Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Top 7 Twitter Mistakes

Twitter can be a very powerful tool if used correctly, but there are a few common mistakes people make that can get in the way of using it to successfully promote your business.


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1) Tweeting only listings
If you only tweet links to your etsy shop, nobody is going to be interested and you'll find it difficult to get genuine followers. Twitter is all about building connections!


2) Setting up your account with auto DMs
A lot of people set up their accounts to automatically send a direct message to any new followers- usually saying something like 'Check out my etsy shop! I sell cute stuff shopname.etsy.com'. This irritates a lot of users and might make them much less likely to visit your shop.


3) Tweeting your listings directly @ other people
Yes- some people really do this and it's not cool (or likely to be effective). Plus you might get reported for spamming.


4) Complaining about your customers
I actually see this a lot and it always suprises me because they might be listening! It also doesn't create a very good impression for any of your twitter followers who might be considering purchasing something from you.


5) Not building up a follower base
A lot of people only have a couple of hundred followers, and wonder why twitter isn't doing much for them. Personally I recommend having at least a couple of thousand in order to make it work for you.


6) Tweeting to the wrong audience
As well as building up some good follower numbers, it really is critical that you are reaching the right kind of audience. If all of your followers are etsy sellers, you're unlikely to get very far with it (unless you sell supplies).


7) Using True Twit validation service
This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make if you're trying to use twitter to promote your shop to lots of new buyers (in my opinion). It's a service that automatically sends a DM to anyone who tries to follow you, asking them to click a link and confirm that they're a real follower. A very high percentage of people will just ignore the link and you'll lose a lot of potential followers.

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Update: I've had a few questions about how to use twitter effectively- you can find all the info on that in this article.


You can find more business tips on twitter @etsysellertips





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10 comments:

  1. I agree with every single one! Sadly, I bet the people who really need to read this will be too busy spamming ;-)

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  2. I'm new to Twitter so I'm looking forward to your post on how to build up a large Twitter following.

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  3. Really great post (: I don't post ONLY links, but I noticed I post a bunch of them.

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  4. Thanks for the post! It takes a loooong time to get two thousand real Twitter followers. If I spent all my time tweeting instead of creating, I could probably get there faster. But I don't mind going slow-and-steady. I will eventually get there, and I want my base to be solid. :D

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  5. Tricia- I've already written one :) See link below.

    dosankodebbie- it doesn't have to take a long time to build up a really good targeted following. I wrote about exactly how to do that quickly without too much effort here: http://www.thebusinesstipsblog.com/2010/10/top-7-twitter-mistakes.html

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  6. True nifty :)

    @Katie Glad you liked the post

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  7. Thanks - I have been wanting to create a twitter account just not sure how to start. What do you think about posting giveaways?

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  8. I totally agree with you, thank you for your sharings!

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Thanks for your comment :)

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