The Twitter bandwagon is taking on new passengers every day. Many of these new Twitter users are businesses trying to grow their brand through social media. Unfortunately, they often flame out quickly because they don’t understand how to properly leverage Twitter for their business and they ignore social networking etiquette.
If you’re new to Twitter, here are 5 mistakes you should avoid at all costs.
1. Only tweeting self-promotional content—It’s called “social networking” not “social advertising.” Even if the goal of signing up for a Twitter account is to somehow further your business, sending out a flurry of self-promotional tweets isn’t going to do you any good. No on wants to be advertised on Twitter, so any followers you might have will drop you. Instead, focus on adding value to the follower-experience. Provide your unique insight on topics, link out to quality sources, and interact with your followers.
2. Not interacting with your followers—Speaking of interacting with your followers, failing to do so will get you nowhere fast on Twitter. The whole point of social networking is to be, well, social. This means spending time growing your relationships with your followers, not just sending out one-way tweets all day.
3. Tweeting on rare occasions—If you want to build a strong Twitter presence, you need to consistently provide quality content to your followers. At the very least, you should be tweeting a few times each day. Tweeting once or twice a week is an easy way for your followers to forget you and eventually stop following you altogether.
4. Getting overly defensive—When you put yourself out there on Twitter, someone is going to eventually disagree with something you say or even say something negative about your company. When this happens, take a step back and breathe for a second. Don’t instantly get combative by arguing back with them. Nothing will get accomplished this way. Either engage in a respectful debate with them or if they’re just a keyboard gangster looking to start trouble, ignore them.
5. Focusing on quantity of followers—I always find it funny whenever someone brags to me about how many followers they have. Or even better is when they tell me about some shady technique they use to instantly gain thousands of followers. Who cares? The number of followers you have means nothing if they aren’t engaged. Engaged followers are likelier to take action on your behalf (whether that be spreading your message online or buying your products). Give me 100 followers who are truly interested in what I have to say over 1,000 disinterested followers any day.
What other mistakes do you see new Twitter users make? Share them in the replies.
I guess this a popular topic with all of the media attention social networks have gotten recently. I just blogged about being engaged in the community, and not only promoting yourself. I think the first 4 of your points will come over time, but it is hard not to focus on the numbers.
The biggest mistake that I see is not interacting. If I had to give another, it would have to be the link spamming people that are hard to identify as people.
I guess this a popular topic with all of the media attention social networks have gotten recently. I just blogged about being engaged in the community, and not only promoting yourself. I think the first 4 of your points will come over time, but it is hard not to focus on the numbers.
The biggest mistake that I see is not interacting. If I had to give another, it would have to be the link spamming people that are hard to identify as people.
I guess this a popular topic with all of the media attention social networks have gotten recently. I just blogged about being engaged in the community, and not only promoting yourself. I think the first 4 of your points will come over time, but it is hard not to focus on the numbers.
The biggest mistake that I see is not interacting. If I had to give another, it would have to be the link spamming people that are hard to identify as people.
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It bugs the stuffing out of me when companies don’t follow people back. I can understand that behavior from a personal account, but if you’re a business on Twitter – you need to start hitting that follow button.
It bugs the stuffing out of me when companies don’t follow people back. I can understand that behavior from a personal account, but if you’re a business on Twitter – you need to start hitting that follow button.
It bugs the stuffing out of me when companies don’t follow people back. I can understand that behavior from a personal account, but if you’re a business on Twitter – you need to start hitting that follow button.
Ef Rodriguez,
it does feel a little impersonal/rude when a company doesn’t follow you back or interact with you. Obviously, if you choose to follow them, you’re a member of their target audience, so they should be doing everything they can to get to know you better.
Ef Rodriguez,
it does feel a little impersonal/rude when a company doesn’t follow you back or interact with you. Obviously, if you choose to follow them, you’re a member of their target audience, so they should be doing everything they can to get to know you better.
Ef Rodriguez,
it does feel a little impersonal/rude when a company doesn’t follow you back or interact with you. Obviously, if you choose to follow them, you’re a member of their target audience, so they should be doing everything they can to get to know you better.
Nice, it’s never enough to spread this.
I think 2 is very important. Obviously you don’t have to answer *everything* people send to you.
Another thing that causes bad impression (in my opinion) is the combo self-promotion + no-interaction. It makes the user looks like a RSS feed instead of a human being.
Nice, it’s never enough to spread this.
I think 2 is very important. Obviously you don’t have to answer *everything* people send to you.
Another thing that causes bad impression (in my opinion) is the combo self-promotion + no-interaction. It makes the user looks like a RSS feed instead of a human being.
Nice, it’s never enough to spread this.
I think 2 is very important. Obviously you don’t have to answer *everything* people send to you.
Another thing that causes bad impression (in my opinion) is the combo self-promotion + no-interaction. It makes the user looks like a RSS feed instead of a human being.
I’ve forgotten some of these rules, and I’m gonna be on fast track to recovery. Thanks.
I’ve forgotten some of these rules, and I’m gonna be on fast track to recovery. Thanks.
I’ve forgotten some of these rules, and I’m gonna be on fast track to recovery. Thanks.
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