X (Twitter) URL Shortener: A Guide to Top Alternatives

As a savvy marketer or business owner, you’re likely aware of the importance of using a Twitter URL shortener to optimize your social media posts. This Twitter link shortener can help streamline your links and provide valuable insights into user engagement. 

A Twitter URL shortener is a tool that helps reduce the length of URLs (web links) when sharing them on the Twitter platform. It generates a shortened version of the original URL, making it more concise and saving valuable character space in tweets. It offers the benefits of character optimization, improved readability, enhanced sharing capabilities, tracking and analytics, customization and branding opportunities, as well as error correction. By using a URL shortener, you can maximize the impact of your tweets, improve the user experience for your followers, and effectively share content with concise and manageable URLs.

Twitter’s Built-In URL Shortener

The best URL shortener for Twitter is the one that’s built into the platform itself. You cannot opt out of using this link service, but it automatically saves space in your tweets by shortening any URLs you include. 

How does Twitter shorten links?

When you compose a tweet containing a link, Twitter generates its built-in t.co link wrapper to shorten the URL. This process happens behind the scenes without needing any additional input from you as a user. The shortened t.co links are counted as 23 characters regardless of their actual length, allowing more room for text within your tweet.

Benefits of using the built-in URL shortener

Incorporating Twitter’s native URL shortening feature into your social media strategy is an efficient way to save character space while maintaining user trust and safety.

Bitly – A Compatible External Solution

Bitly offers additional benefits as an external solution compatible with the platform. It not only helps save characters in your tweets but also provides tracking metrics for better insights into user engagement with your shared content.

Setting up a Bitly account

To begin using Bitly, go to their website and sign up with an email address or social media credentials. Once logged in, you can access the dashboard to generate condensed web addresses and monitor their activity.

Creating short URLs with Bitly

1. Navigate to the top right corner of your dashboard and click on “Create” to get started.
2. Paste the long URL that you want to shorten into the input field provided.
3. (Optional) Customize your link by clicking on “Edit” next to it and entering a custom alias (e.g., bit.ly/YourCustomAlias).
4. Click “Save,” and copy the newly generated short link for sharing on Twitter or other platforms.

The process is quick and easy, allowing users to generate multiple links within minutes if needed. These customized links are more memorable than random alphanumeric strings often used by other services – making them ideal for branding purposes or promotional campaigns.

Analyzing link performance through Bitly

A major advantage of using Bitly over some other URL shorteners lies in its robust analytics features. By tracking the performance of your shortened links, you can gain valuable insights into how your audience is engaging with your content and make data-driven decisions to optimize future campaigns.

Bitly’s analytics dashboard provides a wealth of information about each link, including:

Bitly is a great external solution for social media link shortening and offers valuable insights into the performance of your links. 

TinyURL – Free and Anonymous Link Shortening

One of the original solutions for URL shorteners on Twitter is TinyURL. It offers a free and anonymous link-shortening service without generating reports or tracking data about your shortened URLs’ performance. 

Generating a Custom Alias with TinyURL

To use TinyURL, simply follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the TinyURL website.
2. Paste your long URL into the “Enter a long URL” input field.
3. If you want to customize your shortened link, enter an alias in the “Custom alias (optional)” input field. Keep it pertinent to your material so that people can simply recognize what they’re tapping on.
4. Click on the “Make TinyURL” button.
5. Your new shortened URL will be generated instantly. Copy this link and share it via Twitter or any other platform you prefer.

Note: Custom aliases are optional but they can make your links more memorable and easier for users to recognize when shared across various platforms.

Advantages of Anonymity in Link Sharing

TinyURL’s anonymous approach has its own set of benefits which may appeal to certain users:

TinyURL is a great tool for creating free and anonymous link shortening, providing users with the ability to easily share links without revealing their identity. 

Ow.ly – Hootsuite Integrated Shortening Links

Ow.ly is an effective free-to-use tool bundled within Hootsuite, a widely-used social media management platform designed specifically for businesses managing multiple accounts across various platforms, including Twitter. In this section, we’ll learn more about utilizing Ow.ly’s benefits when integrated into Hootsuite’s dashboard.

Connecting Ow.ly to your Hootsuite account

To start using Ow.ly with your Hootsuite account, simply sign in or create a new account on the Hootsuite login page. Once you’re logged in and have connected your Twitter profile to the platform, you can begin shortening URLs through the built-in composer feature. 

When composing a tweet containing a URL, the Ow.ly URL shortener will automatically shorten your link without any additional steps required from you.

Related article: Who Owns Your Twitter Profile

Scheduling posts containing shortened links via Hootsuite

Hootsuite allows users to schedule tweets ahead of time so that they are posted at optimal times for maximum engagement. Don’t forget to use Twitter hashtags!

To schedule a post with an Ow.ly-shortened link:

1. Click the “New Post” icon situated in the upper right of your dashboard to begin scheduling.
2. Select the desired Twitter profile from the list of connected profiles.
3. Type out your tweet content and paste any long URL into the text box; it will be automatically converted into an Ow.ly link upon posting.
4. Click on the “Schedule for later” option below the text box and choose the date and time for publishing your tweet.
5. Finally, click the “Schedule” button to confirm scheduling settings.

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Tracking link performance in the context of scheduled content

Ow.ly provides basic analytics data for users to track the performance of their shortened links. 

To access this information:

This data helps you understand how well your audience is engaging with shared content and allows you to make informed decisions when planning future social media campaigns. 

Buff.ly – Buffer’s Inbuilt URL Shortener

Buffer is an excellent choice for a comprehensive social media management platform that also includes a native URL-shortening service. With its built-in tool called Buff.ly, you can seamlessly schedule tweets with shortened URLs and enjoy better content planning.

Setting up your Buffer account

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Scheduling posts with shortened links via Buffer

To make use of Buff.ly’s URL shortening capabilities while scheduling tweets through Buffer:

Frequently Asked Questions Twitter/X Url Shortener

Conclusion

X (Twitter) built-in URL shortener is a convenient and efficient tool for businesses, marketers, bloggers, entrepreneurs, and founders to share content on social media platforms. Bitly provides an external solution that offers more in-depth analytics and customization options while Tiny url allows for anonymous link sharing. Hootsuite users can take advantage of Ow.ly’s integration with the platform to schedule posts containing shortened links. Buffer also has its own inbuilt URL shortener that helps track link performance within scheduled content.

If you’re looking to optimize your social media presence by utilizing Twitter URL Shortener or any other tool mentioned above, consider partnering with wallblog – a leading digital marketing blog dedicated to helping businesses grow their online presence. Contact us today to learn more about our services!

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