Get the Brand toTwitter

So you know by now, how much Twitter is a game changer in the world of Social Media and communications. However, you have always had an iota of uncertainty as to how exactly to go about getting your business/Brand account onto twitter. This article does not mean the least to be preachy but wants to help you with a beginner’s framework as to how you may proceed a little further towards finally putting up and running, your own business Twitter account.

Naming the ‘name’

Ok so it all starts from getting a twitter handle of your own. An obvious choice would be to go ahead with a purely business name rather than putting a person in the forefront of your corporate/brand twitter identity. What I mean is, go for a name like @TownBank (hypothesizing you are the digital/marketing manager for ‘The Town Bank’) rather than starting with an account like @CEOTownBank and then ghost-managing the account. No here I am not contending the requirement of a personal touch to your tweeter presence, but it is always advisable to establish a strong and solid Corporate identity upfront than trying to establish an individual as the sole twitter front-man. It does not still stop your own CEO if he is really a new media enthusiast to be on twitter and engage people over his personal account too.

Also my personal take is not to use names like (considering you represent the business ABC Oil) @ABCoilspeaks … what you would in fact end up doing then is fixate on your twitter positioning without even knowing how your twitter audience behaves. What if you figure out across your twitter- journey that your audience wants you to be using twitter more as a listening and customer service medium as opposed to being a thought-disseminator or speaker, you can’t change to @ABCoillistens overnight. (Unless you strike something really chronology independent or universal … like the uber-successful @Comcastcares by Comcast, the American home cable and internet giant)

Just in case you are still in doubt let me assure you that most of the rocking Brand -accounts on Twitter are all thriving on Business names. Takes these as examples:

New York Times (@nytimes), Southwest Airlines (@southwestair) Starbucks (@starbucks)

Even looking at some successful Indian Brands on twitter: Tata Docomo (@tatadocomo) Timesof India (@timesofindia) MTV India (@mtvindia) etc

Playing the ‘game’

Ok now that you have your twitter name in place and hopefully got your graphic team/agency to have worked out a nice profile pic. (using the logo is the safest bet) and a custom twitter skin or background … it is time you crack the most crucial open question on your twitter existence, the ‘Content strategy’ that you will follow. To even claim that there is a formula or a magic bullet here will be being entirely dishonest. But do take a cue from what the great Al Ries and Jack Trout wrote decades back in the book ‘Positioning- The battle for your mind’ …

‘The best approach to take in our over-communicated society is the oversimplified message’.

Your target audience is your target audience, may they be interacting through your tweets in Twitter or a press ad in Timbuktu. Getting back to Ries and Trout,

’ To find a unique position, you must ignore conventional logic. Conventional logic says you find your concept inside yourself or inside the product. Not true. What you must do is look inside the prospect’s mind’

So go out there and make a content plan that is close enough to what your Customers and prospects are looking for and once you make a plan simply stick to it and be regular. (Here again the questions like doing twitter in-house or getting an agency on- board etc comes in. A blanket solution for a sizeable Brand would surely be to get an agency on-board, because it is always best left to specialists … off course you need to have a capable Digital manager at your end too, to make the most of the opportunity) The big and audacious dream here is to achieve a thought leadership in your sector and desired sphere of influence .Difficult yes, but no rocket science either. Also remember, there’s nothing shabbier than a Brand in twitter that does not tweet regularly or tweets content that is not of perceived value to its own twitterati target-audience.

Use free tools like Klout (Klout.com) and Tweetergrader (tweet.grader.com) to find out who are the tweeter influencers for your Brand , talk to them and learn from them … follow them and get them to follow you, build a relationship to make them spread positive WOM about your Brand. Also use twitter search (twitter.com/search) to play around with relevant keywords … find out who is tweeting and what are they tweeting about your kind of business, (for e.g. a simple search like ‘life insurance’ will throw you up all Brands in life insurance who are tweeting, what people in twitter have to say about life insurance, so on and so forth) you will be amazed with the kind of insights you will get even with free tools like these. A search using your Brand name will show you all tweets about your Brand … go ahead , reply to them, if being praised, thank them … if being abused, genuinely try and rectify , be honest and put your best foot forward, its these relationships that you shall create over social media that will help you survive and outlive your competition. Once you have a list of well-wishers on Twitter who tweet ‘good things’ about you, Twitter has this really cool feature to help you capitalize on that. You can mark all favorable comments etc as ‘favorites’ (a tweeter feature), later you can showcase all these ‘favorite’ tweets as a single link that shall stand for all the great words and sentiment about your Brand in a singular url destination … not to mention you can then tom-tom with it over Twitter, facebook, forums, your blog and website, where else and where not.

Twitter, by the way is also a great media for earning some free press … make a list of all the journalists on twitter in your area of work, be in touch and keep conversing … when in the exemplary last moments they would need a ‘news bite’ from a relevant Brand/ spokesperson … you are automatically ‘top-of-mind’ and yes super-easily accessible through your twitter handle too.

It makes sense using Twitter as a fantastic customer service tool too. Showcase all your emergency contact numbers there and ask customers to reach out to you … follow your followers and they shall be able to send you a direct message (DM) with their complaint/ query/ requirement. Ask for questions proactively and be sure to answer them. And yes, at the cost of sounding repetitive widen that Twitter vision and think focused of a single thing, forging meaningful relationships.

Finally this post cannot end without a line or two about how important is to measure your presence on Twitter. From reach, response rate and re-tweets , Branding, awareness and being able to explain the proverbial holy-grail of ‘sales funnel’ this very topic is wide enough to deserve some dedicated post on.

So till then, start tweeting and keep tweeting and I do look forward to a tweet from that Business account of yours, sometime soon. Signing off, till we meet next.