With hundreds of millions of people using Twitter as a way to stay in touch with friends, learn about relevant local, national and world events and find out about new trends and topics, it is no wonder that countless brands have sought to boost their exposure on the social media giant. Once a brand is well-established on Twitter, its presence can be felt throughout the network and in many cases, each tweet will take on a life of its own as it spreads from one feed to another. Many brands fall short, however, due to improper techniques and lack of commitment. If your brand’s Twitter effort has failed to engage audiences in the way you expected, then continue reading to find out about four reasons why this may be the case.

Your Promotions Are Sappy

You are using a variety of promotions – coupons, discounts and give-aways – to attract and engage your Twitter followers, right? If not, then you will need to do some further research on the matter. Those who do use promotions, however, often take the wrong approach. As a result of your desire to be pinging your website to fellow Twitter users, you may create the illusion of sappy, gimmicky promotions that do not appeal to the average Twitter user. Most people on Twitter have become immunized to this approach, so your promotions need to avoid shameless plugs and instead focus on quality content and prizes.

You Do Not Respond to Followers

While this tends to be a bigger problem on social media sites like Facebook – where a simple ‘Like’ makes it possible to acknowledge the follower but contribute nothing of substance to the dialogue – brands must consistently engage with their customers, followers and readers in order to build bonds of trust that ultimately expand that brand’s clout. The occasional re-tweet of a follower’s astute observation or back-and-forth dialogue with followers can do a world of good for your brand. The more dialogue that occurs, the more chances for exposure your brand will have – in addition to the positive aura that is created for any brand that consistently engages with followers.

You Don’t Follow Others

This seems simple enough: the more people whom you follow on Twitter via your brand’s account, the more likely they are going to follow you as well. Unfortunately, many Twitter users do not engage in this sort of behaviour. While following too many people, too quickly can gain unwanted attention to your account by Twitter, most brands find that following others on the network is a great way to encourage individuals who may be interested in your brand to do the same. You will want to be selective in who you follow, as not all Twitter users will find you interesting: if you target those who have a direct or indirect correlation with your brand’s mission, then you will gain much more attention over time.

You Don’t Tweet Consistently

Your current following is not a monolithic group: many may use Twitter in the morning, while some will browse in the evening. Some people are weekday tweeters and others browse the network on weekends. If you are pinging your website, content or offerings on a semi-random basis, then you will notice that a high level of engagement from your followers is lacking. Twitter brands must tweet consistently – preferably multiple times per day, with some repeats – in order to be sure that their message is reaching as many followers as possible. Ultimately, it does not matter how many followers you have if only a tiny percentage of them see your tweets.