Being an avid Twitter user, there is nothing worse than logging onto a Twitter account (especially that belonging to a business) and it sucking hardcore.
I don’t mean reading an opinion I don’t agree with (I love contrasting views) and I don’t mean a background made on MS Paint (although that would kinda be retro cool).
I mean a stale, mouldy, smelly, moss-growing, cricket noised, tumbleweed ridden account.
A company that take DAYS to respond. Someone that only retweets. Someone that hasn’t Tweeted since 2010. The list goes on.
And it goes on right here:
Your automated Tweets are deadly obvious.
There is a fine line between automating Tweets simply because you cannot be everywhere at once, and sounding like a robot. To avoid this, log on maybe 2 or 3 times a day and make a post off the top of your head. One that doesn’t link to an article, one that re-tweets something posted in the last 5 minutes. That, my friends, you cannot automate. Remember this is a conversation. Oh – and PLEASE don’t automate a DM to new followers. If I wanted to hear from a robot I would put on a Star Wars DVD.
You are ignoring what people are saying about you – good and bad.
Ahhh I’ve heard it manier times. “B-b-b-b-but our customers aren’t on Twitter”. Maybe, but your brand is probably being spoken about. Think of it as a reputation management exercise. Pretty sure the Bank of America didn’t expect their customers to be doing this. Use tools such as HootSuite, Monitter, if you have a limited budget, or Sprout Social, Brand Watch if you have a more liberal one. I use Sprout Social and I am obsessed with its reporting functionality. Huzzah!
Your re-tweeting only strategy is failing.
If I wanted to hear from those people, I would be following them! I wan’t to hear something occasionally from YOU! Also – if I happen to be following the person you re-Tweeted that’s the second time I’ve read that. zZZZzzzZZ *unfollow*. Start something, have an opinion, or use the ‘via’ cheat to take a bit more ownership of the content while still crediting it. Also don’t just use the boring title of the article you’ve posted, put some jazz into it. Ie. turn “Sucky Twitter account. Why owning one is wrong. <link>” into “Do you own a sucky Twitter account? Here’s why owning one is wrong. <link>”.
You are missing out on monitoring relevant keywords and competitors.
So, let’s say I’m ‘x’ fast food retailer and I don’t use social media, but my competitor ‘y’ fast food retailer is engaging the hell out of their online community. Their customers sound happy. I wan’t to make mine happy too. This is called a good decision. Start talking to your customers, find out what makes them tick! Also – see what’s happening in the industry. Just did a sneaky one on fast food and apparently the McDonald’s Summer Menu is a bit sexy. You can be too if you keep up with your industry online.
The way you are following no-one sucks.
Kanye West follows one person on Twitter. No not his best bud Jay-Z, his GF – KK. Sorry but I find this a bit sad. Following people can start a bit of a hype. Generate some relationships online. Its etiquette to follow people you don’t know – remember it’s not Facbeook or LinkedIn. Don’t know where to start? Think of someone / a business you truly admire, look who they are following. Chances are it will be relevant to your likes.
Tweeting less than once a day sucks even more.
Gosh. If you’re on Twitter, I want to see you have been on in the last 12 or so hours at least. Please make me feel like there is a buzz online with your brand. Make me feel like I should re-visit your account and see what witty, amazing Tweets you are broadcasting. I might even tell my friend how awesome your account and Tweets are. And guess what – name squatting sucks too – and it breaches a Twitter policy. SO GET A’TWEETING!
What are some of your pet peeves on Twitter? Do you do any of them yourself?
Another great tool for keeping on top of anything brand related is http://www.mention.net. It’s like Google Alerts on steroids with the inclusion of social alerts (twitter/instagram). Also starts out free (500 or 600 mentions a month).
Ah cool! Yeah I wish more brands would hire geeks like us to monitor them online! We’d have it covered for sure!
Currently using it to monitor one of our client’s parent company’s online rep. Collating the data and in the near future presenting why they need to look into it further. It not only helps to track and get in touch with unhappy customers and potential customers but also to keep an eye on how employees talk about the brand (can only do this effectively if they are a large company).