The Do’s and Don’ts of Building a Community on Twitter

On June 9^th, Jeremy Victor of Make Good Media presented his tips for building a B2B community on Twitter, which I believe are also applicable for the B2C community and even individuals simply looking to create their own personal brand.  Before getting started it is important to define “community”, which Jeremy did by describing it as “a like minded group of people that share common interests, feelings, situations and experiences.”  Twitter provides an excellent channel for marketers as it is “a real-time information network powered by people from around the world” who are interested in discovery and communication. 

Below is an overview of the recommendations and steps for building a community on Twitter presented by Jeremy during his webinar.

1. Start with the Basics – Your profile page is your first opportunity to build credibility.  It important to take full advantage of the elements that you can control such as the BIO section, profile picture, background imagery and link. Don’t underestimate the value of your Twitter page appearance – it should reflect your branding guidelines and personality.
2. Make the Commitment – There is no quick way to build a targeted and loyal community.  In order to be successful, make it a planned activity and set aside time each day to spend 30 to 60 minutes on Twitter participating. 
3. Know Your Target Audience – It is essential to understand what content is relevant and useful to the individuals you would like to reach, you must take a content approach to growing your community.  Don’t simply make it a numbers game – “the who matters more than the how much”.
4. Have a Personality –   Remember, it is a community made up of people so include your personality in your tweets.
5. Provide Value – In my opinion, this is critical and requires you to listen to your audience and be an active “good citizen” in the community.  Don’t make it a one-way broadcast by only tweeting out promotional messages and avoid flooding your audience with updates.
6. Tweet Responsibly – This should be a no-brainer but don’t share confidential information or use your account to stage attacks on your competition – always be respectful.
7. Be Present – Don’t be a wallflower.  Respond, ReTweet and Interact.  Be sure to regularly acknowledge, highlight and thank those contributing members who continually add value to your community.

When you are ready to get started here are some helpful tips for creating a successful social media marketing campaign and some tips for incorporating social media into your overall marketing campaigns.   Remember, the social media journey begins with you.

Author: Brian Rice

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Brian Rice is a marketing professional with a decade of experience on both the client and agency side of marketing.  He holds a BS, Marketing from Cabrini College and a MBA, Marketing from Saint Joseph’s Haub School of Business.  Currently, Brian is on the Global Social Media Team at SAP... View full profile

This article is an original contribution by Brian Rice.

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