Let me start by saying that I am known for being outspoken, and that is how I will be in this post. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, so if you want the truth and you like the truth, keep reading. If you are easily offended, stop reading.
Twitter is by far one of the best ways to promote your business that you can find. Really. If you’re not on Twitter, sign up. But I’ll let you know right now that there are a lot of jerks on Twitter. Trust me, you do NOT want to look like a jerk. Here’s how to avoid that:
you are NOT a guru
Twitter gives you a little bio area where you can write information about yourself, your business, etc. I’ve come across all kinds of biographies, from the short and sweet to the funny and weird. But what really gets on my nerves is when people call themselves “guru” or something like that.
Trust me, you are NOT a guru. You are a normal person with a Twitter account. Calling yourself a deity makes you look a bit off-putting and cheesy.
In case you missed the note, a person wants to do business with someone they like. Not the person who does a great impression of a 1970s used car salesman.
Just be real. This way you will make many more friends. And that will improve your business.
Twitter is NOT your ad feed
If you follow me, I’ll get a little email from Twitter letting me know. I’ll look at your Twitter page and see if I want to follow you. If all I see is ads about the things you just listed in your Etsy shop or some other similar type of ad, I’m not going to follow you.
I’m not trying to be mean, here, but I’m not interested in reading your feed of personals. And anyone else….
Twitter, like all social networking sites, requires some “social” to be considered effective. So keep the conversation going, you might even make a new friend or two.
What about that welcome message?
Another thing that I find a bit irritating (as do other people) is getting a message that says “Thanks for following me, now go to my website and buy something”. Okay, maybe they don’t actually say “buy something”, but that’s what they’re implying by sending that message!
It’s ok to send a little DM (direct message) to someone when they follow you, but keep it personal… I mean, if you put me in real life, walking down the street, you wouldn’t show up and ask me to give you some money. .. If you did, you’d be a freak and I’d run the other way.
And if you did that on Twitter, ditto… I’ll run the other way! Or click away, as the case may be…..
participation is required
I will be honest with you. I have more followers than updates. (at the time of writing this article, I have made 2,345 updates). I can’t say I sit around posting all day on Twitter, but obviously I made an effort.
However, if I get a follow-up notice from someone whose last update was in 2008, I probably won’t follow it. I mean, you got on Twitter to follow me, so why don’t you update the damn thing?
But please don’t share too much
Have you ever been to the bar and a complete stranger sat next to you and started telling you too much information? Sometimes people do that on Twitter too. (I don’t know if they’re drinking while sharing too much, but it might be related…)
And while I think people need to tweet from time to time, I don’t want to know too much about your life. And you should always be careful what you put on the web because everything is indexed and easily searchable.
I mean, any cyberstalker worth their salt will be able to get a ton of information about you, why post more information than they really need to know?
