Twitter for Brands

The world is atwitter. Twitter, one of the fastest-growing websites on the internet, has captured everyone's attention.

Like most hot internet properties before it, the original purpose of Twitter was simple: give people a way to keep family members, friends and colleagues up-to-date with the latest happenings in their lives. In 140 character bite-sized status updates.

From its humble beginnings, Twitter has evolved into a flexible communications platform that is being used in a wide variety of ways. Every day, brands and prominent individuals are joining the Twitter bandwagon and looking to engage with their stakeholders and fans using the popular microblogging service. Even brands that you wouldn’t expect to have an interest in services like Twitter are getting involved. Case in point: Louis Vuitton is now on Twitter.

The appeal of Twitter for big names is easy to understand: some of the most popular Twitter users household names. Starbucks has over 180,000 followers, the CEO of online retailer Zappos has over 610,000 followers and Hollywood celebrity Ashton Kutcher recently beat out CNN to reach the 1 million follower mark.

But despite its popularity and the fact that just about everyone seems to be joining, Twitter largely remains an enigma for brands. How can it be used? How should it be used? What's the pay-off for the brand?

Key Considerations
Before you jump into the Twitterverse, there are number of key items to consider:

• Goals. Do you want to use Twitter to market your brand, communicate with customers or acquire consumer feedback? There are lots of different ways that Twitter can be used and your strategy should be based on what you expect to achieve.
• The stakeholders. Before setting up shop, you should identify the employees or groups within your organization that will need to be involved in order to achieve your goals. Simply delegating Twitter to a single employee probably isn’t a good idea.
• Metrics. Do you Twitter goals dictate that you acquire a significant number of 'followers'? Or are you far more interested in how many interactions you engage in? Whatever the case, by choosing the right metrics to measure your goals, you ensure that you'll be able to monitor the progress of your Twitter efforts.
• Your desired level of involvement. Twitter is 'real-time': everything moves quickly and what happened an hour ago is usually old news. As such, you should consider how much time and energy you can invest in your efforts to make sure your strategy is sustainable and doesn't fizzle out.

Getting Started

Despite the rush to get involved on Twitter, there's no reason your brand shouldn't feel comfortable standing back and observing for a while. Observing is a great way to get the hang of the service without risk and to see first-hand the ways that individuals and businesses are using it. What are other brands doing? What are your competitors doing? A little bit of research is a good idea.

Once you're ready to join the party, signing up for a Twitter account is simple. You'll be asked to provide some basic information, such as your name and email address. When it comes to picking your username, be sure to use something descriptive (eg. your brand name).

Since all content (including your bio) is counted in characters on Twitter, be sure to maximize what you convey by customizing your profile. Specifically, you'll want to fill in your bio, upload a background image and add an avatar. Like Twitter as a whole, this is all free and is crucial for establishing an effective and engaging brand presence.

Getting Involved

They key to success on Twitter is participation. While your goals will dictate how you participate, make no mistake about it: you have to participate to get the most from the exercise. This is not a passive endeavor.

Here are some good ways for a brand to start:

• Follow a few people. Make your presence known by following a few interesting people. You can be strategic here by following people who have lots of followers, have influence within your target market, etc. Don't go overboard, however. Mass-following is a no-no.
• Engage with users who are talking about you. Using Twitter's search functionality, it's easy for brands to learn what Twitter users are saying about them. This can often provide perfect opportunities to start conversations with those users.
• Twitter is really all about sharing and one of the best ways to build a following is to share information that other users will find interesting and valuable. Tip: it doesn't always have to be about your brand. Consider chiming in on other topics or providing a broader perspective. Chances are your brand has a lot to say.

For brands looking to take their Twitter involvement to the next level, here are some other things Twitter can be used for:

• Contests and promotions. Italian restaurant chain Maggiano's boosted its brand profile on Twitter by running a simple giveaway for a $100 gift card.
• Couponing. Coupons.com recently got into the act on Twitter by tweeting up coupon deals.
• Direct sales. By tweeting what it has available for sale in its outlet, Dell has added over $1m in revenue using Twitter.
• Charity. Twitter can be an effective tool for assisting charitable causes your brand is involved with.

Putting it All Together

Twitter is a lot of different things to a lot of different people and there's no right or wrong way for brands to participate. Success comes down to planning, setting strategy based on clear goals, getting the right people involved, measuring and monitoring and, finally, making the commitment to stay involved.