Table of contents
This page presents conceptual, scenario, and procedural information for the Twitter integration within the ExactTarget application.
Prerequisites
You must be:
- familiar with AMPscript.
- set up in ExactTarget's Innovations Lab (iLab). To gain access to iLab, please contact your ExactTarget representative.
- familiar with Twitter. To learn about Twitter, see Twitter's online help.
What Is the Twitter Integration
The Twitter integration for the ExactTarget application is a feature that allows you to send Twitter statuses and direct messages with your email sends.
ExactTarget supports three ways of using the Twitter integration:
- Update Twitter Status sends a status update to your Twitter account every time a subscriber executes an action that you define. This function is intended for use on landing pages.
- Update Twitter Status by Job sends a status update to your Twitter account once per email send job. This function is intended for use in emails.
- Direct Twitter Message sends a direct message via Twitter to a subscriber's account. Any account you send a direct message to must be following your Twitter account. This function is intended for use in emails.
IMPORTANT: Twitter Account Restrictions
Unless your company is whitelisted by Twitter, your Twitter account is restricted to making a maximum of 150 API calls per hour and 250 direct messages per day (each direct message counts as an API call). If you exceed these limits, you run the risk of being blacklisted by Twitter.
It is your responsibility to make sure you don't exceed these limits. Consider several best practices when messaging to Twitter.
- Create a separate segmentation engine specifically for your direct Twitter message campaigns. By doing so, you can ensure the total sendable audience is no more than 200 people. This will keep you well below the direct message rate limits.
- Instead of looking at Twitter's API thresholds as a limitation, embrace it as a mission to start to cultivate an environment of driving highly relevant, valuable content to your subscriber base. This will not only increase open rates, it will also decrease overall cost per campaign, and sharply decrease cost per click.
For more information, see Twitter's Current Twitter limits.
URL Shortening
Because Twitter messages have to be 140 characters or fewer, Twitter users often shorten any URLs included in their tweets with a URL shortening service. ExactTarget's integration with Twitter uses bit.ly to automatically shorten any URLs inserted into a tweet via the ExactTarget application.
For example, the URL http://www.example.com/thisisanexceedinglylongURL would be shortened in bit.ly to http://bit.ly/2pMxKR saving characters for the main tweet.
Why Use the Twitter Integration
Use the Twitter Integration to send status updates and direct messages to your subscribers through Twitter. By using Twitter, you give your subscribers the ability to re-tweet messages, reaching audiences you other would otherwise be unable to reach. By using Twitter inside of ExactTarget you can start leveraging relational data models to track engagement, and then remarket more relevant content to this highly engaged subscriber segment.
AMPscript Functions
Use the following sets of AMPscript as examples depending on the Twitter function you're using.
UpdateTwitterStatus(S1, S2, S3)
Sends a status update to Twitter. This function is intended for use on landing pages.
You cannot use an AMPscript variable in the status message at this time.
Arguments
- S1 Your Twitter account username
- S2 Your Twitter account password
- S3 The Twitter status update to be sent
Example
UpdateTwitterStatus("MyAccount","password","Another person just signed up for our seminar, and so should you!") The function above sends a status update of "Another person just signed up for our seminar, and so should you!" to the @MyAccount Twitter account.
UpdateTwitterStatusByJob(S1, S2, S3)
Sends a status update to Twitter once per email send job.
You cannot use an AMPscript variable in the status message at this time.
This function MUST be used in inline code (%%= =%%) and NOT code block declarations (%%[ ]%%). If you use the code block declaration for this function, this function runs for EVERY email and not just the overall email send.
Arguments
- S1 Your Twitter account username
- S2 Your Twitter account password
- S3 The Twitter status update to be sent
Example
UpdateTwitterStatusByJob("MyAccount","password","More people just got great coupons from us - sign up on our website for your chance!") The function above sends a status update of "More people just got great coupons from us - sign up on our website for your chance!" to the @MyAccount Twitter account once per email send.
DirectTwitterMessage(S1, S2, S3, S4)
Sends a direct message via Twitter to a single account. Twitter limits accounts to 250 direct messages per day, and any account you send direct messages to must be following your Twitter account.
Arguments
- S1 Your Twitter account's username
- S2 Your Twitter account's password
- S3 The account name to which you are sending the direct message
- S4 The message you are sending
Example
DirectTwitterMessage("YourAccount","YourPassword","Recipient","Here's your special coupon offer!") The function above sends the direct message "Here's your message!" from @YourAccount to @Recipient.
Use Cases
You can use the Twitter integration for the following purposes:
- Tag page
- What links here
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