Rules to Tweet By

Twitter has been transformed by the B2B marketing community by offering another platform to engage with your audience, to address their questions, to contribute valuable knowledge, to accentuate what your company stands for. Every day there are opportunities that you could be embracing from being active on social media. Whether you turn these opportunistic moments into high-quality leads, well that is your prerogative.

In the first quarter of 2016, Twitter averaged 330 million monthly active users, your target audience is somewhere among that crowd. Twitter is the place where global conversations happen among people, their companies, and their brands; which invites the chance for industries to overlap with each other. This is reshaping how the business-to-business community interacts and communicates with each other. And to be frank, some are transitioning better.

Like any good marketer, you have read through countless articles, preparing yourself to only demonstrate proper Twitter usage, how to dominate on Twitter, how to become a lead authoritative figure but have you read any that will tell you what not to do? It is imperative that you avoid bad Twitter practices because they will cause great damage despite all the good practices you demonstrate. Like many other social media marketing concepts, it ties back to social psychology. The theory is that the “bad” makes a stronger impression than the “good.” Meaning that bad impressions and/or bad stereotypes are quicker to form and more resilient on your reputation. How does this relate to your Twitter account? You can do a world of good, but just a couple of bad practices will hinder any advancement.

Keep recycling to plastics and paper, and out of your tweets. Your purpose on Twitter is to pass along educational insights, helpful tips that will assist your audience with their problems, to showcase that you are the expert in your industry. So, how would a reused tweet be beneficial to you? If you do get tempted, look back at a post that received high engagement and respin it. Consider making creating a custom graphic to display the information or provide additional information to the topic.

Make your tweets stand apart from other posts on your social media platforms, meaning do not share the same post across the board. Twitter will no longer include your photos, videos, GIFS, polls, or Quote Tweets in your 140 character count. Facebook posts are meant to offer detail, LinkedIn is known for offering insightful posts, and Tweets cut right to the point. Keep in mind that the lifespan of a tweet is only one hour, so timeliness is a high priority.

There is a line you do not want to cross when it comes to hashtags. Hashtags are meant to increase engagement, but tweets with more than two hashtags show a 17% drop in engagement. One or two relevant hashtags are sufficient to get your point across. This will keep your audience engaged without becoming an annoyance to your readers. Create a memorable hashtag that will lead your audience to your business page and direct all traffic back to your site.

If you include a call to action, don’t ask for too much. Asking for retweets or likes is off-putting to your audience. Always assume that your audience wants to know how they will benefit from retweeting your posts. If you want to ask for something, offer something in return. Build up your relationships by providing something of value. As long as you are offering more than what you are asking for, it will pay off.

Steer clear of those automated direct messages. Many companies make the mistake of sending automated messages to their new followers’ Twitter inboxes. This will be a quick way to lose that new follower. If you want to keep a following, regularly engage with your audience by retweeting and liking their updates before reaching out in a direct message. Building a relationship will improve your chances of getting a response and the engagement you desire.

You don’t want to abandon your following. Busy days happen, busy weeks happen, a much-needed vacation happens, but despite your absence, it is important to remain active on your Twitter account. If you find yourself inactive, don’t go on a Tweet spree. Instead, schedule out tweets on a social media management tool, like HootSuite. It will narrow any gaps and maintain your presence on your social media platforms.

B2B marketers have flooded social media platforms. Understanding and implementing best practices will make it easier to avoid bad practices, after all, you can’t afford any bad impressions.