Marketing on Twitter is easy. You just pick a hashtag and you tweet your latest deal or offer, Right? Bam! You just marketed on Twitter! Go You!

So why did half your followers just block you? Unfortunately, to many people, you also just spammed up their feed. Tweeting the wrong way is one of the biggest, most common mistakes brands make.

The art of engaging with a hashtag on Twitter, is tricky. Believe it or not, even digital relationships have to be cultivated.

8 Ways for Brands to Engage Using Hashtags

• Start a conversation with a relevant tantalizing question. If you sell tires, ask

“Did you know there’s a quick way to check your tire tread using something in your wallet? #CoolTires”

• Include a link to relevant content on your site

“Did you know you can check your tire tread with a penny? Here’s how www.coollinkonmysite.com #CoolTires”

• Get feedback about your product or service. Ask for photos, interesting stories and unusual uses. Find out why they love you. It might surprise you to learn something about your users

“What matters most to you in a new set of tires, beauty , brains or longevity”

• Surprise people with facts, creativity and/or humor (in good taste). Show some clever ways people have used your product, a humorous observation about your product or share an infographic with surprising news.

“Did you know tires matter as much as seat belts? www.linktoshockinginfographic”

• Give people a VIP pass and tour of life behind the velvet rope. We’re not advising you to share your lunch photos. Show us you’re real live humans who care about what they do. Snap a photo of your behind the scenes moments.

“Here’s Jonny from the design team sketching his dream car - white walls on a Tbird.”

• Celebrate your successes. It’s ok to tweet your laurels once in a while. Include links where possible.

“Best Tire Store in So Cal, Third Year in a Row! www.linktolocalpaper.com”

• Stay away from #bacon, #booze , #coffee and #cupcakes. Yes these are all popular treats and the subject of much tweeting with hashtag. But no, unless you sell any of these items, you don’t have to go there with your feed. Junkfood and junk tags are not good for you.

And possibly the most important tip:

• Follow your own Hashtag and those of the competition. Pay attention to what people have to say. You cannot be an engaging conversationalist without being a good listener. It’s very obvious that conversation is a two way street but many brands make the mistake of focusing only on their outbound and @messages. Make it a habit to actively listen and respond to interesting messages before you start tweeting anything you have planned for your feed. Follow your hashtag(s) and those of similar/competitive/related products using Hashtracking.com reports. Read and respond right from the report transcript.

So when can you tweet that promotion code?

When you’ve built up a real following that looks forward to and responds to your tweets, you will get a much better response when you do (on occasion) share a deal or an offer. Create engaging content, keep your promotional messages to less than 10% of your feed and you won’t get unfollowed!