The Creation of Twitter Best Practices: Round 1

Aug 27

The Creation of Twitter Best Practices: Round 1

by Kristin Parrish
Category: Best Practices, Digital Influence

Kaitlyn has done a great job of explaining Twitter, what it can be used for and how to use it in her past two blog posts. In Twitter: Edition 101, she provides a great example of what Twitter can to do enhance communication and generate conversation around a specific event, topic, brand. And in Twitter: Edition 102, she shows what can happen when a company is not really listening (to social media).

But for the companies that ARE listening, what next?

There are about a zillion posts out there on the “Ideas on Using Twitter“, etc. Our goal now, is to boil this great insight down to identify the overall best practices for Twitter.

This post has been broken down into the do’s and don’t’s of Twittering in an effort to establish a base set of best practices. Similar to the development of our Blogger Code of Ethics, I will look to you (Twitterers and corporates alike) to get your feedback to help build these guidelines.

Twitter Do’s - Starting Out:

DO see what other businesses are doing on Twitter

Customer Relations - @ComcastCares

Product Discounts/e-Commerce Updates - @DellOutlet

Event Coverage - @Lenovo2008

Current Events/Headlines - @BarackObama

DO use Twitter search engines for keyword searches around brands, products and topic of interest. Tools like Summize (or Twitter Search - same site) and TweetScan allow you to do a keyword search within conversations on Twitter.

DO follow Twitterers with similar interests to establish a brand presence within conversation (See Valerie Maltoni’s post)

Twitter Do’s - Building a Community:

DO use Twitter to start a conversation

“Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human.” - Chris Brogan

DO be dedicated to Twitter. Chris Brogan recommends having more than one employee on Twitter so ensure an ongoing presence. (@BaskinRobbins could have continued to grow their presence on Twitter, but instead lasted only 1 month)

DO ask questions and get feedback from your followers

DO engage consumers in co-creation and get constructive insights for future company developments or publications

DO follow the Blogger Code of Ethics within all things social media, David Armano sums it up beautifully in his post:

Be transparent in your reason d’Tweet (Let your followers know your about - Customer Service, Product Discounts, etc)
Respect other Twitterers (Know when to participate and when to listen)
Think before you direct message (Will your direct message be seen as helpful or intrusive?)
Make sure your message directly relates to those you are reaching out to
Provide value to your followers (Whether it’s free product or valuable advice, something that gives you credibility and reiterates the value you see in your followers)

DO spread the word about your participation on Twitter - include your Twitter handle in your email signature, send out your Twitter URL, http://twitter.com/USERNAME (mine is http://twitter.com/KFoster926), to co-workers, peers and even customers (if relevant)

Twitter DON’T'S:

DON’T use Twitter to push ads or brand messaging. Don’t just Tweet but also follow others to join in or start a conversation. As @CatchUpLady says,

“[It's] annoying when a person or brand blatantly uses Twitter as a channel to push a msg, not a conversation tool.”

DON’T use Twitter to tell your everyday tasks, make sure your Tweets are resourceful, entertaining and/or valuable to your followers

DON’T be boring! (Havi Brooks puts it best on her recent post,

“If you try to talk about what you’re doing (unless what you happen to be doing is boxing a poodle while stilt-walking with your poodle-booter troupe), you will almost certainly be boring. And the first rule of Twitter is ‘Do not be boring’!”

DON’T panic if you are “Twitter-Jacked“, where other Twitterers use your identity within their Twitter handles, instead contact the Twitterers and find out their reasoning before taking action (they could turn out to be your biggest fans)

DON’T I REPEAT - DO NOT Tweet anything about clients, co-workers, friends, etc. that you would not want them to see - this is a good way to burn bridges and lose customers (not to mention make a bad name for yourself)
Helpful Links:

Below are a few thoughts from colleagues and Twitter peers on the Best Practices of Twitter. Their thoughts and insights helped to develop this first round of best practice:

Harvi Brooks - Fluent Self
http://www.fluentself.com/blog/stuff/twitter-demystified-the-great-debunking-begins/

Valeria Maltoni - Conversation Agent
http://www.conversationagent.com/2008/08/business-uses-for-twitter.html

