Twitter is a big deal. 14,063,646 Justin Bieber fans can’t be wrong. Twitter currently ranks as the third most popular social network after Facebook and LinkedIn and holds the attention of 24% of the total population of US online adults.
According to the most recent Forrester study, 38% of active online Generation Z users, 34% of online Generation Y users and 25% of online Generation X users have active accounts on the network and I’d be willing to bet that some of your customers are located within those percentages. If your organization isn’t currently using Twitter to facilitate conversation and talk with your consumers, you’re missing out on a wealth of opportunities.
If your business is currently on Twitter, good for you. There’s definitely a lot going on and a well fleshed out strategy can be a great help. This post isn’t designed to write that strategy for you (although that’s something we can do), but it does contain 7 best practices for if and when you decide to take your business into the Twittersphere. Keep these things in mind as you plan for tweeting and as you actually send out 140-character wonders.
7 Habits of Highly Effective Business Tweeters
1. Be Interesting (It’s Not A Popularity Contest.....Kinda) - This one is first on the list because it’s the most important thing you have at your disposal in terms of influence on Twitter. According to a recent study, the top two reasons people and brands are followed and retweeted on Twitter are Interesting Content (92%) and Humor (84%). In fact, 55% of people on Twitter find you because of other’s retweets. On Twitter, just like in high school, it’s important to be interesting.
So what does it mean, exactly, to be interesting on Twitter? If you’re Jim Carey or Katy Perry, being interesting is a default setting and takes zero effort. For a small-to-mid-sized company online, it might be a little harder to chop through the noise and reach your audience. Here’s a tip: ask. Most companies have detailed customer profiles built through years of researching and surveying, but if those aren’t enough and you’re not sure what your market finds interesting, ask them.
What is interesting to each market will be different, but you can rest assured that constant and blatant self-promotion won’t be the answer in any market (which we’ll discuss in another point). A good rule of thumb is that if it’s interesting and funny to you, it will be interesting and funny to your audience too. Start there.
Follow Your Editorial Calendar (No tweet is an island) - You’ve probably got one for your marketing plan. You know what emails will be going out and what they will be promoting. You know which newsletters are being sent to which distribution lists and you know when content updates are going to be made to your website. Why don’t you have a plan for what you’ll be talking about on Twitter yet?
When you’re averaging 8 or more tweets per day, it’s impossible to think that you’ll have every single one mapped out, especially if you add on @-replies to that list. That also doesn’t excuse you from having an understanding of how Twitter fits into your overall marketing communications plan. You’ll know what promotions are going on and what areas of the business need highlighting and that’s a good start.
Also, make a practice of pulling in people from different departments to tweet or funnel information into a single well that can be pulled from so the voice of the entire company can be heard and represented online.
Follow The Right People (If A Tweet Blasts In The Woods...) - Gone are the days when all you have to do as a marketing department is create a clever headline, send it out to your target media and then crack a bottle of champagne for a job well done. Two-way communication is the key when it comes to social media and if you want quality people following you on Twitter you’d better be out there following some of them in return.
When it comes to social media, Twitter especially, “conversation” has become quite a buzzword and has almost lost all meaning. But just because it’s a buzzword and thrown around a lot doesn’t necessarily mean it holds no weight. You should be having conversations on social media with your markets and in order for a true conversation to occur, multiple parties must be involved. You can’t have a conversation with yourself or people will stare and eventually call the men in white coats to come take you away.
BE on Twitter (Play Well...With Others) - If you’re going to take the time to be on Twitter, then BE on Twitter. It almost looks better for a company not to have an account on the network than to have an empty, silent account. Dedicate yourself beforehand to the work and time it takes to manage Twitter successfully.
Alongside actually using the account you set up, completely fill out your profile. Your profile is a great place to tell people who you are and why you’re on Twitter in the first place. It also looks very sloppy and lazy to have an empty or incomplete profile description. Use that space to link to your website and concisely tell people what they can expect from your updates.
If you’re not convinced, then I’ve got one final number for you. Having a complete bio can get you 8 times as many followers. Now, go and fill out your bio. You should also create a custom Twitter background for your page to further brand your account.
Another important part of being on Twitter is actually being there to Tweet. Do the best you can to not automate your tweeting practices. Twitter works like a worldwide cocktail party of conversations and automating your tweets is like setting up a cardboard cutout of yourself at the cocktail party with a thought bubble and walking away. No one at the party appreciates it, especially if they like what your thought bubble had to say and want to talk more.
Engage and Interact (And Beyond) (Cast A Line That Connects To Your Boat) - You might be thinking at this point, “Yeah, that all sounds great, but when do I get to make money from all this?” Finding the ROI of marketing activities on social media is big news right now and the true ROI of Twitter comes in the form of meeting hordes of prospects on Twitter and then taking those relationships to more lucrative avenues on and offline.
Don’t let conversations end on Twitter. Twitter should only be one facet of your overall marketing plan and you should be tying it into your presences on YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, websites, stores and any other place you may find yourself. Every line you cast out into the social media pond should lead back to some avenue that will help your business.
Use The Right Tools (You Can’t Build A House With Just A Plastic Hammer) - The correct tools build success in any industry and Twitter is no different. Set yourself up to be in the best position possible when it comes to analytics, searches and account understanding by finding and using the correct tools.
When it comes to Twitter dashboards, I’ve already discussed Paramore’s love and use of HootSuite. It is the dashboard we use and suggest to anyone who asks about managing searches and conversations that take place on Twitter.
Don’t forget about using Twitter Search, either. Twitter search is a great, quick way to find terms and topics being discussed in the Twitterverse.

Don’t Spam/OverTweet (Too Much Of Too Much Of A Good Thing) - The fastest ways to lose friends and piss off people on Twitter are over-tweeting and spamming them. Avoid these practices at all costs. No one gets enjoyment going to a lunch where the other person only talks about themselves the entire time. Twitter people (or tweeps) consider it spamming when you only promote yourself through your network and will quickly stop paying attention to you.
The second part of this revolves around not over-tweeting. In the study mentioned earlier about Twitter actions, 66% of tweeters said they unfollow brands and people who “Tweet too much.” It was the number one answer. So, how much tweeting is too much? While it’s good to have a high volume of conversation throughout the day, most people consider anything above 30 tweets per day too much. Keep that in mind as you’re responding and scheduling new tweets to go out.
So, what’s the takeaway here? Well, there are seven (see the list above), but if you want a nugget to leave with try this: Twitter will be helpful to your business if people like what you have to say, like your stuff or think you’re funny.
Twitter can be a great benefit to a lot of companies, but you have to dedicate yourself to the time and energy it takes to be successful there. You can do it and if you want, we can help.
Have you seen benefits from Twitter in your industry? What are some of your experiences with the social network?
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