In developing your company’s Twitter strategy, there are a few things to keep in mind that will help your brand come across effectively. Here is a list of five simple Twitter account recommendations:

1. Avoid Excessive Over/Under Tweeting.

When I scan the tweets of my friends, I gaze over them quickly, pulling the notable ones and ignoring the rest. Items I look for include recognizable faces, those that frequently tweet catchy or humorous quips, and random items that stand out. However, when there’s a string of five or ten consecutive tweets from a single individual, I tend to ignore the entire thing. Even if it is someone I otherwise adore. Beware of excessive tweeting; it may adversely affect your quality followers. Likewise, on the opposite side, who will follow you if you do not tweet?

2. Refrain From Over Linking.

SEO 2.0 recently posted a blog entry titled Hey Marketers On Twitter: It’s Not A Link List. He has an excellent point. Dropping too many links can cause disinterest. Include a link-less tweet or two between link tweets. I could, for example, tweet each time a new post goes up on FensePost, my music blog, which would mean two links per weekday and occasional links on weekends, but I only tweet the ones about which I feel very strongly. Along the same lines, refrain from excessive RT (re-tweeting someone else’s tweet), #hashing (twitter-based topic groupings), etc.

3. Don’t Be Faceless.

When I blogged about Business Via Twitter, I mentioned a few companies that base their tweeting on a strictly defined strategy. Visiting Comcast Cares in retrospect, I’ve noticed a few changes. The first and foremost is this: a person named Frank Eliason. Give your Twitter a face by putting a real live person in charge of it. While this doesn’t necessarily mean putting a “face” in the icon, doing so gives your company twitter account a more personal connection with followers.

4. Expand Your Focus.

Strategies like focusing on promotions and incentives can work well for large companies like Dell, but smaller companies may run the risk of succumbing to the aforementioned linking issue if all they do is tweet promotions. Include tweets that are industry specific, or that your followers will appreciate. In other words, if you have a defined strategy, stick to it for the most part but include some more personalized elements.

5. Enhance Your Page

Along the lines of “adding a person” to your twitter account, there’s one item all the companies mentioned “Business Via Twitter” have in common: they do not have standard Twitter templates. They’ve all added their own uniquely branded backgrounds. They have a recognizable icon that appears aside their tweets — often an individual or photograph that relates to the brand.

To back our words, we enhanced our Twitter page with a fresh new look a few weeks back. The background image was taken in our office and the user icon is the famed BrandQuery cell developed during our time as BMR Design+Advertising. If you’re on Twitter, feel free to follow us!

I recently stumbled upon this great little video while trying to sum up a good definition of Web 2.0. It’s a bit old (posted a little over two years ago), but despite amazing progress in this realm, the majority remains prevalent in defining a concept whose meaning is often difficult to grasp.

The impact Web 2.0 has on us, as individuals, is fascinating. And that’s what they demonstrate in the closing moments – what will be the result of “rethinking” all the words he associates with the paraphrase We’ll need to rethink…?

In the aftermath of last year’s election, and the January 20 inauguration of a new president, one thing became clear: things had changed. As I watched CNN coverage, an interesting segment came on demonstrating just how far we’ve come in the past decade, comparing the WhiteHouse.gov website from 1999 to that of 2009 as a demonstration of the giant leaps in technology over the past decade. Technology continues to morph and change the way we conduct our day-to-day business, how we communicate with each other, and even how we get from point A to point B.

Enter Ubiquity, and now the “Widgets” tool that has become so popular in Social Networking and on 3G phones can easily be applied to your email. Ubiquity uses what they call user-generated mash-ups, which allow you to combine things like email and Google Maps and social networking Widgets easily and all at the same time.

The example they (they being Mozilla, the company that gave us PC and Mac users the wonderful force that is Firefox) use is emailing a friend and requesting a dinner get-together. Ubiquity allows you to easily add a map of the location via Google Maps, drop in reviews of the restaurant, and request a mutual scheduling in your daily planner (I believe they recommend Google Calendar). The basis of its greatness: facilitation.

Facilitation means no more cumbersome web searches for applicable reviews or time spent navigating away from your email to find the address. It’s all there and it’s fairly easy to use. And the best part is that you can actually embed these elements into your email, rather than going the traditional route and including cumbersome links. There is even a Twitter Widget for Ubiquity that allows you to Tweet remotely!

The new product isn’t without its bugs – for example, attempting to Tweet in an earlier version crashed my browser, which was fixed recently but required the installation of Growl, a Mac-based app that alerts users of updates from the various applications you are currently running. At this time, Ubiquity is not even in Beta form – it’s in Alpha version 0.1. To be more specific, they released Ubiquity 0.1.7 the final week of March.

