Twitter is a great tool to engage new customers and spread your brand message.  Like most social media tools it is free, but it takes consistency and effort to be successful.  Unfortunately, a few mistakes can undermine all of your efforts and your Twitter presence. 

Here are five major Twitter faux pas to avoid!

•    No Profile Image. Success in twitter depends on sharing your knowledge, stories, and personality.  Users associate your tweets with your image.  Having a photo (or at least a company logo) will give your tweets credibility.   Users regard bios with the generic placeholder with suspicion.
•    Bio Typos. Acronyms and misspellings are considered acceptable when maximizing your 140 available characters, but typos in your profile is sloppy and unprofessional.  There really is no excuse for not spell checking all of your bio (or anything else that you write).   Have a few questions about your bio? Ask a friend or co-worker to review it.
•    Spamming. Twitter is all about sharing, but if you share everything your message will drown in the tweet barrage.  Plan and strategize your tweets to get your message out!
•    Automated Direct Message (DM).  Direct Messages allow users to send private (non-public) messages directly to each other. Some users use this function to send (obviously) automated DMs to all new followers.  A good idea, but it would be more effective to send a personal DM to those followers that are in your niche and you want to build a relationship with.
•    Not Contributing to the Community. Successful engagement on Twitter depends on interaction and sharing.  If your only message is “Look at my new widget, Buy my stuff!” then you are wasting your time.  Spam this message and you will quickly lose any users you have duped into following you!

Do you want to be successful on Twitter?   Start by humanizing your profile, share your message, and interact with your followers.  Don’t let simple mistakes jeopardize your Twitter presence!