So, Twitter keeps suggesting I “Follow” various folk. Most of whom have abandoned their Twitter accounts.
Well, this week I took them up on it and “followed” every person with a Twitter account who follows me. Most of whom, naturally, are consignment, resale, and thrift shops. Let’s see what I can learn that might help you.
Deleting those who don’t post
Periodically (mostly when I am procrastinating doing something useful) I go through the list of people I follow and unfollow those whose accounts appear abandoned. Just did so, about 30% haven’t posted in a year+, and some not at all. Why? I assume if they don’t post, they also don’t read my tweets, so why clutter up the Internet?
Deleting those who nag
One Etsy person posted 11 tweets in 11 hours: from 8pm to 8am my/her time. Each was a link to one of her products for sale. Since she has 929 items in her Etsy shop, I figure she’ll keep doing this. Really, that’s nagging, isn’t it? And not a single tweet that helped, amused, or challenged me. Unfollow.
Weird things discovered from Followers
Some tweet in languages that not only do I not speak/read, but that I don’t recognize. At least I think they’re languages. Could be geek-speak or Top Secret Code. Unfollow, since I already have Voices Telling Me What To Do.
Then there’s the folks who HAVE to be kidding, mocking the mindlessness of some tweets: Just ate a sandwich……woke up starving! Unfollow. Also, unfollow those who think retweets about farting are good choices to send their business clientele followers.
Followers who don’t want followers
Private accounts? Some of those I follow have private accounts. Okay, I can understand individuals having accounts that they don’t want just anyone to follow, but really… a consignment shop keeping its Tweets private? I mean, what’s the POINT? It’s like telling newspaper readers or TV viewers You can’t see my marketing efforts unless you ASK ME BEFOREHAND…. I’d unfollow them if they’d let me.
Eggheads.
Anyone who last more than a few weeks on Twitter without changing out the default avatar to one which represents them, I figure isn’t serious about reaching their business clientele. Unfollow the eggs.
Lesson to be learned?
Don’t count on anywhere near the number of followers you have to heed or even see your tweets. I’m thinking ditto for Facebook. If you’re thinking you can stop advertising to your regulars by other means, I’m thinking you’d be doing your shop a disservice to put all your marketing eggs in the social media basket. Social media’s nice, if you have the time and inclination to do it well, but relying on them to the exclusion of everything else? Bad idea, one to definitely unfollow.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
Right on! I think my market is on Facebook, so we go there. I also get good response from a local magazine and the yellow pages and internet traffic from our web site. But we are furniture consignment in a medium income bracket. If I carried dorm furniture I would be on twitter, since the users seem to be pretty young in our area.
I feel irritated by the concept of twitter, so until it proves itself useful, I’m happily skipping it.
Thanks, Donna, for your comments. One goes where one’s audience is, of course, in marketing and advertising… whether or not you yourself use the various media. I know the folks you’re hiring will realize that, and relieve YOUR load.
I can’t be bothered with Twitter for most of the same reasons you site. I think it’s pesky. I don’t want to hear people’s political or religious rants which seems to be most peoples politics and or their gastro complaints and lastly…I don’t have time to post post post. Twitter is for twits. Most of the same people use FB anyways and even that is hard to keep up with. I’m hiring a marketing firm and freeing up my time. I know it will cost me but my time is worth the trade off.