Given that in four days I will have officially been at my current job for three years – god, has it really been that long? – I feel it’s only appropriate to start ramping up this blog again after almost a year of neglect.

And let me tell you, a lot has happened in this past year.  For starters, my company is almost entirely under new management.  Most important to me was the induction of a new VP of marketing back in, oh, May of this year, and from that, the creation of a proper marketing “team,” the likes of which I hadn’t seen in quite some time.  With others handling the stuff that used to take up much of my time – organizing trade shows, for example – I was free to nestle into my role as the company’s Online Marketing Manager.

Some of you might recall a few of the posts I wrote last fall (1 | 2 | 3) that dealt with the ever-present problem of companies not taking advantage of all that social media has to offer.  Quite frankly, while back then I was definitely pushing for the creation of a social media plan, I found myself falling into the same scenario to which Paul Chaney alludes in his post yesterday, entitled “Social Media in Organizations: What Happens When You’re the Only One Talking?“  That is to say, my social media efforts did more to boost my own personal brand than my company’s.

Buuut … things have changed now.  Our VP of marketing is very, very open to the use of social media as a marketing tool, and I presented him with a plan for the next six months that includes, among other venues, current statistics, strategy going forward, and metrics for our company website and blog (yes, we finally have a blog after months of me yipping about it!), Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and so forth.

Look for a string of posts to appear in the next few weeks regarding social media marketing best practices.  I’m looking forward to getting this show back on the road!

For those of you who are still unaware of what Twitter actually is, think of it as a micro-blogging tool by which you can write whatever you want, to be seen by your “followers,” in 140 characters or less.  For many people, this is merely a prettier way of saying, “Oh, man, I ate the most wicked meatball sub today at ABC Diner in Philly,” but for others, it has become one of the foremost networking and information-sharing outlets available today.

Because of the latter, companies are beginning to jump on the Twitter bandwagon as a means of marketing their products or services.  Each of these companies takes its own tailor-made approach to its Twitter efforts, which tends to utilize a mixture of four specific methods.

Broadcast company news and events.

This is the most “marketing-esque” of all the methods mentioned, plus the most transparent, so I’m mentioning it first.  You’ve seen the type: @mycompanyname posts one or two tweets per day with a press release headline, an upcoming seminar the company is hosting, a new service offering, etc.  For people already emotionally invested in your brand, this is reason enough to follow your company on Twitter.  For others, there is little incentive to follow if this is all that you do with your account.

Provide customer service/support.

By utilizing search.twitter.com, Twitter’s internal search engine, as well as sites like Twilert, which sends you daily digests of tweets written that day with your chosen keywords, companies can track everything being said about their products or services on Twitter.  Because of this, a number of companies have jumped into Twitter as a customer service outlet.  JetBlue and Comcast are great examples of how to do this appropriately.  Both Twitter accounts offer quick responses to customer inquiries without being too marketing-esque, and, as a result, have each acquired 6000-plus followers.  An randomly-chosen tweet from JetBlue is below, and I think it’s a great example of how to quickly and effortlessly appease one’s customers.

JetBlue @cyclelicious @Hops11 The cost for checking a bike is $50 domestic and $80 international, and must be in a proper case: http://is.gd/bdne

Promote new offers/discounts/sales.

Some companies rely heavily on tweets that advertise upcoming sales, online-only discounts, and new products.  The primary mission here is to earn money more rapidly than one would if he or she ignored this particular methods.  Dell has a number of Twitter accounts, including @DellOutlet, @DellHomeOffers, and @DellSmBizOffers that only include tweets about sales and offers, which is perfect for those potential customers who want to find good deals on new products.

Build a community around your brand.

One of the premier reasons for using social media in your marketing activities is to build a community around your company’s products and/or services.  In one of my previous posts, I emphasized some of the top things a company must consider while setting up its social media marketing efforts, a few of which are:

• It’s called “social” media for a reason.  Have a conversation.
• Remember what your parents told you about the importance of sharing.
• Scratch their backs, and they’ll scratch yours.
• Honesty is the best policy, and, no, they don’t all like you.
• Provide valuable, useful content that is going to attract a targeted market.

I elaborate more on each of those points and the others in Building the Social Media Marketing Foundation, but it’s important to note that they do apply in the case of Twitter as well.  Building a thriving, vocal community is the holy grail of social media marketing, and it’s probably the hardest goal to achieve.  Ensure your tweets are a healthy mixture of the aforementioned three points, with many, many conversations with your Twitter followers thrown in.  Remember: it’s not all about your company.  Be objective sometimes; mention a blog post that applies to your industry as a whole and perhaps doesn’t even mention you but which applies to your target audience, for example.  Answer questions asked by people who don’t follow you, and don’t insist that they follow you once you’ve given them that information.  Once you’ve mastered the art of projecting an image of honesty, caring, and usefulness with your tweets, your followers will come, and your company will be well on its way to a successful marketing effort with Twitter.

• 16 Examples of Huge Brands Using Twitter for Business
• Building the Social Media Marketing Foundation
• List of 10 People to Unfollow on Twitter