After the recent revelation by Dell that it has generated over $3 million in sales from Twitter, it’s easy to think that the service is an easy way for a retailer to make money. Habitat, however, found out how easy it can be to get it wrong when it began tweeting last week.
Twitter users can use its ‘hashtag’ function to identify the topic(s) of their tweets by adding tags preceded by a hash symbol to their tweets. Those interested in the topic can then follow or search all posts containing that hashtag in order to keep in touch with the latest developments.
Habitat’s first tweets took advantage of the large numbers of Twitter users following hashtags such as #iPhone, #mms and even #Mousavi to widely promote special offers, reports Social Media Today. Examples included:
HabitatUK: #Mousavi Join the database for free to win a £1000 gift card.
Habitat’s misuse of the hashtag function has caused outrage amongst Twitter users, who see the messages as little more than spam. “It’s hard not to label @HabitatUK as a spam-bot. Terrible thing to do to a premium brand,” says one Twitter user.
The messages have now been deleted from Habitat’s Twitter account and a spokesman told Sky News Online “This was a mistake and it is important to us that we always listen, take on board observations and welcome constructive criticism. We will do our utmost to ensure any mistakes are never repeated.”
