If it's an Italian restaurant you expect to see a number of 'Italian' dishes. But what would happen if they mixed it up a bit and added a few other dishes from around the world. It could potentially be viewed as an Intercontinental restaurant and dilute its original message, trying to be all things to all diners.
It's the same with businesses, particularly in these current times, with businesses adding 'bolt-on' services, but are you diluting your message or responding to a trend and you want some of the action?
There is a big difference between a business that decide to add Twitter packages to their already existing services. Maybe because they love Twitter and think it will be a bit of fun and a good way to earn some extra cash and a professional service that specialises in Twitter Social media marketing and business promotion.
I have noticed an influx of services coming into the market place and providing additional Twitter packages to their list of services. Referring to the very first paragraph, are their mixed messages from that business? How do you know that they are credible in that line of work? The below points will give you some guidelines when considering who you would like to represent your business online.
5 Points to consider before hiring a service to manage your Twitter account.
1. Before you even look at the different tools for measuring a Tweeters level of influence (which can be misleading and in some cases manipulated) you firstly need to check the individuals own Twitter stream.
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What type of language are they using?
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Are they SPAMMING their own followers by sending lazy Tweets for example? #FF @2ELEVEN @CTEBOOROSSINI #UDAYHUSSEIN @UDAYPULLA @CONGRESSMENLIFE @OFFICIALTM103
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How are they using their own account, is it professional or sloppy? Are they Tweeting late into the night and have no professional boundaries. They are over mixing professional with personal Tweets.
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Are their own Tweets all over the place so you are not able to pick up a clear message.
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Are they acknowledging where they are taking their material from or just duplicating what they see their competitors doing?
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Do their Tweets make any sense to you or are they just full of self promotion they hold no real value other than grooming their own ego.
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How much negativity comes across in their stream
Graham Jones a well known Internet psychologist some time ago wrote You cannot hide yourself online If they have a lot of negative sentiment in their Tweeter stream it comes across as chaotic this is likely to at some point transfer into your own stream as Graham points out.
"We exhibit our personalities through the very words we choose and so the kind of words we use online are deeply rooted to our personality type. Trying to change the words you use to alter your online persona doesn't really work - the true you come shining through all the time".
2. Ask to be given the name of one of the business accounts they are managing, go through this with a fine tooth comb. Keep an active eye on the account and monitor how they are managing the business' online profile.
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How many Tweets are there and what type are they sending?
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How are they engaging with the client's audience?
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How is the call-to-action placed and worded?
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Are the articles relevant to the client's industry and audience?
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Are they adding any value?
3. Ask for a number of references and call them.
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How has the business level of influence grown? For sure if they cannot achieve this for themselves, they are not going to be able to do it for the client.
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What have been the benefits?
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What difference has it made to your online brand?
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How good is the level of communication?
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What results has the business seen?
4. Ask what Twitter measuring tools are they using to provide their clients with monthly reports?
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While there are some good free tools around they do not come close to paid analytical tools for managing Twitter accounts.
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Ask what recommendations they have made to the client that have enabled the business to grow based on the findings.
5. Ask how much time they intend to spend on your account over the week.
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How will this time be managed with all their other projects?
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What elements of account management does this breakdown in to?
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How will they keep you informed and up to date with relevant Tweets and conversations?
I cannot say this loud enough BRAND BRAND BRAND you need to think about your online BRAND and your businesses reputation.