Chris Brogan
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-business/

David Armano - Logic + Emotion
http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2008/08/guidelines-for.html

Jeremiah Owyang - Web Strategy
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/08/18/web-strategy-the-evolution-of-brands-on-twitter/

Social Media Club
http://www.socialmediaclub.org/2008/08/26/social-media-now-082608/

Tweets from the following:

CatchUpLady @KFoster926 Tweet *and* follow. Annoying when a person or brand blatantly uses Twitter as a channel to push a msg, not a conversation tool 11:45 AM August 26, 2008 from web in reply to KFoster926

rcaggiano @KFoster926 use it to chat, listen, post interesting links, drive traffic & be witty. do NOT use it to document boring details of your day. 06:45 PM August 25, 2008 from web in reply to KFoster926

Orbret @KFoster926 Value can come from content you found that someone else didn’t have the time to find but enjoys. Random comments aren’t useful 03:59 PM August 25, 2008 from web in reply to KFoster926

Here are some active marketing/social media Twitter handles for you to follow:

What are your thoughts? What other best practices should be added to this list? Share your do’s and don’t by commenting on this post.

Your feedback could warrant a Twitter Best Practices: Round 2, so stay tuned.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 5:39 pm and is filed under Best Practices, Digital Influence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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34 Responses to “The Creation of Twitter Best Practices: Round 1”

Nathan Kam Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
@KFoster926, great post about Twitter. I’m a PR pro here in Hawaii and have been enjoying your recent posts on using social media/Twitter. Please keep up the good work and see you online.

Aloha,
Nathan Kam
@golfnunt8
Rohit Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Kristin,

This is a great start to a much needed effort. Here are two things I would add to your DO list:

1. DO pay attention to big memes or topics of discussion on Twitter that are attracting high visibility and consider being part of those topical conversations.

2. DO monitor Twitter at least several times a day as the speed with which conversations happen means that you need to be more active and react to conversations with a much faster speed than just about any other form of social media.
Andrew Graham Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Do use TinyURL (or a similar site) to shorten links to around twenty characters. In some browsers, long links that split in the “What Are You Doing?” combo box mess up the interface for your followers.

Here’s a visual: http://tinyurl.com/6s8nb2
Darren Armano Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Great post and useful since you’ve aggregated some good content here. Couple of thoughts.

my handle on Twitter is actually @armano but you have the link right (thanks BTW)

Also, you might be more interested in my post on ‘Guidelines for brands using Twitter) it’s a bit more comprehensive.

http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2008/08/guidelines-for.html

Thanks for the mention. I’ve put this link on Twitter as it’s a great resource. Say hello to the gang for me please.
Ike Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Andrew, Twitter will automatically convert to tinyurl links, but I offer a better “do”:

DO manually shorten your links with snurl or other services that let you save your snips — because you can track how many times they are clicked. tinyurl won’t give up those stats, and if several people share the same link on Twitter, tinyurl will use the same identifier.

snurl lets you pick your OWN shortcode, which means you can track only those links that originate with YOU.

You guys do like a little bit of measurement, right?
David Armano Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 9:39 am
LOL, and it’s David Armano (don’t ask me why I don’t even know my own nameâ€”it’s a long story).

Ahâ€”fun with comments.
BarbaraKB Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Be a real person on Twitter. In fact, most companies or organizations will need more than one person on Twitter. Also, I believe it *is* good to tweet @ least *some* every day tasks. But do it in an entertaining 140 character way. And why not: it makes your org human! Most people want to follow *real people* on Twitter, not companies or organizations. My favorite lately is Craig Newmark from Craig’s List. Tweets about all sorts of mundane daily items but always entertaining. And, he does respond back to @s and DMs. That’s vital!
Andy Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 10:53 am
I just read about how Zappos as one of the leaders re businesses using Twitter has over 400 Tweeters. It appears they are using it for exactly the right reason all brands should be there too:

“…it’s really just a great way for employees and customers to see that we are real people, and it makes the relationship a lot more personal…”

I think that the Twitter platform will hold an equally important place in business not at all necessarily related to micro-blogging though - One needs only to have an open mind.

