Twitter can quickly overwhelm a newbie with its millions of tweets per minute. Trying to understand the etiquette and the general rules of this social cocktail party can be a challenge, even for a veteran. As you try to ride the social wave, you will most likely do a lot of mistakes. As long as they don’t land you on the first page of the New York Times, don’t sweat them. Simply learn from your mistakes and don’t repeat them.
Since you probably want to avoid doing mistakes altogether, we recommend you keep a copy of this list in your toolbox. With LuxeInACity, we have send out over 16 000 tweets, and we have to say, we too made some beginner’s mistakes. This is what we think you should not do on Twitter:
Skipping the Social Media Plan
With no plan, you will end up tweeting about everything and about nothing. Your message will not be cohesive and you will end up turning around in circles. Just like any other marketing activity, social media should be studied and analyzed to then determine the best course of action to take and the best message to send out. At LuxeInACity, our aim was to become an influencer of luxury. We achieved our goal and, according to WeFollow.com, we are now listed as one of the Twitter’s Top 25 influencers for the hashtag #luxury. Pick a strategy, then make your plan.
Self-Promoting in every Tweet
While you can and should share your brand message through Twitter, you should not self-promote all the time. There is nothing worse than someone who shouts at the world without ever listening to a word said in return. Twitter is not your typical marketing tool. To become successful and influential, you first need to gain the trust of the community. This starts by making real connections and interacting with your community. Listen, interact, share, then talk.
Spamming as a strategy
We all hate spam, yet so many brands spam on social media. Twitter is not a sales pitch machine nor is it a place to continuously send out the same message in different formats. Twitter should not be used to send out automatic DM (direct messages) to every new follower acquired urging them to also follow you on Facebook. Being personable means engaging fans one by one, and truly building a relationship with them. You don’t want your first impression to scream “robot”.
Not balancing dialogue and content.
There is no set rules about the amount of content versus dialogue to have in your Twitter stream, but try to balance the two. Post a great piece of content then follow up with some re-tweets, replies and conversations. Mix it up to engage your followers.
Automating Every Tweet.
We know. It’s tempting. But trust us when we say this, it doesn’t work. The only way to build a real community around your brand is to be non-robotic. We often see brands that simply plug in their RSS feed and never interacting with others. Unless you are a very important person or brand with a cult following, you need to spend time to be real.
Tweeting too often, or, too little.
Again, there is no formula to succeed on Twitter but as a general rule don’t overload with hundreds of tweets a day or simply disappear for weeks at a time. Unless you are someone’s idol, if you clog up their timeline, they will most likely turn you off in a hurry. And if you never participate, they will also remove you in their next clean-up session.
#HashtagAbuse.
Even if you want to become an influencer for a particular hashtag, don’t abuse it. Instead, save it for when it matters the most.
Ignoring the Community
Don’t act like you are the only person with an interesting message to share. Otherwise, you will achieve only failure. Engage in conversations, share content from other great brands, thank people for their retweets, offer assistance or support and become a social ambassador.
Lying or misleading
Some influencers have everyone talking about them. They are the “cool” kids of Twitter with huge followings. It might be tempting to buy yourself thousands of followers by injecting a few hundred dollars into a quick popularity scheme. In the long run, you might have 100 000 followers but no one really listening to you. Don’t create a fake persona with fake fans. In the long-run it can only hurt your brand and destroy your online reputation.
Twitter is both an art and a science. Spend time listening to the chatter before you embark on your mission to dominate the social scene. Ask advice from those who have succeeded and be patient with your results. Twitter probably won’t help you make a million dollars but it will certainly help you build your brand, engage with fans and make new partnerships.
What annoys you the most on Twitter? Share your thoughts below or send us a tweet at @luxeinacity or @roxannegenier.
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