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“He who wished to secure the good of others, has already secured his own.”
–Confucius

Here is my take on how a brand could create and increase its “Twitter-worth”. The diagram below summarizes the process, gives objectives and provides specific actions. As you can see, the process relies on gradual, organic building of the Twitter-worth and creating brand loyalty. (Click to enlarge the diagram.)

Click to enlarge
Setup
The process requires that we would create a main brand account and a brand support account. Main brand account is our face to the outside Twitter-world and can be used to provide updates on special events, interviews, awards won and other marketing and PR materials (no spam though). A brand support account is designed to communicate with customers: warranty updates, new service locations, etc.
(Example: If Toyota Motors where to ask me for an example I would provide the following structure: brand accounts - Toyota Cars, Toyota Truck, Scion, Lexus; each one could be paired up with customer communications account, i.e. brand support).

Execution
If we follow the steps outlined in the diagram, we would need to remember the following:

1. We cannot stop our Twitter campaigns - we need to continue the ongoing effort. Just like with any marketing initiative you cannot just stop.
2. Our ultimate goal for each of the followers is make them Brand Ambassadors - people who love our brand; Examples: BMW, Ironman Triathlon, Apple. Keeping this goal in mind will help us decide which tweets we want to post from brand and support accounts.

Last Note
While it may seem that we are creating too many accounts, in fact we are not.  Remember, these types of consumer communications are very cost effective: a small number of representatives per account can take care of the entire brand communication.  Take a look at the diagram again, notice that each account serves its specific function dedicated to a particular brand. As long as we stick with the plan and continue to improve our “twitter-worth” in a way that provides useful info to our customers, we will continue to increase the number of Brand Ambassadors who will in turn increase number of followers and so on.

The Very Last Note (added on October 14, 2009)
I have been asked if the sheer number of followers can be equated to the Twitter-worth. The answer is “it depends”. If the followers are there for the information, and on their path to become customers, then the answer is “yes”. But if the followers are there just to build up their own number of followers then the answer is “no”. Long-term approach is more efficient in this case.

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Tags: Strategy, Twitter