If you’re brand isn’t on Twitter, then check out these posts to get you up to speed. If you’re already on Twitter, then congratulations. You’re already well on your way to developing a solid new media presence and most importantly, connecting with your market.
However, there are a few things that every brand can do to enhance their Twitter account and make sure that they reach their goals with the program. Let’s take a look at 8 good ones.
1. Picture
First things first, logos do not tweet. People do. Your brand’s Twitter account handle will already be @BrandX, so no one has to worry about getting confused. Wait, is your name actually Nick Nike? or Samsung Jones? Check out Frank Eliason, who runs the wildly successful (and incredibly awesome) @comcastcares (Comcast) account. Right away you know you’re dealing with a person and not a PR department.
The only exception here is when the people who use the account actually are the entire PR department. In this case, the logo is okay, but try and work in some specific pictures and names in some ways mentioned below.
2. Name
See the above statement. Corporations may be a “person” in the eyes of the law, but not in the eyes of Twitter. We understand that this account may be representative of your brand as a whole, but there’s still a person running it. Social Media and Twitter specifically is all about honest HUMAN interaction. Do everything you can to keep that there. Let us know your name.
3. Sidebar
This is a pretty brilliant tactic that seems to be catching on much faster with individual users than with brands. The idea here is that you create a specific graphic to use as your background and on that graphic is other useful information. It might be the pictures and names of everyone who uses the account, or just other places you can find the brand on the web. This is a cool opportunity to say a few more things about yourself right away. Check out @flyingdog (Flying Dog Brewery) and @wldaily (Wine Library Daily Deals) to see it done right.
4. Bio
The Bio section is the Swiss Army Knife of the Twitter profile. You can use this space to say a little more about yourself like @jetblue (JetBlue Airways), give us your Twitter mission statement like @Wachovia (Wachovia Bank), give us some more contact info (see below) or just say hi. Either way, make sure you have something useful and relevant here.
5. Contact Info
So you’re on Twitter and you’re a real person (per number 1 and 2). Now give us a way to get in contact. It doesn’t have to be with the person running the account, it can be someone on your team. But you need to give us a way to get in touch when 140 characters just doesn’t cut it.
6. Link Out
Putting a link to your brands homepage is okay, but really you need to link to a “Contact Us” or a special page for Twitter users. Make this useful and make sure it’s easy to find.
7. Communicate
A lot of media/news outlets simply use Twitter as a broadcast medium. This is wrong! It’s another example of old media trying to do new media by old rules. Doesn’t work that way. Look at Frank Eliason’s @comcastcares account. Almost every single tweet is an @ reply. I’m sure he sneaks some Comcast-related news in there now and again, but the majority of his time is spent interacting. That’s how to do it right.
8. FOLLOW PEOPLE
Per number 7, Twitter is not your megaphone. You need to follow people back or you’ll look like a clown.
Additional Resources
-Follow Me On Twitter
-Twitter Brand Index
Twittermaven’s Best Practices
-Beth Harte – Who are you? And why should I follow you?
12 Responses and Counting...
Good list. Thanks.
Hi,
I still don’t get twitter. All it seems to be is inane chatter. Why should any one want to listen to my inane chatter?
Cheers Matt
Nice checklist. I’ve written a few times on best Twitter practices for brands as well, http://twittermaven.blogspot.com/search/label/best%20practices
Thank you for linking to Tony’s post – one of the best I have seen so far on brand management on Twitter. For many it is an event or a situation where they use Twitter for something they really need and then suddenly it clicks. For others, it does not make sense at all. I talk about it as a presence and listening tool at a minimum.
great post. You bring up some very valid points. I will not follow someone if they do not have a picture. I might be crazy, but that’s just me.
I didn’t get it either, then I tried it.Now I’m hooked, I swear to god it’s a form of reality T.V or something. Don’t start using it procrastinating will never be as easy again!!
@Ryan G
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!
@Spinners
Just like Clog Money says, Twitter is a hard thing to understand until you’re “in it”. Yes there are lot of people tweeting what they ate for lunch, but it’s really much more than that. Brands like JetBlue, Comcast, and Flying Dog Brewery are using Twitter to connect with their audiences in ways that would have never been possible before. Give Twitter a shot and you’ll see. Thanks!
@Warren
Thanks for highlighting your list Warren. It’s all really good stuff. I’ve added your like to the bottom of the post because I think everyone should check out all the solid content you’ve put together on the topic.
@Valeria
Tony’s post was great and a lot of fun to read. He makes a lot of great points that I think many of us would agree with. I agree with you that at the minimum, it’s a great listening tool, but as Neil Stewart from Flying Dog once said “I use Twitter because I believe that we should have at least one thing to say to our customers each day”.
@Shannon
Thanks. I feel the same way about the picture. If you’re still using the default pic, it tells me that either you don’t get it or you don’t care.
@Clog Money
I was exactly the same way in the beginning. Thought it was goofy/pointless (this was pretty early on) until I really spend some time with it. Now I have a hard time imaging my work day without it. Thanks for reading!
Hi Matt,
This is just perfect! So many people need this checklist. I just wrote about having a good Twitter identity or people won’t follow you, but your list is key to doing that. I added your link to my post so that folks can drop by to see how to beef up their Twitter brand.
Thanks for the link, I appreciate it!
Great list – I adopted some of these practices. But why does your username need to contain your real name? On your profile page, it’s easy to see a person’s real name and when selecting followers, Twitter displays both a person’s username and their real name (if they’re different). I agree, you should post your real name, but I don’t think it’s imperative that it be part of your username.
[...] Matt McDonald offers a great checklist for companies and brands using Twitter. [...]
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