The 7 Deadly Tweets
Twitter is, in many ways, a circus. There are millions of people tweeting every idea that pops into their heads, which creates a sea of information that may or may not be appealing to anybody.
As a business, you need to create tweets that people actually would like to read – tweets that offer your business an upbeat image and that make folks want to follow or re-tweet what you have to say. Basically you need Tweets that “knock ‘em dead.”
Of course, that’s easier said than done. While there are many different styles of Tweets, only some will benefit your business, while many others could possibly harm your brand. So, I have compiled the 7 Deadly Tweets that will have you “knockin ‘em dead” in no time:
- Useful Tweets – If you are new to Twitter then you should know that many of the tweets people share are absolutely useless. No one cares if you’re sleepy or starving. No one wants to see you LOL without a reason or tweet a smiley face or tell Twitter “Good Morning.” These tweets are mildly permitable on your personal Twitter account, but not for your business and should be banned. So the golden rule when tweeting for business is this: It must be useful for someone, somewhere.
- Quote Tweets – Famous quotes are very likely to be re-tweeted and can be helpful for your business. But quotes can also be worn-out, particularly by companies that center their strategy on re-tweets and not enough on excellent content. If you are in a business that is inspirational in nature then quote away, but if not, then try not to bother your followers with too many. The bottom line is that the occasional quote can be beneficial, as long as it’s not over done.
- Thought Tweets – Tweeting phrases that sound like quotes but are actually your own thoughts can be very well-liked. Basically these might be described as “deep thoughts” but written in a style that looks like a quote. You can get away with these fairly often but they should truly be original.
- Joke Tweets – Jokes are one of the best types of tweet. They are effortlessly re-tweeted. There are 2 simple rules to Joke Tweets: Funny and Appropriate. Done right, they can be a grand way to help brand your business. People want to work with those they like, and everyone likes someone with a sense of humor. You are probably starting to sense a theme here and it is this: don’t overdo it. If all you do is jokes then one could wonder if you are in business at all. The best thing to remember when trying to be funny is to think before you tweet. If you have to ask if it is funny then it’s not. If you have to ask if it is appropriate, then . . .you got it – it’s not!
- Info Tweets – Information is perhaps the chief way companies view the usefulness Twitter. Basically, info tweets can be anything and everything that somebody would find appealing. It may be about your business, your products, your services, or your life, but it’s not intended to get laughs or be found as emotionally gripping. Rather, it is designed to update your followers about something. These are the most foundational tweets your business can create but they can also be boring so . . . don’t overdo it.
- Question Tweets – One of my favorites. If social media is supposed to be about interaction and engagement then why not come right out and ask for it? Asking a question or presenting a problem that needs to be solved is easily the fastest way to get people to engage with you. People who engage with you are much more likely to find out more about you than someone who simply reads one of your tweets. Re-tweets are great but Replies are king so get your followers talking back.
- Link Tweets – Finally, there is the plain link. Send your followers to a page on your website or to an article that relates to your business. This type of tweet can be less effective if you don’t have many followers and can make your Twitter feed look a bit like spam if you do it too much. But it’s otherwise a central part of promotion and completely reasonable if the content you link to is pertinent to your readers.
As you can tell there are many diverse tweets, certainly more than I mentioned here. Some are superior to others depending on your type of business. The key is to mix it up, don’t overuse one type and by all means, keep it interesting. If you can master the 7 deadly tweets you will be seeing the rewards in the weeks and months to come.
Let me know what other types of tweets you use successfully . . .
