Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

sidtech — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:50:12 -0000

Great post Kai! Though Twitter is diffrent things to different brands, I am hopeful the readers of this article will definitely be at an advantage to their peers when it comes to build a brand image on twitter.

I particularly loved "DO let it all hang out". It really has to be a grand paradigm shift for businesses who tend to get defensive with mistakes or competition!

Manish Pahuja

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

Joshua Auerbach — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:25:08 -0000

Nicely done.

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

Cheap Flights to Australia — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 06:10:02 -0000

I support GoEverywhere Team's comment. It's an excellent post- no doubt.

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

edwardfrebow — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:02:32 -0000

Hello I also agree with Jeff. I manage a prayer request site, we RSS feed the requests to twitter, so far we feel the voice of the site is the requests posted to the site. At this time we believe there is no additional need to comment.

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

Rich Casey — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:18:41 -0000

Great article.. really helped cystallize my thinking on this... thanks, Kai!

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

Alan Munro — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:15:42 -0000

Excellent post, Kai. It's fascinating watching how brands and individuals are shaping Twitter and these tips will help those responsible for corporate accounts to create a meaningful dialogue with customers.

@alanmunro

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

NettyS — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:06:04 -0000

I have enjoyed reading the post by Kai. I am @nettys on Twitter. I agree that a brand voice should really reflect the brand personality. No, do not only talk about the product.

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

clcdan — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:25:49 -0000

Look, even though our website is a mix of website styles (it is generationally adjusted, as a community college moves its students through quicker, generally speaking) the content is our brand and is created (with very little moderation) by students or staff, depending on their expertise or their mood! On twitter, however, we actually use a combined, moderated approach to the twitter "transmission" in order to create a "Team Tweet" - a different approach than how we use movable type or Vox or Vimeo or ustream or our blogs. When there is a tweet in the "cue", at least "2 and 1" must vote it up to "the top" for OUT cuing (will actually be sent ASAP) as "clcradio". ("2 and 1" = 2 DJs and one student Staffer or faculty manager/advisor if no student Staffer is available). If an RSVP to the tweet-in-line isn't committed within 10 minutes of submittal, the tweet goes out without a vote (this last bit keeps everyone on their toes, there have been mishaps). This keeps the tweets fresh and hopefully in context. We tend to break this option on purpose when there is a customer service issue either with our listeners (rare) or our providers (constant).

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

clcdan — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:07:54 -0000

The only thing you left out is, Remember, twitter isn't the end all, be all of twitter-type of thing that twitter is today. There will be other companies like twitter, probably better, and certainly more open (as in also open source). So, always be looking to brand-out - get on other network types, not just instant messaging - that is just plain dumb.

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

David Carr — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:14:25 -0000

Good post but not every brand needs to be on twitter. What standards do you measure success as a brand on twitter by? To me there is no set way to utilize Twitter and each company/brand has to make their own way.

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

rich — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:26:12 -0000

Great post with some good tips - Would be interested to know which big business twitter accounts you manage Kai.

I'm currently running twitter feeds for a £100m turnover property consultants, and one of the UKs largest charities, andI've been blogging on the project at the Chameleon Net website www.chameleonnet.co.uk. I would definitely agree with some posters on here that "all big businesses should be on twitter" is just a completely incorrect attitude to have. Only companies that are willing to put the time into understanding the medium, and who want to talk to customers, rather than sell to them, should get involved

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

benhedrington — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 09:41:39 -0000

Great post, can't believe I missed it by a couple days!

I think there is an option in personal and truly social channels like Twitter for brands to combine the voices of their employees to create their companies voice in a very real, decentralized and authentic way. I am experimenting in this area and would love your feedback on it.

Blog post: Combining Your Voices on Twitter - http://bit.ly/13JnG7
Tool: http://www.connecttweet.com

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

Renagade — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:08:52 -0000

Jeff Pester...I have to agree! After all... thats how I found this! it was tweeted! Love the info I can find on twitter feeds!

