define Your Posting Date
Set your preferred posting date up to one year in advance using the date selector. Rather than defaulting to the current date, click and manually change the month, day and year.
Identify Peak Engagement Window
Next, pinpoint the specific time of day you want your tweet to publish based on your audience‘s activity patterns.
Analytics from tools like Tailwind or Sprout Social uncover your followers‘ peak hours for engagement. This enables perfectly aligning scheduled tweet timing.
As an example, real estate agents see higher click-throughs on offers when tweeting around 7-8 AM local time. Whereas concerts or clubs find 9-11 PM best fits nightlife crowds.
So research your niche‘s top times and consider worldwide users to maximize exposure.
Note Twitter‘s Timezone Setting
While the date and time can be edited, Twitter automatically sets the time zone based on your detected location. So factor this in when selecting an hour.
If mostly targeting international audiences, ensure the time aligns with peak hours in their time zones using a converter tool.
Step 5: Schedule Your Tweet!
With your tweet created and ideal release date/time selected in the scheduling tool, just confirm to lock it in.
Click Schedule to Queue Tweet
Review your specified tweet scheduling details, then click the blue “Schedule” button at the bottom to finalize and queue it for posting later.
You‘ll see a preview confirming when the tweet will be automatically sent e.g. "Your Tweet will be sent on Day, Date at Time".
And that‘s all there is to it! You‘ve now successfully scheduled your tweet to be posted at a predefined future date and time using Twitter‘s free built-in tool.
Managing Scheduled Tweets
Wondering how you can review, edit, or cancel tweets you have scheduled? Accessing and managing existing queued tweets is straightforward.
Click "Unsent Tweets" in Left Rail
In the left sidebar, click the quill (compose) icon then select “Unsent Tweets” from the top navigation bar. This houses both drafts and scheduled tweets.
Access the "Scheduled" Tab Up Top
Here you‘ll see separate tabs labeled “Drafts” and “Scheduled” to toggle between. Click “Scheduled” to view just your scheduling queue featuring all upcoming tweets.
Edit or Trash Tweets
Scan your list of scheduled tweets and hover over any you‘d like to modify or remove. Click the pencil icon on the right overlay to edit tweet details. Or click the trash icon to delete and cancel scheduling.
Bear in mind tweets on the verge of posting can‘t be edited though, so double check them sooner if tweaks are needed.
Pro Scheduling Tips For Twitter Domination
Now that you know how to schedule tweets natively using Twitter‘s built-in tool, let’s talk best practices for scheduling tweet success.
Follow these pro guidelines to become a scheduling master while taking your Twitter presence to the next level:
Embrace The Scheduling Mentality Shift
The first key is embracing the mentality shift of scheduling content in advance rather than posting spur of the moment. Carve out dedicated blocks for creative brainstorming and tweet ideation weekly. stock up on posts then space out scheduling.
Analyze Your Twitter Analytics
Refer to your Twitter analytics and engagement data frequently, identifying decisive patterns in your audience’s activity. This enables perfecting when you schedule tweets for to match rising traffic and response potential.
Plan Around Upcoming Events or Trends
Schedule tweets timed around major events, news stories, or viral trends aligned to your niche for profiting off peaks in search volume and conversation interest. Just stay relevant and consider timing sensitively.
Collaborate Across Your Team
Consider tools like Hootsuite enabling collaborating with others to ideate tweet content while monitoring scheduled queues and engagement. More minds and perspectives can beneficial.
Always Test and Optimize
A/B test posting different tweets at various days/times and continue fine tuning your approach based on performance. Consistently evolve your scheduling strategy using hard data. There are always optimizations to uncover as interests shift.
Key Scheduling Takeaways
If managing a branded Twitter presence, consistently keeping your audience engaged should be a top priority.
But crafting valuable daily content is extremely challenging to maintain long-term. This leads accounts tweeting sporadically or leaving Twitter altogether once the honeymoon phase wears off.
However, research shows consistent posting leads to 150% higher engagement on average. This is exactly where scheduling your tweets comes in to save the day.
Twitter’s free built-in scheduling tool makes it simple to line up tweets for automated release on a regular cadence. Dialing in your audience’s peak times takes this one step further for max visibility.
So if you manage a Twitter presence, carve out time weekly to batch create tweet content. Queue these posts using Twitter’s native scheduling ahead of time so they get published hands-free even when you’re offline.
Saving hours crafting daily posts while interaction metrics climb thanks to increased consistency and timing optimization. That’s the true power of properly leveraging scheduling on Twitter!
