Many marketers make the rookie mistake of setting up an account on Twitter and not clearly defining how it will be used. Just because you are "on Twitter" does not mean you are using it in the most valuable way.
In fact, your company might need several different Twitter accounts that align with the target market and desired communication/business outcome. The low-hanging fruit that most companies are using it for is customer support or brand and reputation management. This is far from the only way that Twitter can be used.
As an example, Ford has six different Twitter accounts. Each account serves a specific purpose as a communication channel to address different market segments:
Here are just a few examples of how you might want to use Twitter:
- Customer support and service
- Brand reputation management
- Polling and product feedback mechanism
- Lead generation
- News distribution
- Brand awareness and establishment
- Product promotion and launch
- Humanizing of a brand
- Public relations
Rodney Rumford is founder of Gravitational Media and author of the book: "Twitter as a Business Tool." You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/rumford.