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.
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8 comments:
Great post, and pretty much 100% accurate. We are doing nearly all of this with my association - we started with one "umbrella" account, and now we are using hashtags for events and promoting individual accounts as well (although I'm vetting the prospective Twitterers VERY carefully to say the least!).
Of course, though, I'm such a dork that I run TweetDeck (personal) and Twhirl (corporate) simultaneously to manage my accounts. My RAM needs a boost STAT!
Rockin' post!
I would just be wary of having TOO many people with the .org's acronym in their name. If all of a sudden there are a sea of YAP's people can start to tune you out. It's more exciting sometimes to find an employee with their own username, who puts in their bio that they work for the .org, it allows it to be more of a personal connection. Use your most personable people (in the virtual world) to man your "YAP_" or "XXX@YAP" accounts. Variety is the spice of life. :)
We actually started backwards with individuals and then will bring in the umbrella account when we relaunch our website (with the news blog) to help bring attention to what we are doing, having more of a broadcast channel that interacts and retweets, etc.
@TSL - You're not the only one that runs Tweetdeck & Twhirl simultaneously. ;) When will Tweetdeck come out with a multiple account option?!?
Good post - thanks.
I am curious what you (and others) think of individuals setting up separate Twitter accounts for business and personal use. I did this initially two years ago (before there were tools like Splitweet), but last year moved to just using one account. I don't mind if members follow my account, but a number of my tweets aren't relevant to the mission of our association. Part of me wonders if I should go back to using multiple accounts, but then I think an umbrella account and personal account are enough.
Yeah, it's hard to say - and the answer may change over time. If you develop a real personal brand, that is not tied to your association, then it might eventually be better to keep them separate (or to create yet another association account for yourself). I actually think this question will get easier as these multiple account management apps get better and better, and as more employees start tweeting too; and also, your own role might eventually be less about active tweeting on behalf of your association and more about brand monitoring, assuming you're currently the main social media person.
Thanks Maddie for the information. I coul call it as a part of good practices in Twitter.
As I told you I´ll traslate your post to spanish in my blog http://textovivo.blogspot.com
Hi,
Some great Twitter info!
And great List Blog Post!
I'm in the Build a Better Blog Challenge, too!
C ya!
Greetings,
Claus D Jensen,
www.clausdjensen.com
Thanks so much for your post! I can already see how my workplace could use Twitter effectively. Now I just have to convince the powers that be...
H :)
Great post! My company runs just one account and a few of us post to it b/c we're from different departments and it gets confusing sometimes b/c I've met people face to face before that know I tweet for it -- and they'll try to @ me on it. That's only happened a few times though and most of those people when we met learned my personal account too.
I can definitely see the advantage of having several personal company accounts -- except that my director worries about the use of company time as it is!
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