X, previously often called Twitter, has gone by a whole lot of modifications since its possession modified fingers in November 2022. Probably the most notable ones is its paid tier, which has seen identify and design modifications and plenty of (many) additions to its listing of options.
A lot has occurred with this paid tier often called X Premium (RIP Twitter Blue) that it may be overwhelming for customers contemplating it to undergo and perceive if it’s proper for them.
To assist ease a few of this confusion, I paid for X Premium and tracked the efficiency of my content material over 90 days. My objective was to evaluate the paid tier’s worth and whether or not it is best to take the $8 (or $16) leap. On this article, I try to just do that and make it easier to make the precise determination to your model.
What’s X Premium?
X Premium is a premium, opt-in, paid subscription service designed to boost consumer expertise on the platform. It affords extra options to enhance engagement and personalization, with three tiers:
- Fundamental: This tier prices $3 a month or $32 a 12 months, giving customers entry to restricted options.
- Premium: This was the primary tier made obtainable, and it prices $8 or $84 a 12 months. It has all of the options that one may think about helpful. It’s additionally the tier I went with as a result of it was the one one obtainable on the time.
- Premium+: This tier prices $16 a month or $168 a 12 months and affords a number of additional options not included within the Premium tier.
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Some key options of X Premium embrace the power to edit your posts and add longer posts and movies, in addition to a Blue checkmark and textual content formatting, amongst many others. We’ll dive into them in a minute – however first, how do you enroll?
The best way to get X Premium
When you’re simply right here to know learn how to get X Premium for your self, it’s fairly easy:
- Navigate to the X web site or open the X app in your cellphone.
- Search for the ‘X Premium’ or ‘Subscription’ choice in your account settings or profile menu.
- Choose from the three obtainable tiers – Fundamental, Premium, or Premium+ – primarily based on the options you want and your price range.
- Familiarize your self with every tier’s options to make sure they align together with your necessities.
- Comply with the prompts to pay and full the subscription course of.
- As soon as subscribed, you’ll obtain a affirmation, and the X Premium options will develop into obtainable.
Exploring the core options of X Premium
X Premium customers on any tier above Fundamental get entry to a laundry listing of options – nonetheless, it’s a fairly lengthy listing.
So, I picked out essentially the most related options for you as a creator or small enterprise proprietor and what it’s essential to know, together with the advantages, downsides, and why it could be well worth the price ticket.
Characteristic | What it’s | Advantages | Downsides | Well worth the Worth Tag? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Edit Submit | Permits modifying tweets post-publishing inside an hour | Appropriate errors, replace data, improve readability | Restricted to at least one hour, restrictions on edit rely | No – it was usually too buggy to get a lot use out of. I’m additionally not used to modifying my posts, so I didn’t trouble with it more often than not. |
Longer Posts | Expands character restrict as much as 25,000 | Delve deeper into subjects, extra complete content material | Longer format could deter some readers | Positively – this was one characteristic that I used so much and would miss if I didn’t have X Premium anymore. |
Prioritized Rankings in Replies | Boosts visibility of consumer interactions | Will increase engagement and attain | Effectiveness varies with viewers exercise | No – this isn’t a precedence for most individuals and should you’re attempting to get visibility, it will be higher to message the creator or quote the tweet. |
Bookmark Folders and Customized App Icons | Organizes content material and personalizes app icons | Helps in analysis and content material curation; personalizes expertise | Extra about group and aesthetics | Possibly – should you like organized content material, this could be well worth the price ticket. It additionally makes a terrific swipe file as a result of you’ll be able to kind your content material higher. |
Blue Checkmark (Premium and Premium+ tiers) | Verification image for profiles | Affords credibility and recognition | Verification course of and eligibility standards could also be boundaries | Positively not – most individuals conceal their checkmarks since that choice was provided. |
Income Sharing and Creator Subscriptions (Premium and Premium+ tiers) | Monetization choices | New income streams, financially viable platform | Will depend on viewers measurement and engagement ranges | Possibly – if in case you have a bigger viewers, this might make the value tag value it. Or possibly not, with reviews of even bigger creators not receiving as a lot income as when this system first launched. |
Advert Discount (Premium and Premium+ tiers) | Reduces advert presence on the platform | Cleaner shopping expertise, much less distraction | Does not remove advertisements fully | Not fairly – I agree that I see much less advertisements, however it’s nonetheless too frequent for my choice |
Longer Video Uploads | Extends video add limits | Permits importing longer movies | Restricted to particular platforms and gadgets | Possibly – should you largely add video content material, it is a nice choice to have. |
My private expertise with X Premium
My first notice on switching to the X Premium consumer expertise was: “I’ve no clue what to do now.” I used to be acquainted with some the reason why most individuals weren’t enormous followers of subscribing to a social media platform. However I hadn’t seen a lot about the advantages of subscribing (aside from income sharing) and why somebody may need to take the leap.
