Trends, trends, trends … they’re all the social scene focuses on, whether they’re face-to-face communications or encounters on social media platforms.
Some of these trends turn out to be great and thus merit keeping, while some are just plain bad – such as not responding when people talk directly to you – and are not worthy of a place in the #Trends or #Habits hall of fame.
With that in mind, there are aspects of Twitter etiquette that should be made redundant sooner rather than later. Here are some Twitter practices we think businesses should avoid…
1. When the going gets tough, play hide and seek. Don’t let an ever-lengthening @mentions timeline stop you from responding to queries and criticisms. Your best option is to go through as many tweets as you can and group them for a response, where possible (e.g. “@smith @caroline @john @melanie, please follow this link …”). You’ll find that many clients experience similar concerns, and you can deal with a host of queries in one or two responses.
Remember: NEVER hide from your followers.
2. Use of colloquial language. Twitter is a virtual space for both fun and serious conversations. However, even with only 140 characters it is easy to convey your message using, well, correct English. Make sure your tweets make sense, are grammatically correct and engaging. Never mind the frills, bells and whistles. Keep it simple.
3. No links, no interest. If you run a business account on Twitter and tweet about your products and services, be sure to give links to these, or else the tweets are practically obsolete – people are accustomed to such links and are unlikely to pursue this information without the link. Also, by directing followers to your website, you increase web traffic.
4. Good morning/goodnight greetings are a huge SNOOZE. Ever viewed your timeline between 6am and 10am and all you seem to find are millions of good-morning tweets from people and companies around the world? Reading the first such tweet may be novel, but it soon gets tiresome. Also, these rote tweets makes it seem as if you’ve have a hired robot to update your account, losing that personal touch, and any news of interest may get lost in among these “automated” updates.
Rather intrigue your followers with an appealing industry-related article or the latest blog from your website. Remember to keep your tweets interesting, so you capture your market, and draw and retain interest.
5. Don’t get trigger-happy with your background. It’s one thing to change your profile’s background to commemorate special holidays or important dates for your organisation, but another to change it too often. Keep in mind that branding helps people recognise and associate themselves with your company. Changing your background daily takes away from brand retention and recognition, and can get a little confusing.
Why not rather change your Twitter background once a month, uploading a new wallpaper design that stays true to your company’s brand identity and values?
Also, changing your avatar on a daily basis is a big no-no. Companies are identified by their logos, symbols and mascots. So try to keep these constant. Should you decide to refresh your avatar, make sure it’s something that followers can easily associate with your brand and organisation. It’ll also help distinguish your company’s official account from other mock accounts, should there be any.