A guide to being not-boring on
Part 1: Tweeting 9 to 5
Created by Kate Miltner, Social Media Manager at

What is Twitter?
• Tweets = 160 character messages (20 characters for
username, 140 characters for message text)
• An “ambient awareness” tool: keep track of the
people, celebrities, brands, news outlets and
companies who you are “following” via many pieces of
bite-size information
• An informational tool: provide information to others
via tweets
• A conversational tool: Respond to other people’s
tweets, engage in dialogue

What’s the Point?
• The point of Twitter changes depending on
who’s tweeting.
• Why companies should tweet:
– Reveal the “human” side of the company, give it a
personality
– Provide useful information that people won’t get
anywhere else (or at least, as quickly)
– Respond to
comments, requests, feedback, complaints in real
time
– Have a platform for announcing news
– New Business leads

Getting Started
Before any tweet, ask yourself these questions:
• Why am I tweeting?
• Who is my intended audience?
• How can I make this more interesting?
• Would I enjoy reading this if someone else wrote
it?
The 140 character limit is not an excuse for being
boring. It’s an opportunity to be really interesting.

Tweeting From The Office
What you should tweet:
• Insightful comments about current events in
business, and/or articles.
• Thoughtful and relevant responses to thought
leaders
• Interesting news from the company: projects
launched, events being held, awards
won, new hires (and, if applicable, special
offers)

Tweeting From The Office: Commentary
Bad Tweet:
FlightpathNY: Chris Anderson was great on The
Daily Show last night
Good Tweet:
FlightpathNY: Enjoyed @chrisanderson’s funny
explanation of Freeconomics on @The_Daily_Show:
http://bit.ly/MJQU

Tweeting From The Office: Articles
Bad Tweet:
FlightpathNY: Reading an awesome article in
Wall Street Journal about broadband
Good Tweet:
FlightpathNY: Great article in @WSJ discusses
implications of TWC’s tiered broadband pricing
test: http://bit.ly/MJQU

Tweeting From The Office: Response
Bad Tweet:
FlightpathNY: @chrisbrogan Why would you say
that?
Good Tweet:
FlightpathNY: @chrisbrogan I disagree, I do
think that Twitter will be the leader in natural
language search.

Tweeting From The Office: Company News
Bad Tweet:
FlightpathNY: Come to our social media
roundtable on June 4th!
Good Tweet:
FlightpathNY: Join us at our roundtable
discussion of SM and Non-Profits during
Internet Week. More info and RSVP here:
http://bit.ly/MJQU #internetweek

Key Practices: From The Office
• Figure out if the person/entity you’re referencing
has a Twitter account. If so, use that as the identifier.
• Informs your readers that people/properties you find
interesting are on Twitter
• Informs those people/properties that you’re talking
about them, gets their attention
• Provide context as to what you’re talking about
• Always provide a reference link if you can
• Hashtags! Use them.

Tweeting From Events
Why Should You Tweet From Events?
• Note taking! Information to reference later
• Providing key takeaways for people who are not at
the event
• Joining in the conversation about the event
• Making new contacts and gaining new followers
• Demonstrating that you are keeping up with the
latest thought leadership

Tweeting From Events
Three Types of Tweets:
The Key Takeaway Tweet
• A succinct nugget of information from the
speaker/panelist
The Conversational Tweet
• Responding/engaging with others at the event
The Question Tweet
• Can be either a reaction, or a submission when
the panel is taking questions from Twitter

Tweeting From Events: Takeaway
Bad Tweet:
FlightpathNY: Guy Kawasaki says that not all
brands should be on Twitter
Good Tweet:
FlightpathNY: @guykawasaki says that brands
who are prepared for transparency and
honesty will do well on Twitter #sxsw
#keynote

Tweeting From Events: Conversational
Bad Tweet:
FlightpathNY: Hey Joshua, what did you think of
the keynote? Want to grab a drink next door?
Good Tweet:
FlightpathNY: @joshuablair agree with you
that ghost tweeters defeat the purpose of
being on Twitter. Great tweets from the
keynote! #sxsw #keynote

Tweeting From Events: Question
Bad Tweet:
FlightpathNY: What is the next big thing in social
media?
Good Tweet:
FlightpathNY: @jeffpulver What do you think
is the most important SM tool for non profits?
#soccomm

Key Practices: From Events
• HASHTAGS, HASHTAGS, HASHTAGS. HASHTAGS!
• Before you start tweeting from an event, always
announce what event you’re at, who’s speaking, and
what the hashtags are.
•Focus on quality over quantity, especially when it
comes to takeaways
• Do not carry on personal conversations from the
company account.

The End
Contact:
www.flightpath.com
Twitter: @flightpathny and @katemiltner