Business owners love Twitter more and more with each passing day, but one of the consequences of so many new users is seeing the same mistakes over and over! Every day I notice one business doing this, that or the other to majorly anger their customer/fan base. To help them and you out, here are five things you should absolutely avoid doing on your business Twitter account. 

1. #Hashtag #Everything

Yes, Mr. New User, using hashtags works…in moderation. For example, if you want to spread buzz about your new coffee shop and you see #localcoffee is trending, be sure to include that to get into the conversation. No doubt some will notice and engage your account.

Do not, on the other hand, turn the whole post #into #a #hashtag #party! Not only is it obnoxious, the posts become impossible to read, which is kind of the point of Twitter. Only include tags you believe will gain you traction and/or new customers!

2. Crazy Long Links 

You’ve got the right idea, business owner who is starting to understand social media. Sharing links you find interesting is a great way to engage your readers and show them you’re interested in what they like. They may even retweet your post giving you more love around the web.

But you forgot one thing: shorten that crazy long link! Nobody wants to see “Check out this story on ant farms! http://www.antfarmsarecool.co.uk/post/f89suaf9u3289jfiofi32oif32j9/index.html” and it may even get deleted. Use a link shortener like bitly or Google Shortener if your Twitter client doesn’t auto-shorten. 

3. Arguing with Doofuses 

Did you know not everyone on the web is going to like you? It may seem impossible, but it’s true. In fact, you’ll often get trolls coming at you trying to drive you crazy and make you fly off the handle. Unfortunately, when you do, they win, and the exchange could land you in hot water. So before you respond to the tweet, “You guys are stinky faces!” ask yourself if they have a real gripe or are they just being a doofus. 

4. Check out my site! Check out my site! Checkoutmysitepleasedoit 

The end result of tweeting isn’t to send everybody to your website to buy as much as you can. You’d like that to happen, of course, as that means you get to stay in business. But if you treat the platform simply as a way to get people to buy stuff from you, you’ll end up tweeting stuff like the title of this section.

The key to understanding Twitter is to imagine it as just another way to interact with your customers. Anything they want to talk about, or you think they want to see, you should post. Hint: that doesn’t include constant reminders that you have products for sale! 

5. Not Linking to Your Business 

Remember everything I just said in #4? Well, forget it for a second. Why? Because you probably don’t have a link anywhere on your profile for people to click on. Over 80% of business Twitter profiles actually don’t have any link anywhere to their website or store, which completely halts any progress you make on your profile. Even though you don’t want to spam, you are still running a business, so don’t actively prevent paying customers from handing over their money by not telling them how to do business with you!

Did we miss one? What’s the worst thing you see businesses do on Twitter?

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (http://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Grab three free ebooks, including the Big Press Release Book and Twitter Tactics, here: http://www.ereleases.com/insider/freebooks.html