The idea that businesses can use social media marketing platforms like Twitter to promote their brand and their products isn’t exactly a new one. Companies like Ford, JetBlue, Marvel, and even sports teams like the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Mavericks have used it to engage consumers and fans of their product. Individual celebrities, Shaquille O’Neal being one notable example, have also used Twitter as a way to maintain a dialogue with their fans, allowing them a degree of direct promotion of projects they may be involved with, or just as a way to keep themselves in the limelight.
Despite these and other readily available examples of how to properly use Twitter, a number of companies still seem to be going about it completely wrong. Granted, it’s admittedly a bit daft to say that somebody’s using Twitter improperly as there are no rules for using such a platform, and you’re pretty much free to do what you wish with it. So, let’s just say that these are a few examples of companies and public figures not taking advantage of the ways Twitter can help their brands.
1. You have a large amount of followers but only follow a few, if any, people
Take for example, Jack Johnson’s Twitter. For anyone who’s unaware, Jack Johnson a soft rock musician, popular among college aged kids for his soothing melodies. One would think that because his demographic is almost perfectly aligned with the type of person who’d be on Twitter, he would be doing all he’d can to use it to market himself. Well, think again. Although he has a relatively low amount of followers on his Twitter for a celebrity (7,530), he’s following an extremely low number of people for anybody (0). This gives the impression that he doesn’t care what’s going on in the lives of his fans, regardless of whether or not this is true.
2. Your stream is filled with nothing but status updates
The Miami Heat of the NBA are perhaps among the worst in this regard. Let’s just say that a feed like this would be expected more from a team like the Los Angeles Clippers. As the team is completely ignoring an opportunity to engage their fans, and build a team community through Twitter, it should come as no surprise that their average attendance has dropped for third year running.
3. Instead of actually tweeting, you use Twitter for nothing but press releases
If you’re going to be on Twitter, don’t just be on there for the sake of being on there. A quick glance at the TGI Friday’s restaurant chain’s feed shows nothing but a stream of sleep-inducing tweets about company news rather than anything that might actually be of interest.
Again, although there’s no definitive way to use Twitter correctly, these companies, people, and teams are inadvertently passing up on the chance to engage in a dialogue with the people following them, and consequently, an almost invaluable opportunity to do some quality marketing and brand building. Lest anyone forget, Twitter’s primary function, even before any of its social media marketing uses, is to allow people to interact with each other. So, do yourself and your company a favor and interact with your customers.
Written by Kenny K.