Every social media has its own rules and regulations, and Twitter is no exception. You need to adhere to these rules if social media is a part of your business strategy. Otherwise, you may be driving followers away, and all that’s left is the wondering.
There are some unwritten Twitter rules that come into existence as a result of the way its users share contents or interact with each other in it. Below overview will shed light on some of these rules to help you share and connect more confidently on Twitter.
- Keep your followers-followings list realistic
When users come into your profile, they notice the number of your followers and followings. Note that it’s not natural if you have a followers count the same as your followings. People might think that you are either a robot or obsessive about keeping them the same.
What is more, it’s not OK if the number of yourtwitter followings is more than fifth as many as your followers, especially if you are a business. Users may suppose you are desperate to get others to follow you, and you won’t look professional to them.
- Don’t be overfamiliar
Although on Twitter, you are free Tweeting at celebrities, friends of friends, or any verified persona, it doesn’t mean they should respond to you every single time. Sometimes they don’t even bother reading or seeing your Tweet let alone replying.
Do not fool yourself into having a close friendship that doesn’t exist. Be cautious when you want to send a message to someone and think more about the contents and the tone of your texts.
- Be respectful
You can never rule out social care and reciprocity. Be approachable when users want to reach out to you. Respond to their DMs, especially queries if you are a brand. Moreover, it’s not moral to respond publicly if they sent you a private message.
Another thing that shows a lack of respect is when you unfollow someone right after they followed you back. It’s just a mean and unfair way for gaining followers and will not work for you in the long run.
The last point in terms of showing respect is about your real-life friends or colleagues. Do not give them the cold shoulder and follow them back instantly.
- Avoid snitch-tagging
Snitch-tagging may not seem a well-known word to you. I can explain it to you in simple terms, but first, you should know the meaning of subtweeting. It is making a Tweetthat talks about an individual without directly mentioning them. Subtweeting can be fun, can be mean, can be annoying, can be risky. Seems ironic. Doesn’t it?
Snitch-tagging is tagging the person who is being addressed explicitly in a subtweet to notify and alert them that someone is talking behind their back. Be aware that when you blow the whistle on the subtweeter, problems might arise under certain conditions both for them and the target. And I’m sure you don’t want to be the trouble maker.
- Don’t misuse hashtags
Hashtags help categorize your contents and be easily discoverable. While they are undoubtedly useful and can be included anywhere in a Tweet, it’s not wise to stuff your Tweets with them. Since character count matters, it’s considered good practice not to use more than two hashtags in a single Tweet.
Below you can find some tips about using hashtags:
- Use capital letters at the beginning of each word to make your hashtags more readable. For instance, #SocialMediaMarketing or #TwitterRules.
- Use hashtags relevant to your Tweet as well as branded or trending ones.
- Save more valuable character space in your Tweet by avoiding to use words that are already mentioned in the text of your Tweet.
- In addition to a web link and details about yourself, you can include one or two hashtags in your Twitter bio to attract more followers or showcase your field of activity or your niche.
- Don’t steal others’ well-established hashtags.
- Don’t Tweet all the time
It surely bugs people if you’re tweeting unceasingly or oversharing. Give others the chance to reflect on your Tweet and have their say. It’s also to your own advantage for you have more time to read others’ replies or messages or surf Twitter. Do not sacrifice quality for quantity.
- Never retweet your own Tweet
Some people mistakenly think that they can encourage others to retweet their Tweets if they do it for themselves too. Do not behave like a desperate attention seeker by retweeting your own Tweet.
- Don’t self-promote too much
Bombarding people with Tweets about your brand sounds like an awkward idea to spark your audience’s interest. Change your mindset, act more like a human, and add more non-promotional interesting Tweets to your page to attract new fans, and retain your current followers. And besides, people will engage with you more eagerly. Can you think of other unofficial rules on how to use Twitter? Feel free to share them with us.
Source: < https://il.ink/blog/social-media/unwritten-twitter-rules-you-may-not-be-following/ >