Ten Essential Rules to Help IROs Use Twitter and Avoid the Ultimate Twinsult
The use of social networks for IR continues to be a contentious issue for public companies. As part of an initiative to provide some light on this subject, we put together and recently issued a report on the use of Twitter for IR.
Shortly after releasing our report, I came across an article tweeted by @SylvestrApp entitled: Ten Rules Of Twitter (And How To Avoid Being A Twanker). The original article was posted on Influential Marketing Blog.
In addition to providing some witty commentary on how avid users of Twitter have formed their own code of conduct for communicating amongst one another (and who essentially look down on those who don’t get “it”), the author, Rohit Bhargava (@rohitbhargava) coins two “twinsults” that any tweeter should not aspire to:
- Twanker – an egocentric individual, celebrity or organization who uses Twitter only for one-way broadcasting about their own greatness.
- Twidiot – an individual or organization that uses Twitter only to talk about insignificant things no one cares about, like what they had for breakfast or their latest press release.
I felt the article was very timely and should be shared as the information is relevant to IROs who are thinking about using Twitter as part of their IR strategy and builds upon our suggested best practices outlined in our report.
So what follows are the rules that Rohit feels have become generally accepted for how to get set up, brand yourself or your organization and converse on Twitter and just as important may help you avoid being dubbed a “twanker” or “twidiot”.
- Choose as short a username as possible. This really makes a difference when people are trying to retweet your links and include your username, but only have 140 characters to do it.
• While I agree with this notion for individuals, when it comes to public companies, shortening the name may confuse people if they are specifically searching for your company to follow on Twitter – so be smart about shortening your name if you feel the need. One suggestion may be to use your ticker symbol and then state that in your bio as well as providing a link to your website so people know it is the company they are looking for. - Think hard about your thumbnail. For many methods of browsing Twitter, your thumbnail is the only bio information that comes through along with your username, so try make a statement with it that says something about you.
• For public companies, we recommend providing the link to the corporate or IR website which makes it easier for potential shareholders to find out more information about your company with one click. - Select a bio link wisely. Twitter offers you the chance to put a single link in to let people click and learn more about you. Don’t just automatically assume your homepage is best for this, think about whether there is a better bio page to link to.
• Following on #2, if you are using Twitter for IR, providing a link to your IR website may be the better option. - Use your background to share more info. The image you use for the background of your Twitter page is one of the few things you can brand and change. To take advantage, use the left sidebar to share more about you (and try to make it no more than 200 pixels wide). You can also use a service like Twitter Backgrounds.
• We highly recommend using the background image. For example you can provide additional links to other social networks, provide a phone number for Sales or links to other websites the company may have. - Follow other people (judiciously). This is a basic premise, but nothing demonstrates more that you are a twanker than following no one back. And if you can, try to make it more than just 10 people. Conversely, though, there is no social obligation to follow everyone who follows you.
• Following your peers and other public companies to keep on top of any news, events and in general to see how they are using Twitter for IR – you never know you may learn a new trick or idea that helps advance your overall online communications strategy. - Reply to @ messages. An “@ message” is when someone types @[yourusername]. That means they are either just mentioning you, or trying to connect with you directly. Either way, the more of these you respond to, the more you can engage with Twitter.
• Engagement was a very important piece of our research – we wholeheartedly encourage staying on top of @replies and regularly checking for and responding in a timely manner. - RT often and strategically. A retweet (RT) is the Twitter equivalent of forwarding an email. Usually it’s done with the syntax RT @[username] followed by the exact text you are retweeting. They are a great way to let your content travel, as well as share tweets created by others.
• Retweeting is another facet to engagement – RT’s indicate there is a person behind the tweets and by staying consistently engaged with your followers will foster two-way communication with current and potential shareholders. - Leave room for retweets. Calculate how many characters your username is (for example, my username “rohitbhargava” has 13 characters). Now add 4 characters for “RT @” – and in my case I get 17 characters. This means that if I want to let people retweet my messages without losing part of the message, my tweet should be no longer than 140 minus 17, or 123. Generally when I tweet something I want to get retweeted, I will therefore make sure it is less than 123 characters.
• One way to combat the issue of counting out the characters is to shorten small words. Also be sure that you leave a space between words and links. This will avoid links that don’t work and messages that get unnoticed. - Refer to people by their Twitter names on Twitter. Imagine Twitter is like a play and every user is like an actor. You wouldn’t call a fellow actor by their name on stage, you would use their character’s name. Twitter is the same way – so if you happen to link to me or this post, make sure you call me @rohitbhargava so others can see my name and follow me.
• This is one rule that is very important for all users including public companies, as you want to ensure that others get your name right so you can increase your following! - Allow and respond to DMs. DMs (or direct messages) are private messages that anyone who follows you can send to you directly without posting them publicly on Twitter. It is one of the few private communications methods on Twitter and is a great way to have longer and more significant conversations with your connections on Twitter if you take advantage of it.
• This is an effective way to take a conversation off-line, in particular if you have connected with a potential partner, had a job inquiry or want to answer a question from a shareholder.
As you have read, I added my own commentary to Rohit’s rules by adding ideas that could be easily transferred to public companies thinking of using Twitter for IR. As Rohit, points out – this is not meant to be an exhaustive list. But if you take our initial best practices outlined in our report and incorporate them with his 10 rules, it is a good starting point.
Related posts:
- Report reveals early adopters using Twitter for Investor Relations
- A Discussion of the Risks and Compliance Issues Associated with Using Twitter
- Q4’s CEO Discusses all things Twitter, Social Media and Investor Relations
- How Rio Tinto Uses Twitter for Investor Relations
- Legal, Social Networking and Financial Expertise Help IROs Stay on Top of Game
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.