Now, I’ve only used Ubiquity to update my Twitter account and create Tiny URLs (and I added a map to an email once), which is a mere surface scratch. Ubiquity is much, much more as you will see in the following video. It takes User Generation to the next level… from accessing dictionary definitions to translating foreign language websites for you, to even creating your own Ubiquity add-ons/mash-ups. Honestly, I got extremely excited while watching this video – I cannot wait to try some of these features myself!

To be ubiquitous is to be everywhere and the online world is making that a reality. As we migrate more and more of our daily activities into the web to manage our lives daily, tools like Ubiquity will become more and more an integrated part of our life. It goes to show that not only having a solid online presence, but enhancing that presence to be as open, modern, and accessible as possible is becoming more important than ever.

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

Lately, a growing number of businesses are reaching their audiences via an exciting new method: microblogs. The growing presence of sites like Twitter and Yammer allow companies to disseminate information to their constituents and customers quickly. While some companies, like Whole Foods, take a nontraditional approach (their Twitter site is filled with everything from recipes to the texture of baked versus boiled potatoes). It all depends on who your audience is, how they tend to interact in the online world, and what they might see as beneficial.

Here are a few microblog strategies to achieve more traditional goals and examples from the companies that utilize them:

1. Customer Service:

As marketers we know the importance customer service plays on developing and retaining loyal customers, and the damaging power negative word-of-mouth can have. One of the best opportunities to provide great customer service is to communicate with your customer on their level, in their atmosphere, and in new and exciting ways. These days, one such location is Twitter.

If a customer needs assistance, allowing them to contact you via Twitter allows you to meet them on their level. Yet, the key is still follow-up, ensuring the issue or problem is solved and, above all, ensuring a satisfied customer. If this is the route you take, don’t forget to respond to the customer with a “Glad we helped you figure this out” or a “Happy it worked. Let us know if there’s anything else we can do.” Something short, to the point, and positive; Twitter makes it easy – they require you to be short and to the point!

One company utilizing Twitter for customer service is Comcast with comcastcares. Everything is a response to someone else’s comment, question, or concern. And, once the account is contacted, the customer and representative connect via Twitters DM (direct message) option, allowing them to communicate privately and securely.

2. Promotions (Incentives, Coupons, etc.):

If your business regularly offers incentives, coupons or other enticements, supplement these with microblog posts. The key here is to include a little description of the promotion, such as “Large 2 Topping Pizza for $10” followed by a tiny URL – a compressed URL that allows your link to appear in a minimal number of characters. Subscribers to your microblog’s feed will see your posts and, if they’re so intrigued, they’ll visit the link to read more about the promotion, print off a JPG of the coupon and use it in the store. This, like everything else on the web, is measurable.

It’s important to show restraint. You don’t want to Tweet (the clever name of a single Twitter post) too many incentives and/or promotions, or you may disengage your “followers” (those who subscribe to your Twitter feed). The important thing to remember here is quality over quantity.

Dell Computers excels at this form of promotion. They have a Twitter account for pretty much everything, including two promotional-based ones. DellHomeOffers focuses on the consumer, while DellSmBizOffers does the same for small businesses.

3. Events:

Like promotions and incentives, this is an easy one to implement. If you hold regular events, Tweeting is a good way to update your followers on event happenings, invites, etc. In fact, it was an event that drew everyone’s attention to Twitter and microblogging to begin with – South by Southwest (SXSW), an annual music, film and interactive conference in Austin, TX. Thus, it’s not surprising that SXSW has their own Twitter account.

4. News and PR:

HP and Apple disseminate news to their followers through Twitter. It is also an excellent supplement to sending out press releases to papers, a PR Web account, and news-based email campaigns. Another clever example using Twitter is from a small net-based record label called Aaahh Records – they drop in Tiny URLs linking to reviews about their artists.

With the growing presence of microblogs and the increase of data phones (allowing users to access the web remotely via their phone), utilizing new ways to reach your audience is becoming more and more important. Did you know that you can even update your Twitter account via text messaging? The same goes with accessing Tweets from those you follow - it doesn’t necessarily require a data phone. Incorporating these elements into marketing strategies is what will make today’s company succeed tomorrow.

Hi, my name is Andy, and I am a blogger. At first, the affliction was minor – small personal entries on a personal blog that detailed failed relationships and day-to-day meanderings; it was overly moody, filled with attempts to be a “true writer” and efforts to be “cool and noteworthy.”

That tapered off in grad school. Due to an abundance of self-satisfaction, I had run out of ideas. Also, I just didn’t have the time. Sleep came at ungodly hours and lasted what seemed mere moments. Then I graduated, and it came back – instead of being personal, I steered my new blog toward a different addiction: music.

It all began on June 6, 2006. Fense, my KZUU radio personality alter-ego, started to write about music. My day job may be Project Manager here at BrandQuery, but I have a full-fledged night job – running FensePost, my blog. I write album reviews and feature bands articles, cover music videos and music documentaries, and manage a small team of contributors.

