Ask any social media agency owner what the number one goal of social media users should be today, and they’ll tell you it’s building (and maintaining) relationships. There are some rules for relationship building with your friends and followers, particularly on Twitter where businesses tend to connect more often, and relationships tend to form quickly between users representing their businesses. Here they are:
Go ugly! That’s an old PR term that means get out there and respond to accusations quickly. If someone says something bad about you on Twitter, don’t ignore them. Defend your brand, your product, your service, or whatever it is the other party is attacking.
Talk to people! If you say something to someone and they answer you, that is called a conversation – even on Twitter. You need to answer anyone who says anything to you. Public figures who do that as often as possible build loyalty by doing that, and so can small businesses. On the flip side, it is a big turn off when the conversation is dropped too quickly. You don’t need to go back and forth all day, but one or two replies are appropriate and expected.
Stay focused! Don’t ask your followers random questions that have nothing to do with anything relevant to their interests or your brand. That doesn’t mean that every tweet is a self-promotional effort; that would be a turn off too. But you do need to stay on message, and always make your tweets consistent with your brand (and whether or not your followers are in your existing customer base, many of them should be at least interested in your brand).
Be personal! Auto responders and automated messages are convenient for “Thanks for the follow!” messages, but use them sparingly. Don’t answer a direct message with them, and always answer a personalized tweet with another personalized tweet. In real life, you shouldn’t give someone a generic answer to a pointed question or comment, and you shouldn’t do it on Twitter either.
Use your manners! When someone says something nice to you or retweets your content, say “thank you.” Too many Twitter users are forgetting their manners, and they’re losing followers because of it. People in the public eye can get away with it more, but even they are being held to a higher standard because of the new culture of accessibility for which Twitter is responsible. Unless your follower count is in the five digit realm, your followers expect you to acknowledge them from time to time. People will only value you if you value them – on social media and in real life. The way to show you value them is with engagement.
These tips for building relationships on Twitter may sound basic, but they’re what every major social media agency recommends now, and for one good reason: they’re effective. For more social media agency expertise, contact Crest Media Internet Marketing.
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