5 mistakes companies make on Twitter

In my last post I asked, “If a tweet happens in the woods and there is no follower to hear it, does it make a sound?” Once a company acknowledges the potential of Twitter to increase top-of-mind awareness, there still is the detail of attracting an audience. Here are 5 mistakes companies make on Twitter that sabotage their efforts to attract an audience:

1. The Glengarry Glen Ross approach
Most Twitter followers accept that when they start following a for-profit business, they’ll get the occasional sales pitch. Nothing gets you un-followed faster than to “always be closing” with tweets like, “Click here to see why companies are switching to us” and “Widgets Inc saved 10% a year using our service.” Generally, your followers will tolerate an obvious sales pitch once every 10 or 20 tweets.

2. The Robo-tweet
Some snake-oil salesman told companies on Twitter that it was important to thank every new follower with a cold, impersonal direct message. Dozens of companies direct message me to say, “Thanks for the follow!” Useless. Worse, one company sent their robo-thanks at 1:30am. Shortly thereafter, they had one less follower.

3. The credit hog
If you see an interesting tweet from someone you’re following, it is acceptable (in fact, encouraged) to “re-tweet” the value. However, doing so without crediting the original tweeter (e.g. “RT @guykawasaki”) is bad form on par with plagiarizing data in a research paper. Give credit where credit is due and it will be reciprocated.

4. The once-in-a-blue-moon tweet
Almost as bad as constantly selling is failing to tweet frequently enough. The average Twitter user checks their feed several times a day. If you tweet value once every week or two, you’re just not showing up enough in the feed to be of any benefit. Infrequent tweeting probably won’t get you un-followed – worse, you’ll just be anonymous.

5. The Irrelevant Over-sharer
If someone is following your company on Twitter, keep it relevant to the professional world. Don’t tweet about the movie you’re taking your wife to or your kid falling off the swing and needing stitches (unless you can make it relevant and valuable to the business world). Do: “More restaurants would be doing well if they had service like they do at Food Restaurant.” Don’t: “Dude, I love Kung Pao Chicken.”

A couple more tips that help build your following:

1. Follow people and companies who would benefit from following you (they will often reciprocate). Like followers of your competitors, for example.
2. Put a “Follow on Twitter” link in a position of prominence on your home page. The mere suggestion works wonders.
3. List yourself in online directories like WeFollow. Put yourself in any category related to your business activity.

At the end of the day, amassing a Twitter following is about giving value consistently and predictably. Quite frankly, most of your competitors aren’t taking Twitter seriously yet – but they will. If your company does, you stand to reap all the benefits of getting in on the ground level.