Twitter: love having the brands, but I don’t have to know the person behind the brand

A very provocative post on Mashable today in which Mark Drapeau shares his thoughts about brands on Twitter. Mark thinks that brands should not be on Twitter, but that people ‘hide’ behind organizational brands, obscuring their persona and therefore reducing authenticity and transparency. Yes, it’s a subject that has been discussed many times. I’ve written about brands on Twitter and best practices many times. And of course, there was the survey that Peter Sorgenfrei and I ran in which 240 Twitter users were asked to give their perceptions on brands. Once again, three key points:

Not surprisingly, most users (89%) agree that brands should engage their customers on Twitter.The majority also have a better impression of brands that use Twitter for customer service (81%).

Proper usage of Twitter however, is paramount as almost 90% of users would frown upon poor or inappropriate brand use of Twitter.

The power of a relationship is extremely strong on Twitter. 60% of respondents would recommend a company based on their presence on Twitter and 80% of Twitter users will reward those brands they have key relationships by being more willing to purchase from them.

And you can find over 50 brands using Twitter on a Social Media Marketing wiki that Peter Kim is curating.

Over 70 people have commented on Mashable today and the predominant opinion is that we like our brands on Twitter. Since Twitter is an opt-in community, I can choose to follow whoever or whatever brand I want. I was particularly impressed with Pete Blackshaw’s (author of Angry Customers tell 3000) comment, paraphrased here, Part of what’s drawn brands to Twitter has been the very enthusiastic reception of Twitterites (tens of thousands of them) who have been preaching company and brand “engagement” and “responsiveness” and “participation.” If anything, the Twitter crowd has flirted with righteousness in encouraging brands to participate.

Christine Perkett of Perkett PR says in her Mashable comment,

I think this is an interesting debate and - like anything - comes down to personal preference. That’s why I actually love Twitter - I can choose to follow, unfollow or even just save a certain brand’s “Tweet” that I want to remember.

Obviously as a marketer - and one of the brands on Twitter (in addition to the numerous clients that we’ve helped kick start on Twitter) - I am a fan of such. However, I think more specifically, I am a fan of brands doing it right. And by that I mean - engaging and being personable as you suggest. Not just using Twitter as an RSS feed. Not just blasting your own news/agenda. Combining industry insights with opinions and news and, when warranted, even humor. And, identifying who is behind the corporate handle.

Felix Leander of Burson-Marsteller, also gives a similar perspective on his excellent PR/ Social media blog.

Does anyone disagree that brands should be on Twitter, but there is certainly a right way on how to do it? How would you help a brand to understand Twitter and do it right?

A few questions for companies to consider as they join Twitter

More and more companies have joined the Twitterverse. Over the past week, I have been followed by Whole Foods, Starbucks, American Airlines and Popeyes Chicken. Hopefully, these companies and others are discovering that Twitter is a great place to join the conversation with those customers.  Much has been written here and elsewhere about ways to facilitate those conversations. But as companies jump on the Twitter bandwagon, I have a lot of questions that they should consider since Twitter is designed for individuals:

• Do you set up a Twitter account with your official brand name or an employee spokesman?
• Great naming conventions by Dell (RichardatDELL) and Zappos (Zappos_Alfred) let customers know that their companies have a human face.
• Another best practice: Zappos uses a page on their website to let customers know all of the "official" company Tweeters.
• What are your goals and objectives for Twitter?
• Who speaks for your brand?
  
• Which department manages the Twitter account: Marketing, PR, Customer Service, Sales?
  
• Is there a Twitter editorial policy?
• How often do you send links to your website?
  
• Do tweets comply with SEC and SOX regulations?
• How do you protect against your brandjacking?
• If you are not ready to be on Twitter, do you Twittersqat your company name?
• Who do you follow?
• Do you follow back those that follow you?
• How often do you promote the brand in your tweets?
• Do you offer unique coupons to Twitter?
• How do you track those?  And what is success?
• Do you have a policy or guidelines for employees who tweet?
• Whose account is it?
• Must employees include the company in their bio?
• Which department enforces the policy?
• How do you bridge the line between being "big brother" and protecting the brand?
  

These are just a few concerns that companies should consider as they join the community.  I am sure there are many more.  And like all things Twitter, there is no hard and fast rule or right answer. It must feel right based on the objectives and culture of the company.  What else should brands consider as they get active on Twitter? 