How about Shopzilla (shopping comparison engine)â€¦It might be nice to design a SPAQRL call integrated between their price/store database with Twitter API’s. So now, when I am in a store looking to purchase a Nipon camera, I can simply send a Tweet to Shopzilla, and it will return prices that I can then use in comparison.

How about tying the Twitter API to your knowledge base, so that your customers can get quick replies (FAQ, manuals,etc) via your customers Tweets?

How about using Twitter as a communication platform (Phweet lets you even do this with VOIP & conference calling over Twitter). Perhaps you are a concert promoter you could create a social network for your venue on the fly.

When Twitter becomes Location Aware (I know there is Twinkle but LBS services are not even 1.0 yet) it will get really interesting.

People need to start thinking of Twitter as a micro blogging tool, and open your eyesâ€¦it is much bigger then that.
Chi-chi Ekweozor Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Great stuff Kristin.

I’d add to your fine list:

â€œDO see what other businesses are doing on Twitterâ€

Current Events - UK Government @DowningStreet

They are taking pains to listen and respond to @replies: they even posted a response to one of mine on their new website!

http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page16525

My contribution:

DON’T worry about missing tweets. Folk will retweet if necessary.

Following you…

@realfreshtv
Nicole Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Great post Kristin!

Perhaps I’ll start using my handle in my signature.. starting with this comment. This reminded me of a recent happy twitter experience: I started follow @wholefoods because I plan to be a foodie someday when I make loads of money and their team has been very responsive to my questions and pro-active about pointing people towards their blog and online resources. I can’t believe I just found about the handle yesterday! My prior ignorance to this foodie bliss leads to this next puzzle…

I’m still trying to figure out how to reach out to people who might be interested in following you without being obnoxious. In my example of @wholefoods, I only became a follower after seeing the handle mentioned in another blog post but otherwise would have never thought to look. If you see people are twittering about your product or service area but not your brand, how do you clue them in? Follow them and hope they reciprocate? Reply to the relevant post?

What do others think?

Cheers,
Nicole Landguth
@wondrgirl
Lewis Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Thanks for breaking this out Kristin and Kaitlyn,

I think an interesting case study that falls somewhere between a “do” and “don’t”, such as maybe a “beware” or “fyi” is the recent Mad Men “brandjacking”
http://blogs.zdnet.com/feeds/?p=201

Virginia referenced this in the Exxon case, but for those of us social media-ites in lalaland, “jacked” twiterees (or maybe they should be avatary-twitterers (?)) are an interesting double-edge sword. My opinion is that Deep Focus, AMC’s firm, made the right call and recommended that their client reverse course before a “groundswell” emerged.

So maybe the “do” is: in instances were it appears transparently obvious that fans create an account, vigilance is called for, but not DMCA take-down should not be an immediate reaction. Fans expressing their “attachments”, urr, tweets, surely is a good thing. Or at least, not something you should piss off lightly.

This will open a can of worms and especially for media clients who think they are THE “INDUSTRY” (like there’s only one?). As I’ve seen in working with clients, giving up control in Hollywood will be a challenge.

PS: Awesome job on the Olympics and I just wanted more H20 bloggers.

Great posts!
Lewis Haidt
@lewisha
Tennyson Williams Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
This approach to using twitter is really key. A lot of the DO’s that you listed go back to the most practical and successful of practices in business in general. I really fine-tuned my own approach to PR work after reading “How to win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie. A lot of successful business owners have read the book till the spine is cracking, but for those of you who have never heard of it, I highly recommend it. It is life changing and shows you how to get what you want by first giving others what they want.
Martha Garvey Says:
September 17th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Agree with all this.

Also:

Echoing the Dale Carnegie theme: Be of service when you can. Help a twitterista out whenever possible, with information, stuff, etc. It’s not about you, it’s about them.
Resideo.com Says:
November 12th, 2008 at 10:06 am
As the “voice” of the Resideo.com (hotel reservations) Twitter account - @resideo - I do my best to ensure that we are being as non-threatening and non-spammy as possible.

We actively engage with our group of followers & followees, as well as monitor the public feed for folks that need help in finding a hotel, and we’ve had success.

