photo credit: mangpages

Twitter has taken the world by storm. People from all walks of life are now using this social media platform to stay connected, talk about world events and grow their businesses. But there are mistakes being made. Some Tweeters out there are using Twitter to hurt their business, despite their best intentions. In this post I am going to show you how NOT to use Twitter to grow your business. These are some mistakes you don’t want to make.

Mistake #1 – Tweeting as a company
Although Twitter has been around for a few years now, it was around the beginning of 2009 that it really started taking off in the eyes of the bigger corporations. All of a sudden we saw the big guys from the energy, accounting, finance, mining and media industries sign up for accounts and send out Tweets about the company. The problem? It was all very boring. No one wants to hear what a multinational corporation is up to. Nobody wants to add you as a friend on Twitter only to see updates that are dry, calculated and ever so corporate.

If you are going to use Twitter you need to develop a personal voice. Save the business updates for the company website and make Twitter about the people behind the company. People want to connect with other people, not other businesses.

But this presents a problem. Do you Tweet under the company name or under your own name? It is a question that I am still debating. I think the answer has a lot to do with how much the person doing the Tweeting is associated with the brand of the company. Let me explain. My Twitter name is TaplinWebDesign but under the name section I put Ramsay Taplin. It is my business and as such I do all the Tweets. Darren Rowse from Problogger does a similar thing. His Twitter name is his business name (ProBlogger) but he Tweets as himself, Darren Rowse. As such he will write on a much more personal level as opposed to boring Tweets about what the website is doing.

Mistake #2 – Obsessive self promotion
Quite often you will follow someone on Twitter and then after a day or two promptly delete them. Why? Because all they do is promote their own website, business or services. It is important to realise that, even though you joined Twitter with a view to promote your own business, that is not why people follow you. People follow you because they perceive that you might add some value to their lives. If, then, you spend the entire time just promoting yourself, they will get bored very quickly.

If you want to grow a large and relevant following on Twitter you need to make sure that you are doing a lot more than just self promotion. In fact, you should limit the amount of self promotion to just once or twice a week. The rest of the time you should be creating meaningful Tweets that add something to your following’s day. The could be inspiring and relevant quotes, industry news and opinions and, most importantly, replies to other people’s Tweets. The more engaging you are the better. Self promotion is the least engaging of all.

Mistake #3 – Letting personal opinions overtake your brand
Something that I see quite often on Twitter is people getting engaged in fights defending their personal opinions even though these opinions might harm their businesses brand. You can never forget that tens, hundreds or even thousands of people are going to see your Tweets and will form an opinion about your brand based on what you say.

photo credit: chada

One of the best examples of this phenomena happened in the last American Presidential election campaign between Obama and McCain. Barack Obama had, early on, realised the importance of Twitter and Youtube and as such began promoting his causes via these social media websites. He gathered a huge following in a short amount of time, especially on Twitter, and these people began sending out millions of Tweets supporting his campaign and denigrating McCain and Palin. But what people forgot amongst this passionate support was that not all of their customers shared the same political views. Some of their customers were staunch Republicans. And while you should never change who you are for your clientele, you should be somewhat sensitive to their beliefs and behave appropriately. I’ll never forget seeing one Tweet that said, “Anyone who follows McCain and Palin hates America. What’s wrong with you?” The response was brutal. This person had sent out the Tweet from a business Twitter account.

Make sure your Tweets always accord with your businesses brand, values and principles. It is perfectly alright to express political or social opinions but make sure you do it in a way that is gentle and amicable. It is just too easy to create a reputation that is difficult to undo.

Mistake #4 – Tweeting the wrong amount
Twitter is actually a very fine art. Too many Tweets and you are in danger of appearing like a spammer. Too few Tweets and people don’t see enough of your face to care. It is important to use Twitter the right amount if you want to use it to grow your business and make some money.

So what is the right amount? Well some people say that between 15 and 20 Tweets per day is ideal. That might seem like a lot and, to be honest, it is. That dedicated type of Tweeting requires constant attention and an excellent amount of dedication. But you if you put out one Tweet every 30 minutes of the work day you might make enough. Or you could make ten replies and do five originals. It all depends on what works for you. And that is the key. You might get the same results from one Tweet per day as you do from 30. So test, test and do some more testing before locking yourself into a routine.

Mistake #5 – Tweeting in un-English
In my opinion the most successful Tweeter on the the planet is blues player John Mayer. He has over 3 million loyal followers; a number that is growing each day. He recently released his latest album Battle Studies after a long and very transparent writing and recording period where he would constantly Tweet about how he was feeling, progressing, etc. Every now and then he would share some lyrics or talk about an emotional block that he was having. People got hooked. And when Battle Studies finally got released it climbed to the number one spot in the USA, mostly off the back of the social media build up. Twitter land was dying to hear it.

So why was Mayer so successful at harnessing the power of Twitter? Simple. He is a lyricist. He has an excellent command of the English language and uses a conversational tone that is so intimately personal that you get suckered into thinking that you know him. I would often talk to my partner at the end of the day about what John Mayer had said on Twitter, it was as if I was talking about someone I knew. John didn’t create some un-English type of language in order to fit into the 140 characters that Twitter allows. He simply used regular English in a very powerful way.

Don’t change your tone for Twitter. Write as if you were talking to someone in person. Don’t make announcements and don’t Tweet as if it is a White House press release. Write as if you are talking to each person individually. Make it sound like people have no choice but to reply to you and engage with your brand or your website. If you can use English half as well as John Mayer you will make a lot of money.

Conclusion
Twitter is a little bit like riding a bike. It takes some time to learn the ropes and to find your balance but after a while it is almost effortless. Try to avoid the mistakes of Tweeting like a corporation and getting into “flame wars” and you will find that it does a lot for your business. The most wonderful thing about Twitter is that you will meet and befriend people who will help you grow and learn about yourself. If you don’t engage people on a personal level you miss out on this powerful element.