Your Brand’s Checklist for Twitter

Published
by
Matt
on Oct 6, 2008
in Branding and Web 2.0
. Tags: , .

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?

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