Twitter is a great way to reach your audience, and it is used effectively by many businesses to boost customer engagement by creating interactive conversations and offering special promotions and contests. Twitter, however, is also a great place to watch certain businesses go up in flames with poorly thought-out tweets or inefficient customer communication.
Ask yourself these questions before you tweet, in order to make the most of your business Twitter account and truly connect with your customers and followers.
Is it Self Promoting?
OK, it's an account for your business. Of course you want to let customers know all about your great products and services. BUT. You also want to show your customers that you care about their interests, that you are engaged with current trends and fresh information in your industry and that you are involved in your community. Tweets should be entertaining or enlightening. Avoid letting your Twitter feed become just a stream of self-promoting messages. No Twitter follower wants to read that.
Is it Relevant?
Twitter is current and fast-moving. Stay up to date with what is happening in the news and in your own industry. If you can pick up on current events in your tweets, they will be more likely to be retweeted. Use hashtags to make your content easily searchable and to relate your message to a currently discussed hot topic. "We're so excited #EarthDay is coming up! We have all the #greencleaning products you need and you can find them on our site."
Will it Offend or Alienate My Customers?
Photos of inebriated employees, inappropriate or distateful jokes, controversial politics... there are many ways to offend people on social media. Many people post controversial tweets on their own personal Twitter feed, but it usually goes really badly when businesses tweet similar messages. Your business Twitter account can be funny, interesting, unique, whatever but it should remain professional at all times. You want people to trust you as an authority in your space, not see you as a business that doesn't care what anyone thinks.
