How to Lose a Customer in 10 Tweets

It's easy to think that what you Tweet doesn't really matter. Even I sometimes slip into the habit of letting a sub-par Tweet go to print without perfecting. But committing these all-too-common mistakes can cause a potential customer to click unfollow,

1. 

Why it's bad:

Of course some of the material you're going to Tweet about is going to be really boring if you're a B2B company. But that doesn't mean you have to throw in all the nitty gritty details,.. you throw that in on the link you direct them to. Social media should come across as a conversational language.

     2.

Why it's bad: 

Now, you shouldn't go in the complete opposite direction either. Slang you use on personal social media isn't acceptable for your business social media accounts. There is a fine line between sounding conversational and sounding like a teenager. Think of it as if you're explaining what you do to a friend.

     3.

Why it's bad:

Yes, there's a limit on the amount of characters you can use on Twitter, but that doesn't mean you should eliminate all the character from your Tweet. Unless you're @CNN people don't want to see a headline-type post. They're looking for a little bit more information from a Tweet.

     4.

Why it's bad: 

Now, not only is this a little wordy, but it also misses the point all together because the Tweet is cut off and the link isn't visible. Twitter gives you a limit on characters and it's not just a suggestion. When you see that negative character count, it's not going to show up. As tough as it is to edit, you have to decide on the most important words to include.

     5.

Why it's bad: 

While it's okay to leave out a comma or use abbreviations, misspelling words is definitely not acceptable. It's not excuse to be lazy because it's JUST social media. You are still representing your business with your posts and you need to be sure it's a professional representation. Also, the order of the words in this Tweet are a little misleading so be sure you say what you really mean. 

     6.

Why it's bad: 

Encouraging followers to purchase a product is good. Telling them your product should be the only choice is a little forceful. You want customers to decide on their own that your product is right for them by providing them the right information. Taking this approach could turn them off from your product all together. 

     7. 

Why it's bad: 

I once heard that "Hashtags are like tequila shots. One is good; two are even better, but three or more and the night is all down hill." Don't ruin a good thing by using too many hashtags. It's hard to read and reads like you're trying too hard to get your Tweet to be soon. Choose one or two really relevant hashtags and search for it first to make sure other people are searching for it.

     8. 

Why it's bad:

You have to get some separation between your personal and business social media accounts. Hearing that someone you know tried a product and loved it is a great tool for personal social media, but on business people don't care. They want to hear the facts about why they should choose it. It's okay to have a personal business social media account (think @CharliKMatthews vs. the business @EmpoweringPumps) but we don't want to hear about Charli's personal life on her business social media persona. 

      9.

Why it's bad: 

So what? Why should the customer care about this? You're only stating a fact instead of convincing them to choose your products over your competition. It's not a huge fault, but it's important to stand out from the crowd and make your followers care about what you post and click on the link to get more information about it.

      10.

Why it's bad: 

Twitter would be nothing without being able to Retweet relevant content, but the harm comes here when you rarely generate your own content. Instead of being able to refer potential customers to your own website you have to send them to other websites. Customers have no reason to follow your account if you aren't generating your own relevant content.

Now what is a perfect Tweet? I generally stick to a formula: Attention grabber, Message, Call to action, hashtags, and a link. Not always in that order, but all of those requirements are in 90% of my Tweets. It's tough to fit all of this in 140 characters, but that's where practice and tweaking with rewording and abbreviations comes in. Here's the almost perfect version of this example.



For more of these helpful hints follow my new Twitter handle @EmpoweringTips. I'm gearing my advice primarily to how industrial businesses can make social media work for them.