Twitter is a social media and social networking tool that allows you to communicate with your followers via 140 character messages simply known as “tweets”. If you’re not yet, please follow us at @KTCDigital and you can follow my personal account at @GregBellan. But just as there are best practices with things like search engine optimization, there are also some best practices with social media and Twitter. And not only that, but there are some things that will make you look downright silly if you do them. Don’t be that guy.
- Picking a REALLY long Twitter handle – who you are on Twitter is represented by your handle (or username). Ours is KTCDigital. That’s 10 characters. Remember… you only get 140 characters per tweet. So if you choose a really long username, you’re not giving folks much of an opportunity to talk with you. If you choose a name like @MyCompanyIsReallyAwesome you’re taking away precious characters. Don’t do that.
- Using Too Many Hashtags – When you use a hashtag in a tweet, it’s akin to adding a subject line. So if I said something like, “This is a great #SEO tip” people searching for “#SEO” would potentially find my tweet and be able to respond. That’s the purpose of them. When you say stuff like, “Wow… that #SEO #seminar that I #attended the #other day was #awesome” makes you look a little silly. Don’t do that.
- Not Responding To Your Tweets – When someone @-replies to you (meaning they’r responding directly to something you tweeted) you really should respond to it. If you don’t it’s just like not responding to an email. Don’t be that guy.
- Spelling Errors – Social media and especially Twitter is prime real estate for abbreviations, but folks… you should STILL be spelling properly. An abbreviation now and then is OK, but poor spelling is still poor spelling.
- Linking Your Social Media Accounts – People typically tweet more often than they update their other social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). If you’re going to link your accounts, make sure you’re aware of how often you’re updating a property. I’d suggest to push your Facebook messages to your Twitter account, but NOT the other way. That’s just too much updating.
- Auto Direct Messages – This is my #1 Twitter pet peeve. A direct message is a tweet that you send directly to one person for only them to see. Many times, people or companies will set up an auto-DM which will be send right after you follow them. My personal stance is to immediately unfollow these people. Absolutely don’t do that.
I could go on and on, but I’ll leave you with that. If you’ve got questions on Twitter or any other social media platforms don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d love to help!