Our numbers may be small, but they’re growing, and we’re excited!
Kristin Foster Says:
November 12th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Resideo.com how are people reacting to your outreach? Are you tending to @reply to those w/ hotel questions? Would be interested to see the responses you are getting and how this is relates to what you are doing in other social media efforts.

Definitely following the “be of value” best practice!
Resideo.com Says:
November 12th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Yes, when we see someone asking for hotel help (whether it’s a cheap rate or a recommendation), we @reply. A good number of them go un-noticed — I think that’s just due to folks not knowing enough about Twitter and its features. I’m sure some are being ignored, and that’s to be expected.

However, for the most part, the replies do begin a genuine correspondence with the user. We put in as much info as we can in 140 characters, and we always put in a follow request, mostly so we can DM the user and give them a direct email address to contact us at.

Overall, I’m extremely pleased, and we’ve not heard any negative feedback — as I mentioned before, we aim to be extremely non-threatening and non-spammy.

We’re not always able to help the user, but at least they know they can come to us for their next hotel need.

We’d be more than happy to talk more about our efforts — you can email me directly (let me know if I need to post my email address here).
Paul Kinlan Says:
December 11th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Hi,

I have recently developed http://www.twollo.com/ which is an application that helps twitteres never miss out on a conversation. Twitterers tell us what they are interested in and we find users who are talking about your interests and auto subscribe a user

I am activly seeking comments, criticsims and suggestions about twollo so that I can improve the service.

My personal twitter account is http://www.twitter.com/PaulKinlan and twollo’s is http://www.twitter.com/Twollo . One user has written an overview of the service off his own bat (http://www.twitter-howto.com/twitter-how-to/twitter-how-to-find-interesting-people-to-follow-and-get-more-followers-automatically) so you can get a feel for what it does without having to subscribe to the service.

Kind Regards,
Paul Kinlan
Ogilvy PR 360 Digital Influence Blog » Blog Archive » » Twitter Bootcamp for PR: A Recap Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 1:52 pm
[...] by the Bulldog Reporter’s PR University. During the workshop, we shared key strategies and best practices on how organizations can participate in social media through microblogging platforms such as [...]
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January 21st, 2009 at 2:15 pm
[...] strategies that companies can take on to meet business and communication goals, keeping in mind do’s and don’ts of Twitter [...]
Ogilvy PR 360 Digital Influence Blog » Blog Archive » » FAQ’s about Twitter Strategy and Public Relations Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 2:16 pm
[...] people to follow you for that reason. It’s important to let your followers know your reason d’Tweet so they can better understand the content you are [...]
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[...] The Creation of Twitter Best Practices Round 1 from the pros at Ogilvy Public Relations, in their Twitter Strategy Series. 9 Dos and 5 Don’ts, including “Don’t use Twitter to push your ad or brands.” See also the blogger code of ethics. [...]
George Serradinho Says:
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:05 am
Thanks for the info that you supplied, it will help me a lot when tweeting.
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March 1st, 2009 at 7:04 pm
[...] The Creation of Twitter Best Practices: Round 1: (twitter ) [...]
Patti Says:
March 16th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Hi Kristen,
Great post, may I share your do’s and don’t with our staff that is not familiar with twitter?
Thanks,

@pattipdx
@thecolumbian
Kristin Says:
March 16th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Patti - Absolutely, feel free to share and provide feedback or ask additional questions. Also, check out the Twitter for Business post to get ideas on how you can use it to help support ongoing PR strategies. http://blog.ogilvypr.com/2008/11/twitter-bootcamp-for-pr-a-recap/
Thanks!
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April 27th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
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August 20th, 2009 at 9:20 am
[...] The thing that works here - is that Ashton knows he’s got his target audience on Twitter - over 3,000,000 to be exact. His fans want to know what he’s doing and have a chance to connect with them, and by asking for their help in promoting Spread, Ashton has allowed his fans to feel like they can make a difference and be a part of Ashton’s life. And Ashton’s making a point to show his appreciation personally, through Twitter, to all those who are helping out - a must-do in Twitter Best Practices. [...]
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Motorhomes Says:
January 5th, 2010 at 8:47 am
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