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Twitter Cards on Your Site: Two Tips

January 16, 2015 By Deborah Anderson 18 Comments

Let’s face it, Twitter Cards are cool.  Fortunately, they have been around long enough that many of the “kinks” have been worked out. But, that said, it doesn’t mean that everyone is using them yet. On one hand, everyone *should* be using them. But, as we know, when that happens, the “coolness” may begin to wane.

Table of Contents

  • Ok, What ARE Twitter Cards?
  • How Does It Work?
  • Types of Twitter Cards
  • So, What are Meta Tags and How Do I get Them?
  • Potential Incompatibilities
  • Tip 1: How to Get Your Player Card Validated
  • Tip 2: How to Customize the SEO Title in JM Twitter Cards
    • Deborah Anderson
    • Latest posts by Deborah Anderson (see all)

Ok, What ARE Twitter Cards?

Twitter Cards come in all shapes and sizes (literally)! The idea is that when you tweet a link, there is a Twitter Card that will automatically accompany your tweet.

Creating the Tweet
Creating the Tweet

When you type the tweet and insert a link that has a Twitter Card, it will pull and display the Twitter Card. An example is the “Player Card” (type of Twitter Card), shown in the screen shot, below. As you will notice, this type of Twitter Card (Player Card) includes a YouTube that can be played right from Twitter (or any page where the tweet is embedded).

The Twitter Player Card
Example of a Twitter Player Card (playable video inside)

How Does It Work?

The way that the Twitter Cards work is that they pull meta information from that page of the link. So, assuming that you have set up your site or page correctly, with the correct meta tags, Twitter will pull that information when it pulls your page for the link (during the tweeting process). When Twitter sees that you have that meta available, indicating the presence of a Twitter Card, it knows to display it automatically on the tweet.

Types of Twitter Cards

The three most popular types of Twitter Cards are:

  • Summary Card with Large Image – If you are going to tweet a summary, why not a large picture? (view sample.)
  • Photo Card – these are fun and eye-catching. You can still add the text in the tweet, but the image grabs people. (view sample.)
  • Player Card – these are my favorite! So much versatility, with adding real media to your Twitter feed. (view sample.)

For more information on how to set up the Twitter Cards, you could visit the Twitter Developer section on Twitter Cards.

So, What are Meta Tags and How Do I get Them?

Personally, I hand-code my own social media coding. The reason that I do that is that I can control every aspect of what I do, like the image for the tweet, which is different than the image for Pinterest, Facebook, etc. This allows me to create custom Pinterest video shares and more. However, I am also a programmer, and I enjoy doing that sort of thing. I would be sad if someone removed my access to custom program my sites.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a programmer. I found an excellent plugin out there (and I need to give credit to Gail because she is the one who told me about this plugin!). The plugin is JM Twitter Cards. I haven’t personally used this plugin on a regular basis (as I said, I custom program my social media functions), but it does include many of the features that I custom program. So, from a feature aspect, I recommend the plugin. Other plugins, like Yoast WordPress SEO, also include Twitter Card functionality.

Potential Incompatibilities

There have been reports of issues with the Genesis theme that are highlighted by an incompatibility with the JM Twitter Cards plugin. There is a discussion here, on the topic of the featured image. Fortunately, that thread also shows a solution.

Tip 1: How to Get Your Player Card Validated

One of the steps that is needed, before each of the different types of Twitter Cards works for your site, is to ensure that Twitter validates the Twitter Card. The time that it takes Twitter can be under an hour to several hours.

Usually the summary card and the photo card validate fairly easily, but the player card can present a problem. If you try to validate your player card and get some sort of warning that includes time (i.e. 4s or .15s), it is likely that it has to do with the load time on your site.

That does not mean that your site is too slow, but that at that moment, Twitter could not receive the information fast enough so your card fails before actually being submitted to Twitter. There have been reports that people have had intermittent results in trying to get the Twitter Player Card validated.

Here is a solution. Turn off your plugins before submitting your Twitter Player Card. It is a pain and will likely affect some functionality on your site, but leave those plugins off until you receive word from Twitter that your Player Card is fine. Then, you can turn the plugins back on, on your WordPress site.

If you are a WordPress plugin junkie, this can really become an issue. But, there is a solution for that, too. Here is how I do the plugin thing. First, you should get a plugin organizer. I love and use Jeff Sterup’s Plugin Organizer.

