7 of the Biggest Mistakes Internet Marketers Are Making With Twitter

Hi all,

Welcome to another in the series of Tim Buchalka rants!

Today’s subject? ………Twitter!

Both my brother Anthony and I  have been using Twitter now for a while, and built up a respectable number of followers (I  have over 5,000 followers +) and have spent some time watching how other Internet Marketers seem to be using Twitter.

Now, this article assumes you know what Twitter is, and the basics (following people, etc). If you need an Introduction leave a comment, and I’ll write an article for you showing you the basics.

Anyhow let me get to the point of this article.

I have decided to discuss what I feel are the 7 Biggest Mistakes Internet Marketers are making on Twitter.

Here we go (in no particular order)

1. Using an “auto-reply” message with an offer.

When you “follow” someone on twitter, they get a message (can be configured by email) to say you have followed them. Clever people have developed free software that can automatically react to this event, sending a pre-programmed message back, sometimes customized with the persons name, etc.

A typical example might be

“Thanks for the follow Tim, look forward to catching up with you”.

That’s nice and friendly, no problems there, but the big mistake is ones like this.

“Thats Tim, have you checked out out my ebook? http://crappyebook.com”

(That’s not a real link, just an example)

So let me get this straight? We’ve just met, and you’re trying to sell me something?

Thanks, but no thanks, “unfollow”

Lets have a bit of a discussion before the hard sell, ok?
2. Thinking you need to “try” to be a real person by sending “personal” messages.

Internet Marketers using Twitter have gotten it into their heads that they have to “mixup” their messages with a combination of personal messages and marketing messages.

I agree that they should keep it real, and if they feel like leaving a twitter on a particular subject, then do it, but don’t try and keep an “exact” ratio of messages of each type.

It’s sort of like the old keyword density debates for article marketing. e.g. mentioning the keyword in an article x times so that it does not go over a given percentage of keyword density.

But in this case its Internet Marketing Offers Density.

Some Internet Marketers who are plainly trying to sell you stuff (and nothing wrong with that) sending out 90% “personal” messages to one “offer”, but doing 50-60 messages a day!

Do they think we really want to keep up with that many messages?

I try and only post a few messages a day, when I post a new blog article, or occasionally to respond to something I think is plainly wrong (for example the other day I saw some wrong SEO information being sent over Twitter so I felt compelled to reply to it to let others know).

Just to be clear. I’m not saying to limit the number of messages, or what to talk about, but just to keep it real, and not “try” to market, just be yourself.

3. This one is close to number 2, ONLY sending Marketing Messages.

Some people seem to think it’s ok to just keep on sending affiliate offers with every single message they send.

Give it a rest guys, we are not stupid! Any in many cases, the offers are shockingly bad as well.

4. The Sneaky Offers

People asking your opinion on a product, and then sending you an affiliate link.

This one is nasty. I had some guy asking me about a particular online service (and if I used it) and the link he sent to “help” me find out about it contained an affiliate link.

Come on, you lose all credibility doing that, trying to trick people into buying stuff isn’t right, and is easy to spot.

Some of the big guys are sending people to their “recommended” services, which are just affiliate links.

Sure we all need to make money, but it would be great to say sometimes, “hey just a heads up, I do get a commission out of this, but they are good.”

We never send affiliate links over Twitter, but if we did, we would tell people it was an affiliate offer.

I would prefer to know, so I assume others would want to know as well.

People appreciate the honesty, don’t be deceptive, tell them up front.

I’ve got no problems buying on someone’s affiliate link if it’s all upfront and in the open, but do have a problem if it’s a sneaky one.

5. Getting Offended.

This is a good one, some of the pushy marketers on Twitter get on their high horse when you tell them they are too pushy.

You think your doing the right thing when you suggest to people to tone it done a bit, and they get all indignant.

If someone does tell you something like this, instead of getting defensive, maybe you should take a look and see if this is something you are doing wrong.

6. Not Admitting your wrong.

I realize Twitter is all about credibility, but let’s face it, we are all human, we don’t know everything, and we all do sometimes make mistakes.

I’ve seen people leave a comment that is completely wrong, and then when shown that it is incorrect, handball it e.g. “Don’t shoot the messenger, I got this from Mr X” or worse silence, no comment back at all.

If you’ve said something, and others prove you are wrong, it’s better to “fess up“, no one is going to think less of you for proving that indeed you are human.

Do I make mistakes?

Absolutely. Do I admit them. No, the rule doesn’t apply to me. ha ha Joking, Yes I will “fess up” and I’ll make a point of saying “Whoops there you go, my mistake, etc”.

Of course you can avoid this by double/triple checking your facts before your twitter, if it’s something you are not 100% sure about.

7. Not being true to yourself.

Pretending to be someone else, is I think the worse thing you can do on Twitter (or anywhere else).

People are pretty perceptive, and can see through a fake from a mile away, so for goodness sake be honest and be yourself.

I am a geek, but I am also a joker, and often sarcastic in a humorous way (so Anthony my brother keeps telling me). That’s just me, so I try and let that come out in any media I use (Twitter included).

Some people love it, and some people think I should be “serious” all the time. Some people hate it.

Hey you can’t please all the people all the time as they saying goes. I don’t try to.

We just keep working on providing the very best information and products we can. No more, no less.

I don’t pretend, I am just me, what you see is what you get (and don’t the girl’s love it. Sorry ladies, I’m taken).

Make sure you do the same, it will help you in the long run.

Summary.

I am far from perfect, and have been guilty of making at least some of these mistakes in the past. Twitter can be a great tool, but you need to respect the community of users, and show them the real you, and not a made up character you think they want to see.

Obviously I cannot speak on behalf of all Twitters users can I?

Ok I will, but just this once….

Twitter users most likely want to see the real you, and find out all about your hopes, dreams, goals and other gooey stuff, as well as your “offers”.

So mix it up, be yourself and enjoy!

Phew that’s my rant over for today, back to the programming (insert small plug about the free RSS backlink tool that email subscribers will be getting very soon here!).

Cheers

Tim