4 Reasons Why Your Business Is Failing On Twitter (And How To Fix It)

While most business owners know they should be on Twitter, they often don’t know what to do with the account once it’s set up. This leads to a number of Twitter faux pas that are likely doing your brand more harm than good compared to not having a Twitter account at all. Is your brand struggling on Twitter? Here are four reasons why your business is failing on Twitter. If any of these four apply to you, the answer is yes, your business or brand is failing on Twitter, and it’s time to make some changes.

Twitter is a powerful platform, but only if you know how to use it to your advantage. For more in-depth tips, we recommend checking the infographic below called The Small Business Guide to Twitter, created by SimplyBusiness.co.uk, which will really teach you the ins and outs of the platform. The good news is if your business is failing on Twitter, you can turn it around with a little effort and commitment.

4 Reasons Why Your Business Is Failing On Twitter

1. You Don’t Understand The Twitter Platform

Twitter isn’t Facebook, and it isn’t Pinterest either. While Twitter is a great place to post links to these other sites as well as to your website or blog, the platform is most powerfully used as a search tool, a PR platform for other content posted on blogs or YouTube channels, and to foster connections with followers. You should always have a meaningful strategy for growing your follower lists (read more about that here on LocalVox), and you should be consistently reaching out to influencers.

2. You Haven’t Defined Any Twitter Goals

Without goals in place, you will just be tweeting whatever comes to the top of your head rather than creating deep relationships with customers. This could definitely be a reason why your business is failing on Twitter. Here’s my advice, if you expect to launch a new product in a month, plan a series of expertise blog posts and how-to videos that you can tweet, and start reaching out to influencers. If you’re looking to use the platform as a form of customer service, make sure someone is always on the feed and ready to respond.

3. You Don’t View Twitter as a Branding Platform

If your business is failing on Twitter, it could just be because you don’t view Twitter as a branding platform. From the content and voice of your tweets to the completeness of your profile, your company’s Twitter presence needs to be consistently well-branded. This means designating one person (and only one!) to be the voice of your company, also, search engine optimizing the wording for your profile, including links to all of your other social media profiles and your website, and selecting profile and cover photos that align with your company’s visuals are key.

4. You’re Not Measuring Your Results

To get a sense of how you’re doing, it is important to measure @mentions, favorites and retweets directly on the platform, as well as any Google analytics that can tell you how many of your followers click on tweeted links and engaged more deeply on your blog or website. You can read more about that on this article called How A Small Business Can Use Twitter. If your business is failing on any social platform, measuring your results and understanding those metrics is one of the first steps to turning it around.