Do You Have Bad Twitter Habits?

There’s no question that engaging in social media is an essential part of any company’s marketing strategy. Twitter is an extremely popular platform for connecting with your audience and establishing brand awareness. But, if you don’t follow the Twitter “netiquette”, you will be doing the opposite of what you’re trying to accomplish and will drive people away. Keep reading to make sure you aren’t unconsciously alienating your followers.

Don’t Automate

While some people use the auto-post option to streamline their efforts, this really isn’t a good idea. The whole purpose of engaging in social media is to forge meaningful connections with your customers and bombarding them with auto-generated content is the antithesis of that. Instead, take the time to find material yourself that you feel will be of interest to your followers. Similarly, do not send mass, automated direct messages. When you automate everything, you are basically telling your followers that they are all just faceless, nameless prospects that you really don’t care about.

Be Discerning

Don’t tweet about every single article you have ever written. You will not gain the attention and recognition you seek by force-feeding your content to your audience. Instead, take some time to look through your library and pick only the cream of the crop to Tweet about. Avoid tweeting old content; the very nature of Twitter necessitates content that is extremely current and up-to-date. No one wants to hear yesterday’s news, keep your tweets fresh. Also, do not Tweet too much. If you flood someone’s Twitter feed with dozens of messages, they will unfollow you very quickly. Choose quality over quantity to ensure that your followers will be hanging on your every word.

Mind Your Formatting

Tweets consist of up to 140 characters—that’s it. So, when you tweet, be mindful of this limit and word it so it falls within these parameters. You definitely do not want to break up your messages within multiple tweets; it will be too confusing and difficult to follow. If you are going to use Twitter effectively, you must operate within its framework and learn how to write so you can leverage its microblogging format to your advantage. You also want to avoid using too many abbreviations or text chat lingo. Yes, your text real estate is limited on Twitter, but you don’t want to alienate and confuse the majority of your audience by crafting tweets that are unreadable.

Yes, getting the hang of Twitter can be a bit challenging, but with a little bit of time and effort, you will get the hang of it. Before tweeting, make sure what you’re posting is relevant, is of high quality and is something that you feel casts your business in the best light.

Build Brand Awareness Online

If you want to be successful with your business, it’s vital that people know who you are and have a positive view of your brand. There are many simple ways you can create a buzz for yourself online; the trick is to get creative and think outside of the box to do so. With all of the tools and resources that are now readily available, if you put forth a bit of time and effort, you will be able to easily garner attention to your business and brand. Read on for a few ideas.

1. Match Your Blog and Social Media Profiles to Your Website

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s worth mentioning. It’s essential that the design of all your online content looks the same. Find blogging software that allows you to customize your design and lets you match the URL to your own domain. For social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, to name a few, you will need to create a custom social media avatar that you can use across these sites. But, since the image dimensions vary between these sites, you will need to tweak your logo for each account. If you don’t take the time to do this, you run the risk of your logo being cut off or stretched, which will look extremely unprofessional and tarnish your brand’s image. Although you cannot completely customize your Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, Twitter allows you to do so, so make sure your profile matches the look and feel of your official website.

2. Cross-Reference All Your Profiles

Once you have all of your social media profiles looking their best, you will now want to link all of them together. Make sure your website and your blog have social media icons on them so users can go to them with a simple click of their mouse button. Similarly, you will want to make sure that all of your social media accounts link to your blog and website. By doing so, not only will you make it extremely easy for people to find your information, you will also be signaling to the search engines that all of your social profiles are related to your site, thus building relevance. If you correctly link all your accounts together, your social media sites will show up when someone enters your name into a search engine and will push any negative press or reviews off the first page of the SERPs.

3. Engage Your Existing Audience and Actively Woo New Fans

Being involved in the social media sphere presents you with endless opportunities to interact with your customers and reach out to potential ones. For instance, you can create contests, quizzes and surveys and provide fun rewards and promotions for the participants. Online gaming is huge, so if it fits in well with your niche, you may want to consider creating a game. Creating videos and interactive content such as infographics that aren’t directly related to your brand but are related to your niche will also go far in promoting your brand. You may also want to consider reaching out to your fans and brand loyalists to see if they would be interested in sharing a particular piece of content with their friends and followers. This move has multiple benefits—not only will you be increasing the chance of your content going viral, you will also be engaging in an open dialogue with your customers, which is another good way to boost your brand.

The above guidelines are but a few ways you can bolster your brand’s presence and gain credibility. You are only limited by your imagination and if you dedicate yourself to finding new and innovative ways to spread the word, you are certain to be amazed by the results!