So, what does it mean to be a blogger? In my case, it means little sleep, a constant ear out for the next big sound, an overcrowded e-mail inbox, and too many promo CDs to count. That may sound negative, but I couldn’t imagine life without it. Blogging for me is a labor of love.

Blogs come in many forms and fashions. First, there’s the industry blog, like mine. There is an overabundance of personal blogs, made even easier thanks to sites like Blogger. And then there are company-driven blogs, like this one.

Today’s marketplace is vastly different from that of yesterday due to the power and presence of the Internet, and blogging is simply another way for companies to reach their audience(s) in an ever-changing world. The power of word-of-mouth marketing has been magnified thanks to the Internet, and making it work for you can be as simple as communicating through a company blog, disseminating information in a non-traditional and often informal manner. It gives your company a personal, relaxed touch.

Whether your blog is tailored to an industry or based around a company, the key is providing content intriguing to your audience. On FensePost, it’s a blend of hyping the bands I enjoy and discussing bands about which very few have knowledge. On BrandQuery Blog, it’s about engaging with clients and friends, sharing helpful information about the industry, and discussing fun and quirky industry tidbits.

Here are a few key questions you should ponder when starting a company blog:

1. How will your blog reflect the company brand?

2. Who is your target audience?

3. What will motivate your audience to read your blog?

4. How will you attract and retain readers?

5. What information do you wish to relay to your audience? Sub questions: a) does it line up with their motivations, and b) does it serve your brand?

Granted, some of these questions overlap, but they’re all important in creating a successful strategy behind your blog.

BrandQuery’s Top Five Interactive Strategy Adds

BrandQuery is now offering interactive services.  But what exactly does that mean?  Thus far, the interactive strategies and plans we’ve developed include a range of items that will create more visibility for our clients.

When BrandQuery began as BMR Design+Advertising in 1992, the internet was pretty much nonexistent. How times have changed! My graduate studies (Washington State University, MBA ‘06) required a laptop, which meant half the students paid full attention and half multitasked by reading news, watching YouTube videos, and monitoring their social network accounts.

For the younger generation like myself, who grew up in the 90s, this is the world that dominates practically everything we do.  It’s where we get our news.  It’s where we watch our favorite TV shows.  It’s where we seek information on what products to buy, read consumer product reviews, and query where to buy the items we desire.  These days it’s even moving to our phones, especially if we’re lucky enough to have a 3G phone.

However, it’s not just for younger audiences — all audiences are utilizing the internet for information; they gather, decipher, and even create it. Ensuring your business is up-to-date in today’s marketplace (i.e. the online world) is important in targeting your audience. 

Here’s a top five countdown of ways we can assist your company via our interactive strategies:

5. Social Monitoring and Participation

Social Monitoring is perhaps the simplest item on the list; participation, on the other hand, requires a bit more finesse. Monitoring includes the knowledge of who is talking about your business online, and the observation of what they are saying. Participation includes the various reactions you may take or make in response to the online chatter.

4. Microsites

Once thought a tool for only nationwide companies, it’s becoming more and more common for local and regional companies to utilize this form of interactive marketing. Microsites can focus on a specific product or service, showcase a special offer, or simply be an alternate way of targeting a new, desired audience. It’s a way to differentiate your brand, while remaining ingrained in its tradition. For example, companies can use microsites as landing pages for online ads, supplementing their marketing campaigns.

3. Blogging and Microblogging

As you can see, we’ve been implementing an interactive strategy for ourselves. This should be obvious — after all, you’re reading our blog! Creating a blog can be as simple as signing up for a Blogger account, but making your blog visually true to your brand is another matter altogether. We can assist not only in this area, but in the strategy behind the content your blog will feature. 2008 also saw the booming usage of Microblogs, like Twitter and Yammer. Microblogs allow users to post brief messages under 160 characters; similar to text messaging, these blogs can even be updated by phone. They are simply a new way of communicating and, in many ways, may ultimately replace instant messaging. Both these tools can help your business generate followers and reach its target audience(s).

2. Online Display Advertising

These days, advertising online can be made easy and cost-effective through Google AdWords and AdSense. Likewise, there are several tools to assist in finding and reaching your audience, from keyword and categorical targeting to narrowing ad visibility to a specific region by geo-targeting. And, we can also help in the design of your advertising campaign.

1. Search Engine Optimization

This is probably the item least utilized by companies and also the most important.  Our recommendations, through an audit of your website, can help boost your placement in searches relevant to your company.  Search Engine Optimization can extend beyond company-based websites to include simple items that one might not typically think of doing — for example, enhancing your Google Maps listing.

There it is, five elements of our interactive strategy. But our strategies go far beyond this list; and for the items noted above we can easily go into far greater depth. This is simply an example of how BrandQuery is working to better help our clients to gain greater exposure in the online marketplace.