Twitter etiquette – five things you should know

As Sky News announces Twitter wing-clipping, and the High Court sits on #twitterjoketrial, understanding Twitter etiquette has never been more crucial – especially for brands. Zone's social media writer Letitia Becher has the 101 for doing it right

Imagine being at a dinner party where you know nobody. Kicking off on Twitter is exactly the same. It can be difficult getting into the conversation, and there are social rules to follow so you don’t make a big faux pas in front of everyone, and get attention for all the wrong reasons.

But Twitter IS about strangers connecting; it isn’t like Facebook where you have to be friends, and unknown friend requests are frowned upon. On Twitter you can follow anyone you like, without it seeming creepy.

Get into the conversation, start a two-way thing and the experience can be mutually rewarding for your brand and your customers. Here are five steps to getting it right:

1.Be social

When people talk to you on Twitter, it’s only polite to talk back. Once you have thousands of followers it may be impossible to respond to every tweet. But if you are taking your brand into this space it’s important to spend time talking to your followers and, more importantly, replying to questions about your business services or brand.

How do you choose the right people to tweet back to? Listen, research, respond, and 140 characters becomes a very clever marketing tool. Take this lucky guy, whose tweets inspired his favourite restaurant to meet him at the airport with a steak, (it’s no massive coincidence he’s a strong, influential Twitterer).

When Twitter is used as a customer service tool it can be very powerful. Brands that are doing it right? Check out ASOS and the BT customer care feed.

2.Play nice

Like everything on the internet, what you tweet is searchable and potentially permanent. Even if you delete a tweet, you’ll be surprised how quickly it can be screen-grabbed and then shared. Just ask Katy Perry. It is worth remembering that although everyone, including businesses, is entitled to an opinion, with limited characters and everything on record, professional reputations can be put at stake quickly. A simple search on Google can show nightmare Twitter-gates, featuring celebs, businesses and even politicians. (Cough, cough, Ed Miliband.)

3.Retweet

Retweeting is good; your message can be exposed to thousands of people and is given a digital endorsement by the user that retweeted. Last year, with a few friends, I wanted to get #HappyBirthdayBill trending for the late comedian Bill Hicks. By our choosing the right influencers, the hashtag was retweeted by Lauren Laverne and Stephen Fry and became a UK trending topic.

Take note of who has the power to influence. If you know your campaign may be something a big Twitterer has an interest in, it’s worth sending a tweet their way.

When retweeting, always make sure you give credit to the user’s original tweet. The best way to do this is to manually retweet with Twitter, rather than via a Twitter tool. If your tweets are being retweeted then, if possible, it is good manners to say thank you to the individual – or a HUGE thank you to all if your tweet has ‘gone viral’. Chortle.

4.Tweet relevant content

Your audience will be built on the nature of your tweets. Choosing what you share is as important as choosing what you say, so not all your tweets should be boring, business or brand-based. It would be a bit like being at that stranger-danger dinner party and sat next to the guy who just talks about himself. You want your Twitter presence to be as charismatic as possible. Tweet things that are relevant, put out excellent content and you improve your chances of gaining followers and interactions. It’s all about a good balance. Brands I think get it right? Look at E4 and Heatworld.

5. Follow less people

There are a lot of opinions on following users on Twitter, but I would recommend following fewer people than follow you. This puts you in the position of an influencer. If you were at a talk, and the guy on the soapbox had a huge tuned-in audience, you would spend more time listening to what he had to say than a speaker with no crowd.

As a business, you aren’t expected to follow everyone back. The value to your brand is in following relevant users; key influencers and people who provide content you may want to retweet. Twitter is a little like being in with the right crowd at school. See who your important influencers are following, and hijack their lists to get a good start on weeding out the cool kids.

Before you go…

Remember, you can lose followers, too. Here’s a great article on what not to do.