Let me start out by saying that I am known for being a straight-talker, and that's how I'm gonna be in this post.
I'm not gonna sugar coat it, so if you want the truth and like the truth, read on.
If you get easily offended, quit reading.
Twitter is by far and away one of the best freaking ways to promote your business you can find.
Seriously.
If you're not on Twitter, go sign up.
But I'll let ya know right now that there are a lot of nitwits on Twitter.
Trust me, you DON'T want to look like a nitwit.
Here's how to avoid that: You Are NOT A Guru Twitter gives you a little bio area where you can put some info down about yourself, your biz, etc.
I've come across all kinds of bios - from the short and sweet to the funny to the weird.
But what really grates on my nerves is when people call themselves a "guru" or something along those lines.
Trust me, you are NOT a guru.
You are a regular person with a Twitter account.
Calling yourself a deity makes you look kind of obnoxious and cheesy.
In case you missed the memo, a person wants to do business with someone they like.
Not the person who does a great impersonation of a 70s used car salesman.
Just be real.
You'll make a lot more friends that way.
And that will improve your business.
Twitter Is NOT Your Ad Feed If you follow me, I will get a little email from Twitter letting me know.
I'll look at your Twitter page and see if I want to follow you back.
If all I see are notices about the things you just listed in your Etsy shop or some other similar type of ad, I'm not going to follow you back.
Not trying to be mean, here, but I am not interested in reading your personal ad feed.
And neither is anyone else..
..
Twitter, like all social networking sites, does require a bit of the "social" to be considered effective.
So get with the conversation - you might even make a new friend or two.
What's Up With That Welcome Message? Another thing I find kind of irritating (and so do other people) is to get a message saying "Thanks for following, now go to my website and buy something.
" Okay - maybe they don't actually say "buy something," but that's what they're implying by sending that message! It's okay to send a little DM (direct message) to someone when they follow you, but keep it personal..
..
I mean, if you met me in real life, walking down the street, you wouldn't introduce yourself and ask me to fork over some cash..
..
If you did, you'd be a weirdo and I'd run the other way.
And if you did that on Twitter, same thing..
I'll run the other way! Or click away, as the case may be..
...
Participation Is Required I'll be honest with you.
I have more followers than updates.
(at the time of this writing, I've made 2,345 updates).
I can't say that I sit around posting all day long on Twitter, but I've obviously made an effort.
If, however, I get a follow notice from someone who's last update was in 2008, I'm not likely to follow back.
I mean, you got onto Twitter to follow me, so why not update the darn thing? But Please, Don't Overshare Have you ever been to the bar and had a total stranger sit by you and start telling you way too much information? Sometimes people do that on Twitter, too.
(I don't know if they're drinking while oversharing, but it might be linked...
) And while I do think that people need to actually Tweet every so often, I don't want to know too much about your life.
And you should always be careful about what you put on the web because it's all indexed and can easily be searched upon.
I mean, any cyberstalker worth their salt will be able to pull up boatloads of info on you already, why put out more info than they really need to know???
I'm not gonna sugar coat it, so if you want the truth and like the truth, read on.
If you get easily offended, quit reading.
Twitter is by far and away one of the best freaking ways to promote your business you can find.
Seriously.
If you're not on Twitter, go sign up.
But I'll let ya know right now that there are a lot of nitwits on Twitter.
Trust me, you DON'T want to look like a nitwit.
Here's how to avoid that: You Are NOT A Guru Twitter gives you a little bio area where you can put some info down about yourself, your biz, etc.
I've come across all kinds of bios - from the short and sweet to the funny to the weird.
But what really grates on my nerves is when people call themselves a "guru" or something along those lines.
Trust me, you are NOT a guru.
You are a regular person with a Twitter account.
Calling yourself a deity makes you look kind of obnoxious and cheesy.
In case you missed the memo, a person wants to do business with someone they like.
Not the person who does a great impersonation of a 70s used car salesman.
Just be real.
You'll make a lot more friends that way.
And that will improve your business.
Twitter Is NOT Your Ad Feed If you follow me, I will get a little email from Twitter letting me know.
I'll look at your Twitter page and see if I want to follow you back.
If all I see are notices about the things you just listed in your Etsy shop or some other similar type of ad, I'm not going to follow you back.
Not trying to be mean, here, but I am not interested in reading your personal ad feed.
And neither is anyone else..
..
Twitter, like all social networking sites, does require a bit of the "social" to be considered effective.
So get with the conversation - you might even make a new friend or two.
What's Up With That Welcome Message? Another thing I find kind of irritating (and so do other people) is to get a message saying "Thanks for following, now go to my website and buy something.
" Okay - maybe they don't actually say "buy something," but that's what they're implying by sending that message! It's okay to send a little DM (direct message) to someone when they follow you, but keep it personal..
..
I mean, if you met me in real life, walking down the street, you wouldn't introduce yourself and ask me to fork over some cash..
..
If you did, you'd be a weirdo and I'd run the other way.
And if you did that on Twitter, same thing..
I'll run the other way! Or click away, as the case may be..
...
Participation Is Required I'll be honest with you.
I have more followers than updates.
(at the time of this writing, I've made 2,345 updates).
I can't say that I sit around posting all day long on Twitter, but I've obviously made an effort.
If, however, I get a follow notice from someone who's last update was in 2008, I'm not likely to follow back.
I mean, you got onto Twitter to follow me, so why not update the darn thing? But Please, Don't Overshare Have you ever been to the bar and had a total stranger sit by you and start telling you way too much information? Sometimes people do that on Twitter, too.
(I don't know if they're drinking while oversharing, but it might be linked...
) And while I do think that people need to actually Tweet every so often, I don't want to know too much about your life.
And you should always be careful about what you put on the web because it's all indexed and can easily be searched upon.
I mean, any cyberstalker worth their salt will be able to pull up boatloads of info on you already, why put out more info than they really need to know???