7 Cardinal Virtues of Twitter-Guest Post: Liv’n Good Jewelry

Posted by Handmade Spark on 9/12/10   |   Categorized as Blog Feature,Blogging Tips,social media,Twitter

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Bity Birdies | $20 | BornWithIt

A while back I posted a list of the 5 Deadly Sins of Twitter. There’s still good info there, but I wanted to expand on it some. Rather than re-hash the deadly sins theme though, I thought I’d flip it around. So, here are the

7 Cardinal Virtues of Twitter.

  • Prudence: Now that the Library of Congress is archiving all tweets, the “I never said that” excuse no longer works. So, don’t t tweet anything you wouldn’t want a potential customer, investor, partner, family member, etc to read.
  • Justice: If you have an opinion on a topic that is “trending” on Twitter, share it! Whether you are with or against the current trend, your opinion counts and you never know where the conversation will take you.
  • Restraint: Twitter is not QVC. Let me repeat that. Twitter is not QVC. If all you do with your twitter account is post new listings in your store, or retweet other people’s new listings from their store, you are spamming and will lose followers. Limit yourself to one “for sale” tweet for every 5-8 conversational tweets.
  • Fortitude: Twitter isn’t something you do once a day/week. At least, it’s not if you want it to be a viable medium for your message. Stick to it, keep your goal in mind, and don’t give up on it.
  • Faith and Hope: The underlying premise behind marketing via Twitter (or any social media for that matter) is based on the idea that if you build a community of like minded people, make yourself available to them and interesting, when they have a need for whatever whatsit you sell, they’ll come to you, their friend.
  • Charity: Don’t you love it when you see that someone has replied or retweeted your post? So do other people. The Retweet button is the easiest form of charity there is. Use it – but remember to post your own original thoughts too. Use the same “1 for every 5″ rule as for sale posts.

Do you agree with these virtues or do you have a different spin on things? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

~ Jill Liles

Jill is a guest writer from the blog Living Good at Liv’n Good Jewelry. If you would like your article to be considered please submit them here.

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  • http://eightymillion.etsy.com Jennifer Schulting

    Good article.

    Yes, I agree with what you point out. I’m thankful that I can link my facebook fan page to my twitter account. Saves a little time when I’m speaking of my Etsy store. But, yes it is important to keep your audience interested. I throw a little “personal” in there to let others know I’m human also. Or I stroll through the post and see if a conversation interests me and join in. Some are too funny that it’s hard to get off.

    And yes, twitter is not QVC. I do see this a lot. I still follow though, I feel loyal and don’t want to offend anyone by removing them from my list.

    I love to see when someone has retweeted my post. It makes my day. So, I do the favor back as a thank you. I’m still learning a lot about twitter, like the lists. I know that they are important and that’s how a lot of people “found” me.

    Thanks for posting.

  • Anonymous

    I enjoyed reading this article and never saw the 5 deadly sins. Will look for it now. Retweeting is like hearting a persons items. A form of positive acknowledgement

  • http://twitter.com/lesperancetile Linda

    One of the best things I’ve done with tweeting is to use tweetdeck. I never knew when someone was mentioning me or sending me a direct message. Now I always respond to my mentions and have a group of #FF friends that I really appreciate. I do tend to put up most of my new Etsy listings and even relistings, but I haven’t lost any followers over it. And I’m not all that consistent with posting – hey, it’s hard to keep up with everything…..but when I started posting poetic musings throughout the day I got a lot of new followers. Thanks for the post!

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