Top 5 mistakes brands are making on Twitter

Avoid these missteps to use Twitter to its full advantage

You’ve consulted with experts and dedicated a staff member to handle social media. The company Facebook page looks phenomenal and your LinkedIn articles get viewed and shared periodically. You post to Twitter also, but are you sure you’re doing it correctly?

Some social media sites, like Google+, are easily adaptable for businesses. Others, like Twitter, can be more complicated, and it’s easy for companies to make reputation-crushing mistakes. Learn the right (and wrong) ways to use Twitter for brand recognition and consumer engagement.

Are you making these mistakes?

1. Using uninteresting or monotonous information – If you have someone’s attention, don’t lose it with dull content. Have something better to say than “good morning” or retweeting information you’ve sent a dozen times already. When you don’t have something new to announce about your company (this kind of information should encompass only about 20 percent of your posts anyway), you can enlighten followers with exciting developments in your industry or offer tips on using your product in different ways.

2. Using auto-response messages – Most companies see these as a way to save time while still acknowledging customers and ensuring they receive their messages. Consumers view them as annoying, intrusive and spammy. That’s because, unfortunately, many companies can’t seem to resist adding unwanted sales pitches into these responses, believing they sound real and legitimate, but leading to an overall backlash from consumers. Avoid this handy, but otherwise ineffectual, Twitter tool.

3. Using Twitter inconsistently – Since Twitter can sometimes feel overwhelming, some companies put it on the back burner or don’t check it every day. Sure, you are connecting with customers on other social media platforms, but nothing provides the opportunities for learning what customers are interested in ‒ which drives awareness of your product and offers a vehicle for instant connections – like Twitter. It allows you to build real relationships and become friends with customers; but this can’t happen if you only check in with them once in a while. For it to work best, you need to check your Twitter account every day.

4. Using hashtags improperly – This is perhaps the most common and damaging Twitter mistake a company can make. Some jump on trending topics too quickly, before understanding why the phrase is trending in the first place, and look foolish in the process. Others try to insert themselves into EVERY trending topic, providing company mentions and industry updates everywhere. This is the equivalent of being at a professional banquet and jumping into everyone’s conversations with your own stories, regardless of what they were previously discussing. To stay safe, use hashtags strategically and carefully so that when you do have something really interesting to say, it won’t be ignored.

5. Using inexperienced staff to handle your Twitter account – Many companies pluck some already-overworked public relations staff member or newly minted college intern to manage their Twitter presence. This often leads to mediocre content and errors made in haste.

Axia Public Relations will help you develop Twitter content your customers actually want to read and distribute it during times when they are most likely to see it. In addition, we will show you how to use Twitter to foster ongoing dialog and let your company’s personality shine. Contact us today or download our e-book The Essential Social Media Guide for additional tips on how to attract new followers, engage the ones you already have and enhance your brand.

Lisa-G-Color-SM Lisa Goldsberry is a writer for Axia Public Relations with more than 15 years of public relations experience. She specializes in business and technology PR. Lisa has worked with Axia since December 2013. Connect with Axia Public Relations on Twitter at @axiapr.