Anyone on Twitter knows that there are lots and lots of new tweets published every minute. No matter how few or how many people you follow on Twitter or how specific the Twitter-list you’re interested in is, not every tweet gets the same attention. Most tweets probably go unread or unclicked. In order to keep sane our minds (luckily) skip a few tweets every now and again.
If we disregard Twitter celebrities that might get the benefit of the doubt and the spammers that post 5 new tweets per minute, here are four mistakes to avoid when you want your followers to click on a link you’ve tweeted.
1. Where’s the fire?
Twitter is filled with hyped-up tweets promising you this and that with offers valid only for 9 more seconds, so drop the hype in your tweets. You might be able to get away with it, if your followers know you well, but usually it’s the kiss of death for your tweet.
2. Check you’re spelling!
140 characters might not be a lot, but you still don’t want a stupid spelling or grammatical error to creep into your tweet. Check out this list of the five worst grammatical errors you can make to be sure none of them are getting into your tweets.
3. Calm down Lassie
Tweets are not like emails. Most of your followers will either read your tweet within minutes of you posting it or not at all. However you don’t want to wear out your “panic button” unless you really have to. Whether it’s in business or life generally, when you really need people to listen, they will usually do so, unless their first thought is “another day, another drama”.
A quick Twitter-story to make this point. James Buck (@jamesbuck) got arrested covering an anti-government protest in Egypt back in 2008. On the way to the jail he twittered the message “arrested”, which got his followers to sound the alarm and get him out. I’m just guessing here, but I think that he’d not tweeted “arrested” before. It’s an extreme example, I know, but the point remains valid.
4. No one likes (bad) surprises
Don’t make your followers guess what’s behind the link when they click it. 140 characters is no excuse not to be specific, so if you’d like people to click on your link, tell them what to expect (or at least hint to it).
There you have it. These are four of the mistakes that will make me skip clicking a link in a tweet, but I’m sure there are even more things that will make me not click, even if it’s only unconsciously.
What about you? What kind of tweet-links would you not click on?
