It’s hard to live in this town and not know Heidi Otway. She’s the kind of person that couldn’t be any nicer if she tried, but she will. She’s also crafting her brand as a social media expert. Here is some good advice from her that I didn’t take, but should:
On social media, you are the brand.
This was a direct message from Heidi after I asked her why her behavior change firm didn’t have its own twitter account. When I launched my firm, I kept my personal twitter account (@Kevin_Cate) and created a new account (@CateComm). I did this for a couple of reasons.
I protect my account because to me, Twitter still has a creep factor. I have hundreds of pending followers that I’m sure are waiting to spam me, or worse, and I don’t want to be sharing all my personal pictures and quips with strangers, which, in my mind, would make me the creep. However, I would advise my clients to tweet like Heidi, not me.
Authentically engaging through one account is difficult enough, but two is nearly impossible. That’s why @CateComm tends to be a bit stagnant. That’s not good social branding for my firm, but until I am willing to unprotect my account, this is my ongoing Twitter branding mistake.
All this being said, I’m sure that Heidi would agree that large companies, campaigns, etc. should have their own accounts with unique personalities. I’ll wait for her reply in the comments.
Disclosure: I have worked with Heidi in the past and hope to again soon.