Create a tweet

You can create and publish tweets from Composer. To save time, you can publish to several social networks at once. Publish tweets right away, or schedule them in advance for a specific day and time. Read on to learn about all you can do when creating tweets in Hootsuite.

Before you begin

Make sure you’ve already added a Twitter account to Hootsuite. To learn how, see Add a Twitter account.

Create your tweet

To get started, select Composer . Then follow the steps in this article to create your post. Hootsuite does not currently support creating polls.

1. Under Publish to, select the Twitter profile you'd like to publish to. 

   Note: Only one profile can be selected; Twitter doesn't allow publishing to multiple profiles at once.

2. In the Content area, enter your post text. You can proofread your text using Grammarly. The character limit for tweets is 280. You can include the following in your tweets:
   • Links - if you include a link, a link preview appears on the right. Can’t see a link preview? See Work with link previews.
   • Hashtags - Select the hashtag icon to get some hashtag suggestions. The suggestion list is powered by AI (artificial intelligence), based on your post text and media (see also our guide to using hashtags on every network).
   • Mentions - To mention a Twitter user, enter @ followed by the Twitter handle, and then select an option from the list. To learn more, see Mention a user or Page. 
   • Emoji - Select the smiley face to add emoji (see also Add more inclusive emoji).
3. To shorten a link, below the Content area, select Shorten with Ow.ly. The full links remain visible in the Content area, while the post preview on the right displays the shortened link.
4. To add link tracking parameters, below the Content area, select Add tracking, select Ow.ly, and then select Custom. Enter your campaign name, type, and value, and then select Apply.
   More about parameters

   All plans can add custom link tracking parameters, designed to work with analytics systems. Parameters are tags that identify a link and the post that contains it. See Shorten and track links to learn more. Team, Business, and Enterprise customers can also set up a vanity URL to use as a link shortener instead of Ow.ly. To learn more, see Set up a vanity URL.

5. Add one or more images, a GIF, or a video to your post.
   Media upload options

   • Drag files from your computer into the Content area.
   • Select Upload media.
   • Select Design with Canva (see Design images with Canva in Composer for details).
   • Select Media library, and then select Free Images or GIPHY from the drop-down. Select a media file, and then select Close media library.

   To learn more about media file requirements, see Image file requirements and Work with videos.

6. To edit an image, add filters, or make other adjustments to it, point to the image thumbnail and select Edit image. For detailed instruction on using the image editor, see Work with images.
7. To add alt text (descriptive text for your image), point to an image thumbnail and select Alt. Enter the alt text description of the image, and then select Apply. The character limit for Twitter is 420 characters.
8. To add captions to a video, point to it and select Video settings. Drag a SubRip Subtitle file (SRT file) from your computer into the Subtitles area or choose Upload an SRT file.
   Subtitle requirements

   One SRT file can be uploaded per post. SRT file names must have the following format: filename.[language code]_[country code].srt. Language codes are two lowercase letters and country codes are two uppercase letters. Example: hypevideo.es_ES.srt. Refer to the Facebook list of valid language and country codes.

   Tip: If you need to publish your subtitles in multiple languages, use the Schedule and duplicate (or Post and duplicate) option to build the tweet again with a different SRT file.

Advanced options

When you create your tweet, you can also take advantage of additional options (depending on your Hootsuite plan type), such as applying tags and adding a location.

Add a location

Select Add next to Twitter Location to add your physical location (sometimes called a geotag) to the tweet. Twitter adds location based on your browser settings or VPN location. Searching for locations is not available. Select Add your current location, select a result, and then select Apply.

If no locations are found, select the lock icon in your browser address bar, allow the page to track your location, and then try again. If your location isn't included in your published tweet, check your Twitter account's privacy settings. You may need to enable the setting that lets you add location info to your tweets.

Upload images from your content library (Business and Enterprise organizations)

In the Content area, select Media library , and then select Content Library Images from the drop-down to select an image from your pre-approved media files.

Apply a tag (Business and Enterprise organizations)

Select Add next to Tags to apply tags to your tweets and analyze their performance in Hootsuite Analytics. Select the tags to add to your tweet, and then select Add. To find out more, see Add tags to track your outbound posts. 

Specify a campaign (Business and Enterprise organizations)

Select your organization, and then select Campaign to associate your post with a current or future campaign. To find out more, see Create and manage content campaigns.

Publish your tweet

When you’re finished creating your tweet, review it in the preview on the right to see how it will look on your Twitter profile. You'll be alerted to any issues with your tweet. Then select from the following options in the bottom right:

• Post now - Publish the tweet right away.
• Schedule for later - Select a date and time to publish the tweet, or select a day and choose from any recommended times available (see Schedule posts at recommended times). Select Done, and then select Schedule.
• Save draft - Select the arrow next to Post now, and then select Save draft if you’re not ready to publish or schedule your tweet.

If you want to create another tweet right away, select the arrow next to Post now (or Schedule), and then select one of the following options:

• Post and reuse accounts (or Schedule and reuse accounts) - Publish your current post and begin a new one to the same social accounts.
• Post and duplicate (or Schedule and duplicate) - Publish your current post and retain its content to create a new, similar post with a unique post ID.

Find and manage your drafts, published posts, and scheduled posts in Planner .

Tip: Want to publish Twitter threads? You can publish and schedule threads from the Tweepsmap app available in Hootsuite Apps.