7 Discoveries of a Newly Fledged Tweep
In my last post, I described my belated adoption of Twitter. I promised then to share some of my discoveries as a Twitter neophyte. Here goes:
1. Twitter is supposed to be fun. Like any business communication tool, Twitter deserves to be taken seriously – but not too seriously. Twitter users expect your tweets to have personality, to reflect the people behind the brand. Letting some individuality show in your tweet stream is not only acceptable, it is expected. If your tweets are boringly institutional, your following will shrivel.
2.Twitter is two-way communication. In PR school, they teach that public relations is supposed to be a two-way street, enabling companies and publics to understand each other. Twitter is well suited to this purpose. Some companies are using Twitter as part of a careful customer-service strategy. Their reps have branded Twitter accounts (e.g. @ACME_Joe) that they use to respond to complaints. I tweeted my dissatisfaction about a particular software product recently and was surprised (and pleased) to get a prompt response. Twitter makes it easy to give and receive feedback. When my university set up a new Twitter account for its alumni association, we simply asked the first few dozen followers what they wanted us to tweet about. The replies shaped our communication strategy.
3. Twitter doesn’t require a fancy phone. Our sports information director uses a regular flip phone to text-message scores and stats to Twitter immediately following competitions. She loves the mobility and immediacy of reporting via Twitter. Of course, if you do have a smart phone, there are additional possibilities. I had fun last week tweeting photos from our campus move-in extravaganza and orientation festivities. (Contact me @johnpaff and I’ll let you know what apps I currently favor on my Blackberry Storm.)
4. Twitter is more satisfying than RSS. I've deleted feed readers and most news apps from my smart phone. Twitter gives me a better way to catch up on news in those odd moments between meetings. I follow a few carefully selected news sources that are important to me: regional newspapers and television stations, niche publications serving higher education, and journals on marketing and advertising. Their headlines are mixed in with updates from friends and colleagues in an endlessly customizable stream.
5. Multiple accounts make a lot of sense. My small campus has four official Twitter accounts. Each has an intuitive name that describes the content of the feed: @HU_News (selected headlines), @HU_Alumni (accomplishments of grads and events of interest), @HU_Sports (brief scores and stats), and @HU_EXCEL (for our adult students). Some constituents follow more than one of these streams, so we try not to cross-post.
6. Twitter tools abound. There are many good third-party software tools available to help you juggle multiple accounts. I began with Tweetdeck, but recently switched to HootSuite because it is web-based (and therefore portable) and because it allows me to authorize several authors for each of our tweet streams without sharing Twitter passwords. Neat trick. Other tools allow you to import updates from other sources into your Twitter stream. For example, I use TwitterFeed to share U Marketing Guru postings instantly. (Caution: Do this sparingly.)
7. Live a life worth tweeting. As ConversantLife blogger Won Kim posted earlier today, “Truth be told, it doesn’t matter whether you’re on Twitter or not. It's whether we're living a life worth tweeting.” If you do decide to join the Twitterverse, do so in a meaningful way. If you waste your 140 characters tweeting pointlessly about what you had for breakfast, no one will care. But if your Twitter updates reflect a life well lived -- sharing good cheer, enlightenment, and real value -- your following is sure to grow.
Labels: customer service, public relations, social media, Twitter
posted by John Paff @ 5:31 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
"5. Multiple accounts make a lot of sense..."
I often hear this repeated for Twitter, Facebook pages, etc., but it is an idea that should be given deliberate consideration.
For a small campus, it is tough for me to see the advantage of multiple accounts.
Splitting off athletics, perhaps, given that people sometimes have strong feelings for and against the prominence of sports in academia. That said, I'd still post major items like a conference championship to a "general" news feed.
Segmentation can be beneficial in terms of the relevancy of a message to a given audience. However, segmentation also means exclusion. "Some constituents follow more than one of these streams, so we try not to cross-post." If an alumnus/alumnae only follows the alumni feed, they may miss interesting news which helps build their ongoing relationship with the college.
Plus, it is another mouth to feed and maintain, and it is not beyond questioning if that extra time and effort is worthwhile.
Thanks for the insightful comments, Rob. You are not the first to raise questions about our particular segmentation strategy. In fact, the university may rethink that strategy.
I disagree that segmentation equals exclusion. Following one Twitter feed does not preclude following another. Our segmentation allows constituents to choose exactly the kind of content they want delivered to them. Plus, different account icons help folks sort one kind of update from another (e.g. sports, features, campus news). And there is never a shortage of stories to tell.
But the point I was making here really wasn't about segmentation. There are many other ways you can use multiple Twitter accounts. For example, I follow both @bluefuego and @bradjward; both @eldencreative and @christianelden; both @higheredexperts and @karinejoly.
If you do find reason for multiple Twitter accounts, there are plenty of tools to help you manage them.
Post a Comment
<< Home