Are you making these basic Twitter mistakes?

image by JoshSemans

You decided that you want to use some of these new communication tools such as Twitter. I know that it takes time to get up to speed. It is easy to go the wrong way. You need to constantly be asking yourself: “What message are you trying to send?”

Let me help you out with some of what I have learned along the way.

Julie’s Twitter Basics

If you are planning to use Twitter as one of your communication methods, you need to know some basic tips:

• Don’t protect your Tweets! If we look at all the issues that people face with privacy on the internet, you may think that you should set your status to protected. Unless you are planning to have a private communication system within your company or a group of friends, you really don’t want to protect your tweets. When I see someone following me but their tweets are protected, I don’t connect. It is one extra step and I have no idea if they are open to connections. For more about what I think about protected Tweets, go here.

• Create a compelling profile! The 160 characters you have for your bio on Twitter compels you to be innovate and use tight writing strategies. One of the challenges for me is that my Twitter profile needs to represent mainly my career marketing side. I tried two Twitter accounts but found it way to complicated and decided to use one for both Designresumes.com and this blog. Here’s my latest bio statement:

Today’s economy is nothing but challenging. As a resume writer, I market you and design compelling online profiles, using cutting-edge career marketing tools.

But the great thing about this profile area is that you can change it whenever you want. Just remember to write tight and think about your message. A cohesive message is better than trying to jam everything anyone might want to know about you in 160 characters.

• Don’t use DMs for marketing! Every once in awhile I connect with someone and they send me a DM (direct message) telling me to go to their link. When I decide to connect with anyone I don’t know on Twitter, I read their profile and check out the links in the profile. I am not going to get excited by your product just because you send me a DM with a link to your site.

• Watch your photos! I find this most often with young people. When you select a profile pic you need to check the message you are leaving. If you are in a job search mode or trying to use Twitter to market your business, don’t post suggestive photos of yourself. Twitter is now incorporating the photos you share on Twitter with TwitPic or other tools and if you aren’t careful, you may be giving the wrong message here too.

• Use Twitter to build community and build relationships. People who are new to social media think that broadcasting your message works. It doesn’t! It comes off as spam and you rapidly lose people who might have been great contact.

No matter what your objective is with using Twitter, you will have a better experience using these basic Twitter tips. And if you are looking for marketing results, you will find yourself building relationships that do just that!