Many people find it hard to ‘get’ Twitter and it can take some time to work out the etiquette of Twitter as well as how to use it effectively and above
all, not offend anyone or cause any damage to your reputation.
1. Direct Messages to New Followers
Many people send direct messages to new followers but I have to admit I am not a fan. No matter how well they are written, they stand out a mile as an automatically generated general message rather than a personal one. Whatever you do, don’t ask them to buy your products or follow you on another platform in your first message to a new follower.
2. Automatic Tweets
If signing up to a tool which reveals your followers and those you follow, providing you with recent statistics, ensure it doesn’t send automatic tweets daily revealing your numbers of recent followers plus those who unfollowed you. It doesn’t add anything to your account.
3. Bio & Avatar
Don’t Ignore Your Bio or Avatar. Ensure your avatar photograph is clear and either shows you or your business in a good light. Your bio could include some information that reveals your personality such as a reference to your hobbies. Remember to include who is writing the tweets if it’s a large business. Be as personal as you can be.
4. Don’t Quack!
Quacking refers to overusing hashtags in a tweet, so much so that the tweet is overtly promotional and may not even make sense.
Two relevant hashtags per tweet should be plenty. If providing a link, remember to provide people with reasons why they should click it, why it should be of interest to them.
5. Remember to Chat
Don’t forget to be sociable and have some conversations on Twitter. It’s a wonderful way to get to know people and I’ve discovered many authors via Twitter for example. People buy from people and they will be more loyal if they have enjoyed conversations with you. Aim for two conversations a day as a starting point.
6. Use Visuals
Don’t forget to use images too. You can size images appropriately very easily using Canva too. Videos are becoming popular within Twitter too. Both get good engagement as the visual stands out.
7. Seem Spontaneous
If you’re finding it difficult to tweet naturally and find yourself spending significant time composing single tweets and are then disappointed if you don’t get much response, do remember that Twitter is about what happens in the moment. While spelling should be accurate (although rare typos are forgiven), tweets should be conversational and informal in style.
8. Don’t Be ‘Me Me Me’
When deciding whether to follow a person or not, I often look at the ‘tweets and replies’ section of their account to see if they take the time to be chatty or if their tweets are all statements, call to actions and links to their blog posts. Twitter accounts that are all about ‘Me, Me Me’ aren’t so attractive to follow.
9. Don’t Forget To Unpin
If you wish to promote something or you’ve written a tweet that you’d like more people to see, you can pin it to the top of your profile so anyone looking at your account can see it immediately. However, don’t forget to unpin it if the tweet goes out of date. To pin a tweet, click the three dots under the tweet and then ‘pin to your profile’ in the drop down menu.
It will then ask you to confirm by clicking ‘pin’. To unpin it, click the three dots again and ‘unpin from your profile’. Easy peasy.
10. Be Polite
Never tweet anything that you wouldn’t like to see on the front of a newspaper. Having a public argument with someone on Twitter is unpleasant too and yet, you may see it happen occasionally. I don’t want to end on a negative note but it can happen that trolling can also happen on Twitter whereby people disagree strongly and will send unpleasant tweets. You can block a tweeter (which means you don’t see any of their tweets) by clicking the cog beside the ‘follow’ button and choosing ‘block’ from the drop down menu.
Do you have any other pet hates for Twitter users, or perhaps some recommendations? Do leave your thoughts in a comment. If you would like to avail of more social media tips, do check out our new 365 Social Media Tips book for 2016.
Don’t Quack!
Quacking refers to overusing hashtags in a tweet, so much so that the tweet is overtly promotional and may not even make sense.
Two relevant hashtags per tweet should be plenty. If providing a link, remember to provide people with reasons why they should click it, why it should be of interest to them.
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