Change has come to America!  It’s fantastic to see & I have never been so proud to be a citizen of an ally Nation of the United States of America here in Canada.  With change of the free world underway, much needs to be done for those using Twitter to brand themselves and their companies for that matter.  Twitter’s ability to allow a user to utilize the service to provide a “voice” amongst thousands, has forever changed the playing field - literally.

In my year or so on Twitter the service has evolved 10 fold.  The evolution of the product and the 3rd party applications associated with it has grown so fast many are struggling how to piece it all together, however  with the confusion one constant has remained:

How do I build my community and protect people from leaving?

Here I will describe the fundamental instances of FAILS that I have seen and experienced on Twitter and hopefully provide you the insight on how to grow your community and prevent user defection as we do with large and small organizations at Vital Insight Group.

Fail #1 - The “Forgweeter”

Forgweeter = A Tweep who has Forgotten where they came from and who helped them out.  They utilize their friends as a stepping stone to Twitterati fame Forgweeting about everyone who helped them cross every threshold along the way.  Ensure the relationships you have are genuine, or you may fall victim to the Forgweeter very easily.

When starting out on Twitter, people tend to gravitate to users they can relate to and build relationships with them.  In most instances, the individuals they form relationships with have organically grown a large number of followers that the new user is looking to leverage typically via a RT.  I’m always glad to help out, but when the intersect happens whereby, my followers are less than yours and I never hear from you again, nor will you help me with reciprocal favors you have become a “Forgweeter”

Fail #2 The “Re-Tweet” Gone Wrong

As your follower base increases, requests for RT’s will inevitably come into your in box.  This is certainly ok and of course you can always make the decision whether or not you want to provide the ultimate favor or gesture in Twitterville - The “Retweet”.

If someone makes the gesture to Reweet you should be immediately following with a DM thanking the individual for doing so.  If not, a block is most likely on the way, or at the very least the favor will NEVER be granted again.

Fail #3 - The Selfish Tweep

It’s no secret that pretty much all of us are using Twitter to make connections and drive traffic.  There is however, a number of Forgweeters out there who care only about one thing: Traffic and self fulfillment via awards.  I’m the first guy to help anyone, however if you put out a tweet asking for votes for a Crunchie, a Shorty, or a local award and I take the time to do so and DM you to let you know and hear nothing back as a thank you, INSTANT BLOCK & DELETE.

Fail #4 - Flooding Your Twitter Stream with Auto-Responder Welcome Messages

Although an auto welcome is a nice touch, it is a slippery slope when posting in your stream rather than a DM.  Should you have a large number of followers follow you on a daily basis it floods your stream with more of annoyance than community transparency of insight.  For some Tweeters like myself, I tend to scan over a new follower to see if I should reciprocate the gesture.  When I read your stream and see the same message 20 times I naturally conclude there is nothing important to see here and move on.  It’s most likely others are as well.

Fail #5 - The 10 to 1 Ratio

Many people seem to think by adding 2000 people the minute the set-up an account is the fastest and easiest way to attract followers - Not the case.  Many people including myself verify the people following us are growing their account base by way of natural growth.  Sure there are times when adding a hundred people that are relative to your interests make sense to do, however, mass following to likely obtain a certain percentage of auto follow backs will undoubtedly back fire and have people unfollowing you in a hurry.  I have seen many tweeps increase their follower numbers quickly by spending days pruning their accounts by adding, subtracting, adding etc.  Although it wil provide immediate gains in followers, it’s not authentic. Your community engagement is key and by engaging your community through insight, laughter and intrigue you will eliminate the attrition that undoubetedly is ahead.