PLEASE NOTE: I am refraining from naming each sin with a “TW” like “Tweed” or the “Twust” because legally you should be able to pour motor oil over someones Cheerios if they do that.

Ladies and gents, with a headache, bags under my eyes and a lighter wallet, I present you with: The 7 Deadly Twitter Sins:

Greed is quite a popular sin. Twitter by default is a self-centered tool. It’s about us. But it’s 100x better if used as a conversational tool versus a dictation. I see people use it as a glorified RSS feed for their blog or an ad-puker. So absent of personality, I wonder why they even try. Yes you are in business, but if you believe that business is built on relationships, you need to make building them your business.

This sin holds a special place for the people who only retweet compliments about themselves. I was talking to a colleague of mine, she was asking how I have built a large amount of followers and I mentioned that I get retweeted a lot and I retweet others. Her reply was “I retweet others all the time!” When I checked out her page, the only time she EVER retweeted anyone was if it was a compliment about her or a #FollowFriday mention with her in it. You may as well tweet while looking in a mirror telling yourself you’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and gosh darnit, people like you.

GET FOLLOWERS FAST!!!! Most people on Twitter have seen tweets like this or thought of using a site that helps kickstart things for you. Seems innocent right? Let’s just have a look-see at this logic. Imagine the guy in the tweet below just followed you. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy that a new person is along for the Twitter journey with you, makes up for your lack of popularity in high school and the day is getting better! Then you see his next tweet:

I've blurred his eyes to hide his identification

How does that make you feel now? Still warm and fuzzy? Still getting tinglies? Didn’t think so. When you tweet out “follower system” tweets it says one thing: You’re in it for the numbers. I’ll bet the 3 cents I still have after Vegas that one of the next tweets will be about an amazing bizz opp or dick cream to add that precious extra inch or seven. Everything you tweet is an extension of your biz and your brand. If you want to scream about “GETTING THOUSANDS OF FOLLOWERS” be my guest, but the funniest part about the above tweet? He has 149 followers. Seriously. If you don’t see the irony in that, just shut down the computer and go see New Moon or something.

Twitter is a conversation, it’s truly what I love about it. But imagine having a conversation with someone where they take an hour to reply to you, face-to-face. How awkward would that be: “How, how’s business?” and they blankly stare off for an hour, then reply “Good thanks!”. That’s how it feels if someone takes a week to reply to a tweet. I once had someone that took 79 days to reply to a retweet. 79 FREAKIN DAYS! If it takes you longer to reply than it would to walk over a hand-written reply to my home, you’re doing it wrong. I know, not everyone is a tweetaholic like me, and not everyone can devote a good chunk of their day to Twitter. So if you have a limited amount of resources/time, let’s say 5 hours a week, it’s better to spend 45 minutes a day, for the entire week, than 5 hours once a week. Consistency breeds familiarity which creates relationships.

Ya, I’m kind of a big deal on Twitter in my own mind, which at the end of the day means fark-all to the majority of the world, but everyday I get DM’s asking me to change my pic to add a “cause” or tweet about this or that. I’m all for causes, I’m a big charity guy, but mostly I’m a fan of choice. Meaning it’s your choice to support anything you want but every once in a while people try to guilt others into changing their avatar etc. When everyone changed their Twitter profile pics to a shade of green to support some cause I got asked daily why I hadn’t changed mine yet. My answer to them? It’s none of your damn business why. My lack of participation in your cause does not infer lack of support, just like changing my avatar does not make me a better person by default. Same goes for people who think you should be obligated to follow them back if they follow you. Things on Twitter, just like most things in life, is a choice.

One of the worst things about Twitter is the reactionary nature of it. Most of us don’t think before tweeting and for the most part it’s ok since most tweets are harmless/boring/innocent by nature. But once in a while we react/lash out above our better judgement. It takes 1000 tweets to build a reputation and 1 to change it all. There are many examples of this here or here. Twitter feels very intimate sometimes, like you’re on an episode of Friends, having a conversation with a few, except there are thousands “lurking” around. It’s like having a harem of stalkers, without the creepiness.

Being the object of someones wrath is also very common. For a full explanation on how to deal with these trolls, read the previous blog post about it, but in a nutshell: don’t feed them. They aren’t owed a reply, your time or your emotions. You’re better than that.

