Luke Brown Marketing Blog

Unless you’ve been sleeping like Rip Van Winkle, you probably know about Twitter and more than likely have an account. But having something and knowing how to use it are two entirely different things.

Too many people and companies misuse social media as mono media, focusing entirely on themselves. While that is a narcissist’s dream, it’s a lousy way to build a business. The following tips will help you be a social media champ, not a mono media chump.

CHAMP: You use social media with discretion. When receiving a DM (Direct Message, which can only be received if you follow someone), it isn’t meant for public consumption. You’re being trusted. It’s poor etiquette to post a DM with someone else’s name on it unless you have their permission.

CHUMP: You begin most tweets with “I” and always include a sale pitch. Nothing is cheesier than thinking somebody might be good to follow than getting 10 tweets from them, all about them. After 3-4 tweets like that, you’ll lose many followers.

CHAMP: You thank people for following you, in a professional manner. It’s okay to use TweetDeck or other Twitter apps to automatically thank someone. Just make you the thank you is all about them and what you can do for them.

CHUMP: You send out at least 5 tweets in a row to make up for lost time. Nobody wants you to hog their Twitter home page with your blatant sales pitches or spam. Oh, yeah. You were the one in school who, “…couldn’t play nice with others.”

CHAMP: You’re a real human being, not a faceless corporation. By posting your picture and some personal information (not too much, however, to tip criminals), you’re saying you’re real and probably trustworthy. Would you follow the advice of a faceless stranger who hides behind a name with no information?

CHUMP: You tweet your life, minute-by-minute, like a diary. If you tweet more than 10 times a day, you probably don’t have much to say. With rare exceptions, you won’t miss much if you automatically unfollow any idiot who tweets more than 10 times per day.

CHAMP: You share the practical, the useful, and the informative – based on your followers. If you’re a movie buff, sharing the IMDB (internet movie data base) website makes sense. Sharing Aunt Mary’s tofu dog food recipe probably doesn’t make sense.

CHUMP: You use all 140 characters into your tweet with too many abbreviations. For personal use, no big deal. For a business, however, sending out an unreadable text only aggravates and alienates your followers. If you need more than 140 characters, use your blog or email.

CHAMP: You customized your Twitter background image. This is especially useful if you’re in a creative or artistic business. Even conservative businesses can dress up their background image to reflect their company, clients and followers. Again, customize based on your clients, customers and target market.

CHUMP: You swear, YELL, and insult anybody who disagrees with you. Twitter is public and people will see what you have written. Most people won’t do business with people who use profanity in a public forum. Like most moms said: “Be polite. You want to have friends, don’t you?” Thanks for the great advice, Mom.

Most of this is really uncommon common sense. Twitter is evolving as a business tool so it’s hard to keep up with the changes. But the same skills that work in most areas of school and business apply online, too. Use them well and Twitter can be a great tool.

Comments are closed.