Social Media Content ‘Twitterquette’ tips to save your brand’s reputation Jan 21st, 2014 From the McDonald’s hash-tag that turned into a bash-tag, to Tesco’s scheduled tweet that read “it’s sleepy time, so we’re off to hit the hay!” – in the midst of the horse meat scandal (hand over face), there’s no doubting that social media accounts can land businesses in hot water. Don’t let these silly mistakes scare you off though; increased website traffic and boosted sales are just two of the possible benefits of building a social media presence for your brand Keep your brand’s reputation intact by following these 5 simple steps to the perfect twitterquette: The golden rule for excellent twitterquette: Never tweet anything that you would not say in person while representing your company It’s as simple as that. Treat Twitter like you are on your premises, talking to a client, a customer or a colleague. Whatever is unacceptable to say in the work place is probably unacceptable to say across your social network accounts, too. 1. Be a follower One of the most important reasons for using Twitter is to engage in conversations. In directly tweeting people and getting involved in conversations about industry-relevant topics, you can establish your brand as an authority in your industry and simultaneously build brand awareness. While it may look impressive that you have 50430 followers and you only follow 10 people, this isn’t an effective way to use Twitter – how are you going to engage in conversations if you don’t know they’re taking place? 2. Interact Another twitterquette trick is to comment on your followers’ tweets. Reaching out to your customers gives your account a personal, friendly touch that most people will appreciate next time it comes to a purchasing decision. There is also a great opportunity to interact with other brands. 3. Respond to negative tweets If somebody criticises your business or asks a difficult question, never ignore it. There is no way of blocking or removing criticism of your business from Twitter, which is very much a public forum. That means you need to engage. Listen to people’s queries and problems and respond as quickly and as informatively as possible. If you are polite and helpful, a problem will stay small. Be argumentative, difficult, and rude and that problem will be shared, criticised and seen by a larger number of people – making it even more detrimental to the reputation of your brand. 4. Have a sense of humour Twitter users who follow your business do so because they feel it gives them a direct line to it. They want to feel they can instantly contact you with any thoughts they may have about your products and service. When they do, the very best Twitter accounts will maintain a sense of humour at all times. Expect weird, wacky responses to your tweets. By approaching social media with a sense of humour you are showing that your brand can take a joke. It will also increase the chances of retweets and new followers seeing your brand as something worth following. 5. Provide extra value Your tweets should not always be directions to your sales pages. Try to mix up what you post and be interesting. Share other people’s content, create competitions and offer special social media discounts to drive engagement and be the brand that everyone wants to follow. Or you could just tweet totally random things which have only a very tenuous connection to your products/services, but it certainly entertains and helps create a buzz about your business!