I like to think of 10e20 as one of the best and most talented social media marketing companies out there, and yet until very recently we never had a company Twitter account. What’s the deal? Isn’t Twitter the bee’s knees right now? If Miley Cyrus is seemingly adept enough to have a Twitter profile, why not the company that actually does SMM for a living and consults other companies on how to manage their accounts? Well, there are a few reasons why we previously never bothered with an “official” 10e20 presence on Twitter:

  1. The employees did a pretty damn good job of communicating and building up business through their personal Twitter accounts and via other means (speaking at events, networking, guest blogging on Search Engine Land and other places).
  2. They weren’t pushing out enough blog posts or frequently sharing company news to make having a Twitter profile worthwhile and add value to the community.
  3. They couldn’t devote adequate time to properly managing a company account. Sure, they could phone it in and tweet some B.S. updates once or twice a week, but the crew knew to do it right or not do it at all.

Time was arguably the biggest factor, which is part of the reason I was hired on–10e20 wanted someone to focus on their social presence, and they didn’t want anything half-ass. Since we’ll be updating our blog more often and are planning a site face lift, there will be some noteworthy things to tweet about. No more of this “Do as I say, not as I do(n’t)” nonsense–it’s time to bust out the official 10e20 Twitter profile, all shiny and new for your tweeting pleasure. Know it, love it, follow it. /shamelessplug

10e20-twitter-profileYes, we’re using Charlie as our avatar–what else would you expect?

Anyway, 10e20′s purdy new Twitter profile has gotten me thinking about two things. First of all, not every business needs a Twitter profile (much like how not every business needs PPC or social media marketing–oftentimes a business has more pertinent things to worry about and address before devoting time and energy to other business tactics). Secondly, when a business does start its own Twitter profile, there’s no “paint by numbers” approach to running the account. You don’t need to automatically tweet every blog post or coupon deal–what works very well for one business may fail for another.

Here are a few business Twitter profiles that have distinctly different approaches:

Comcast: “The Customer Service” Approach

I previously blogged about a Comcast issue I had and how a user named ComcastBill immediately sprang to my aid when I started complaining about the situation on Twitter. He, along with other Comcast reps, operate under the ComcastCares umbrella and are devoted to keeping an eye on gripes about Comcast via Twitter and providing customer support and solutions to the best of their abilities.

comcast-cares-twitter

JetBlueCheeps: The “Deal Alerts” Approach

Jet Blue has a Twitter account that updates its followers with the latest Jet Blue flight deals. A lot of businesses/e-tailers either use their account for deal alerts (like NewEggDeals) or have a separate “deals” Twitter account (like Dell does).

jetbluecheeps-twitter

TechCrunch: The “New Content” Approach

TechCrunch, along with a lot of other sites and businesses, use Twitter as an RSS feed of sorts, informing their followers when a new piece of content (like a blog post, article, tool, etc) has been released.

techcrunch-twitter

Zappos: The “We’re Human” Approach

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has a very popular Twitter account. He blends personal with professional, making Zappos seem very human instead of a separate corporate entity. Etsy also does a good job with this–they engage with their followers and create a dialogue with them, making their supporters feel like they’re following a buddy instead of a company.

zappos-twitter

Each of the above examples represents a type of account that works well for that business. Like I said, what works for one company may not work well for another. A lot of smaller businesses may not have a great Twitter account if they don’t engage users and instead choose to run their account like TechCrunch’s. Likewise, a lesser-known company may seem like a spammer if all they do is tweet product deals and discounts without offering some sort of human voice or quality to get users to believe they’re legit. That’s why there’s no single “right” strategy when it comes to building a successful business profile on Twitter. Your business has different needs and priorities than other businesses, so you’re going to have to manage your profile differently.

What other distinct business profile types do you notice on Twitter? Feel free to share them in the comments below, or, better yet, tweet them to @10e20. We’ll be using our company account to share valuable tips, poll our audience, announce news and events, debut awesome content, and just plain ol’ interact/engage with our friends and colleagues. Think of us as a mashup of the aforementioned profiles with an extra dash of awesome. :)