Are Your Tweets Destroying Your Business?

Posted in Blog, Saga of Susie Q, Social Marketing Strategies | 12 Comments

We tweet because we love to. It’s where many of us online entrepreneurs get much of our socialization. Our friends are there, our support systems are there…but it’s important to remember…our businesses are there, too.

Everything you tweet is marketing.

Little Susie Q. learned this lesson all too well one day. Her moon was approaching, so she was bitchy as hell. She’d had a few too many peach sangrias, hadn’t eaten all day and felt the world was against her.

Instead of curling up on the sofa and watching The Human Centipede for therapeutic satisfaction, she mistakenly sought comfort and companionship on Twitter.

She tweeted:

“If ONE MORE customer complains about my new g-string line breaking ima shut my damn doors.”

Then a few minutes later…

“After I slap each of them. Lose some weight and maybe the shit won’t break bishes!”

Susie’s friends laughed and chimed in. They wanted to be supportive of their obviously stressed-out-to-insanity friend. They wanted to make her feel loved and see her laugh.

The group spent the next couple hours tossing nasty and inappropriate jokes back and forth to “cheer” Susie up. What they were actually doing was dismantling Susie’s business with each tweet.

Social Engagement and Marketing are Tightly Intertwined on Twitter

Little Susie Q. lost half her Twitter followers that day. Her site got very little traffic and for the first time in months she had not a single sale.

She had torn apart her own customers in public. Her precious, gracious, loving customers. The ones who bring her MONEY (which her friends, as much as she loves them, never seem to have). She almost certainly alienated dozens more potential customers through her reckless behavior.

Thankfully, this was a temporary bump for Susie’s Purple Panty Empire but it was a painful one and she still doesn’t like to talk about it.

Susie spent hours every day mending her image and re-emphasizing her marketing message that women deserved to feel sexy. It took months to get things back to square one again.

Real Friends Don’t Let Friends Tweet Drunk

DMs are there for a reason. You CAN reach out to your friends on Twitter. You can even trash-talk your customers or clients on Twitter. But for goddess’ sake, do it with one person in private. DM me if ya gotta, I LUV a good rant. But please, don’t broadcast the bitter bitchy stuff. You might not get as lucky as Susie did…

http://twitter.com/HeatherWardell Heather Wardell

Brilliant. I see so many writers griping about how HAAARD it is to write their novels and I think, “Is this what readers want to hear?” I doubt it. I try to focus on how much fun I have with mine instead. Because I do. Maybe they don’t and that’s why they gripe?

You can have fun on Twitter without being a giant stomping bitch. I wish more people would.

http://upyourimpactfactor.com/ JennyBBones

Oh I think you’re right Heather. We writers can be a whiny bunch, and yes…especially about writing. LOL Good point

http://www.facebook.com/carolyn.nau Carolyn Nau

Great reminder to all of us that it’s not only my close friends that I tweet back and forth, of FaceBook that read what I say, but those other 5k followers who don’t know me yet, and this is the only way they have to judge me, my business, my character. I’m so paranoid about saying anything derogatory, expressing political opinions, or even talking about religion. In person, we may find that we have so much else in common that it doesn’t matter, but online with only those 140 characters it’s easy to alienate, they can’t see your smile, your tongue firmly in cheek or the laugh in your voice. Before I hit send, I do try to remember that. Besides, I also ask myself, would I want to read this from someone else?

http://upyourimpactfactor.com/ JennyBBones

There is a thin line between being our true selves (which is very important)
and setting boundaries about what we share online. This is a relatively new
problem and there’s much debate about “how much is too much.” While I’ll
share just about anything personal with you on Twitter or Facebook, I do not
share when I’m pissed off or frustrated with my clients, customers or
business.

We just have to do as you’ve said and be aware of what we’re saying while
we’re tweeting. Great points Carolyn, thank you!

Anonymous

This is brilliant. Short, sweet and brilliant. The brick and mortar equivalent would be standing in the middle of your store tearing your customers down around you–as they shopped to buy your stuff.

http://upyourimpactfactor.com/ JennyBBones

Thanks Mark. Yeah, kinda like Walmart

http://remarkablogger.com Michael Martine

It does not take much to turn people off from wanting to hire you or buy your stuff. I see online entrepreneurs say dumb shit all the time on Twitter and I’m like, “WTF are you THINKING.” If you’re a friend of mine, I’ll say something privately to you. Otherwise, natural selection in marketing simply runs its course.

http://www.devacoaching.com Sandi Amorim

Oh man, “natural selection in marketing” sent shivers down my spine!
Martine & Bones, you are both brilliant!

http://remarkablogger.com Michael Martine

And it happens too frequently at this low level to even bother with a Darwin
Award for it.

http://diyblogger.net/about Dino Dogan

Its a little doomsday-ish in my book but I see your point. I had to tweet that line “Real Friends Don’t Let Friends Tweet Drunk” …lol…awesomeness
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