Last week, I began to ponder the style of a branded Twitter account with fellow Twitter peeps @lanejoplin, @timnekritz, @radiofreegeorgy, @thanhancock, @bradjward. Supposedly, as channel/community manager, you’re taking on the brand persona, right? Or are you putting your own persona into the brand? Do you have a plan for your tweets or are they random? The more this was discussed, the more a blog post it deserved.
Personally, I’ve been putting on the University brand, primarily, touting University events, related news stories and of course, Boston updates. One thing I’ve not been doing too much of is interacting. Being someone who endlessly preaches ‘interaction, integration and two-way communication’ I cant really sit idle any longer: Its time to Tweet.
As I move forward in discussing and commenting on students and other follower/followees there’s a line to draw. How much is too much? Is too little robotic? Can I really chime in on how much I loved the Cuddy/House drama last week (Thanks for the input, @lanejoplin:) )?
I’d love for branded tweeting to take on a more personal touch, but how much of that touch is one person’s idiosyncrasies and lovable quirks versus a unified branded approach? Can both live simultaneously in harmony? What happens when the (hopefully, luckily) loved persona moves on or becomes too busy?
I’m thinking the answer is a little bit of both: stay true to the university brand and persona while also injecting a little personality to keep things interesting. Of course you wont get political or attach links to stories that’ll stir the pot, but generally, you’ll be able to have fun while providing information.
That’s what social media is all about, right? :)
jesskrywosa.com 
I think having a separate twitter account for your brand is crucial to keeping everything organized. That way your personal twitter account can be used to share anything you found interesting or random quips about shows and other things while your brand account stays focused on sharing info related to the brand and interacting with your followers. Having said that it’s also a good idea to inject your personality into the brand account. No one wants to read a robot and showing a bit of yourself through the brand will help followers connect with the brand and the person behind the brand.
Excellent exploration of a topic often pondered but little discussed. I haven’t done much interaction yet with my institutional Twitter … though it’s still been growing by leaps and bounds, and mostly with future students, current students and alumni. I’m left to ponder whether I’m doing something right (with daily manual calendar updates, RSS feeds of news and blogs, etc.) or whether even a static account could gain? Though lately I have seen a few conversations, which is encouraging, but nowhere near our Facebook Fans page.
In the mean time, counting the minutes to the House finale, which I would gladly discuss with anyone in any medium.