5 Twitter Marketing Mistakes Your Local Business is Making
Twitter is a powerful marketing tool, with 313 million active monthly users and a billion unique monthly visits to sites that feature embedded tweets. You can use Twitter to find new customers, strengthen your brand voice, and engage with your audience.
But there are also many missteps that you can make when trying to market your local business on Twitter. Make sure you’re avoiding these five common mistakes for a smart approach to your Twitter strategy.
Mistake #1: Overlooking Opportunities to Engage
Social media sites like Twitter aren’t made for one-sided conversations. The most successful brands know how to use Twitter to engage with their customers. If you receive a mention, you should always respond promptly. Never miss out on the opportunity to start a conversation, whether the mention is a complaint or a compliment. You can always find a positive way to respond.
You should also search for hashtags and posts relevant to your products, services, and company. Though the poster may have neglected to mention you, you could still find tweets about experiences with your brand. Responding on a public platform like Twitter will reinforce your brand’s image as personable, responsive, and highly engaged.
Mistake #2: Relying Too Heavily on Automation
Automated Twitter tools are extremely convenient for maintaining an active presence when you don’t have time to tweet throughout the day. However, these tools shouldn’t become your sole means of interacting with your Twitter account. Use automated follows, list-building, and retweets sparingly, and monitor what’s posted. Used incorrectly, an automated posting app can spell disaster.
While automated posts can send scheduled messages, they lack the dynamic, real-time interaction that you’ll enjoy when you post personally. Sign in and create your own unique tweets in response to what others are saying on relevant topics to keep your account engaging and relevant.
Mistake #3: Posting Salesy Tweets
Twitter isn’t an online catalog for peddling your wares, and it shouldn’t be treated like one. Bland posts that hype your products and services have no place on this platform. Followers don’t typically log into Twitter looking for something to buy. They log in for news, gossip, and interaction. Aim for no more than 20 percent of your tweets to contain promotional content. The other 80 percent should focus on community engagement and sharing third-party tweets.
When you do incorporate marketing messages, make sure they’re conversational and engaging. Don’t simply tell customers to “Buy our new fall boots.” Start a discussion, asking “Which of these fall boot styles is best for your fall agenda?” or “Where will these chic fur-lined boots take you on your winter vacation?”
Mistake #4: Adopting an Aggressive Voice
You’ll find no shortage of confrontational Twitter followers looking to start an argument. Public forums like like Festivus — they’re the ideal space for unhappy shoppers to air their grievances. It’s inevitable that you’ll face the occasional disgruntled customer. Even if they’re wrong, resist the urge to spar with them or aggressively defend your company. Make every attempt to move your conversation off of Twitter to another medium. Encourage the customer to contact you via telephone or email so you can offer more personalized and private service.
Avoid an aggressive voice in other conversations as well. While you can garner plenty of brand interest by participating in conversations that are relevant to your industry, you should avoid anything offensive. Don’t use your company’s Twitter account as a platform for sparking controversy.
Mistake #5: Using the Wrong Hashtags
Hashtags are a valuable tool that you should always incorporate in your tweets. However, you shouldn’t use an overabundance of tags, or you risk losing your message in the mess. Stick with just one or two highly relevant hashtags. Make sure the tags you’re using are relevant both to your brand and your tweet. Don’t stick trending hashtags on the end of an unrelated message. Only engage on trending topics when they’re relevant to your business.
Developing your own hashtag is a great way to drive brand engagement, but make sure you think through the possible implications before you launch this type of marketing campaign. When McDonald’s developed the #McDstories tag, the company received a flood of negative tales. Aim for an approach that will get you the positive feedback you’re after.
Twitter Marketing Solutions for the Home Services Industry
Improper Twitter use can spell disaster, but the right strategies will help you reach your audience in a fresh new way. If you’re struggling with maintaining your social media presence, look to the experts to ensure you’re leveraging this social platform to its full potential.
All LeadBuilder® social consulting clients know that they’re in good hands. Our social consulting team’s best practices are to monitor social platforms daily to engage with any mentions, comments or questions. We vet our content to make sure it not only is interesting and beneficial to our client’s demographic but also industry-relevant without being over the top. Contact us today to learn more about your social consulting and social advertising options.
Danielle Reinhardt is a LeadBuilder social media specialist. Her passion is creating engaging, lively content that helps businesses grow. When she’s not busy cheering for her Florida State Seminoles, she’s burning the midnight oil for the non-profit professional organization, Ad 2 Tampa Bay, which is an affiliate of the American Advertising Federation and Tampa Bay Advertising Federation. Connect with her on Linkedin.
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