Time for some Tweet advice

Posted on 25th Oct 2011 by Scott Goodson in Tips and Tricks

If you’re a brand on Twitter, are you absolutely sure you’re talking to your customers in the right way? I don’t mean in terms of your tweets. I’m talking about who is talking to them.

When you first launch on Twitter, you may not even think about the ‘face’ of your account. But it’s one of the most crucial aspects of tweeting.

Why? Because if you get it wrong, you ruin all chances and opportunities for real consumer engagement. Remember that Twitter wasn’t designed as a place for brands. It was a place for people. And so as a brand, you’ve got to adapt.

I’m not saying become everyone’s best friend. But as a brand you have a choice to make – be faceless, or be ‘human’. Many brands choose to play it straight. A logo which talks. But this can mean that your customers don’t feel valued. They never know who they’re talking to. How do they know who is really tweeting for that brand? There’s no real interaction.

Other brands elect someone from within the company to be their ‘face’ of Twitter. So customers have a real person to interact with. This can boost loyalty a great deal. Because followers know that they’re talking to someone from within the brand. So if they’ve got feedback about the brand, or products, they know it’s going to the right place. And as a brand, you can head off any potential negativity by asking people to direct message you with any issues – which of course you’ll respond to, away from the public forum.

So which is best? Our Cultural Movement strategies at StrawberryFrog say that there is no wrong answer here. That you need a strategy against which you deliver tweets, and naturally it depends on what your strategy is. Some brands want to be kept at arms length.

And yet, in today’s fast-moving communicative online society, 140 characters can have a massive impact. So a strategy is a necessity not a luxury. Equally important is responding in the right way. Customers expect communication, and they expect it quick. Whichever the approach, never underestimate the value engagement has in relationships and in the movement.

Image Credit: 1000 Words / Shutterstock.com