Tip 1: Just be your normal self and you’ll be fine
The beauty of Twitter is that it’s a huge global community of human (mostly; there are spammer accounts but they’re easy to recognise, block and report to the authorities). So do show your human side, especially when using your business account. Talk about things that matter to you and your business associates: comical things that your children say or do, recent accomplishments, your favourite singer or movies, and so on. Join in with conversations that interest you – be friendly, show emotion, and use smilies if you want to. 🙂
On the other hand, don’t be too human. Don’t share anything you wouldn’t share at a real-world business networking event. Keep your intimate health problems and controversial or potentially offensive opinions to yourself. Anything related to politics and religion, you have got to keep a close watch on them as well.
Tip 2: Be careful about how you write your content
Some people write extremely well, others don’t – that’s true in all areas of life, not just on Twitter. You don’t need to be an author that published 50 books to use Twitter, but it helps if you have basic literacy skills (and if you use Twitter at the website instead of through a client, your Tweets will be spellchecked as you type anyway – which helps). 🙂
However good ( or bad ) your writing skills are, with Twitter’s 140-characters limit, you will need to be extremely creative with your tweets. Your tweets need to be concise but informative. Often, you’ll be trying to squeeze in a URL too. You should also learn more about bit.ly and tinyurl.com. If you are not sure what they are, do a google search for them. They’re very easy to use!
One definite don’t is using text speak. When we tok abt using text speak, it is sumthin like this. Text speak is fine if you’re 13, but as a professional adult promoting your business you’re just going to look silly, and won’t communicate your messages efficiently – unless you’re targeting 13 year olds. Your friends who are following you would also be dismayed and astonished by the words that’s coming out of your Twitter account.
Tip 3: Share your content!
If you have some good news – related to your business or your personal life – share it; everybody loves a good news story.
Do share links – to your website, your blog, your associate’s website, or anything else that interests your followers – this is a great way to get conversations going. But do remember to explain what the link’s about, or your followers will feel less inclined to click it. And don’t Tweet the same link over and over; people will quickly become bored and may stop following you. You don’t want your followers to think that you’re a bot blogging right?
Do retweet your friends’ links, too; they’ll be grateful, and so will your followers if the link is interesting and relevant. But here’s a very big ‘do’ – DO make sure you click the link and read the content before sharing it with your followers, or you could end up sharing a page that’s irrelevant or offensive, or which contradicts your usual position on the subject.
Tip 4: Be part of the community
Don’t treat Twitter as your personal billboard. It’s not: it’s a community, millions of members strong, and the community as a whole is not very tolerant of users who constantly advertise. Try to stick to the 80-20 rule when you use Twitter for business: no more than 20% of your Tweets should advertise or self-promote, and at least 80% should be non-promotional. If you can get the ratio down to 90-10 or 95-5, even better.
Listen to what your following and followers are saying and join in the community. Twitter is a network of conversation so it is good practice to listen and respond to those conversations. Just dont keep selling your products and services. That is spammy.
Do retweet your friends’ requests for help (for example, charity appeals and sponsorship requests), and do introduce friends that are new to Twitter and could do with some followers. And again – do retweet useful, interesting links from people you follow, but always check links before sending.
Tip 5: Mind your language
Don’t use offensive language when representing your business on Twitter; even mild swearwords can put sensitive souls off following you (and besides – cursing in public is hardly professional). Dialects such as Hokkien, Teochew and other colorful languages should also be kept in check.
Use Twitter to answer customer questions and solve their problems, by all means. Many companies use Twitter as a customer service tool very effectively. However, never use a fussy, impolite or impatient tone with a customer. Remember, customers are 99% right. Everything you say out there is for everybody to see. Leave your followers with the best possible impression of your company and brand at all times. The internet has a very long memory.
Last but not least…
Finally, consider this as well. Always enjoy yourself whenever you use Twitter. Forge new friendships and business contacts. Enjoy the fun #hashtags and trending topics. 🙂
