Despite data supporting the belief that your customers are not active on Twitter, there are several good reasons for maintaining some level of activity on the social platform. The first step in opening a Twitter account is to create your company profile. Before you follow Twitter’s directions, here is a story to help you understand why you should not identify your company with a logo on Twitter.

One of the sharpest marketers we follow online is Anne Handley, Chief Content Officer at Marketing Profs. She is also a top-notch blogger. Some of us who have been involved in or monitoring social media since its early days, observed an important shift in Anne’s Twitter strategy. When she created the Marketing Profs Twitter account, Anne followed Twitter’s instructions. She set up the account as @Marketing Profs, and she uploaded the company’s logo as instructed.

After using the account for a while, she swapped her photo for the company logo. Both the number of followers and the level of interaction with followers exploded after the change. Anne understood very quickly something Twitter overlooked: social media is about people interacting; not about someone trying to interact with a faceless and distant business entity. Anne became not only the voice, but also the face of Marketing Profs on Twitter, and people responded.

It was a no-brainer for our team, when opening our Twitter account, that Romeo, the little black dog, should be the face of our company. After all, we named the company for him. And, he is cuter than the rest of us.

So, act on this advice because Marketing Profs proved the logic: when you set up a Twitter account, choose someone who will be the face and the voice of your company on Twitter. Then use that person’s picture instead of a logo. If you already have a Twitter account, and you used a logo, try switching to a photo of someone in the company.

People relate to people, not to organizations or business entities. Social media are about people and about relationships. Give your business a face, as well as a voice and your follower stats will quickly underscore why you should not identify your company with a logo on Twitter.

By Staff, Little Black Dog Social Media and More