Twitter is filled with humans. And when you throw a bunch of humans into an environment, a few things are sure to be present: 20% of people will have bad breath, 30% will wonder how their hair looks, 60% like peanut butter and cheese sandwiches but are scared to say something (or maybe I’m the only one), and 100% will have hormones. It happens, we can pretend they don’t exist, but they’re always there. It’s one of the reasons to have a flattering picture as your Twitter profile, it catches the eye. The problem is when people turn creepy or obnoxious (and by people I mean guys). I’m truly blessed to know a lot of incredible women on Twitter who are not only brilliant in business but are attractive as well. The stories they tell me about direct messages or replies they get from some men make me shake my head. Seriously folks, I’m not sure what book told you the line “Your lips look tasty” works, but it makes me picture Silence of The Lambs, and not for the cool stuff. Every tweet, every DM represents your company and more specifically it’s you as a person. So if you want to be known as “that guy” who drinks hard liquor at the networking event straight-up and gets that smarmy smile on, be my guest.

You know what? Screw it. I have no problem with you being proud of something. I mean true pride. Something you accomplished, your kids, whatever. Scream it from the top of the mountains, good on you. Just do it in moderation. Don’t just talk about yourself, spread pride of others too. ReTweet their accomplishments. One sin out of seven ain’t so bad

What about you? What do you think? What bugs you about certain tweets? Maybe you disagree? Comment below!

Oh, and of course, here is a video of me riding a bull in Vegas. Explains the bruise on my thigh:

Thanks to my awesometastic friend Manya for filming and eiditing the train wreck!

]]> http://www.un-marketing.com/blog/2009/11/20/the-7-deadly-twitter-sins/feed/ 171 http://www.un-marketing.com/blog/2009/10/29/twittertown-how-to-engage-a-local-market/ http://www.un-marketing.com/blog/2009/10/29/twittertown-how-to-engage-a-local-market/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:26:03 +0000 unmarketing http://www.un-marketing.com/blog/?p=227 “Well Twitter is good for you Scott, your market can be anywhere in the world.”

And so it begins. Another reason why a business claims it doesn’t need to engage their marketplace. For geographic based businesses it’s always brought up that they have no need to connect with someone in Toronto if they run a pizza place in Dallas. Fair enough (although connecting on a large scale has many benefits, but that’s a rant post for another day.)

If your business is “local” there are a few things you can do to help focus your Twitter efforts:

1. Use a keyword location-specific search in Twitter for people in your area.

A lot of people suggest using keyword terms to search for potential customers, but it doesn’t work very well for a local business. Even if you put the name of your city/town, that would mean the person who tweeted would have to put both IN the tweet (i.e. I need a massage in Toronto VS I need a massage). The way to solve this is to do a “near” search. By putting “near:Toronto” beside your keyword, it will bring up all tweets from people who listed in their profile their location that are near Toronto. So now the person who tweets “I want a pizza” can now be found geographically. Use either the “search” bar on the right-side of Twitter, or Summize.

The screenshot above shows all the results for searching “Massage near:Toronto”.

NOW JUST YOU WAIT!!!

This isn’t an excuse to start replying to everyone on this list to say “COME USE US!! WE RULEZ TEH UNIVERSSSE! LOLZ!”. Reply to some people, say something like “Heya, we could help you out! Let us know, hope u feel better soon!”.

I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU!!

Please for the love of The Jesus and Mary Chain do not set-up a auto-reply system that will send replies to anyone that mentions a certain word in a tweet. Seriously, I will hunt you down and give you a stink-eye of epic proportions. These people have potentially raised their hand, the last thing you need to do is hit them up with a pre-written auto-tweet and then when they check out your profile, all they see is that same tweet to hundreds of others. Doesn’t make them feel all warm and fuzzy.

Most importantly, this tool should be used to see people in your area to start engaging with. Actually give a damn about them. Get to know them. You’re a person, and amazingly, so are they!

Set this search up in a program like TweetDeck so it automatically refreshes the search.

2. Use Twitter Grader to find the best in your area.

Twitter Grader ranks users by awesomeness (my word) not just by follower count. Using its location search you can find the best in your area to get to know.

Same rule applies here. Don’t be a jackass and follow just to send them ads. Engage, get to know people. It’s like a live networking event, except you can’t be cornered by the creepy-dude drinking scotch.

3. Twellow Pages. It’s like the Yellow Pages but people actually use it.

Using their Search function, you can search both by interests and location. This is a great site for finding people in specific industries.

Make sure you also list your own Twitter account in the directory under the “Register for FREE” link on the homepage

4. Tell them you’re there!

It sounds silly, but tell people you’re on Twitter. Put it in the company newsletter, in ads, at the check-out. You’d be amazed how many people are on Twitter and if they like you, they can spread the word to others in the Twitter world.

Any other tips you’d like to share? Any local biz that you know does a great job of this? Leave them in the comments and if they rock the casbah, I’ll add it to the post!

Be sure to sign-up for updates in the sign-up box below! It also makes you 43% cooler to others.

Other great posts on the topic:

Using Social Media to Market Your Montana Brand

How to Use Social Media to Build Your Brand Locally