I have been on Twitter for a while now and as my followers number started to increase, I noticed how some of my followers will be doing updates on their “What are you doing?” status every 5 minutes. The sad part is that the updates had nothing constructive to say. Then, one day one of my followers wrote: “My new bird feeder is attracting many birds”. In less than 5 minutes, her status changed to “My dogs are running in the yard”. Less than 5 minutes after that…”Buy my natural dog food. Check out the website!”. I had enough so I unfollowed her.

If you own a pet related business, do not make mistake. Remember, social media marketing, like Twitter, is about building relationships and staying connected to you clients or customers. Ensure that you provide value to your clients and use status updates in a strategic way. Like Shama Hyder (@Shama) said “online marketing is about ACT - Attract, Convert, Transform”. Twitter helps you attract that potential client, a stranger, that needs a new dog sitter or a new dog trainer.  That will then lead to converting that stranger into a client.

As a pet-related business owner, you should avoid doing these 5 no-no’s on Twitter:

1. Do not update the “What are you doing?” question every 5 minutes. Use it strategically. For example, if you sell dog treats, maybe update your status when the new organic peanut butter and will be ready in 3 minutes.

2. If you are replying to someone that is not following you do it just once and ask them to follow you so that you can write them a direct message (DM) with additional information. You don’t want your followers to know and read the conversation you are having with someone else on Twitter. That is a big turnoff for your followers!

3. If someone replies, retweets, or writes you a DM do not ignore them! Address every single one if you can. You do not want your followers to feel ignored and unnappreciated.

4. Do not follow everyone that follows you. Tweeter is not immune to spammers…so watch out. If someone you don’t know is following you check out their website and see what they are about. If you can network with them, then follow them! If not, don’t waste your time.

5. Update your status at least once every two or three days. Do not let a week pass by without updating the “What are you doing?’ question. Your followers will keep coming to your page if you update strategically and create a good balance from when you last posted to the new post.

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