Get a Grip on Your Handle: Corporate Do's and Don'ts of Twitter

With over 200 million active users (and over 500 million registered users), Twitter provides businesses with a great opportunity to reach their customers and increase their leads.

Unlike other social networking sites, Twitter limits its users to 140 characters in a “Tweet.”  That means that you have a limited space to grab a reader’s attention and get your point across.  Those who are the most creative will find themselves with the most followers, whereas the rest will struggle to stay afloat in the sea of tweets.

To make sure that your business is getting the most out of its Twitter account, check out the following do's and don'ts of Twitter.

Do's and Don'ts of Twitter for Business

Do…

Use your logo as your profile picture and match the background to its colors

Set yourself up for success by having a great design for your Twitter account page.  Setting your logo as your profile picture is great for recognition.  Matching the background color to the logo will give the page a welcoming feel, encouraging viewers to interact with it.

Follow others in your industry, especially industry leaders

Before you begin tweeting, try putting your ear to the ground and listening to what industry leaders and other influential groups are tweeting about.  See what your target customers enjoy hearing about.  Once you feel comfortable that you know what your segments want, try posting your own related content.

Mention those you wish to follow you in your tweets

A great way to get recognized is to get mentioned in a tweet by someone reputable in the industry.  Find popular companies or other referent groups and mention them in a positive tweet.  This encourages that company to mention you back or follow you, and expose your business to their followers.  Since their followers are already interested in your industry, this is a great chance for you to use your content to generate leads for your company.  Even if a company does not follow you or mention you back in their tweets, continue to interact with their pages to draw more attention to your own page.

Include useful hash tags for searching purposes

Twitter uses a feature called “hash tags” to keep track of what people are talking about.  If a large amount of users are using the same hash tag it becomes a “trending” topic.  Users can then search through these hash tags to find tweets on a specific topic.  Try choosing hash tags that are relevant to your specific campaign, and keep these tags consistent on other social media outlets.  Becoming a trending topic may be difficult, but you still want those who are interested in your company’s campaign to be able to easily find your content.

Don’t…

Leave your bio empty

Remember that people on Twitter may be very unfamiliar with your business, and may even be seeing it for the first time.  Tell people what your business does, so that they will know who they are following.  Twitter users who fill out their bio have over 6x times as many followers as those that do not.  Don’t come across as lazy and leave potential followers on the table due to uncertainty about what your business does.

Ignore negative tweets or complaints

Just as you don’t want to ignore negative comments on Facebook, you do not want to avoid negative tweets.  Addressing negative tweets in a proactive manner can show your company’s personal side and help you establish rapport.  Letting these comments go may appear as your company trying to sweep a problem under the rug.

Over-promote your business

Customers want to know what is going on in your business, but they do not want you to shove your business down their throats with constant self-promoting tweets.  Follow the 80-20 rule as a baseline.  Dedicate 20% of your Twitter activity to self promotion and spend the rest of the time interacting with your customers and others in the industry.  These activities still generate awareness for your business, and offer you the opportunity to show what you know outside of your own profile. If you are struggling to find an effective balance, see what your followers respond the most positively to, and adjust those percentages as you see fit.

Post general tweets that do not offer your readers anything

In all of this tweeting, do not lose sight of your company’s goals.  Tweet with a purpose.  Do not simply post general content such as, “Spring is finally here.”  These types of tweets do not offer your customers anything.  Instead, try generating traffic to your website to move potential customers deeper into the sales funnel.  Tweet, “Spring is finally here, and this is a great time to clean up your webpage” with a link to relevant information on your website.  Remember, the most creative content will win the day.

Looking to get more out of social media?

For more do's and don'ts of Twitter and other popular social networks, check out our newest Ebook!  It will help you generate more value from your social media efforts.