In Focus

7 marketing mistakes to avoid on Twitter

Rodney Rumford
Social Media Posted on April 09, 2009

#4: Using it as a push marketing channel

Most marketing people create a "message" and push it to multiple distribution points. That tactic does not work well in the Twitter ecosystem. While using Twitter to push press releases or automatic distribution of an RSS feed from your company blog might be appealing, the consumption model is minimal. Only linking to your website in your tweets will quickly become boring to your followers.

When you have people follow you, they follow for a reason. They have effectively "opted in" to hear what you are publishing and sharing. Focus on adding value and giving them what they want. Use this channel as a way to communicate industry news and trends -- insights that are valuable to your target audience. Interaction is the key to building influence on Twitter. Share openly and don't only talk about your services. Find a way to mix it up and be interesting and human in your interactions.

Tip: Focus on adding value to the people who matter most and you can't go wrong.

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Comments

Kris Putnam-Walkerly
Kris Putnam-Walkerly November 22, 2009 at 6:34 PM

Very useful suggestions - thank you for sharing them. I will re-tweet this now...
From @Philanthropy411 (http://twitter.com/Philanthropy411)

Candise Miller
Candise Miller April 26, 2009 at 1:21 AM

My question is, how do you brand a service on Twitter? Some of these concepts can definitely be applied to a services company, but others I'm not so sure of. Any advice?

Candise Miller
Candise Miller April 26, 2009 at 1:20 AM

This was a fantastic piece, thank you Rodney!

Jackie Ruffolo
Jackie Ruffolo April 24, 2009 at 9:52 AM

Rod,

I am not a Twitter user because I believe in what you said about : first establishing/knowing what you want before you start.

Your article gave my reasons to start following/hearing to define my strategy. Good examples, excellent points.

thanks, Jackie Ruffolo

Rodney Rumford
Rodney Rumford April 10, 2009 at 4:12 AM

Rick,
Your experience on twitter is dictated by who you follow. This is what populates the conversational river of data. People that have the mindset of trying to become the "most popular at the dance" are missing the point. It is about connections, influence, adding value and conversations for most users.

Do what matters most for YOUR business; that is your use case. Focus on adding value to the people that matter most to your business.

Brad:
"Marketers should move away from this medium, unless they're looking to drive incremental traffic to content, or spam customers.

Personally, Twitter has hit the relevance arch, nostalgic of just before I stopped giving a (Expletive) about Myspace."

I completely disagree. FYI you can't spam on Twitter. Users have full control over who they listen to ;)

Cheers!
Rodney Rumford

Brad Fredricks
Brad Fredricks April 9, 2009 at 2:55 PM

one more mistake: Spell Check: Do you conquer? ;)

Brad Fredricks
Brad Fredricks April 9, 2009 at 2:51 PM

Rodney;

First, these are credible mistakes/ tactical goofs that brands make. I conquer with this.

Aside from this:

On a Professional note:

Your bio: "Rodney Rumford has 21 years of experience in helping brands engage online"

Sir Rodney; that would put you in 1987. Did you do some BBS branding on your Tandberg?

Hey, just making sure we/ you are branding a consistent message, like we want to do on Twitter.

Aside from this, great notes, but this strikes me as another ship in the harbor, I think it's called SS Tag-Along.

Beyond this, PR people should engage, on behalf of brands, customers/ consumers on Twitter.

Marketers should move away from this medium, unless they're looking to drive incremental traffic to content, or spam customers.

Personally, Twitter has hit the relevance arch, nostalgic of just before I stopped giving a (Expletive) about Myspace.

Wish you had published this last year, Before Barbara, before Colbert, Before Tweetterwhore.

I rant about this on my blog: http://tinyurl.com/cr665y

Rick L'Amie
Rick L'Amie April 9, 2009 at 10:03 AM

Great insights. I'm becoming very selective in who I choose to follow. I don't want to break any records on followers from twitter people all over the globe. I'd rather have some great local connections, because that is where I am doing business.