Twitter for Dummies - Laura Fitton [89]
Admit to problems. When you acknowledge that your business and you occasionally have rough patches, you can form stronger, more genuine connections with your community. That kind of open disclosure has limits when it comes to some professions. Obviously, people in the legal and medical professions, as well as government agencies, have to restrict and curtail their Twitter use because of privacy issues. But for most businesses, honesty is the best policy.
Reach out continually. Don’t stop seeking out the customers who are talking about you (you can find them by conducting regular Twitter searches; see Chapter 9) and reaching out to them. That personal touch goes very far in establishing and maintaining a positive perception of your business or brand.
Be proactive. If you’re engaged with the community in a genuine way, people forgive most mistakes. Twitter’s community is pretty cooperative, and if you embrace it, you can be rewarded with unexpected benefits like loyalty, advocacy, and even organic, voluntary promotion of you and your work.
But, What If My Employees . . .
Like with any new tool, business owners often feel some uncertainty and concern about how to manage employees so that they don’t waste time or make costly mistakes when using Twitter. Remember to apply common sense and manage based on behavior and results, not just specific tools. Your existing guidelines about e-mail, blogs, commenting on Web message boards and forums, and even conversations with outside individuals cover any concerns that you have about your employees’ use of Twitter.
That said, it is important to take heed that information spreads fast on Twitter, and that Twitter is a very open and searchable public forum. Errors can — and will — go farther, faster, so the exercise of common sense is in order.
Before you start using Twitter for your business, provide staff with guidance on how to use it and what to be cautious about. Twitter is extremely new to many people, and they may not yet be familiar with just how public and open it is. Definitely set a few ground rules to help avoid common mistakes. You can simply write up a one-or two-page set of reminders or direct employees’ attention to the parts of your existing HR policy that cover public communications.
Make the guidelines basic, clear, and easy to follow. Here are some thoughts to get you started:
Remember that if you wouldn’t say it in front of your parents, kids, or boss, perhaps you shouldn’t say it on Twitter.
If you do something confidential at a company, keep private information under wraps. Respect clients’ privacy, as well as your company’s.
Respect the company brand when you’re out at tweetups (Twitter-based meet-ups) and events. Anyone can get quoted at any time.
Perception is reality. Even if the complaint you tweet right after a client phone call wasn’t about the client, it can be misconstrued that way.
Manage your time on Twitter well so that it doesn’t interfere with your workload.
Unless your business has other issues that come into play (for example, if you work for a law firm or government agency), these basic rules should be enough to keep people from abusing their time on Twitter. Customize them however you want.
Twitter can be an extremely valuable tool when it comes to building your professional team and bringing them together. You can set up meetings, tweet notes, meet customers, and more — and your staff can connect more easily by using Twitter, as well. The more of a team you can build, the better you can weather any economic buffering.
Sharing Knowledge
You can also use Twitter to share knowledge, collaborate both