Happy Halloween! A ghoulish day full of scary goblins, witches and Twitter mistakes! Wait, what was that? Twitter mistakes? Yes, today we’re going to help you to steer clear of some frightful atrocities being committed on Twitter and to keep the hashtag horror at bay!
1. #yourhastagistoolongandnoonecares – yes, this. If you’re starting your own hashtag make sure it’s readable and not overly long. People will lose interest quickly and be much less likely to engage with what you’ve got to say, even if it is hilarious.
2. #itsjustme – before you create a series of tweets with a carefully crafted hashtag check to see that it’s actually in use. If it isn’t and you were trying to join in a conversation about that hashtag, then sadly, no one is going to talk back. It’s always good practice to do some research on hashtags because without checking you simply don’t know what they’re being used for.
3. #you #dont #need #to #hashtag #every #word #ever – we’ve all seen the tweets that are pretty much just hashtags and therefore either make no sense as tweets or no sense as hashtags. You’re much more likely to get retweeted with fewer hashtags in your tweet, and ones that are relevant and make sense!
4. The Follow Back – do you religiously follow back everyone who follows you? Although it’s nice, it’s not best practice and will result in your timeline being clogged up with things you just don’t want to read. Be selective about who you follow to get the most out of Twitter.
5. www.youvejusttweetedthefullURL.com – and it’s used up all your characters. When tweeting a link you should always use a shortened version of the URL, from a site like goo.gl. Not only does this save you space to write your tweet but it also provides you some analytical information on the link. If you use goo.gl with a gmail account you’ll be able to see how many times the link has been clicked on and find out some demographic data about the audience as well.
So there you have it – 5 terrible Twitter mistakes to avoid. Have a very happy Halloween!
What do you think? Let us know in the comment box below.
By Harriet Thacker
Harriet is a marketing expert, social media enthusiast and Shake Social’s champion blogger. Struggling to maintain your own blog? We can help!
Kate Tyler is the founder of Shake Social and our long time social media expert. A regular speaker at events, Kate offers consultancy and training on a range of digital marketing topics, in particular safeguarding and using social media in an educational setting.