I know that Twitter is an opt-in service, but brands on Twitter need to put more effort in showing their human side which is an important element of social media.
Yes Twitter is an incredibly useful and important tool for brands to build relationships, but there is still an ‘old’ media approach to brands use of Twitter.
Who are you – are you human?
Straight up - what significance is just a link to a brand’s homepage to me as a follower on Twitter? If I’m following a brand on Twitter then I should already know the main online touch points, the most obvious being the corporate website.
If a brand decides to follow me and I need to make a decision to follow back, then I would prefer to see a link to the brand’s ‘tweeple’ page with pictures of those contributing to Twitter on behalf of the brand, with additional links to their own social network profiles
Where’s the transparency?
Most brand websites follow a similar structure for example: home, about, contact, who we are etc… so if you are using Twitter why not add a tweeple page with photos, biog and links to the individual contributor’s own social networks so there is a level of transparency.
Taking this further, if it is too much effort to set up a new web page, or it causes your web team too much stress, then it takes 10 minutes to mock up a background with text and photos to be applied to your Twitter brand profile.
Social media is all about open, honest communication
So if you are a brand using Twitter as a tool, to engage and build relationships with your customers, then show your face please.
If you liked this blog post, copy, paste then tweet it:
RT @TomChapman Brands on Twitter show your face: http://bit.ly/gq9k
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One reason for this post is my discovery of a Twitter Directory Just Tweet It that was brought to my attention via Mashable. Just Tweet It to me represents the traditional business directory used everyday by buyers and sellers.
I personally think that Twitter is displaying the fundamental market characteristics described by Doc Searls in Cluetrain Manifesto. There is a tremendous amount of activity and noise, which to the outsider seems incredibly complex but niche conversations and transactions are taking place within networked markets.
You too may have experienced many Twitter consumers using the micro-blogging service as a tool to find out ‘if you know anyone who can re-design my blog?’, ‘do you know anyone who can create flash widgets?’.
In direct response ’sellers’ of their services will reply to these tweets giving them a direct link to their website or similar (their market stall) whereby the ‘purchaser’ can look at the products and services. Once the preferred seller has been chosen a deal can be made and a business transaction will take place. So are we experiencing here evidence of our return to bustling markets based on conversations where business takes place on a global scale?
Perhaps the Twittertainers such as @Wossy become the entertainers of the old markets where we throw a tweet or two their way to interact with them and get some enjoyment from their replies as we travel through the marketplace, but the real business takes place amongst those who produce and develop products and services - the foundation of an economic system.
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