Double check that Twitter Handle!
Twitter is a rapid-fire medium, but I’ve found that it is really important to check the Twitter handle you are citing before hitting TWEET. Here are three big reasons:
#1 You want them to notice! Part of the reason you mention someone is that you want to give them the nod or get their attention. Miss that opportunity and well, then they’ll never know you care.
#2 You want the retweets! Ok, so this may sound selfish, but really, I use Twitter in business to grow my influence and followers. So if I am not getting retweets, I am not growing my influence.
Here are some names with big followings that aren’t spelled quite like you’d expect. Often you’ll find a middle initial or underscore between first and last name.
#3 It could be really embarrassing if you guess wrong and pick something totally out of the ballpark. The first two above just mean I wasted my time. But if I guess wrong… it could go really wrong. I worked with one company that used their product name as their handle because their company name translated poorly to another language and you didn’t want to be typing that into your screen and sending your fans there. Here’s one where the name is a common word so they used HQ at the end. I see that quite a bit.
It’s not a huge thing but checking the Twitter handle before hitting post is worth the effort. And remember, even if your platform is “helping” you with prompts, you could end up with the wrong person or company.