How can your business look good on Twitter?

Each Thursday, we address the big social media issues facing businesses like yours.  We share three articles on the week’s topic and pick out our favourite tip or insight from each article.

This week, we have Twitter in our sights.  How can your business look good on Twitter?

1.  Be courteous

At first glance, Twitter might look like a barrage of self-promotion.  But look beneath the celebrity Twitterverse and courtesy counts.

We loved this take on Twitter guidelines by Global Copywriting’s ever-courteous Sarah Mitchell.   Reciprocate if someone tweets your content, she entreats.  Answer every mention, reply to every direct message, and say thank you.  Attribute any content you share and give credit to the tweep who first shared it.  Pick your battles and unfollow anyone you find offensive, but don’t offer commentary on the situation.

There you have it, ladies and gents: the courteous business’ guide to Twitter etiquette.  Make it your mantra.

2.  Change it up

It’s great to carve out your niche on Twitter, but don’t get so set in your groove that each tweet looks like the last.

This Twitip article has a good summary of tweet types and media and we like the advice to plan a ‘Daily 5’, then throw in a few spontaneous tweets.  Plan enough that you keep up the quality of your content, but be nimble enough that you keep up with the fast pace of the tweeting world.

3.  Share the best content you can find

Twitter is about sharing.  To look good on Twitter, your business needs to share a healthy mix of original content and curated content.  As Sarah Mitchell puts it in another sharp piece of advice: “Share the best content you can find”.

We liked Mack Collier’s no-nonsense guide to sharing and promoting content on Twitter.  Three points in particular stood out for us:

• Don’t share content to get on someone’s radar; share content because it’s amazing.
• Promote the hell out of smart people.
• Wrap as much amazing shared content around YOUR content as possible.

Tell us

Automation is always a hot topic for businesses wanting to look their best on Twitter.   There are staunch advocates on both sides of the fence.

Where do you stand?  Do you schedule your business tweets?