How to Stay Credible and Likeable on Twitter

Whether you’re a recent grad looking for a job or a business owner trying to build your company’s brand, you’ll find that Twitter is an invaluable tool. Unfortunately, a few offensive tweets can ruin your reputation, lose you a job, and lose you customers. So, proper Twitter etiquette is essential. Here are five Twitter etiquette tips to help you play it safe and build your personal or company brand in a positive way on the popular social networking site:

1. Don’t assume your college buds are the only people reading your tweets

If you’re a jobseeker, you should use your Twitter to increase your online visibility and build your personal brand. This means you should avoid tweeting crude jokes and political opinions. Likewise, if you’re manning your company’s Twitter account, don’t assume that the only people reading your tweets are your coworkers. When people search for your company on Google, your business’s Twitter account will be at the top of the search results. This means that your company’s Twitter account can actually attract a pretty good amount of traffic. So, watch what you say.

2. Show off your acumen

If you have your PhD, don’t be afraid to link to scholarly articles in your tweets. Additionally, if you’ve spent years and years in a particular industry and have specialized knowledge, make sure you share some of that specialized knowledge with your followers on Twitter. You want to use your personal Twitter account to position yourself as a well-educated expert in your field. Similarly, business Twitter accounts should be filled with insightful tweets that are relevant to your industry.

3. Avoid tweeting too much

The best way to lose followers is to tweet too often. People are selective about who they follow on Twitter and what they like to read on their Twitter feeds. There’s generally no need to tweet twenty times a day. Focus on quality rather than quantity, and don’t risk annoying anyone because you have too much to say on Twitter.

4. Stay social

Twitter users will be more interested in following you and reading your tweets if you show an interest in what they’re doing on Twitter. So, make sure you retweet posts you like in addition to using the @reply function to show your appreciation for content and to communicate with other Twitter users. If you just talk about yourself or your company all day long, you certainly won’t win a popularity contest on Twitter.

5. Ditch aggressive following tactics

It can be tempting to follow as many people as you possibly can on Twitter, but that’s usually not a good idea. You immediately lose credibility if you’re following 2,000 people and only 200 people are following you back. Plus, Twitter can actually freeze your account if they catch you aggressively following and unfollowing people to increase your number of followers. The most successful Twitter users build relationships and tweet about interesting and insightful things. This means that they slowly build their list of followers, but it also means that each of their followers is someone who actually trusts them.

Twitter can help you find a job and learn about new things that enrich you as a person. It can also help your business connect to new customers and form relationships with those customers. Unfortunately, if you don’t use Twitter well, your ROI won’t be quite what you expected. So, follow the tips above to boost the appeal of your Twitter account and avoid offending anyone.

Amanda Watson is a freelancer blogger who writes about online mba programs and other topics pertaining to online higher education. You can reach Amanda at watsonamanda.48@gmail.com.