DISQUS

By the way, doesn't it seem as though 95 percent of those folks on Twitter seem to be talking about themselves instead of spurring conversation, ideas, etc? Too much talking and not enough listening?

Chris, I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Chris and friends,

Thank you for your recent conversation about our decision to allow our new marketing coordinator try Twitter on for size.

A couple of key points:

1. Our corporate Twitter account (@clarisnetworks) is relatively new. We are still feeling our way through the applicable uses Twitter brings to the enterprise...specifically the information technology industry.

2. At the moment, we are limiting our tweets from @clarisnetworks to corporate announcements, client announcements, and related IT information/news. As we continue to move through the process, we'll add more strategically-minded information that will assist in our branding efforts.

3. We're the largest information technology provider in the East Tennessee Innovation Valley, and have done a terrific job at marketing/branding ourselves through other traditional means, and view @clarisnetworks, and Twitter for that matter, as an opportunity to orient ourselves with its possibilities, etc.

Do you remember the first tweet you made? I know mine wasn't pretty...I didn't even understand the "@" rule. But alas, as we move forward, we learn and we get better at what we do.

Some have asked if it is responsible to put your corporate branding in the hands of a new employee. I would respond by saying that I would be foolish to view Twitter (less than 1 percent of the US population) as my primary means to promote and market our company. On the contrary, Twitter is a learning platform in the 2.0 realm and a small component of our branding strategy, but one that we believe will play an important role in the near future.

Chris, in response to your specific questions:

1. Our clients, employees and culture make our brand what it is. A brand should never be reserved for a single employee or the CEO of a company. Hearts and minds, hearts and minds.

2. Twitter is considered by many to be a newbie
itself and I tend to agree given the longevity of traditional IM apps, blogs, forums, facebook and MySpace. What better avenue for a new employee to orient themselves with than a relatively new 2.0 platform?

The great fact that I believe we can all agree with is that there are no Twitter rules. There is no handbook, no official do’s and don’ts. Thus, there should be no reason to judge each other’s efforts, but only to support the proliferation of its use and integration into the 2.0 world.

We’re excited about the opportunities that Twitter presents to our business and excited that we have employees who are willing to dip their feet into the 2.0 experience and are confident in time, our viral efforts online will meet and exceed the success we enjoy from traditional marketing today.

Take care.

Michael, shoot me an email if you will and I can elaborate a bit further on our plans.

Chris,

This is perfect for @clarisnetworks.

Thanks, we've got a new intern working on the @clarisnetworks account and she can benefit from your thoughts greatly.