14 biggest mistakes businesses make on X (formerly Twitter)
Many businesses find X to be an effective social media marketing channel.
It offers the opportunity to build your brand's credibility, engage directly with customers and reach a larger audience.
X, originally created as the micro-blogging platform Twitter, is an online news and social networking site, where users can communicate publicly through short posts.
The social platform boasts about 586 million monthly active users globally, with roughly 105 million of those in the U.S.
But with the opportunities come the risk of mistakes that can poorly reflect on your brand (and cause a subsequent loss of revenue).
See our snapshot of the challenges and opportunities of X for businesses.
The following are 14 of the biggest mistakes businesses make on X.
| Mistake | Quick fix |
|---|---|
| Not optimizing your profile | Photo, cover image, bio, and URL all matter |
| No content plan | Goals and audience first, then a content mix |
| Inconsistent brand voice | Keep it human and consistent post to post |
| Posting too much or too little | 3 to 5 posts a day is the current sweet spot |
| Posting only at set times | Test different windows against your own data |
| No multimedia | Native images and video outperform text-only |
| Talking about your business too much | 80/20 or a rule of thirds |
| Ignoring trending topics | Join only when it's genuinely relevant |
| Using too many hashtags | 1 to 2 max; more actively hurts reach now |
| Never asking for reposts | A direct ask still helps, if the post earns it |
| Leaving followers hanging | Reply and engage, don't just broadcast |
| Ignoring negative comments | Address them, don't hope they disappear |
| Reposting every mention | Add context or just reply instead |
| Expecting instant success | Give it time, and actually check your analytics |
Not optimizing your X profile
Sure, there is only so much you can do to optimize your X profile, but if you're not regularly reviewing how your account looks and what first impressions it might be giving other users, you're missing out.
Make sure you:
- Upload your logo or another brand-representative image as your profile photo
- Choose a relevant and eye-catching cover image
- Fill out your bio with key information about what your business does and how it helps people. You can check out other X accounts you aspire to or compete with for inspiration
- Pick a URL that is easy to remember and best for potential leads to click on to find out more
No X content plan
Just like any other channel, you'll be more effective with a plan. Think through your goals. Identify your target audience. Then, consider the mix of content that can help you achieve your goals and reach your target audience.
Check out our seven tips to help you level up your content marketing (whether it's on X or elsewhere).
Inconsistent brand voice
Your brand story, personality and voice are all critically important to how X users view and understand your brand.
If you lack consistency in your brand voice, it's going to be very confusing for anyone you reach with your posts. In addition, you want to ensure that you're leaving out any industry jargon in your messaging (unless you are specifically targeting those who understand that jargon, of course).
Keep in mind that your brand voice should make you human in your messaging and engagement with X users.
See our eight tips for finding your brand voice. Once you know your brand voice, lock it in for your social media efforts and beyond with our five tips to create a brand style guide.
Posting too much (or not enough)
Post too much, and you look like spam. Post too infrequently, and users don't find you to be an active or credible account to engage with or follow. It's easy to make this mistake, for sure.
Current data points to roughly 3 to 5 posts a day as the sweet spot for most brand accounts, which is a meaningfully lower bar than the older "post several times an hour" advice. The algorithm now weighs engagement quality over raw volume, so a handful of posts that spark real replies will outperform a much higher volume of posts nobody responds to.
Posting only at set times
X is a fast-moving social network. If you only post at the same time every day, then you're missing an opportunity to reach more users.
You can avoid this mistake by scheduling your posts at different times. You can then use X Analytics to gauge what works best for your audience. Just know that the full account-level dashboard now requires an X Premium subscription; free accounts can still check basic stats on individual posts from the mobile app.
Lacking any multimedia posts
Go beyond just text-only posts if you want to engage more with your target audience. Aim to mix up your content types:
- Photos
- Videos
- Infographics
- GIFs
Posts with native images or video consistently earn more engagement than text-only posts. One related, important note: posts that include an external link tend to get significantly less algorithmic distribution than native content, since X prioritizes keeping people on the platform. If you need to share a link, put it in the first reply rather than the main post.
Talking about your business too much
Just like on any social media platform, if you talk about yourself too much, you run the risk of either losing engagement, being seen as spam or both.
Remember the reason why most users are using X. Likely, they want to be informed and/or entertained.
Some companies strive for the 80-20 rule, where they only self-promote 20 percent of the time. Others aim for a rule of thirds, where one-third is self-promotion, another third is entertainment and the last third is education.
There's no blatant right or wrong content mix. Take time to review your resources and what makes the most sense for your business, with the goal being to keep the self-promotion to a minimum.
As you begin to plan your X content, consider using a content calendar.
Ignoring trending topics on X
X makes it easy to understand what topics are trending at any given time. You should keep an eye out for the topics that are relevant to your brand and that you can contribute something to the conversation.
Not all trending topics will be relevant. So, if it feels like a reach, it probably is, and you should leave it be.
Using too many hashtags
Unlike Instagram (where users technically can use up to 30 hashtags), X is more restrained, and that restraint matters more now than it used to.
X's algorithm reads the actual text of a post to understand its topic rather than relying on hashtags to categorize it. Posts with one or two well-chosen hashtags still see roughly 21 percent more engagement than posts with none, but stacking three or more hashtags can trigger the platform's spam filters and actively reduce your reach, in some cases by 40 percent or more at the high end.
So stick to one, maybe two, at most, and make them specific rather than generic. Once you go above that, you risk looking spammy to other X users and to the algorithm itself.
Missing your opportunity to ask for reposts
While you might feel it's a little over-the-top or salesy to ask people to repost your content, you'll actually receive a boost in engagement overall, as long as the post itself earns it.
You'll want to use the word "repost" rather than the old "RT" shorthand, since that's the platform's current terminology.
The key is that you're asking on content that is engaging enough for users to see the value of sharing it. That simple act of asking alone won't get you the reposts you want if your content isn't worthy.
Leaving your followers hanging
It's easy to forget the social conversation side of X since the platform moves so fast. And many businesses do.
But regardless of the noise that X can generate at times, you must make it a priority to respond to any comments or direct messages that come your way. In addition, you want to comment and repost others' posts if you find them interesting and in line with your brand.
You want to build relationships with your followers and the broader X community, and that won't happen if you only broadcast content and never engage. Replies now carry significantly more algorithmic weight than passive likes, so this mistake costs you more today than it used to.
Ignoring negative comments
Related to not engaging with your followers, you cannot ignore any negative comments that come your way.
No business enjoys negative comments or reviews, but they are part of maintaining an online presence, which you absolutely want to do. Treat them as opportunities to turn this negative commenter into a fan, based on your excellent customer service and social media voice.
Check out our 11 tips to best respond to negative commenters.
Reposting every mention of your business
Resist the temptation to repost every mention of your brand. It can come across a little shallow, salesy and insincere to other X users.
Instead, you can reply to the post and move on. Or, if it really should be shared, repost it but with a comment on it to give it context to avoid this easy-to-make mistake.
Expecting instant success
Most social media marketing success is about the long-term strategy culminating in success over time.
This is no different for X. Post once or even three times, and you likely will not see an immediate achievement of your goals.
Monitor your overall account performance for clues on what you can do more of and what you should do less of. Remember that X Analytics can help you with this, though full account-level access now requires an X Premium subscription.
Check out our eight expert tips to help you market your business better on X.