Of all the Twitter marketing mishaps I see on a regular basis, there’s one I’d like to share with you today. It can totally ruin a company’s reputation and can be avoided with a simple click of the mouse.

Twitter marketing is all about building mutually beneficial relationships, and retweeting content posted by others plays a large role. However, many people go retweet crazy and share everything that looks good without taking the time to see where links lead. Blind retweeting can have horrific consequences.

Let’s say you’re browsing Twitter and see a tweet with the title of this article, a link, and some hashtags. You’d think it’s related to marketing and would feel comfortable sharing it with your followers. But what if the link actually goes to an online gambling website? Or even worse, it sends people to a pornography site. You’ve just turned a miniscule marketing effort into a PR catastrophe. Ramifications for small businesses may be minute, but large organizations will suffer dearly.

Businesses using Twitter for marketing purposes must maintain their reputation and uphold a level of quality. Take the time to check links before sharing. You’ll thank me later.