Sounds easy, right?

Actually, garnering retweets can be a daunting task, and those who accomplish this goal have one thing in common: they tweet with retweeting in mind.

Here’s 10 reasons you’re not being retweeted:

1. You don’t follow the 140 character rule. Traditional retweeting (RT @username) has to follow the 140 – (username + 6) rule. Savvy users don’t use Twitter’s auto-retweet function, especially if they want to include their own comments.
2. You don’t read what you’re sharing. Remember, you are the last line of defense for what you post. If you don’t click others’ links to ensure you’re not retweeting a scam or virus, why should people trust you enough to retweet you?
3. The site you link to includes an auto-popup or overlay, begging me to take action. This appears before I’ve even read a single line of the page; in fact, it usually covers the page so I’ve no choice but to take some action. My action, of course, is to close the window and move on—without sharing your tweet with my followers.
4. You cuss. I’m no prude, but I find no reason to cuss in a professional, social media environment. Even when quoting someone you should substitute characters (like ***).
5. You are too political. Tweeting for sales, business, and influence should be void of an overly-political voice, unless your target audience warrants such discussion. In fact, I never retweet political statements on principle—I know that a portion of my followers would be offended no matter what the statement.
6. The page to which you link is loaded with grammatical errors. I’m a professional, and my followers trust that I’m sharing information for a good reason. Broken English, spelling errors (sure, they happen, but there’s a limit to what’s acceptable on a per-post basis), and lack of punctuation doesn’t represent “me”. If you’re retweeting sub-par content, it reflects poorly on you.
7. You abuse the term “Please RT!”. Unless the issue is urgent, you shouldn’t be begging. Accept the fact that people can decide on their own if your comment warrants a retweet.
8. The content of your tweet doesn’t interest me. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. One cannot expect everyone they follow to only tweet topics of interest. Understand this and it will be easier to accept not being retweeted.
9. The page to which you link requires registration. Even if it’s free, we simply don’t have the time to register at every site we visit. Find another source, or write your own post (avoiding plagiarism, of course).
10. You don’t use the appropriate hashtag. Even though I’m following you, I might not be interested in everything you have to say, or, I might not be on Twitter when you tweet something interesting. The chances of me seeing your tweet increase if you’ve used a hashtag on which I search.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking Twitter is just a “free-for-all” and “if you tweet it, they will come”. There’s a reason key tweeters are recognized and respected, and they didn’t build their reputations overnight. They did this, in part, by tweeting with retweeting in mind.

Have any “I won’t retweet…” stories of your own? Post a comment!

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2011/05/07.
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Post tags: communication, marketing, social media, twitter

It’s okay to ask for them…

For every complaint you hear, there are at least ten consumers who walked away silently. Later, perhaps, they’ll complain about you to their friends or on Facebook, but the majority of customers who feel they’ve been done wrong will never take the time to tell you.

The same can be said for enjoyable experiences. It’s a small percentage of happy customers who will invest the effort to write you (or post directly to your social media account). A thrilling experience doesn’t always trigger a promotional response. Still, that doesn’t mean people aren’t willing to oblige when asked.

How to Ask for a Testimonial

First and foremost, don’t follow the example of what I call “eBay stuck-ups”. These sellers – often using bold, large type – explain that they will only give positive feedback if it’s first received. In their minds, the two-way street starts with the consumer taking first action. Note: These sellers never get feedback from me at all, because my testimonials are not for sale.

Instead, initiate contact by first thanking the customer, and ensuring him/her that you’re available should there be any questions. Use positive verbiage without drawing too much attention to yourself.

Try this:

Thanks again for shopping with XYZ-Store! We truly appreciate your business. We’re available to answer any questions you may have (you can reply to this email or visit our contact page).

We rely on our customers for our continued success. We hope you’ll consider posting a testimonial about your experience so others may understand what to expect when shopping with us.

Simple and to the point. Notice there’s no incentive other than them helping you succeed. Companies shouldn’t buy testimonials. It makes them worthless. And, yes, businesses found to have jimmied, faked or otherwise offered goods in return for a great rating risk losing more than just their credibility. Because, as luck would have it, shady business tactics gain the most attention in our social world.

When should you ask for this all-important feedback? Ten to 14 days after the shipment has been received. Be sure to consider order processing and shipping times. So, if an order typically takes one day to process and three days to reach the customer, your default follow-up time would be 14-18 days. You want to give the customer time to open the package (hey, people get busy; I’ve been known to wait a week before opening a box) and use the product.

Remember these important tips as well:

• Post a Disclaimer–be sure to tell the customer you may use their comments in any and all promotional materials for the business. Also state that it’s possible that their testimonial may not be used.
• Edit Carefully–The only time you should modify a testimonial is to correct spelling, glaring grammatical errors (you don’t want the customer to feel stupid) and to hyperlink to any specifically named products. Anything beyond that and you need to ask the customer (or ditch the comment altogether).
• Avoid Posting Overly Gratuitous Prose–A testimonial should convey a customer’s satisfaction, trust and likelihood of using your services again. However, some customers think it’s better to go way over-the-top. These types of statements can appear made-up. If you know the customer well, you may want to ask him or her to tone it down. Otherwise, file it away for private ego-boosting.

One last thing. Be careful with automation tools. You definitely want a way to remove a message out of the send queue to avoid contacting customers whose orders were canceled or those who expressed they had a bad experience. You don’t want to initiate a negative response due to carelessness or an automated feedback query.

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2011/04/21.
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© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2010/04/29.
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Post tags: chat, communication, Technology

Read more at Practical eCommerce

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2010/04/28.
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Post tags: communication, Ecommerce, marketing, practical ecommerce, Technology