culled from:americanexpress.com
1. Have a defined brand voice. When considering the
voice of your brand, keep in mind the personality of the company and the
audience you want to attract. Does your company make custom skateboards
geared towards the younger crowd? Your voice might be laid-back and
conversational. Do you sell high-end products geared towards mature
consumers? Your voice might be more refined and professional.
Consistency is key. If you have more than one person controlling the
Twitter account, have a defined set of style rules to follow.
2. Think hard about your Twitter bio: Essentially,
your Twitter bio is your “About” page in 140 characters. This means that
most of your “About” page needs to be cut down. Consider the most
important points of your business. Imagine that you are pitching your
company to potentially millions of people, and you have just a couple
sentences to do it. This is essentially what you are doing. Always
include a link to your website in this section.
3. Choose a background that mirrors the brand: Like
your brand’s voice, your Twitter background should represent the brand.
The best backgrounds feature custom designs or photographs, rather than
pre-created templates. Company Twitter accounts, like Etsy, Coca-Cola, Spotify, and ZipCar,
all created custom backgrounds that are appealing and resonate with
their brands. You should change your background periodically, but keep
the same style. For example, when Coca-Cola changes their background,
they maintain a consistent “red” theme, in tandem with their company’s
trademark color.
4. Choose a purpose and stick with it: DisneyPixar primarily uses Twitter to promote upcoming films, whereas Starbucks
thrives off of heavy interaction with their customers. Is your primary
reason for being on Twitter to inform, to sell, to converse, or a
combination of engagement methods? Decide where you fit in, but refrain
executing your purpose with a salesman style. What works at the front
door won’t work on Twitter.
5. Consider keeping a separate account for support:
Potential and regular customers are increasingly turning to Twitter to
ask for support and guidance about a service. This is why it is helpful
to create a separate account for responding to these issues, especially
if you are receiving a handful of inquiries. Companies like Etsy and Instagram have separate support accounts to address issues. On the other hand, Travelocity
does not, and its feed is filled with responses to customer issues.
While this speaks volumes for a company’s customer service integrity, it
interrupts the flow of conversation and the brand voice that you’ve
created for your business.
