Best Practices for Twitter

I came across and article that was posted a few days ago on Mashable titled: 9 Lessons from Successful Brands on Twitter. Being a marketer who is constantly looking to maximize the reach and strength of my clients' owned social environments, these nine lessons resonate with me on a day-to-day level. Nearly all my brands are working to build, or have already built, ad solid presence on Facebook. Some do a better job within that environment than others in terms of how they communicate with their fans and consumers, but they are active, and responsible so the effort is tangible to their fans.

But bridging the gap between the brand and followers on Twitter seems to be more and more difficult. A direct message from a brands Twitter handle can be perceived as spam, which at best will be disregarded or at worst will creative a long-lasting negative brand experience. Having conducted campaigns to get followers, I have tasted this first hand. It's tough. It's not like buying "likes" on Facebook to be sure. Acquiring fans within the space seems best done outside it, through other owned environments or more direct marketing initiatives.

Below, I've extracted the 9 lessons and listed them out for quick access, but be sure to go through the article to extract deeper insights and tools for enhancing your ability to better represent your clients who need to become active within this space:

Lesson #1: Don't be afraid to say "I'm sorry." Showcase the people and personalities behind your brand

Lesson #2: Bring your brand's personality to life with multimedia. Have fun with your followers.

Lesson #3: Authentically engage with celebrities. With much larger followings than most brands, celebrities can easily influence your brand and your follower count on Twitter.

Lesson #4: Everyone loves a good deal. Use contest and offeres to drive excitement about your brand.

Lesson #5: Twitter's not about you, it's about your audience. Figure out what your audience wants to hear about and tweet it.

Lesson #6: Don't take yourself too seriously on Twitter. Accelerate the positive comments and embrace the negative ones.

Lesson #7: If your customers use your product and service outside of business hours, figure out a way to be responsive on twitter whenever they need help.

Lesson #8: Not every brand can be quite as much fun on Twitter as Dunkin' Donuts, but we can all learn to lighten up a little, ask questions and give away free stuff.

Lesson #9: Find Twitter chats to join by using hashtags. Consider starting and hosting Twitter chats on a regular basis.

Some great insights here worth digesting and applying to future and current initiatives.