This isn’t another blog where we tell you that you really should be on Twitter because it is a way to grow your business, expand your reach and increase your brand awareness – instead we are talking about being ‘on’ your Twitter…

It’s a great idea to have a Twitter account, it’s a place where you can update your audience about what you’re doing, the latest news, special offers and such like – but you can also use it to engage with your target audience, to start building relationships and to gain trust of your brand and business… but only if you are using it!

We came across this brilliant example in The Poke recently, as per the photo above.

Laura tweeted on 30th December 2010 that the service is very slow in Wetherspoons tonight, JD Wetherspoon then replied to say (very helpfully) that they were to sorry to hear that but they are working on speed and efficiency across the company and will have the matter looked into.

It’s a great response from Tom of J D Wetherspoon and you think that Laura would be happy with this, until you see her response.

Laura replies that she tweeted that over five years ago…

Next comes an awkward reply from Tom of JD Wetherpoon saying

Oh did you? Maybe you have a point.

Could this have been any more embarrassing for JD Wetherspoon? Now of course in this case it looks to be a genuine mistake and the team at JD Wetherspoon were just making sure everyone had been replied to, looking at their account they are usually very on the ball with Twitter engagements but this happens so often with businesses.

We get people follow us on Twitter all the time, we ask them a question within an hour of the follow and we won’t hear back for a week or two, or sometimes more. It is essential that if you are going to use Twitter or any social media platforms that you do actually use them.

Good social media management is essential when using social media for business, if you don’t have the time to use it then outsource your social media or delete your account. It is better to have no social media than social media that ignores potential customers.

And as a side note; if you do notice something from 5 years ago that hasn’t been replied to, it’s probably best you just leave it!