When I was asked to start tweeting as @profnet back in May 2008, I had a moment – OK, several moments – of panic. I had just heard of Twitter and had no idea what I was doing. (Some would say I still don’t, but that’s neither here nor there.)
Apart from queries, what the heck would I tweet about? And why would anyone care about anything I had to say? There were many moments when I would type a tweet, delete it, retype it, edit it, delete it and type it again – and then hold my breath as I hit the “send” button.
So what did I do? I found a mentor. For me, it was my colleague Vicky Harres. I respected what Vicky was doing on the @prnewswire feed, and decided to study her tweets and learn as much from her as I could.
What I learned: Friendliness and professionalism are not mutually exclusive. Your tweets can be conversational and still be professional. There’s no reason you can’t show a little personality, but remember: First and foremost, you are tweeting as @yourbrand, not as @you.
Am I an expert on Twitter? Certainly not, although I do think I’ve found a good balance between “official tweets” and “Maria tweets” (aside from my Snuggie obsession of 2009, which I’ve chosen to forget). So, please take my suggestions below as just that – suggestions from someone who tweets for a brand.
Find a Twitter mentor. If you follow someone who you think gets it right, learn from her. What does she tweet about? How often does she tweet? How often does she re-tweet? How does she re-tweet (does she just re-send the original tweet verbatim, or does she put her own spin on it)? When and how does she reply to negative tweets? When and how does she reply to positive tweets? If your mentor is open to it, run a few tweets by her and see what, if any, changes she would make.
Keep it positive. As tempting as it sometimes might be, avoid being negative, sarcastic or snarky. No matter how funny you think it might be, always remember that you’re tweeting as your brand, not as you.
Respond to negative feedback. If someone says something negative about your brand and you don’t respond, the tweet that lingers is the negative one. However, there are two caveats: 1) Be thoughtful in your response. You don’t have to respond immediately. It’s better to take time to think your response through. 2) Beware attempts to bait you. Weigh the pros and cons of responding. If you decide not to respond publicly, consider a direct message instead.
Steer away from controversy. Controversial topics (politics, religion) are controversial for a reason – there are people who are vehemently on one side or the other. Why alienate either?
Humor is subjective. There will always be someone who thinks your joke is in poor taste or inappropriate, so while I don’t think you should censor yourself, stay away from topics or language/slang that might be taken the wrong way.
Get a second opinion. If there’s something you want to tweet but you aren’t sure whether it’s appropriate, ask your mentor for his opinion. And if you’re still not sure, follow the next rule:
When in doubt, leave it out. This golden rule of writing also applies to tweets. If you have any doubts, don’t tweet it.
Don’t get too personal. Tweeting about Snuggies is innocuous. Tweeting about hemorrhoids or ingrown toenails is not.
Follow your followers. I know not everyone will agree with this, but if you want to promote conversation with your followers, you have to follow them back. I explained my reasoning for this in a previous post, To Follow or Not to Follow: Take the Auto-Follow Challenge. When I see someone whose following/follower ratio is pretty even, I find myself thinking that he is more open, and that makes me more likely to interact with him.
It’s not about @you. I come back to this because it’s really the mother of all rules, the one from which all the other rules grow. Every tweet represents your company – whether it’s in a positive or negative way is up to you.
Do you tweet for a brand? What do you think of these rules? Are there any you disagree with? Are there any I missed?
I saw your article and wanted to offer you a few additional tips I've learned.
Caitlin AbeleI tweet for the Superfocus shooting community via @SuperfocusShoot. Superfocus is an adjustable focus eyeglass that mimics the natural focusing action of the youthful human eye, eliminating the need for bifocals, progressives or switching between multiple pairs of glasses. A large vertical market for the company is recreational target shooters, as they must focus on multiple distances in order to be successful in their sport. Superfocus uses a targeted microsite to appeal to this vertical market: shoot.superfocus.com. The site provides information and commentary on shooting, aging and vision. My goal with the microsite's twitter feed is to raise awareness about presbyopia within the shooting community.
Here are a few additional tips I'd like to offer:
1. When one of your followers re-tweets or comments about something you've said, acknowledge it. Thank them for the re-tweet and try to start a conversation. Ask them a question about what they learned if it was an article or a tip, or just ask them something about themselves, such as what/where they’re planning on shooting this weekend. You don’t want to seem un-human or un-accessible. Like you say in your article: "Friendliness and professionalism are not mutually exclusive. Your tweets can be conversational and still be professional."
2. When you re-tweet something someone else has said, try to add value for the next round of readers. If it's an article, add a comment about what they can expect to learn in that article.
3. Use links as much as possible. People would much rather read a tweet that connects them with additional content than just your brand’s opinion. One exception I've seen is if your brand is posing a question to its followers.
4. Take advantage of “Twitterisms” such as Friday Follows (#FF). #FF is basically a thanks to a handful of your followers each week that also recommends them to the rest of your followers as someone to follow. It’s a good way to show your followers that you appreciate them following you. We usually #FF people who’ve connected us with good content or who we’ve had conversations with that week. We try to #FF different people each week. It’s also an easy way to get more followers when someone who is well respected on Twitter #FFs you. We’ve received #FFs from the NRA, professional shooters, shooting magazines, and other shooting blogs (as well as just everyday shooters) for example.
I’d love to hear what you think of these tips!
11:16 AM