On Twitter, like the rest of the world, real or virtual, people are more likely to connect with other people as individuals that as businesses or brands — and I mean ‘connect’ in the psychological way as well as the social networking way.
Most business owners these days do understand that social networks are valuable marketing tools, but many don’t put much thought into how to interact with other users. They often get a slow start because they get a staff member to quickly set up an account in the business name and throw up a logo as a profile picture. Add some stiff, corporate message posts to that and your social media campaign is dead in the water.
Many larger brands are finding success in social media, using the corporate name and logo, but smaller businesses will need to add more of a personal touch — mixed with just enough branding that your message is clear.
Here are a few easy steps that will get bring your Twitter campaign to life:
- Take your time and plan out what persona you are going to use that will really reflect the way that your company does business.
- Create a more personal account name. Perhaps a shortened version of the business name with the person’s first name. If you have more than one person handling your posts, this works well; i.e. @curiousmike and @curiousmatt from Curious Wines.
- Use an actual photo instead of a logo. This will not only appeal to other users more, but will assist when there’s an opportunity to meet up in person.
- Post in a conversational way and not like a message from a marketing brochure or corporate handbook. Listen to what other people are saying and be helpful and interesting – interactive.
While my ‘personal’ Twitter account has steadily gained followers, retweets, etc. since I started using it; getting people to follow our corporate account is like pulling teeth. At first I thought it was because I wasn’t doing as much to promote it and focused on building it for awhile; but it just made it clear to me that without a persona it was unlikely to do as well.
The great old time salesman was a ‘people person’ and these days it’s still important to remember that personal touch when you are using social media to sell your business.
How do you add a personal touch to your corporate Twitter account?
[Photo: divemasterking2000
