Some robots are cool. BB8. Fembots. Bender. Wall-E.

However, it’s never good for humans to sound like a robot, or appear as one—especially on social media. It’s called “social” media for a reason, after all. Twitter profiles and tweets without any personality are about the farthest thing from social as you can get.

In fact, if your Twitter presence is too robot-like, you are actually in danger of getting reported to Twitter as a bot.

Everyone should realize that a boring account is pretty much a pointless account.

And what exactly makes a stale and generic Twitter account?

One huge mistake some Twitter users make while engaging in social media marketing is not incorporating themselves into their account at all. They don’t include a bio, or their profile photo looks fake, like it could be from a stock image website or was stolen from somewhere. Or in some cases, the user hasn’t uploaded a profile photo at all. These all scream “Dud account!”, or worse, “Bot!”

Another mistake that happens too frequently is when users post excessive duplicate tweets. They may be convinced that it’s good exposure, but in reality it just looks spammy and fake.

Maybe you do have a bio—but take a look at it. How unique is it? Does it sound like an overused non-description along the lines of “dog slave”, “pop culture enthusiast”, “musicaholic”, “beer evangelist”, “evil problem solver”, “coffee geek”, “corporate hippie”, “food lover”, “hardcore gamer”, or “anti-hipster”?

The problem with characterizations such as these is that they don’t go deep enough to invoke interest. They’re much too obvious. There’s more to you than that.

Furthermore, tweets about food should be banned. Period. It doesn’t matter how amazingly delicious your Chipotle was for lunch. No one needs to know how enthusiastic you are about it. Do you really want the takeaway from your entire day to be about food? Or coffee? You’re simply wasting the tiny, 140-character limit you’re given on something irrelevant. You can be interesting without being over the top.

If your tweets sound like they were written by a robot or by frat boy who’s too into EVERYTHING, the best-case scenario is that your readers will not care and will be turned off, and you’ll get an immediate “unfollow”. The worst-case scenario is that you’ll be reported as a bot account and deleted.

A Twitter account should answer the question of “Why should I follow you? What interesting tweets will you put out there?” Tweets should be natural, and they should sound like they’re coming from an actual human being.

Here’s how to do that.

After ensuring that your profile picture represents you well and making sure your bio says more about you than “movie buff”, it’s time to focus on your actual tweets.

Post things that are relevant to what’s happening in the world.

Even if you have a business account, your tweets don’t need to be exclusively company-related. Acknowledge hot topic social issues, politics, holidays, and current events. Everyone has an opinion about what’s going on RIGHT NOW. Open a conversation with a tweet about something that’s happening that people can relate to.

But don’t stop there. Once your readers begin replying and joining the conversation, answer them. Continue the dialogue. Have a voice. Be authentic and passionate. In fact, respond to anyone who messages you, and answer with something interesting. Also be sure to answer them quickly. No interaction with other users on a profile looks botty.

Look for a user who is having a good discussion, and jump in there.

If no one is initiating a conversation with you, then find one yourself! Or say thank you to someone who has shared your tweet. Robots can’t engage directly with other users, but you can—so you should. This will help build relationships on Twitter, and will give you lots of exposure and personality. People will begin to look for what you have to say.

Mix up your tweets.

Ask someone something. Post a link. Re-tweet. Toss a photo up. Throw in a little tip of some sort. This will help you connect with your readers, because there will be something for everyone.

Offer answers.

Lifestyle tidbits, cooking info, relationship advice, little around-the-house tips—anything like this is always appreciated, and often re-tweeted. People like to share good content, just be sure not to sound too preachy, or like you’re a fortune cookie. Pull these tips from real life, or something you’ve gone through or know a lot about.

Avoid the whole “Buy my stuff! Click here, click here!” thing.

If you’re using Twitter to promote whatever you’re selling, beware of too much push to “check out this link to my shop” and “click here for discounts!” It’s fine to utilize social media to help you make sales, but don’t over-promote, and if you must announce company things, make it interesting. For example, this is not a good tweet:

“Keep up to date on all our hottest new trends by visiting

our NEW page! Updated daily! http://www.boring.com!”

Too salesy, and too much of the same type of thing that a reader sees every day. Their eyes will simply bounce right off of a tweet like that.

Address comments with detail and attention.

If you’re using Twitter as a customer service tool for your business, you should be prepared to do this. An automatic, generic response to a legitimate customer question or complaint is just bad business.

Go beyond copy and paste.

Tweeting an article or something you found online that you like is great, but when you post it, do more than simply copy and pasting the link. Add your own opinion or thoughts about whatever it is to incorporate yourself into the tweet.

Have a Twitter presence, but don’t overdo it. Too many tweets will clog up other users’ feeds, and they’ll get frustrated with you.

Don’t simply tweet like you’re a broadcasting station

…for inspirational quotes, statistics, grandstanding, or other dull things. It’s great to say things, but also ask questions—engaging ones—and be personal.

When it comes to automated tweets, be advised that they can appear to be very robot-like if not done properly. Automated tweets are fine in moderation and when used well, but if your tweets look too scheduled or automated, as if they were designed to be posted every hour, everyone’s going to be bored or think you’re a bot.

Create a Content Plan

If you’re set on using automated tweets for your social media marketing, it’s smart to create a content plan in order to make sure your posts are corresponding to important dates and events within your company. Also, don’t assume that just because you’ve set up automated tweets, you can just depend on it.

Log in frequently.

Twitter can get buggy and things can mess up with automation, and you’ll still need to log in on a regular basis to be certain that your account, tweets, and links all look correct and, more importantly, like they were written by an actual person.

Users follow people and brands that are run by human beings. They want personality, uniqueness, and something new every day.

There’s a reason that we all dislike automated phone recordings when we want to speak to customer service: there’s no personality there. No one wants to speak to a robot. If Twitter users are so bored by your posts or profile that they click away, you are officially the equivalent to that robot voice on the phone.

Don’t be that robot. Be the person that you are, and give people a reason to look forward to what you tweet.

Don’t miss any advice, tips, or tricks on social and marketing strategy from the Marqana blog!