Many online marketers get on Twitter with the intention of making big profits by using it to create marketing lists, contact existing customers and use it as a new place to market products. It’s a great strategy that may possibly yield incredible profits. But unfortunately, if you don’t know what you are doing, you can not only waste time but also negatively impact your reputation. Luckily, we can help you avoid the most common pitfalls.

If you have decided to use Twitter for marketing, you can’t make the mistake of letting your followers know every little detail about your life such as “hanging out with friends”. This is a huge mistake many Internet marketers commit while on Twitter. Your customers could care less about your weekend plans. If the tweets you are about to submit have no bearing on your audience, and offer little to no gain, then you might want to think twice before you tweet it. It is better to simply remain silent if you have nothing beneficial to say. Do not risk harming your Internet reputation by creating a more human and less professional face for your Twitter account. You can help your followers by giving direct tips and techniques that they can use, but by giving them information about your life that no one cares about is a strict no no. Be a marketer with a strong persona, so that your followers look up to in times of distress.

Another error that’s often made is to make your presence too self-centered. Remember, you are trying to build trust with your followers. Your customers main concern is finding out how they can benefit from what you are offering. Demonstrate the plethora of benefits they will receive by your product or service, instead of solely focusing on promoting yourself. It’s important to make the “benefits” clear, even more than the “features”. Another fatal error is to present yourself as dry and dull; let your competitors fill that spot. Remember to not risk appearing too dull and uninteresting, because your followers on Twitter are normal people who enjoy socializing and having some fun.

On the other hand some people try to market on Twitter with a little too much mystery. IF no one can figure out who you are you’re going to be ignored. You have to include a bio that will capture their attention and include a photo of yourself. The first impression is very important, and you could lose a large number of customers if you don’t take the time to do this well. But that doesn’t mean you take yourself too seriously. Taking your product or your business too sternly can be a death knell to your business and any chance of having a successful marketing movement. Twitter is a fun internet destination, somewhere where people come together and interact on a social level. Everyone has enough pressure and seriousness in their lives, you don’t want to pile on more. Write your tweets with some spice and add a little humor if it is appropriate. That’s how you really make them interested in what you’re offering. Give your followers something to think about or something to chuckle over.

Remembering that Twitter is a community and not just a marketing tool is important. That’s also the reason it’s so important for you to participate in it. Unfortunately, many marketers make the mistake of marketing and not participating, this won’t work in your favor. It’s pretty simple to keep from making this mistake, you just need to remember that if you want folks to listen to you, you have to listen to them. You have to mingle with the others on Twitter. Make sure you keep tabs on other tweeters and are following them; make sure to send the right answers back on their tweets, and make sure you’re involved with tweet threads. If you think that you don’t have to interact with other tweeters then they will think the same of you and you will not get any positive feedback from this marketing attempt. This is simple logic – if you’re looking to be successful using Twitter as one of your marketing tools, then you will have to be committed to creating a following of people who look forward to your tweets. And how do you do this? The easiest way is to Tweet what people want to read and learn about. It has to be beneficial to them. This is how you can avoid the most common mistakes that marketers do when trying to use Twitter to market their product.

The Twitter pitfalls mentioned above are quite easy to avoid. Recently I created a Guitar Tricks, PPC Coach twitter accounts and I’ve been able to drive a lot of traffic to my site from it.