How do you manage a Twitter account on behalf of a brand, product or service?

Lately we've been managing more Twitter accounts on behalf of our clients. Everyone seems to be jumping on the Twitter bandwagon (for good reason) but most aren't sure how to climb aboard. I've put together this "Brand Voice" document to help agencies and companies figure out how to frame the conversation of managing their Twitter account(s).

I'd really appreciate any additions, changes or deletions that you may have:

Characteristics

1. Please describe the product or service in less then 140 characters.
2. Please describe the personality of the product or service in terms of a human voice? (conversational, warm, casual, friendly)
3. How does this voice talk about the competition? (friendly, aggressive, indifferent)
4. What will be the general message of this voice? (customer support, informational, industry news and events)

Audience Profile

1. Please describe the ideal community composition?
2. Is there a difference between how product or service is perceived by a current customer versus a potential customer?
3. Are there application where you would like to see the product or service more widely used?

Management

1. Will other parties, or the company be interested in managing the account(s) along with Imulus?
2. What is the companies’ position on following people? (Follow all or follow us; follow those who are interested in our topics; or follow those who send us Tweets)
3. How would you like us to balance the follow / follower ratio? (1:1, more followers; follow more)
4. If a topic or question escalates to a point where we can’t find an answer or proper response, who can help us within the company?

Content Resources

1. Where or who should we look to at the company to provide us with the most current news, events and inside information?
2. Which websites do your customers frequent?
3. Can we alert your Twitter community of upcoming news before other outlets are made aware? If so, how much lead time can we usually expect?
4. How frequent would you like to see updates to the account(s)? (Once a day, 3 times a day, throughout the day)
5. What keywords would your audience be using in day-to-day conversation around your product or service

Final Thought

I'd be neglecting my duties if I didn't point you to this tutorial on "How to Use Twitter for Marketing and PR". The simple truth is you can't look at Twitter as another marketing channel; a megaphone for your company to spout garbage to the world. Rather, I suggest tweeting with the mindset of having coffee with a new friend or acquaintance. Don't begin by telling them how great you are. Ask questions; really immerse yourself in the conversation, but also know when to shut your mouth.

Good luck, please pass over the recommendations for improvement!

To start, paste your image into a new Photoshop file. Be sure to leave some room at the bottom for your reflection.

Next, duplicate the layer your image is on by right clicking the layer and select: Duplicate Layer.

Now select the bottom layer, and under edit > transform> Flip Vertical

Use the selection tool and move the image down so that the top edge is touching the bottom edge of the top layer.

Still using that same bottom layer, create a new layer mask.

Select the gradient tool, and make sure that your foreground color is black and your background color is white. In the gradient options, select linear foreground to background.

Make sure you still have the mask layer selected (you will see lines bordering the corners). Hold down shift and apply a gradient from the bottom of the canvas to the top of the bottom image.

Apply an opacity to your bottom layer, and you’re done!

NOTE: When working with reflections, it is important to note that reflections SHOULD NOT overlap. This is an example of what NOT to do:

This is correct:

More reflection tutorials to come. Stay tuned.