I understand that the social space is huge and can be overwhelming. We cannot possibly be on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube and everywhere else at once. I tweet for myself and businesses. I run a Facebook group, am developing a Ning Community, blog, host a web show, plan Tweetups. I am a busy person who knows how hard it is to keep up with all that social media requires. We cannot live our whole lives on Twitter. But is it so much to ask that you regularly update and communicate or vacate? When I run TwitCleaner and see so many people who fail to utilize Twitter the way it was intended, I can’t help but wonder if these people are just ignorant, don’t feel the need to engage or forgot that they even have a Twitter account. The conversation never stops, people. If you don’t want to take an active part in it, fine by me. Please delete your account and be on your merry way. Here are a few common Twitter types that get my knickers in a twist and some more tips for not ending up in the following categories:
Common Twitter Failures
source: www.twi5.com
Celebrities.
Most celebs use Twitter, I’ve noticed, to do two main things:
1. Push their agenda
2. Feed their egos “Nah nah nah nah nah! My following is bigger than Oprahs.”
Salespests.
Tweeple who seem to think that Twitter is a free billboard. WRONG. It is about engagement, not announcement. Pay for an ad if advertising is all you care about. Stop cluttering the space with your waste.
Green Eggs and Spam-mers (Both of which make me gag.)
You know, the ones who have never said two words to you on Twitter, but like to mention you in their tweets that have NOTHING to do with what you tweet about or who you are. Do not try to be heard by accessing and manipulating my hard earned following. It’s like being twitter molested. I feel violated and dirty when that happens. I’d like Twitter to develop a button that lets us drop virtual bird poop on Twitter peeps who do this.
Let’s go over this one more time for these people who fail to understand Twitter.
TWITTER 102 (basics and beyond.)
- Twitter is about engaging other people. You learned this is Twitter 101 but it bears repeating.
- Engaging means starting conversations, responding to questions and comments from others, participating in discussions, showing gratitude to those who mention or RT you.
- Twitter is not effective unless you use it consistently. Meaning more often than once a month.
- Twitter users want to know who you are, not just what you have to sell.
- Twitter users want to be listened to, not just talked to. Let them know that you are listening by responding to them.
- The best reward you can earn by using Twitter the right way is not a large following, but the trust of the following that you do have. Followers are easy to come by. Trust is not.
- Gratitude is essential in all you do. Always be sure to thank the tweeple who support, converse with and RT you.
- A healthy ratio of conversational tweets to self promotion should be 10:1 (at the least)
- Would you sit in front of an actual person and just spout out sales pitches? No? Then don’t do it on Twitter.
- And finally…the golden rule: Tweet others as you want to be tweeted.
Theresa of @RockonMommies offer some more tips for us here. For those of you who do use Twitter the right way, what are your suggestions for being a fine, upstanding Tweeter?
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I do agree with all of this and some of your pet peeves are also mine which drive me batty. Do you find yourself struggling to get this message across to your clients? Some large companies get away with only tweeting about their sales and announcements and therefore smaller ones think they can too when in reality, they can’t. How do you overcome this obstacle with them? I try to focus on the 80/20 rule of thumb. 80% of the time you engage and promote others by conversation, questions and RTs and 20% of the time you promote yourself by sharing blog posts and/or sales, contests and so on.
Great post Kadi! Thanks for the reminders.
“Tweet others as you want to be tweeted.” Love that!!!
Dwan, I usually suggest a 90/10 rule of thumb to my clients. Have you had greater success with 80/20? Have you ever tried 90/10? I’m interested to know if 80/20 would work more effectively.
I agree. Twitter is a tool that people take advantage of. I struggle to get this message across to clients and when I tell them “it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon” to explain how it takes time to build a following, well they hire someone else who tells them what they want.
*sigh*
Thank you for the great post babe.
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