Plugin Organizer
Creating the group for the “intentionally inactive” plugins.

The first thing you do is add any inactive plugins (that you may be keeping around for that “rainy day”) into a group that is named something like, “intentionally inactive.” This will help you to know that you do not want to re-activate those plugins accidentally. Then, break the rest of your plugins into groups of 10 or less and add them to a new group, using the Plugin Organizer. You can name them Group 1, Group 2, etc. By doing so, if you ever have to troubleshoot plugin issues, you have groups to flip on and off all at once. Go through and turn off (by groups) all plugins you can, and then go to the Twitter Card validator and validate your player card. After your acceptance email from Twitter, you can re-activate all those plugins again and you are all set.

Plugin Organizer 2
Two steps to help that Player Card get validated.

Note: You could also do this without the plugin organizer, using the “recently active” default list, but using the plugin organizer may help you in cases where you decide not to turn on all the plugins. And, if you need to troubleshoot something else, later, it puts the plugins into bite-sized groups. This is a lifesaver if you are a plugin junkie.

Tip 2: How to Customize the SEO Title in JM Twitter Cards

JM Twitter Cards allows you to use a custom field for the title of the Twitter Card. This is handy if you want to control that text. What is tricky is if you don’t know (or don’t have) the custom field. Not all WordPress data has a custom field. Fortunately, you can use the “More Fields” plugin to create a custom field. Then, when you have created that custom field, you can copy and paste the name of the field into your “custom fields” section of your JM Twitter Card settings. This is a bit of an advanced topic, but it will help those of you who are stuck and want it to work the way you want it to work. Just keep in mind that More Fields is not necessarily the prettiest plugin (and it hasn’t been updated recently), but it does do the trick.

There you have it. Why you should use Twitter Cards, how you can implement them on your site and a couple of tips that may help you be even more creative (and get those Player Cards validated in no time!).

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Deborah Anderson

Deborah Anderson wears many hats in her addiction to acquiring knowledge. From professional training as a sound engineer at the Los Angeles Film School to graduating summa cum laude in software architecture, and then on to become the director of Information Technology at the high profile Bel Air Investment Advisors, she often comments that she is only just beginning. She enjoys sharing her knowledge discoveries with her readers and is always ready to offer a helping hand.
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Latest posts by Deborah Anderson (see all)

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Filed Under: Social Media Networking SMM, Twitter Tagged With: twitter cards

Comments

  1. Riaz Shah says

    March 30, 2017 at 9:15 am

    This is good stuff, Deborah! I installed the JM Twitter Card plugin as you mentioned and it works great, thank you 😀

    Reply
  2. Deborah Anderson says

    February 13, 2015 at 4:46 am

    Hi Ben,Good question! Ok, first, I’m going to put a blanket statement disclaimer that I’m not sure about whether all devices even show Twitter Cards, but assuming they do, I will proceed… There is only one meta tag that designates what should be pulled with the URL, so Twitter will look at that (i.e. summary card, big image card, player card) and pull just that media. With the player card, if there is a problem, Twitter may show just the default image, which is another required tag for Twitter player cards.
    Deborah Anderson would love you to read ..5 Clever Ways to Connect with Influencers on TwitterMy Profile

    Reply
  3. Shia says

    January 23, 2015 at 12:22 am

    Well, I never heard about Twitter cards before so your post really helped. I\’m currently trying to draw more social traffic to my website, but all I managed to do so far is to put up a Facebook \”kike\” button. I guess computers aren\’t my thing. But phones are, LOL.

    Reply
    • Gail Gardner says

      January 23, 2015 at 1:04 am

      Hi Shia,

      Optimizing your site so others can share it can bring you more traffic and business. That may be something you want to hire someone else to do for you. It isn’t that expensive and only needs to be done once. That way you can spend your time talking to people on the phone. Direct contact works best for sales. Internet activities are better for marketing.
      Gail Gardner would love you to read ..Increase Website Traffic Automatically Using Your Own Best ContentMy Profile

      Reply
  4. Shas says

    January 20, 2015 at 4:55 pm

    Cool stuff! I’m surprised I never learned about Twitter Cards before. Glad to land here. I’m definitely going to use Twitter cards now on wards. Thank You 🙂
    Shas would love you to read ..ICC World Cup 2015 India v/s Pakistan Live StreamingMy Profile

    Reply
  5. sudeep gupta says

    January 19, 2015 at 10:01 pm

    Hey Deborah,

    i never heard about these Twitter card before even though I am a Twitter freak. Most of my time is used writing tweets or reading others’ tweets. Your article taught me something and i am eager to implement these Tweeter cards. I hope it will surely attract people and I may get some fan following.

