The Twitter account for your business is just another useful and effective channel for reaching customers and, most importantly, potential customers. It’s a marketing tool like any other, so it’s important to use Twitter in a way that will benefit, not hurt, your business. Here are some Twitter marketing do’s and don’ts to keep in mind.
Do Post Valuable Content
The golden rule of social media marketing is to offer valuable content. You have to give your followers a reason to follow you, or they won’t. Valuable content is content that they can use. It will make their lives easier, teach them something, give them a resource, or even just entertain them. Make sure that everything you tweet is useful to your followers in some way.
Don’t Post Offensively
You also want to avoid offending the public, or they’ll “unfollow” you without hesitation. Think carefully about what you tweet. It can be tempting to fire off a snide comment, cynical observation, or complaint, but you need to censor yourself and resist the urge. Offensive comments offer absolutely no benefit to anyone, and they don’t put your business in a very positive light.
Do Use #Hashtags
Twitter is all about the hashtag, so use one, or several, when you tweet. You have to be very careful to do this properly, though. Don’t use more than two hashtags at once, or it’s just obnoxious. Don’t use very long hashtags. Make sure the hashtags you do use are relevant; selecting a hashtag is like selecting a keyword – you want to pick whatever will give you the most visibility. You can make up your own hashtag if you want, just check to make sure it’s not already being used, and make it relevant, catchy, and consistent.
Don’t Hard Sell
Your business’s Twitter account is obviously about marketing and earning customers. You don’t have to use it as a platform for hard selling. If your tweets are blatant, self-serving advertising, you won’t keep many followers. Get creative in the messages you send. Make your tweets relevant to your industry, products, services, etc. without making them purely promotional.
Do Respond to Mentions
If someone uses @yourbusiness in a tweet, whether they’re speaking directly to you or just mentioning you, respond to them. Give them an @theirname mention in return. It’s just polite Twitter etiquette, and it’s good business practice to acknowledge public conversations about you. Consider following anyone who @mentions you if you’re not already, and you may gain some followers in return, too.
Don’t Go Silent
You don’t want to tweet so often that you annoy your followers by taking over their Twitter feeds. You also don’t want to post so infrequently that people forget about you. Even worse, you should never create a Twitter account only to abandon it. If you go silent on your Twitter account, people will wonder if you’re even in business anymore, and they might even assume you’re not. If you aren’t going to use Twitter anymore, delete it. If you are, post frequently enough to establish your presence.
This valuable online marketing article was prepared by Josephine Rey in tandem with SEOMap – a group specializing in SEO keyword research.
