The fast-paced, conversational nature of Twitter means that it’s easy to tweet without thinking too much about what you’re saying. This can spell disaster if you’re using Twitter primarily as a marketing tool and you end up doing or saying something that sabotages all your efforts. Even though it’s fun to use Twitter as a giant chat room where you can just relax and say anything you want, it’s important to remember your primary reason for engaging in social media: to create a place where you can interact with your audience and give them a positive impression of your business. Here are four things you probably want to avoid if you don’t want to ruin your online reputation.
1. Angry or insulting tweets. The internet is a combative place, and sometimes people will attack you with little or no provocation. It’s important to keep a level head, no matter how much the negativity gets to you – blowing up and engaging in a furious name-calling match will only make you look unprofessional and out of control. If you can’t simply ignore the haters, at least take a step back and give yourself time to calm down before you respond.
2. Tweeting from the wrong account. If you think you’re logged in on your personal account, double-check before you send out any tweets. If you’re actually logged in on your business account, instead of telling your friends about the terrible hangover you have after a night of tequila slammer, you’ll be telling your colleagues, customers, potential customers, and worst of all, your competition. It’s embarrassing, and worst of all, it can’t be taken back.
3. Tweeting instead of direct messaging. This is akin to accidentally sending a sensitive email to everyone in your address book instead of just the person it was intended for. In addition, as Rep. Anthony Weiner found out last year, posting the wrong thing publicly can actually bring your career to a screeching halt. If you’re sending something inappropriate, ask yourself if you really need to send it at all, and if you absolutely must, make sure it’s private.
4. Not checking the links on a retweet. This is kind of a dirty trick for people to pull, but sometimes they’ll post a tweet with a link that has nothing to do with the text. You don’t want to retweet something that seems relevant for your audience, and then find out hours later that the link actually took your customers to a porn site. Check the link first!
Have you ever said or done something on Twitter that you wish you hadn’t? How did you handle the aftermath to minimize damage?
