5 Twitter Gaffes You Can Do Without
Twitter's microblogging service is so popular that businesses and organizations of all types and sizes have established their presence in Twitter.
The premise is: you can do no wrong in using Twitter as part of your business marketing strategy, right? Wrong.
Many organizations have their shares of Twitter mistakes they'd rather want to forget.
These Twitter gaffes are either horrendously embarrassing, or financially costly, or damaging in the long run to the image of the business.
Businesses just new to the Twittersphere, and even existing ones, should be guided by, and learn to avoid, some of the most common Twitter mistakes below: 1.
Directionless tweeting Don't just ride the Twitter bandwagon because your competitor is in it.
This is one of the Twitter gaffes that can cost a lot of money minus the ROI.
If you have a goal or strategy, all your Twitter activities should be conducted in line with these strategies.
If you have a new product to launch, the tweets for a period of time prior to the launch should center on the product.
If you plan for increased followers-to-customers conversion, your Twitter activities will correspondingly be for increasing followers and the like.
This eliminates Twitter gaffes such as useless tweeting and resource-consuming activities that have no bearing to your planned strategies.
2.
Blatant unprofessionalism How you behave in the Twittersphere should be no less different than when you are in your corporate office facing clients face to face.
This means a degree of professionalism should be observed -- from your tweets, to the content of your profile.
None of those "I ate pizza for lunch" mundane tweets, one of the most common Twitter gaffes, unbecoming of a business or corporate entity.
As to your Twitter profile, it should contain your business name, a nice photo, some information about your company, and a link to your website, if any.
Your profile is your Twitter "face", the fine line between acquiring more followers or not.
The keywords in your profile also matter in Twitter's search for people based on keywords or interests.
If you make Twitter mistakes like not leveraging the profile, you will remain undiscovered and Twittersphere's best-kept secret.
3.
Business-centric, not customer-centric, tweeting Remember that Twitter is an opportunity to reach out and engage your customers.
One of the dangerously deceptive Twitter mistakes is to think that your tweets should always be about your company, your business, your product.
Self-promotional tweets are not bad, but if this all there is to your Twitter presence, followers may trickle out gradually, leaving you by your lonesome.
On top of informative tweets about your business, include content useful to your customers/followers to avoid Twitter gaffes like this.
Twitter can also be a channel where you can handle customer complaints and feedbacks.
With each of your responsive tweets to followers, you increase your good image and reputation.
4.
Oops! tweeting Twitter is a 24x7 reality show.
Do not make Twitter gaffes like tweeting things that you will regret later.
Many famous personalities found this out to their dismay when tweeting catty, nasty or plain careless remarks about themselves or others.
For business entities, public scrutiny and perception is important.
That is why each tweet using your business account should be carefully thought of.
Treat every tweet as an official "memo" from the business.
Unintentional blunders are Twitter mistakes that can confuse or offend customers.
5.
No progress monitoring The business costs incurred by maintaining the Twitter account, cultivating it and increasing the follower base, need to be compared against business returns, if any.
A monitoring of the rate of follower increases or decreases, actual sales conversion from Twitter referrals, and the like, will provide valuable information on whether your business' Twitter presence is worth the investment or just a long series of costly Twitter mistakes.
The premise is: you can do no wrong in using Twitter as part of your business marketing strategy, right? Wrong.
Many organizations have their shares of Twitter mistakes they'd rather want to forget.
These Twitter gaffes are either horrendously embarrassing, or financially costly, or damaging in the long run to the image of the business.
Businesses just new to the Twittersphere, and even existing ones, should be guided by, and learn to avoid, some of the most common Twitter mistakes below: 1.
Directionless tweeting Don't just ride the Twitter bandwagon because your competitor is in it.
This is one of the Twitter gaffes that can cost a lot of money minus the ROI.
If you have a goal or strategy, all your Twitter activities should be conducted in line with these strategies.
If you have a new product to launch, the tweets for a period of time prior to the launch should center on the product.
If you plan for increased followers-to-customers conversion, your Twitter activities will correspondingly be for increasing followers and the like.
This eliminates Twitter gaffes such as useless tweeting and resource-consuming activities that have no bearing to your planned strategies.
2.
Blatant unprofessionalism How you behave in the Twittersphere should be no less different than when you are in your corporate office facing clients face to face.
This means a degree of professionalism should be observed -- from your tweets, to the content of your profile.
None of those "I ate pizza for lunch" mundane tweets, one of the most common Twitter gaffes, unbecoming of a business or corporate entity.
As to your Twitter profile, it should contain your business name, a nice photo, some information about your company, and a link to your website, if any.
Your profile is your Twitter "face", the fine line between acquiring more followers or not.
The keywords in your profile also matter in Twitter's search for people based on keywords or interests.
If you make Twitter mistakes like not leveraging the profile, you will remain undiscovered and Twittersphere's best-kept secret.
3.
Business-centric, not customer-centric, tweeting Remember that Twitter is an opportunity to reach out and engage your customers.
One of the dangerously deceptive Twitter mistakes is to think that your tweets should always be about your company, your business, your product.
Self-promotional tweets are not bad, but if this all there is to your Twitter presence, followers may trickle out gradually, leaving you by your lonesome.
On top of informative tweets about your business, include content useful to your customers/followers to avoid Twitter gaffes like this.
Twitter can also be a channel where you can handle customer complaints and feedbacks.
With each of your responsive tweets to followers, you increase your good image and reputation.
4.
Oops! tweeting Twitter is a 24x7 reality show.
Do not make Twitter gaffes like tweeting things that you will regret later.
Many famous personalities found this out to their dismay when tweeting catty, nasty or plain careless remarks about themselves or others.
For business entities, public scrutiny and perception is important.
That is why each tweet using your business account should be carefully thought of.
Treat every tweet as an official "memo" from the business.
Unintentional blunders are Twitter mistakes that can confuse or offend customers.
5.
No progress monitoring The business costs incurred by maintaining the Twitter account, cultivating it and increasing the follower base, need to be compared against business returns, if any.
A monitoring of the rate of follower increases or decreases, actual sales conversion from Twitter referrals, and the like, will provide valuable information on whether your business' Twitter presence is worth the investment or just a long series of costly Twitter mistakes.
