Social Networking Design at the University of Texas at Austin: Guidelines for Successfully Building a Brand through Social Networking (spotlight: twitter)

Quality not Quantity- it is better to have a tweet that is a valuable contribution to a followers interest rather than making hundreds of tweets a week (http://twitterwatchdog.com/2009/09/02/twitterology-quality-not-quantity/)

Do not attempt to sell/ don’t push brand on readers- Jenny Cisney has 3.833 followers; she is a photographer-loving-party-goer that shares about her travels etc.; When referring to the Academy Awards she tweets: "Heading over to the Slumdog after-party to get some pics of the gift lounge ... " Cisney, 33, made sure to mention that the swag included Kodak Zi6 video cameras. Cisney works for Eastman Kodak. This is a way for her to add dazzle to the 121 year old brand and create a cutting edge image by embracing twitter

(http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/twitter-tweet-social-networking-leadership-cmo-network-twitter.html)

Create a Personality & Voice- Dunkin Donuts, Dunkin Dave (9,589 followers) posts are laid back, uncensored riffs on weather, songs with coffee lyrics, thought of his own coffee addiction etc. Margery Myers, the senior vice president of communications for Dunkin Donuts explained they “Dave has a very dry sense of humor and he’s comfortable expressing himself while his easygoing tone mirrors the average joe dunkin donuts seekes to attract.

(http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/twitter-tweet-social-networking-leadership-cmo-network-twitter.html)

Show humane qualities- respond/listen to topics, converse, be responsive and keep promises in order to build humane relationships; Starbucks-3.37 million mentions & 120,868 followers; conversate with people, answer questions, very human (example[twitter.com]: gabbycat: Dear @Starbucks something went HORRIBLY wrong with my blueberry scone this morning. It tastes like a massive overdose of baking soda!!" starbucks reply "@gabbycat Sorry about that. Let us know next time you're in." gabbycats response "Dear @Starbucks, blueberry scone back to normal awesomeness this AM, thank you!!"

Misuse of Social Networking

James Andrews, vp of a public relations firm Ketchum Interactive, traveled to meet with one of his top clients, FedEx in Memphis, Tenn. His tweet: “True confession, but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say ‘I would die if I had to live here!’ ” Someone at fedex saw the tweat. People trashed Andrews on Twitter and Fedex sent him an email expressing dissapointent in him and his “tweet”. The Ketchum firm and Andrews apologized.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/twitter-tweet-social-networking-leadership-cmo-network-twitter.html

For one day, skittles replaced their website with a real time uncensored Twitter feed displaying any post that included the word, “skittles” which led to some negative posts about the brand—skittles redirected the site to Facebook and Wikipedia.