Monday, October 22, 2012

Tweet About This... NOT That!


If you frequently read our blog then by now you are probably all too aware that utilizing Twitter is important to your business or franchise.  As a Franchise Public Relations firm, we cannot stress the important of being social media savvy enough.  Our social media consultants say they frequently hear people say, “they don’t know the first thing about tweeting,” or that “they have no idea what to tweet about.”  Perhaps that is valid.  What should you tweet about on behalf of your business or franchise?  Also, what should you as a business or franchise owner or employee avoid tweeting about?  Quite honestly, this answer is not always straight forward.  Here are a couple things we suggest tweeting about and a few things we suggest avoiding:

Tweet About This

(1) A simple reply: Replies are a great way to form relationships with people, so reply when you can and strive to build great relationships via social media.  Replies can be a supportive gesture or a great way to share a similar experience.  Think of a reply as one of the best ways to show people that you are interested in them and what they’re tweeting about. 

(2) A good retweet: See a really great tweet from one of your followers?  Why not repost to show your appreciation for their great tweet.  People love being retweeted, so share some love and retweet a great post when you see one and who knows, perhaps someone will kindly return the favor and retweet something great that you post.  

(3) The play-by-play of an event: If you’re attending a great seminar, expo or charity event, why not post some play-by-play updates to let followers know what’s going on.  The play-by-play tweets provide a great newsfeed on your page and will give followers great knowledge of what happened at the event you attended. 

(4) Posting relevant photos: Photos have a way of keeping people interested.  Posting the right kinds of photos can really get people interested in your franchise or company, products, and services.

(5) Asking questions:  Questions are a great way to do a little market research.  Want to know what people think about a certain product or industry?  Ask away!  You never know, you may get some great responses that may help you sell your own product or services.

(6) Blog posts: Whenever you post a blog, post a link to the blog on your social media pages.  This will help bring your followers, friends or fans to your blog.  If you’re looking for more blog involvement, posting links is a great way to share.  Make it a habit of posting a link to your new blog post on your social media pages right after the blog is posted. 

Don’t Tweet About This

(1) Begging for retweets: There’s nothing more annoying than people begging for retweets on Twitter.  You shouldn’t have to beg for a retweet.  If you’re putting out good content, then you shouldn’t have to beg anyway.  Avoid doing this at all costs as it’s a surefire way to lose followers.

(2) Constant foresquare updates:  People do not need to know where you are 24/7.  Refrain from constantly posting foursquare updates.  That has the tendency to annoy people more than attract them.  Besides, what does that update tell people about you or your franchise or business?  Not too much.

(3) Tweeting about how many followers you have: We’ve all come across tweeters who brag about how many followers they have.  Bragging, in general is never such a great idea on Twitter.  Remember, the goal is to attract new followers and obtain current followers—not to repulse people. 

If you want to build a positive online identity for your franchise or company, social media is a great tool to help you do that.  Just think before you post.  If you have more comments or questions on tweeting, post a comment below or contact us.  

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