How Twitter Cards Can Help Drive Traffic to Your Website

Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) is known for its social media platform and social networking capabilities. However, it has become a great way for companies and sole proprietors to promote their businesses, generate leads and obtain repeat customers. Through the use of Twitter cards, it is possible to drive traffic to any website on the Internet and achieve key business goals.

Twitter cards are digital marketing tools that let people attach rich photos, videos and other media experiences to tweets that, when clicked on, drive traffic to third-party websites. By adding a few simple lines of HTML to a website, any users who tweet links to the website's content have a card added to the tweets; the card is visible to all of their followers. Twitter cards are a powerful way to increase traffic. The following are the top six ways these cards drive traffic to a website.

1. Website Card

The website card is the best option for driving traffic to a website, since it invites Twitter followers to visit any website. The card provides a quick summary of the website, a link to the site and a customizable call-to-action. The call-to-action is extremely important, and it is why the website card is the best option for increasing traffic. Businesses can run promotions and generate email sign-ups through the use of this card.

2. Summary Cards

If there is a link in a tweet to a website or specific Web page, a summary card provides a preview of the content directly in the tweet. This allows followers to see the content before they click through to the website itself. If there is an image on the page, a thumbnail is shown in the tweet. This gives users a chance to trust the link before they click on it and increase the website's traffic.

3. Summary Card With Large Image

Sometimes people who advertise on Twitter believe an image is key to enticing a user to click through to a website. If this is the case, there is the chance to forgo the thumbnail on the summary card and create a card with a much larger image. However, the text portion of the tweet is much smaller.
If a person wants to bring readers to his financial blog, for example, and that blog has a prominently featured image, it might make sense to drive traffic using a summary card with a larger image. If, however, the copy within the blog, such as the summary or subheading, is a bigger driver of traffic, he should use a normal summary card.

4. App Card

If it is more important to drive Web traffic in the form of app installs, then the app card can be used in a Twitter campaign. This type of card drives app installs by providing the name, description and purchase information of the app within a tweet.

5. Player Card

If a person is providing audio or video streaming services on a website, he can use the player card to increase website traffic. The player card allows videos and audio to be used within a user's timeline and within tweets. The traffic does not necessarily have to be driven to a personal website. Entertainers and musicians, for example, can use a player card to increase the traffic of their SoundCloud or YouTube channels.

6. Lead Generation Card

The lead generation card allows people to make an offer to followers who can then express interest in the offer by leaving their names, Twitter handles and email addresses. It is then possible to entice users to visit a website through the offer or send them email prompts to visit the site.