socialmedian: HOW TO: Build Community on Twitter

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HOW TO: Build Community on Twitter

Source: Mashable!

Nov 10, 2008

Summary

Sarah Evans is the director of communications at Elgin Community College (ECC) in Elgin, Illinois. She also authors a PR and social media blog.

Your Twitter community is your life line. The strength of your community determines overall what you will (or won’t) get out of the microblogging platform. What do you want to use Twitter for? I wanted to build a community where I could engage in dialogue, stay ahead of the social media curve and share some laughs.

I just shared my objective with you. What’s yours? Start with your community objective and then go for it. Use the 10 tips below as your guide to grow the community which benefits you (and your audience).

Do… Create a user-friendly Twitter ID (@yourname)

Your Twitter ID is part of your personal brand. Plain and simple. Your first choice for a Twitter ID should be your name. There is nothing stronger for creating your personal brand. If your name is taken (as mine was) find a way to keep it as close as possible. (I added “PR” in front of my name, which worked for me as it reinforced my name and my expertise.)

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Comments (5)

Thomaspower,

Nov 11, 2008

Every brand must do this, twitter is becoming the home of customer services.

Spuds,

Nov 11, 2008

Very good article. Twitter can be very powerful when used well

Krusk,

Nov 11, 2008

These are fabulous tips and a must-read for anyone getting started with Twitter!

Mikeashworth,

Nov 11, 2008

I don't agree that every Brand must do this. It depends where your customers are. If some of them are using places like this, then that's cool.

However, we need to ensure that we don't create an underclass of poorly supported customers. Those people who don't use twitter, get satisfaction and other such tools and websites.

We shouldn't force people to have to use these tools if they would rather pick up a phone, email or write.

Brands need to talk with customers wherever they are and whomever they are, and treat them all equally.

Remarkable Customer Service shouldn't just be for the social media elite.

Mike Ashworth
Marketing Coach and Consultant
Brighton and Hove, Sussex, UK
Boosting Sales for Small and Medium Sized Businesses by
helping them find, attract and keep Customers.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeashworth
http://MichaelAshworth.wordpress.com

Vincent Wright,

Nov 12, 2008

I agree with you that every brand should do this. Else why have a brand. Brands that go where the customers are and find NEW SOURCES of customers do such things as win Presidential Elections. Brands that don't, don't...