4 Steps for Setting Up an Organizational Twitter Account

We're often asked about how to set up a Twitter account for an organization, when it's likely that more than one staffer will be tweeting.

Here's a quick four-step rundown of what we would do. This isn't the only way, of course. But if you are starting from scratch, this is what we would suggest. We'll use YAP as an example.

1. Set up a main "umbrella" account - e.g. YAPtweets.

Why? So people can find you easily. In the description, put in a nutshell what the organization does. A mission statement in under 140 characters, for example. (Be pithy - people like that. There's lots of other places you can be boring). For the website link field of the profile, create a Twitter landing page which says, "Welcome to the Twitter page for YAP! We're glad you're here. Here's what we're all about. Here's what we tweet about. And here are our team members, should you be interested in following them too." Then list the team as per #2.

2. Give your staff their own individual accounts - e.g. YAP_Bob, Maggie@YAP, etc.

Why? because people want to see individual people representing their organizations. There can be backlash when that doesn't happen. Presumably each staffer will have their own personality, their own things they like to tweet about personally and professionally, and they will also have their own content that they are responsible for - namely marketing, or advocacy, or publications, or events. Each person will grow their own followers independently - and can share them under the umbrella account as they go along (see #4.)

3. Use a multiple account Twitter client to manage your accounts.

Why? Because it's MUCH easier than signing in and out of accounts all day. SplitTweet works great, and we're checking out CoTweet (currently in private beta). SplitTweet has a cool "track your brand mentions" feature; CoTweet allows you to tag your replies as being from a particular person, and allows you to assign responses to team members. Both services allow you to monitor multiple accounts at the same time - so you can choose to tweet something to your individual account and the umbrella account, or just to one at a time. [Update - HootSuite is another good one.]

4. Under the umbrella account, periodically retweet items from team members as well as from their followers/friends.

Why? To show a coherent stream of content where visitors can immediately see what you're about and that different people speak for you in different ways. If managed well, you can follow relevant public conversations between team members under the umbrella too - conversations that might draw people in to whatever topic you are discussing.

That's it! Start tweeting!

Oh - hold up.

You might be wondering, but what about tweeting around a conference? Should we set up a specific conference-related Twitter account?

I say no. If you set up a new account for each conference, you are basically starting from zero friends and followers each time - and it takes time to build that community. However, make sure your team all use a specific designated hashtag for a particular conference. That means people finding you on Twitter via the conference promotion will be able to find all the tweets from you and your attendees about the conference, but also it allows you to differentiate between annual conferences from year to year - eg #Tech09 versus #Tech10 - but the staff members who have built a following on Twitter will stay visible and won't be hidden under some conference account. They will each also be enabled to add their own personal takes on the conference, by talking about the particular sessions they are attending and the things they care about from their individual (professional) viewpoints.

Want more? Here are some good introductory tips from TwitTip, a fantastic 101 blog from Problogger Darren Rowse all about Twitter:

- Building an Effective Business Profile on Twitter

- Tips for Brands and Nonprofits

- How to Handle Multiple Users Within Your Company

Let me know how you get on with this, or if you tried it a different way with success.