The Twitter Book

Post mostly NOT about your company

Kathy Sierra has said, "With few exceptions, the worst mistake a 'business blog' can make is to blog about the business." The same principle holds true in Twitter.

If you're a brand that a lot of people already adore, you can probably get away with posting mostly about your own company—people love you, and they want more. But if you're an unknown entity to most people, or if you have a mixed reputation, or if you just want to take your Twitter relationships to another level, think about Twitter as a way to exchange mutually interesting information.

So rather than post a lot of information about your company, aim instead to post mostly third-party links, resources and tips that would be of interest to people who follow you. The examples shown here both do exactly that.

Wesabe is a personal finance site, and they're all about cool ways to save money; the link shown here goes to another site that describes an iPhone app for finding free ATMs. In the Museum of Modern Art example, the link is to a blog that has no affiliation with MoMA, but the story about sculptor Richard Serra is of great interest to his fans. MoMA counts itself among that group, and a lot of its followers are likely to do so, too.

Taking this approach helps build your credibility with customers, potential customers and other constituents. It also makes you a more likely go-to source for journalists.