To tweet or not to tweet?
A lot of articles have been written about mistakes made by tweeters in Twitterland and the way tweeters communicate. The good news is that tweets in general have a relatively short lifespan. The bad news is that occasionally, when someone makes a faux pas, it can really escalate out of control and even be damaging to their business. Here we have highlighted just five of the more common mistakes.
Avoiding Twitter chats and not being relevant
Twitter chats can be used to the advantage of a business or an individual. You may be missing certain business opportunities if you don’t join in relevant Twitter chats. They’re happening all the time. Groups of people are chatting regularly, usually once a week for about an hour to discuss topics which are usually suggested by the ‘moderator’, the person who instigates the conversation. Be sure to understand the topic of conversation before you dive in with a comment that may seem irrelevant or be confusing, therefore losing your credibility instantly. Build your Twitter relationship slowly and always make sure you read previous comments and find the discussion question if you’re late opting in to the discussion.
Starting a tweet with someone’s username
Should your client tweet the link to their new website that you designed, saying how pleased they are with the finished product, and you want to thank the client, by starting a tweet for example, with: @individual thank you for choosing Mitra Marketing to design your new website, you will only be reaching that particular person. But if you place a full stop before the @individual you will make your tweet visible to all of your Twitter followers. Don’t lose out on sharing your good news by missing the full stop and allowing all your fellow tweeters to see what good web designers you are.
Making tweets too long
There is a maximum limit of 140 characters available for any tweet. However studies show that 100 – 120 characters get re-tweeted the most, and keeping your tweet to this length allows your followers to re-tweet. Using the allowed 140 characters runs the risk of being ignored as being too lengthy.
Too many #hashtags
As a general rule it is widely suggested that no more than two hashtags should be used in any one tweet. Too many hashtags and the reader is not sure what the tweet is about and may switch off. A hashtag is generally used to categorise topics. It can be used to improve searchability, to add a bit of humour to your post, bring ideas together or create a conversation around your brand (or all of these at the same time). It all depends on what it is that you want to achieve. You also need to ensure that there are no spaces in your hashtag. If there are two words, for example don’t use #mitra marketing, but #mitramarketing
Rapid tweeting
Imagine if you were following a business that you had an interest in and a tweeter started tweeting every few minutes about their day and what they were doing: ‘Took Bob for a long walk this morning’, ‘Going to have lunch now’, ‘Got to go to an SEO meeting at work soon’ – mindless and boring for the reader and you’re no longer getting constructive tweets from the company you were once interested in, so you no longer follow them. Any opportunity the business may have had with other tweeters is now lost due to rapid tweeting. It’s suggested that the number of tweets per day should be limited to 10, dependent upon your business.
Keep your Twitter life up to speed by following these few simple rules and you will find sharing information simpler and you will attract more followers too. Does Twitter leave you tongue-tied? Click here for more help devising a social media strategy that suits your business today.