Are you ever appalled to discover that someone has tweeted out a blog post of yours and you somehow missed it because it never showed up in your Twitter stream?
It happens all the time. And for those of you who use either the TweetMeme or Twitter Tweet buttons on your blog, there’s a super easy fix that I wanted to share with you today.
You might not be aware that these tools have to be configured properly so that your Twitter handle shows up as a mention or as an RT when someone shares your post. I’ll show you how to do this.
If you go to a blog and try to tweet someone’s post, it may look like this:
I want to thank Amber of Amber Page Writes for letting me use this screenshot of her blog. I was trying to share her post, Raw, last week and when I click her Twitter tweet button, the image above is what I get.
If I merely hit the Tweet button from that box, Amber might not know that I’ve shared her post. There’s no @amberpagewrites or RT @amberpagewrites that auto-populates in the “compose tweet” window.
I manually added her Twitter handle to the tweet because I happened to know it. But not everybody will know your Twitter handle, or necessarily take the time to find it before they tweet. So let’s fix this.
How To Include Your Twitter Handle on Shares Using The Twitter Tweet Button
You’ll need to configure settings in WordPress to make sure your Twitter handle is always included.
In WordPress, go to your Dashboard. Toward the bottom of your dashboard menu, click on the Twitter link. You’ll be taken to a configuration screen that looks like this:
This is where you configure options for the Twitter tweet button. The important thing here is to enter your Twitter handle in the “Via User” box. Hit save, and voila! Every time someone uses that button, you’ll get an @mention and not miss those important shares.
Incidentally, you can add a second account to receive an @mention in the “Related Account” field.
How To Include Your Twitter Handle In Shares Using TweetMeme
The process is very similar for those of you that use TweetMeme. In WordPress, click the TweetMeme link at the bottom of your dashboard. You’ll get the TweetMeme configuration screen, which looks like this:
In the field entitled “Source,” you’ll type in how you want your @mention to look. You can include an RT or simply an @<yourTwitterhandlehere>. Save it, and you’re good to go.
If you’ve configured the options properly, the Compose Tweet window will look like this:
Now you’ll be much less likely to miss when someone shares your brilliant blog post!
About the Author Gigi Ross
I'm a blogger, social media geek, mom and wife, foodie, reality TV addict and Jason Mraz fangirl. Not in that order. I write here about parenting, blogging, technology, social media and pop culture.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
THANK YOU for writing this, it drives me crazy when people don’t have their twitter handle in their social share buttons. I always manually put it in but it saves so much time if they have it there to begin with.
Awesome! I just realized that my tweet button at the top of my posts didn’t have my name in it! On one post alone I missed like 16 RT’s!
I notice it on other blogs and try to add in the persons name if I know it too!
Jackie´s last [type] ..On being a parent
What if you’re using a blogger blog? My tweet button always says “via @sharethis” .
shelly´s last [type] ..Holiday Gift Guide 2012: Taking Submissions
I haven’t used Blogger in almost 3 years, so I don’t know how the widgets and options are configured for Blogger. I did some quick Googling and it revealed this. You’ll probably need to get into the code for the widget within your Blogger dashboard and manually make this change.
How do I add via @TwitterHandle to the end of Twitter shares from my site?
To do this, all you need to do is add st_via parameter to your Twitter button. For example, if you use a Large Twitter Button, your code should look like -
Please note that, by default, all tweets appear as ‘via @ShareThis’.
With ShareThis, you can also specify custom hashtags or trending topics in the share message body.
Awesomesauce! I use Shareaholic and just had to do that minor tweak in the settings. You’re so smart!
oxoxox
Sili´s last [type] ..I’m a Niche Mommy
I would have never caught this. Thank you so much!
Jenny G´s last [type] ..Gentlemen, attend to your undergarments please.
A pro-blogger I am not, but options for blogger? Thanks!
Deirdre´s last [type] ..In the Mix Monday: U by Kotex Tween–Talkable Moments
It depends on what sort of widget you are using. You’d have to look at the config options for the widget, and likely update the HTML code for the widget in your blogger dashboard.
Totally awesome, worthwhile post that has taught me so much. Yet I am so highly non-techy, I need to save this post so I can come back to it, and step by step my way through your directions. But I will absolutely do this! Thanks Gigi!
Sandra´s last [type] ..The gift of writing
Hi,
This is nice tutorial to keep all important tweets in your mind from where you can get huge response for your site/blog.
Thx for this most helpful advice. But can you do this if you aren’t self-hosted? I searched my dashboard but couldn’t find any twitter link. I don’t have commentluv or anything. Do I need that first? I know nothing.
One Funny Motha´s last [type] ..Do You Lie to Your Kids?
You don’t have the settings activated. This tutorial should help you through it. I’m not sure that it’s customizable in wordpress.com to include your Twitter handle…you’ll have to play around with it!!! http://en.support.wordpress.com/sharing/
Thanks, Gigi. Did it and it works great!
So, I just started self-hosting and I’m totally lost in the plug in world. I’m using jetpack’s sharing buttons . . . I swear there is no way to configure it to include the @NinaBadzin. Grrrr!! I’ve played with the other plugins for sharing and haven’t seen one that is as neat and simple. Either the spacing is weird on one, or it doesn’t have Pinterest, etc. Not sure what I want to do. Sigh.
Nina´s last [type] ..What I’m Loving Now: End of Summer Edition
The TweetMeme and Twitter buttons are separate from the other social sharing plugins that contain all of the different networks. I always recommend using a combination, even if there’s duplication, because a lot of people tend to look for that standalone “Retweet” or Twitter button. I don’t know anything about Jetpack or I’d try to help you further!
I meant to say the plugins are separate (and the buttons).