Twitter

[Pet Nanny]

I have been told time and time again never to mix business with pleasure on twitter!

Since I am passionate about animal welfare I often post animal abuse articles on my timeline and often forget to use my twitter account for my business.

I am also an ardent LFC supporter and this too gets more than the odd mention.

Just wondering what other people tend to post on their twitter accounts and if you agree that you should not mix business with pleasure! If anyone want to take a sneaky peek at my posts I am petnanny1.

 

[arnydnxluk]

Generally, I don't think personal stuff should appear on a business Twitter account - it can make your business appear very unprofessional to me. The exception to this is where YOU are the business (assuming you're happy for your business to be perceived as a 1 person business).

It does sound like animal welfare articles would be suitable content in your case. Posting relevant content is an important part of being a small business on Twitter. However being an LFC supporter is not something you need to advertise (from your business account), e.g. is it really worth putting off potential customers who're EFC fans?

With that being said, it seems like you've gained a huge amount of followers, so you must be doing something right. Plus I bet some people do like to see some personality, especially in your industry.

 

[WikiWill]

I think if you're talking about a professional Twitter account under your own name then it's ok to post some stuff about football etc as in your case, just keep it positive. Also the fact that you're in the pet industry makes animal stories a little more understandable.

If you were posting under the businesses official name though it probably wouldn't be advisable and should be kept thoroughly professional. Posting from a business account on your phone can be a bit of a problem as well, i've posted on the wrong account before and had to hastily delete my tweets.

 

[MikeJ]

I don't use Twitter for business, but if I did I'd use Tweetdeck and keep my private account separate from my business tweets.

 

[RPower]

You can show a bit of personality in your Twitter accounts as it helps to build rapport with your followers. I tweet about journalism, running and gaming bits occasionally but I don't overshare personal info.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I retwreet local sport news sometime and also use the account to promote some local charity events Companies make the mistake of taking twitter far too seriously making their account boring

 

[Stan Gabriel]

I like businesses that get active, passionate and personal on their social media accounts, but that's just my own opinion. It's said to be a general no-no, but if you feel really passionate about a subject and you have the audience in your business account to spread the word, I believe sometimes that can be stronger than the business survival instinct.

 

[RyanTrustSpot]

I don't necessarily agree, while its true that a business twitter should remain mostly on topic.. most people like the fact that you are open and honest.. and post fun stuff too. You have to keep people engaged, so sometimes we post photos, or talk about funny stuff to just judge responses, so we can ensure when we do post serious stuff it doesn't fall on deaf ears.

 

[LawHound]

I think a human face behind the twitter account is good, and how you behave is also key, it's not to do with what you are broadcasting but who you are engaging with. So if you interact with animal abuse stories and retweet those and comment on what others are saying it is better than just being opinionated on your own time line. It's a conversation, when I chat with clients and other businesses I talk to them about more than legal stuff so do on line too.