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

Becky Carroll — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:34:57 -0000

Great set of suggestions for a brand voice on Twitter; I may roll some of these into the UC San Diego class I teach on marketing with new media (will full credit to you, of course!).

I also see some of these suggestions as great for a brand voice in any social media tool, including blogs and social networks. Being human, not promoting self too much, and most importantly, listening first are all keys to being part of a real conversation via social media, rather than just the old way of shouting at customers.

Well done!

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

Stephen Downes — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:52:48 -0000

A very thoughtful and well written post with sound advice... once you have made the strategic decision to take your brand onto Twitter.

However, like many others I've read, it is based on the implicit - or in this case, explicit - assumption that all brands should have a Twitter presence (quote: "big brands need to get on Twitter").

I think this is an assumption that should be challenged, as I have in this post on my blog http://tr.im/hc4V

Twitter is not for everyone and Twitter is not for every brand. Just as some brands succeeded during the "golden age of TV advertising" without advertising on TV, Twitter won't be the right strategic communications choice for all brands.

Once you've determined strategically that Twitter should be part of the communications mix and customer brand experience - and that means assessing not only the power and potential but also the downside risks and implications - then Kai's points about brand voice are right on the money!

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

Rob Bunting — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:29:31 -0000

Great advice along with very helpful examples of Dell using multiple Twitter accounts & Starbucks having an identifiable person behind the tweets. I think "sounding human" and "sounding like yourself" (instead of using the lingo of the 'target market' are the best nuggets of advice to takeaway here, Thank you for such a helpful article.

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

Karyn Cooks — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:22:19 -0000

Fantastic thoughts! I encourage all my clients (probably ad nauseum) to really identify their authentic voice. I even give them exercises to help uncover where that voice might be hiding and try to help them hear the difference between natural discussion vs "marketing." There's nothing more valuable than a person or brand's unique self. Let it shine!

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

maggie — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:11:42 -0000

thanks for not biting... I feel like I just graduated Twitter Kindergarten! Thanks for the education!

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

alexmit — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:28:57 -0000

Excellent point on going back to an "earlier exercise in developing brand identity ... describing brand personality." Twitter allows us to directly share our daily lives and personalities with our users/customers/fans, which establishes more real and valuable relationships.

Your insight on "if you are passionate about your business ... then share your passion" is something I definitely need to focus on. If you tweet about your brand and nothing else, you become another salesman at your market's door.

Thanks for a great post!

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

Miguel — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:41:35 -0000

Thank's for the article!! Twitter is really powerfull...
http://twitter.com/MIGUELRO...

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

George Nimeh — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:03:58 -0000

As Sam would say, Boom!
Great article Kai. Good to see you last night.
@iboy

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

JulieWilliams — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:50:42 -0000

Like everything about www.Agency.com they talk about IA so clearly

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

paula__D — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:39:27 -0000

Great article Kai. I like point 5 in particular and think that it's not just about what you want to communicate but who you are communicating to.

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

Simon Stapleton — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:13:53 -0000

I like your approach Kai. It suggests that we need to be structured about our approach. A big Twitter following must be considered as a valuable asset, and treated as such. We should employ all the same sensible caution as we would do with any other channel, but the messages we tweet are different - less intrusive and more considerate of the value we add to the community. I used to consider tweeting in the early days as just an information blast, but Twitter has developed much more into a fabric of micro-communities, where Retweets are growing as a key measure... and risk if the message isn't appropriate.

Re: Finding the Right “Brand Voice” on Twitter

GoEverywhere Team — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:16:26 -0000

Great tips Kai! I think as more and more people get on Twitter it's important to remember these key factors. Most people and companies are definitely moving away from the generic (and apparent) RSS feeds, as well as the spam tweets - because they'll just find themselves losing followers if they keep it up. And keeping up a constant stream of communication and interaction is important as well.