So, I requested my viewers what they’d need to find out about utilizing it and acquired some useful questions.
A few folks requested me to examine in on how the attain of my content material would change or enhance over the 90 days.
I additionally acquired a request to examine in on how long-form posts carry out. These questions knowledgeable a whole lot of how I approached my content material whereas doing this experiment.
Now, I’ve at all times been a textual content creator, so my posting fashion didn’t change – in truth, I posted lower than within the prior three-month interval, with my frequency happening from 164 posts in 90 days to 94. Nonetheless, that made the outcomes extra spectacular – try the evaluation.
How my content material carried out earlier than and after X Premium
X’s analytics depart a lot to be desired, so I’ve added information from my Buffer analytics. There could be inconsistencies between the 2 datasets, so bear with me.
With out additional ado, right here’s how my content material carried out over two totally different 90-day durations.
Earlier than X Premium
Earlier than X Premium, my exercise was a lot larger. I shared 164 tweets and, in response to Buffer, acquired:
- 198,873 impressions
- 1,938 likes
- 260 replies
- 313 retweets
- 2,080 clicks
- 391 new followers
Then, in response to Twitter, for a similar 90-day-period I acquired roughly:
- 253,200 impressions
- 4.5 p.c engagement price
- 2,300 likes
- 492 replies
- 335 retweets (with out feedback, aka quotes)
- 2,800 hyperlink clicks
Every tweet, on common, gained 1,213 impressions and 48 engagements.
I also can draw a direct line from the elevated efficiency of this era to 2 issues. One is a useful resource I shared that acquired me extra engagement than regular, and two is a collection of reports updates I used to share however have since paused.
These two content material codecs skewed my outcomes larger than regular over this 90-day interval.
After X Premium
After X Premium, regardless that my tweet rely diminished to 94, the engagement high quality remained excessive, with a 3.6 p.c engagement price.
To dig in additional, in response to Buffer, I obtained 287 replies, 326 retweets, and 556 hyperlink clicks.
- 186,630 impressions
- 1,661 likes
- 219 replies
- 273 retweets
- 32 clicks
- 242 new followers
Then, from my Twitter analytics, I can see that I obtained roughly:
- 243,200 impressions
- 3.6 p.c engagement price
- 2,100 likes
- 287 replies
- 326 retweets (with out feedback, aka quotes)
- 556 hyperlink clicks
What do these numbers imply?
This comparability reveals that regardless that my total exercise decreased post-subscription, the engagement high quality of my content material was maintained.
In line with Twitter, the typical every day impressions solely dropped to round 2,700 from 2,800.
Since I used to be publishing much less, subscribing to X Premium seems to have enhanced the attain of every publish, contributing to extra impactful outcomes total.
So when you ought to take all these stats with a grain of salt, seeing as there have been challenges with X’s analytics and such massive variations between each platforms I used to trace them, they’re useful to get an thought of the efficiency of my content material.
Is X Premium best for you?
Quick reply: most likely sure.
X Premium instantly looks like a terrific match for anybody trying to develop an engaged viewers, particularly in case your content material is primarily text-driven.
Options like modifying and the power to make longer kind content material are invaluable for sustaining high quality and depth in content material. A few of my best-performing posts had been longer, they usually did fairly effectively.
It’s additionally nice for participating together with your group since you get enhanced visibility by prioritized rankings in replies, which is essential for viewers development.
Nonetheless, the subscription has its limitations. The impression of options like income sharing and creator subscriptions’ is felt extra by these with an already established follower base – that are among the foremost attracts of the paid tier. The monetization advantages won’t be instantly tangible should you’re newer or have a small viewers like me.
I nonetheless assume X Premium may be highly effective if you wish to refine your content material high quality and engagement methods, particularly should you already possess a considerable following.
Finally, for smaller accounts or these simply beginning, it is best to weigh the incremental advantages of engagement and attain and small upgrades in opposition to your funds earlier than investing in X Premium.
Will you be subscribing to X Premium? Are you at the moment subscribed? We might like to know your expertise within the feedback – or you would be a part of the Buffer group in Discord and share there.