Twitter Do's and Don'ts

DO know when to step away. You don’t want someone bad-mouthing your brand, but you don’t want to be negative. If someone is getting nasty, walk away.

DO include @ mentions whenever possible, and use relevant hashtags.

DON’T #overdo #it #with #the #hashtags #PLEASE

DO respond to @mentions that you receive. You want to be engaged on Twitter, not just forcing your message. Twitter’s tagline is “Join the Conversation.” Converse!

DON’T follow everyone who follows you. Choose wisely based on what is relevant and interesting to your business and your brand. If you follow everyone who follows you, your timeline will quickly become clogged with things you don’t want to read.

DON’T be offended if you follow someone and they don’t follow you back. See above.

DO always give credit where credit is due. If you retweet someone, do it with the retweet button. In the event that you’re making a comment about it, quote the tweet and use RT @username, or MT (modified tweet) if you have to alter the original tweet for length.

DO share your personality. Yes, you want to be professional, but you want people to know you’re not a robot. Let your personality show and your followers will find you more relatable.

DON’T send automatic DMs (direct messages). It is widely seen as being a SPAM tactic.

DO respond to @ mentions and legitimate DMs in a timely manner.

DO respond to people who retweet or follow you and thank them for their interest and participation.

DON’T auto post from Facebook. One of our biggest Twitter pet peeves is seeing 20 tweets in a row of “I just posted a photo to FB!” Instead, post a link to the album – ONCE – when all your photos have been uploaded.

DO use a link shortening service, such as Bitly. Save characters and your followers’ sanity; no one wants to see super long links.

DO block SPAM followers. It will be obvious who they are. Some Twitter clients, such as Tweetbot, automatically block users when you report them as SPAM.

DO use scheduled tweets wisely. Scheduling tweets can be a great time saver and a useful tool for making sure you’re on top of your social media. However, you want to be sure your tweets don’t seem “canned” and that you’re still prepared to respond quickly to mentions even when you’re preparing your content in advance.

DO have a profile picture, cover photo, and descriptive bio that includes relevant links.

DON’T post photos or videos that are blurry. This should be a no-brainer, but it bears repeating.