What Would Jack Dorsey Say About your Twitter Feed?

Twitter is not only a platform to connect with your current customers, it can help you acquire new customers, engage them in relevant conversations and collect pertinent data about them. Less than optimal Twitter pages and practices can deter prospects from converting to customers, project a negative company image and compel customers to drop your company forever. It is therefore critical that you understand Twitter-etiquette and optimize what you tweet. I think we can all learn a little something from the “Next Steve Jobs”. That’s why I compiled information from his tweets and interviews, extrapolated a bit and drew my own conclusions about what Dorsey would say to entrepreneurs looking to optimize their business tweets.

1. Be purposeful

Before you tweet anything, you should think about the purpose of the tweet. Is it to promote a new feature? Is it to acquire more followers? Is it to compel followers to buy your product? Is it to stay relevant? Whatever the purpose, make sure that the tweet is in line with its purpose and that its purpose is in line with your marketing strategy.

2. Be courageous

When discussing Twitter, Jack famously said, “Everything we do is about getting people to be more open, more creative, more courageous.” Use Twitter as your platform for you and your company to be more courageous. Discuss ideas that are controversial, talk about companies that are disrupting your industry and take risks by putting yourself out there, even when a positive outcome isn’t guaranteed.

3. Understand your customers and predict their needs

You should do more than just follow your customers, you should study them. When you understand your customer base, you will be more likely to understand and predict their needs. Twitter is an excellent resource and platform for analyzing customer trends, aggregating customer data and enhancing customer development processes.

4. Be kind, always

Avoid using Twitter as your platform to bash people or companies. When considering what to tweet, think of your mother: “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

5. Be honest and open about failure

Jack Dorsey believes that failure is necessary for success. The more you can embrace failure as part of the process and discuss failures openly, the more you and your followers will learn from them.

6. Educate

Provide useful and helpful information on Twitter. Develop a content strategy by making a list of important topics, features and tips to tweet about.

7. Use reliable sources

Only tweet and retweet information from reliable sources. Never post something from a less-known source without reading the study, or doing a little background research on the topic.

8. Share relevant information

Tweet about side projects, community service projects that your team is involved with, and other relevant topics outside your specific industry to reach a broader audience.

9. Be timely

Make sure your tweets are capturing the moment and are sharing information that is new and exciting.

10. Be humble

Recognize and accept your limitations and be open about them. Appreciate and acknowledge what you are thankful for.

11. Be honest, always

Honesty builds a foundation of trust with your colleagues, business partners, competitors, prospects and customers.

12. Be a great storyteller

Aim to evoke emotion, compel action, and engage your audience in conversation. A good story can go viral.

13. Use constraint

Don’t tweet too many times in a row or about things that are not important or not in line with your company values.

14. Throw in some philosophical flair

Challenge your followers to think about the world differently and compel them to contemplate ideas that they might take for granted.

15. Enjoy the moment, then tweet about it

Experience it and then share it with your followers before it’s too late.

16. Keep it simply perfect

Make sure your message is clear and easy to understand. When it is simple and concise, then it is perfect.

17. Have empathy

Empathy connects people on a deeper level. Understanding your customers' needs will help you develop your product or service better.

18. Take risks

Have the courage to stand behind your company and admit to your mistakes when necessary.

19. Be unique

Don’t just retweet; contribute with ideas, products, and resources that are new and exciting.