The Twitter Book

Integrate with your other channels

Twitter is cool, but it's not magic. It's part of your communications toolkit, and it probably fits with at least a few of your departments or functions: customer service, PR, marketing, product development, human resources, etcetera—all of whom are using a bunch of tools to connect with people.

For instance, if you think of your account as an information booth where you share tips, links, promos and so forth, but people come to you with questions and complaints, your company needs to be able to respond with appropriate information. We've too often seen corporate accounts that post messages like, "@customer: That's a shame. Call us to get the problem resolved." And then there's no phone number given. For a customer who's already having a problem, that sort of reply simply amps up her frustration. Much better to provide specific contact info, or even take the conversation to DM, get the customer's contact info, and then have customer service follow up.

To have accounts that truly engage on behalf of your company, make sure people throughout your organization are aware of any corporate twittering and that you have some basic systems set up to route and resolve inquiries and complaints. Of course, if you spend time listening, as we recommend earlier in this chapter, you'll be able to plan ahead for the kinds of queries you might need to field.

In addition to integrating with your departments, coordinate your Twitter, Facebook and other social media accounts ...