5 Tips for Taking the “FUD” out of Twitter for Employees

How to Twitter? A common question many businesses ask.

Whether you work for a large or small business, in BtoB or BtoC, or are just interested in growing your marketing and sales network, you may have been faced with a common issue:  You’re fully on board with social media, but your employees may not be.

Many organizations have done their due diligence to put together a policy which includes all the ways that employees may not use social media in connection with their brand.  However, what are some simple steps you can take that will not only take the fear out of social media, but will encourage participation?

5 Tips for Taking the “FUD” out of Twitter

As with any new task there is a reasonable amount of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) associated with reaching out and interacting via Twitter for many employees.  How can you help your staff overcome this fear?  By making it as easy as possible for them to participate and engage.

Tip #1 – Cover the Basics
Before teaching employees the best practices for utilizing Twitter for business it’s imperative that you have an understanding of their core knowledge base.  Some of the basics that it’s important to cover include:

• Do your employees have a Twitter handle?
• Do they need help setting up their account information?
• What is considered spamming?
• What is a good follow/follower ratio?
• How to re-tweet
• Character limits

Looking for some general best practices for re-tweeting?

Tip #2 – Provide Lists to Get Employees Started
Putting together a list of Twitter users for your employees to follow is a great way to jump start their Twitter experience.  You may want to consider creating some lists within Twitter that include the following groups of individuals or companies:

• Industry influentials
• Clients
• News & Media Sources

Below is an example of a list of marketers created by TopRank Online Marketing CEO Lee Odden (@leeodden).

Tip #3 – Consistency is Key
I would recommend starting with a goal number of tweets, RT’s, or interactions that you would like your employees to participate in on a weekly basis.  If asking them to interact each day is unrealistic instead suggest that they set aside 5-10 minutes 2-3 days a week to find something interesting to post with their followers.

A tactic as simple as finding a news article related to your business or interests and sharing it via Twitter can be a one click process.

Tip #4 – Recommend Tools
Remember, we’re thinking ease of use.  Another way to make the transition to Twitter as easy as possible is to provide free tools to your staff that allow them to instantly post, schedule posts, and monitor activity on Twitter.  Some of the tools that I recommend include:

• Buffer
• Hootsuite
• TweetDeck

Hootsuite has proven to be very user friendly and provides a great scheduling function for sending out tweets throughout the week. You can also view your home feed, Twitter mentions, and sent tweets at the same time in an easy to read format.

Tip #5 – Event Best Practices
If your organization is participating in, hosting, or attending any events there is a prime opportunity for your employees to spread the word and provide live coverage of the event.  Prior to the event you should determine:

• The event hashtag (if there is one) and make sure to share with your employees what that is as well as the best way to use it.
• The Twitter handles of the speakers/vendors who will also be participating in the event.

During the event encourage your employees to tweet highlights from sessions or speakers as well as track any mentions of your brand.

While Twitter is just one of the many ways that you can encourage your employees on board as advocates for your brand, it is a start.  Remember, to always start small and ensure that you are providing as much direction as possible to set your staff on the right path.

If you have any additional questions relating to encouraging office participation please feel free to comment on this post or send me a tweet (@azeckman)! Of course, if you have some of your own ideas about how to get your co-workers on the Twitter bandwagon, please share in the comments.

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