More on brands that get it

I've written a few times on brands that get Twitter:

• last week talking about Scott Monty and Ford
• Then on July 18, some innovative ways that HP was using Twitter at an event
• And on July 13, an article outlining best practices of brands that get it showing a video of Amy Worley

Since then, much has been written about brands that get it:

• Zena Weist gave great advice to companies on how to execute their Twitter strategy
• Jeremiah Owyang told Exxon how to use Twitter
• Shel Holtz wrote about how Southwest Air has used Twitter to announce a contest
• Ann Handley created a post about the number of brands on Twitter.
  
• And tonight, Rodney Rumford wrote about 25 startups using Twitter to help their businesses gain traction
• as well as 33 brands that suck on Twitter.

You can find more articles about brands on Twitter and best practices from my delicious tags.

So for all you brands out there, we've teed it up for you, told you how to do it the right way, and the wrong way.  It's up to you!

Cool Dell event using Twitter

Found this on Lionel Menchaca's Dell blog. The Dell Global Mobility Event has a dedicated Twitter account to enable customers to engage in conversation with Dell during the event. Great use of Twitter, in my opinion!

clipped from direct2dell.com Dell Global Mobility Event & Twitter I love it when I get to blog about Twitter. Lots of you out there in the blogosphere are aware that we are having a global mobility event tomorrow (Tuesday August 12—register here). We're adding Twitter into the mix to have discussions and answer questions from folks in real-time online the event. Sound interesting? If so anyone who wants to chat with us from 9am - 10am PDT can go to www.twitter.com/Digital_Nomads. An even better way to track the conversation tomorrow is through this link on Summize.com. I'll be part of a group that will be an What: Live event featuring demonstration of a new generation of fresh and innovative designs, extreme power-efficiency and connectivity that will allow users to work anytime, anywhere.

More on best practices

We all know how Twitter shines at events, whether it's taking notes, working the back channel, or the impromptu meetup.  I just read on Pistachio's blog of an innovative approach that HP is taking at the Blogher conference.  They are running a scavenger hunt with clues only given on Twitter using an event dedicated account. What a cool idea!

These companies get it!

Recently after seeing a proliferation of spammers join Twitter, I wrote about Identifying unscrupulous twitterers and some ways to protect yourself from them. Unfortunately, during my research, I found many companies that exhibited the same behavior.  Twitter is a conversational tool that enables community of like minded people and fans.  However, many brands just see twitter as another channel for broadcasting their campaigns and pushing the message out. A simple monologue,hawking the latest item on sale or “cool ad”.  I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work that way. Who is doing this?  Unfortunately, there is a long list.  Many well respected companies, large and small.  Companies like Amazon, Mountain Dew, Cruise West, and Wine Enthusiast.

Twitter provides companies with direct contact and engagement with their customers. On Twitter, brands can engage with their customers to learn what they like and what doesn’t work for them. Conversations happen on twitter and the smart companies are talking to their customers in a dialogue.

So which companies “get it” and are having conversations with their customers? Of course, there are the famous Twitter case studies about Dell, HR Block, Comcast, and Zappos.  We all know, love them and talk about them to prove that Twitter is a viable business channel that fosters deeper engagement and evangelism with our customers. The YouTube interview below between two Twitter friends, Rodney Rumford and Amy Worley of HR Block really illustrates the benefit and value of true conversations on Twitter.

In addition to these well known case studies, there are many other large and small companies that “get Twitter” and are having relationships with their customers. Saul Colt of FreshBooks uses twitter to reach out to his customers, not only for customer support and development of new features, but to plan tweetups with his customers whenever he travels. He listens for freelancers with billing problems and then he engages them. Intel has a number of employees on Twitter led by prolific twitterer Josh Bancroft as well as many product groups that engage in conversations with customers everyday.  And then there is Melanie Notkin, who just launched her company, Savvy Auntie, and has been using twitter and other social media for several months to inform customers, the press, and other interested parties about her underserved community and her solutions.  As a result, SavvyAuntie has jumped out of the gate with a successful launch that few companies have experienced.

So what are the best practices of all of these great companies using Twitter?

• They don’t push their message.
• They focus on the conversations by inviting, engaging, cheering and helping their customers.
• They listen for the relevant conversations and then try to be helpful.
• Their employees all speak in their own voice and personality.
• They have more than 1 twitter account, usually a corporate account but also individual accounts.
• And most of all, they are responsive.

Now if your company is thinking about joining Twitter (and you should), take some notes and learn from some of the good guys above.