7 Deadly Sins to Avoid on Twitter

by | Sep 11, 2019 | Liv Constantine, On writing | 6 comments


7 Deadly Twitter Don’ts

1. Protect Your Tweets –Twitter is an open platform based on people being able to connect with anyone. If I go to follow you and I get a “pending” message, I unfollow immediately. Unless you only plan to approve family and friends (that’s what a personal Facebook is for) why are you going through the motion to approve me? Chances are your approval will be based on nothing other than the profile info anyway, which you have no way of verifying is accurate.

2. Use True Twit Validation – Another action that makes me hit unfollow. Why make it hard for people to follow you? What are you validating? If a robot account does follow you—so what? It doesn’t have any real effect on you and all you are doing is annoying legitimate account holders and discouraging them from following you.

3. Send automatic direct messages—no one reads these and they smack of spam.

4. Tweet—I just unfollowed XX of people not following me. Don’t advertise that you’re using an automated service to manage your account. It looks unprofessional and it’s unnecessary to announce such things.

5. Never follow back – See # 4. Most knowledgeable Twitter users are using a service to check and see those who don’t follow back. If you want to keep those new followers, it’s polite to reciprocate and follow those with similar interests or in similar associations and groups as you.

6. Ignore Tweets – Twitter is about being social. If someone tweets to you—answer them. If you ignore others tweets to you, you will soon get a reputation as a robot.

7. Have a Temper Tantrum –Twitter is not the place for vitriol, complaints, and rants. Unless you want to be known for controversy, watch what you say. It stays there forever.

So what should you do?



Twitter Do’s
1. Tweet on the weekend—or at least schedule some tweets for Saturday and Sunday. Engagement is 17% higher for brands on weekends.

2. The early bird gets the worm —Start tweeting at 8:00 a.m. and continue until 7:00 p.m. – you’ll increase your engagement by 30%.

3. A picture is worth a thousand words—tweets with images get two times as much engagement as those without them.

4. Brevity is the soul of wit—tweets with less than 10 characters receive 17% higher engagement than longer tweets.

5. Always provide a link with your tweets – you’ll get 86% more retweets than those without one.

6. Ask and you shall receive –Asking followers to retweet yields 12 times as many retweets (but spell it out “RT” gets 10X retweet rate vs. “retweet” with 23X).

7. Tag your Tweets—Tweets with hashtags receive twice the engagement as those without them.

8. Everything in moderation—Limit hashtags to two per tweet—anymore any you will decrease your engagement by 17%.

9. You reap what you sow—Tweet to others, retweet their content, respond when others tweet to you. Twitter is all about being social, responding and engaging.

10. Follow your passion—Follow new people every day. Most will follow you back and you will steadily increase your following. What’s the sense in tweeting if no one is listening?

A bonus tip: Be on time—Install the Twitter app on your phone and turn on your notifications. When someone tweets to you, take a second and answer right back. You will be amazed at how appreciative others will be at your responsiveness.

Research Source: Buddy Media

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6 Comments

  1. Chris Goff

    Couldn't be better timing! Social Media can sometimes flummox me. So glad to have this mini-tutorial. Thank you!

  2. Lisa Black

    I need this! I can’t quite get into the habit of Twitter as I have Facebook. (And don’t even talk to me about Instagram!)

  3. Rogue Women Writers

    This comment has been removed by the author.

  4. Rogue Women Writers

    These is great "tutorial" — I certainly need all this help. I "get" Facebook and am on it every day — not that familiar with Twitter. Nice to hear all of this from such an expert – thanks….Karna Small Bodman

  5. Jamie Freveletti

    Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely give a few of these a try!

  6. Unknown

    Thank you so much for this! I'm saving this page for future reference. Great, helpful article.