More than blogging or other forms of social media, Twitter seems to generate the most questions about what’s appropriate to share with business users. Perhaps that’s due to the short message format, which can seem foreign to business leaders not accustomed to being pithy. More likely, it’s due to confusion from all the media messages new users have heard about Twitter – where the role models seem to be Ashton Kutcher or Oprah Winfrey, rather than business professionals.
This eBook grew out of a discussion at a recent industry event, where the topic of Twitter best practices drew huge interest. The goal of this eBook is to provide a framework for engaging with customers and peers on Twitter.
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What this book is not:This eBook is not a policy manual governing employee communications. I’ve always worked for entrepreneurial companies and am not a policies & procedures guy. I believe that you need to trust your employees to make smart communications decisions, whether online or off. Leading by example is probably the best way to help employees make smart judgments. At the same time, some helpful guidelines will probably help your team feel more comfortable in what they are doing.
This eBook is also not aimed at “how to attract a million followers and get rich”. First, while there are schemes out there to gain followers, most of them are ineffective. As Anil Dash (@anildash) recently wrote, no one really has a million followers on Twitter.
The key to gaining followers is to provide useful, relevant content. That said, the practices shared here will certainly help you gain followers and, more importantly, to become more relevant to those who do choose to follow you.
Twitter is a conversation, and while eBooks are not very interactive, I welcome your feedback and additions. Please send me your thoughts @graubart or, to go beyond 140 characters, drop me a note at barry-at-graubart-dot-com.
