Isn’t it so that every new blogger, after launching a blog, signs up on multiple social networks especially Facebook and Twitter for the promotion of his blog?
However, if you want to make a mark as a blogger then creating some social profiles only will not help you find regular visitors unless you follow a strong, well-planned SMM strategy. One important and effective strategy could be to avoid committing those common mistakes that twitter marketing dummies often do.
I have recently asked 50 successful bloggers about how to get success in Twitter Marketing. Their invaluable suggestions surprised me as I myself had been making some of those blunders since long as a blogger.
And here I am gladly going to share those blunders with you:
1. Tweeting the Whole Stuff in One Go
Most people would rather tweet all the stuff they have in reserve for a day all together, thinking they should not waste most time on a single platform. This truly is a wrong strategy.
How? Delve deeper. Don’t you think all that you have shared, for example, in the morning will be seen by those only who check their Twitter account at that particular time? This means those of your followers who sign-in Twitter during their lunch break or in the evening are going to miss your tweets.
So the solution is to use scheduling tools like Buffer and HootSuite that share your tweets at specific times all through the day. This way, you will not only get the tweeting task done in one go but also keep your followers abreast of what you do on Twitter.
2. Not Mentioning People The Right Way
Generally, we mention someone in our tweets. Doing it the wrong way limits the chances of getting more traffic. For instance, if you mention someone without using an initial character at the beginning of your tweet, it will be visible to only you, the person mentioned by you, and those who follow both of you, none other than these.
Therefore, it is advised to start a tweet with at least a symbol and then mention someone. Only then all of your followers will be able to see that mention.
3. Sharing No Pictures
As they say a picture is worth a thousand words, using pictures in tweets is a great idea to invite the attention of your audience. Twitter now shows a part of picture in the newsfeed, providing followers a slight glimpse of something that attracts more than a typical link to your blog.
Sometimes, you don’t have pictures to share, but this should not restrict you from tweeting your words decorated graphically and appearing as a unique and distinct tweeter.
4. Not Asking Readers to Re-tweet
Bloggers often complain that only a small percentage of their entire following takes action; let’s say 1 out of 10 retweets the post and rest of them simply move forward.
That is a just complaint but you still have an option to motivate your readers through different techniques so that they promote your content on various social media networks.
There are two very common techniques: one, place a “Tweet Button” at a visible place in your content and ask your readers to tweet it; second, utilize the “Tweetable Quotes” option.
Tweetable quotes attract readers and can be shared on Twitter with a single click. Readers do share awesome quotes, so simply fill your article with two, three tweetable quotes.
You can make quotes tweetable using ClickToTweet or TweetDis.
5. Buying Twitter Followers
Some think that buying thousands of followers is enough to become a captain of the industry overnight.
However, reality is quite bitter. If you purchase followers and tweet a post in expectation to get tons of traffic to your blog, you will eventually feel shocked and disturbed to see only few of them has actually visited your blog.
Buying followers does not yield any positive result in terms of traffic. So those who think it is the numbers only that matter on Twitter should seriously revisit their opinion.
You don’t need to spend money on fake followers who don’t care for what you share; you’d better look for genuine, relevant and real followers who can bring about positive results for you through twitter. Though a difficult and exhaustive task, but it is not impossible altogether.
6. Not Using Hashtags
Hashtags provide bloggers with an amazing opportunity to keep themselves abreast of latest trends on Twitter. According to some research studies, using hashtags can likely improve your relationship with your Twitter fans.
For instance, by using the Hashtag “throwbackthursday” or just #TBT, you can make a mention of some conversation that had taken place last Thursday.
So use Hashtags purposefully, and you will be able to connect with big audience in your specific niche, helping yourself to improve your following and enhance your influence.
7. Retweeting All that Mentions you
If you are mentioned by people on Twitter, it is undoubtedly a great sign for your popularity, and you need to thank these people by either replying to their tweets or making theirs your favorite ones, but avoid retweeting everything mentioning you.
Retweeting everything about you will reflect that you are embarked upon, by hook or crook, winning upon some popularity competition. It is as harmful as is your frequent posting of tweets all about yourself. Both clutter up followers’ feed and act as catalyst to your Twitter status and popularity.
8. Sharing Personal URLs Only
If you are planning to use Twitter as a tool to develop and strengthen your business, that is a great idea. But dedicating your Twitter account entirely for this is not a wise idea.
You have the right to share your personal blog posts, but at the same time do keep sharing something that is not yours. Give links to your friends’ articles or blogs relevant to your niche. A key to improving your fan-base on Twitter is to maintain balance between promoting your blog and appreciating others’ too.
9. Not Keeping up Your Focus
Decide beforehand why you are going to use Twitter and then keep up your focus. For instance, if you start out tweeting about social marketing one day and discuss your argument with your wife the next day, it will cause more harm than good to your end purpose.
Your audience follows you for some specific reason and wants you to provide them with relevant information. It is natural, then, that the moment you start tweeting randomly about anything you come across, you are going to decrease your following and ultimately the desired traffic.
Only tweeters like Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga have the freedom to tweet about all that happens around them because that’s what their followers look forward to.
10. Choosing Automated Solutions
Never forget to act like a human being. Your professional need to stick to your topic should not make you go after “automated solutions”. Today when people are already sick and tired of countless promotions and taglines, it is your personality that can play a key role for your success.
Using automatic replies and complicated corporate jargon will only made your audience un-follow you. Keep in mind that your products and services, though of how good quality they are, are not able to invoke interest in your followers unless you yourself are there to back what you promote and sell.
So that’s all from me. I am sure you might have also been committing one or more of these mistakes. But I do believe that from this day onwards your presence on Twitter will improve and yield desired results in a smooth fashion. Also don’t forget letting me know if I am missing here some outrageous Twitter-related mistakes that bloggers often commit.
Tim Soulo used to be a professional DJ till he realised that talent alone won’t bring him thousands of raving fans. That’s how he began studying marketing. Today Tim is a marketing consultant, helping people squeeze more money from their websites. Make sure to visit his personal blog at: BloggerJet.