3 Things NOT To Do When Using Twitter For Business

Twitter is great for business. Whether you’re a small start-up or a well-established market leader, Twitter can boost your bottom line, if you approach it correctly.

Whether you’re planning on using Twitter for business or already tweeting away, there are some things you need to keep at the forefront of your mind if you’re to reap the rewards on offer. Some of these things are fairly obvious and straightforward, others not so much.

At the straightforward end of the spectrum, it’s important not to use profanity, not to get involved in a slanging match with followers, and not to use too many hashtags. At the other end of the spectrum, well, there are some pretty dangerous pitfalls that could trip you and your business up in double time.

Here are three Twitter business pitfalls you need to avoid at all costs.

1. DON’T Bombard Your Followers with Valueless Tweets

With more than 200 million users, it’s hard to grab someone’s attention on Twitter. If you’re to stand any chance of succeeding you need to ensure that the content you post is interesting and valuable.

When it comes to using Twitter for business, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is being too business-like. If you’re planning on a barrage of endless self-promotion, your followers won’t be followers for long. Nobody wants to listen to false hype. Nobody wants to be bombarded with never-ending advertisements for products. Nobody wants to hear constantly how good your products are, at least not from you.

In order to avoid this Twitter business pitfall, try to be more creative with your content. Offer tips. Share useful information. Chat with your followers. Answer questions. Add a little humour. Share inspirational quotes (a favourite with Twitter users). Get creative; just try not to sound like a commercial.

2. DON’T Speak to Just Anybody

The temptation will always be there to reach out to vast numbers of people. The more people you follow, the bigger impact you can make, right? Wrong! This is actually one of the biggest Twitter business pitfalls.

If your time on Twitter is to be productive, you need to reach out to the right people. Having 100 followers that sit comfortably within your target audience is far superior to having 1,000 or even 100,000 followers that have no interest in your product/services. This really is a case of quality over quantity.

Use the Twitter search function and third-party tools (TweetDeck, HootSuite, etc.) to locate Twitter users that fit into your desired demographic. Find users that are age-appropriate, live in the desired geographical location, and are generally the type of people you’re looking for. This will save you countless hours further down the line.

3. DON’T Forget to Engage with Your Followers

The third Twitter business pitfall to avoid, and probably the easiest to stumble into, is lack of engagement.

If your business is to succeed on Twitter you must remember that social media is a two-way channel. It’s not enough to find followers and broadcast your message to them. You need to actively engage with them or they’ll soon forget about you and your next tweet will slide down their feed without even a second thought.

Engaging with your followers needn’t be hard work. Respond to questions. Thank people that retweet or mention you. Comment on your followers’ own personal tweets. Ask questions that will get your followers thinking and talking. Again, be creative and good things will happen. Just be sure not to leave your page barren and derelict.

Engaging with your followers can be time consuming so make sure you don’t spend more time on Twitter than you can afford. A good social media strategy should designate specific timeframes to work within, helping you to avoid one more Twitter business pitfall.

Take all of this into account and you’ll give yourself, at the very least, a fighting chance.