    Thanks
    sudeep gupta would love you to read ..Top 10 Tools To Create Impressive Infographics ContentMy Profile

    Reply
    • Gail Gardner says

      April 30, 2015 at 3:19 am

      Hi Sudeep,

      I just wanted to let you know that I have them working on this site using the JM Twitter cards plugin.
      Gail Gardner would love you to read ..How YOU Can Generate Sales By Launching New Products Like An ExpertMy Profile

      Reply
  6. Mansi says

    January 19, 2015 at 10:10 pm

    Hi Anderson,

    i will use these twitter cards in my blog from now . This will help me attract people’s attention in Twitter easily as well as helps to drive more traffic to my blog.
    Mansi would love you to read ..Top 10 Special Happy Valentines Day Quotes 2015 Worth SharingMy Profile

    Reply
  7. Pankaj says

    January 19, 2015 at 12:50 pm

    Hi Deborah,I have heard about twitter cards long before but haven’t implemented them. No doubt this helps to make your tweet more catchy and attracts people attention. I’m going to implement it on my twitter account.
    Pankaj would love you to read ..All in One Mobile Recharge Software : IT FreelancingMy Profile

    Reply
  8. Rishton ka sansar says

    January 19, 2015 at 7:02 am

    hi…………

    I read this blog.this is very used full and interested blog.I am used twitter card.thanks for sharing this.

    Best regards
    Rishton ka sansar

    Reply
  9. Kathula Santhosh says

    January 18, 2015 at 1:47 pm

    Hii,I visited your blog for first time. Thanks for sharing this post. I learned about meta tags in this post. Am new-bie in blogging..

    Reply
  10. Mamunur Rashid says

    January 18, 2015 at 8:24 am

    Hi,
    Deborah Anderson thanks a lot to you for this helpful post . Actually I use Twitter from 2012 but I don\’t know any thing about twitter card . From your post I know many thing about Twitter card and it\’s importance .Thank you again and I request to you that you will share this types of post in next to help us .

    Reply
    • Gail Gardner says

      January 19, 2015 at 7:03 pm

      Hi Mamunar,

      If you don’t have a blog or website you don’t have to worry about Twitter cards. They pull images from websites when someone shares the link to the page or post.
      Gail Gardner would love you to read ..4 Creative Ideas on Viral Social Media Content Marketing from CaterpillarMy Profile

      Reply
  11. Ben Lloyd says

    January 17, 2015 at 9:39 pm

    How do these cards display in third party apps? Is there any consistency in how cards are handled in say, Tweetbot and Tweetdeck? Or do they only work when viewing Twitter via the website?
    Ben Lloyd would love you to read ..How not to write good copy – lessons from the Kaiser ChiefsMy Profile

    Reply
  12. NoeliA Aanulds says

    January 17, 2015 at 8:55 pm

    Thank you. I learned something new. I didn’t know there is such thing as Twitter Cards and surely dont have them in my website. I am joining the question above “an we do it with simple or must have wordpress website?”
    NoeliA Aanulds would love you to read ..Life Begins at The End of Your Comfort ZoneMy Profile

    Reply
  13. danhid says

    January 17, 2015 at 5:21 pm

    I’m happy to read this post as I learn a lot from here. This so awesome for building traffic to our blog. I’m expecting to get more post like this. Thank you!
    danhid would love you to read ..Acting Tips For Auditions from Margie HaberMy Profile

    Reply
  14. Bilal says

    January 17, 2015 at 7:52 am

    Hi,Deborah Anderson,
    This is really awesome,Now twitter is a big platform to Drive traffic For our Blog is Witter cards is Very helpful for me and other New people.Thanks For Sharing
    Bilal would love you to read ..How to Increase The Domain Authority of Your Website FastMy Profile

    Reply
  15. Manik says

    January 17, 2015 at 7:01 am

    Hi Anderson,

    I’m using Twitter Cards in two of my blog from last years and this is really awesome. This help me attract people’s attention in Twitter easily as well as helps to drive more traffic to my blog.

    Reply

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