Twitip

You guys really answered the call on yesterday’s post, Answer A Reader Question: Multiple Twitter Users In Business!

Here’s a roundup of some of the best answers I saw thus far…

• Surely it would be best to use a single business account so that there’s a single point of contact and for the different members of staff to share this account through a professional Twitter platform. @imagetext
  
• I heard one of the big car manufacturers has a support-related twitter account which is managed by several people. I understand that the person “on shift” to man the account is in charge of changing their avatar/picture to indicate that “Mr. X” is on duty now. Granted, this is really geared towards a support oriented account, but it could also be applied towards other corporate users. @notagrouch
• If you follower list is made up of your personal contacts and your ppl are worried about losing them because they won’t be interested in your business… they won’t be interested in your business, and so won’t be worth jack to your business twitter account. @scott_herbert
• You also might want your Marketing person to present the plan and also make the manager aware that this is a new and very open way to communicate with customers. THAT might not be something they are prepared to do. @dorothybeach
• A boss who insists you use your Twitter account solely for business is like the boss insisting he come with you to a bachelorette party and telling you to talk business instead of watching strippers. You’d be the Debbie Downer of the whole night, your girlfriend would disinvite you from the wedding, and suddenly your phone would stop ringing. @iGoMogul
• If you want to be a business on Twitter, each person in company charged with the Twitter task should be working on finding a following that serves the interests of the business. There should be a company strategy, and everyone should have a ‘role’. It is the business owner’s job to help guide and focus the efforts of its people. Management needs to set standards and themes for individuals. Doing as your employer suggests is an example of using Twitter to ‘throw stuff at the wall and see if it sticks’. A very poor standard and strategy. @sharonandalex

It’s great to see that so many of you are taking the evolution of Twitter as a business tool so seriously (as much as I love the bachelor party comment, also)! Really, there are some things you all have brought up that I’m quite sure are still new ideas to some corporate-minded folks. Serves to prove that while Twitter really has been around a lot longer than traditional media has let it be known, there is still much to learn for many!

*** Question: Do you enjoy the “Answer A Reader Question” posts I put up here? Sometimes I get some (like the one from yesterday) that I think can really benefit from TwiTip’s readership, so I like to post them. Do you like them as well? ***