Twitter basically is a social media network where people can meet and socialize. Essentially, a company or a person can chose to follow another individual or firm. Typically, people communicate using tweets. A tweet is a comment or an idea that has less than one hundred and forty characters. Like in email or telephone handling, it is important that proper decorum is maintained while using this platform. Here are some basic etiquette tips for using Twitter.

Don’t Mix Business With Pleasure

Never mix business with pleasure. If you are running a business, have two separate Twitter accounts, one personal and the other one for business-oriented activity. The reason for this is that a person can tweet a comment that may not necessarily be amusing to everybody. The person could just be trying to have fun or make a joke, unaware that his comments are offensive to others. If your contacts are offended by such comments, it can negatively affect your business or your personal relationships.

Be Social

Be social when you are on Twitter – that’s way it’s a social network! Hardcore marketing strategies rarely work when you are on a social network. If all your comments are always business related, you are doing nothing but generating spam. The point here is, if you have a business account on Twitter, do not be all business all the time. Follow tweets of your clients or even put in comments and ideas that are fun or helpful.

Doing this goes a long way to show that you not only care about yourself, you also care about your clients. Such manners also mean that you are actually socializing and not generating spam. This will go a long way in keeping the clients you already have and also bringing in new ones because you are nice to be around.

Find Followers

Find followers the right way. Asking people to follow you on Twitter does not qualify as proper way of getting new followers. Providing the right services and being professional is what will build you a proper following. Begging people to follow you is not professional and basically will not work in the long run because they will not be active followers. Generally, if you are providing useful services, word will go out and people will naturally be drawn to you.

Always Be Nice

Remember that everything tweeted about will be seen by everybody in the network. If a person is particularly annoying or abrasive, potential clients or acquaintances will see this. It is important how you handle such comments because everyone will see what is going on. Managing the issue at hand and arguing on facts will go a long way in establishing client loyalty because they will feel that you are not only selling, you are able to address any issues that may crop up.

Do Not Tweet In Meetings

Do not tweet in meetings. Just like answering your cell phone in a meeting is considered bad manners, so is tweeting in such settings. Unless the tweets are relevant to the on goings and you have discussed that this will be useful in the meeting, keep your tweets until after the meeting.

Designate A Twitter Manager

If you are running a big company, you can charge someone with handling the firm’s Twitter account. This is a good way of handling this marketing strategy because one key person will be responsible for following the tweets and addressing concerns from your clients and customers. This person can comment on what clients are saying or even just greet them or wish them happy holidays. This will all go a long way in creating a solid following from your customers.

Still A Work In Progress

In general, social media networking is a relatively new technology and people are still in the process of defining what bad or good manners are on such websites. For example, some companies have banned the use of Twitter during office hours. On the contrary, others firms do not mind people tweeting during office hours, in fact, some even encourage it.

In conclusion, here is a recap of what is considered basic etiquette for using Twitter. You need to be social; this is a social network, keeping everything formal and business-like all the time is not appropriate. If you are running a business, find your clientele the right way, asking or begging people to follow you rarely works; offering services that people can use is what will build you a following. Learn to handle abrasive or crude comments; your clients and friends are watching you. Never answer tweets in a meeting unless this is discussed beforehand or the tweets are relevant to the meeting. Keep your personal Twitter account and business account separate; otherwise, this could cost you clients or relations in case someone is offended.

We hope you’ve found our introduction to etiquette on Twitter fun and educational and we wish you…Happy Tweeting!

Online Clock are the creators of the world’s most popular web-based alarm clock and timer software. You can follow Online Clock on their Twitter account, and take a look at how they manage their Twitter account as an important part of their website’s marketing strategy.