Everyone is debating whether brands belong on Twitter.
Mark Drapeau, Lon Cohen, Jonathan Kash, Tamar Weinberg, and Mitch Joel are asking smart questions about brand transparency, brand communication, and corporate vs personal branding.
Can you think of a better lead-in to focus on the LA Times?
Over the course of five hours earlier this month, California resident Sylvia Martinez wrote the following two Twitter messages about the Times:
First tweet: thinking about canceling sub. to LA Times. Trib came in and ruined it, now wants protection against debts. why should i pay for that? | Dec 8, 2008 09:16 PM GMT
Second tweet: uh oh, i twittered that i might cancel my LA Times subscription and now @latimes is following me | Dec 9, 2008 04:48 AM GMT
Sylvia, president of Generation YES, is one of many people I follow on Twitter. (Though her professional affiliation is not the reason I follow her; rather, I find her tweets valuable.)
When I saw her tweet about the newspaper following her, I immediately sent this message:
I’m curious how long after your 8-hour-old tweet about the LA Times did they start following you.
I simultaneously broadcast a message from @BrandCustomer, my ongoing Twitter experiment involving corporate branding and tweeting:
Like clockwork, the LA Times sent me this message within a few hours:
We followed @smartinez manually a few minutes after her tweet – it’s been a busy day
We don’t auto follow unless u follow 1st
No message was sent to @BrandCustomer, but the Times began following both me and my experiment. At no point then or now, am I following the paper.
I have a few thoughts about the LA Times:
The publisher is offering great customer service by its responsiveness to people who tweet about the brand.
When I introduced the concept of @BrandCustomer earlier this month, I noticed that one of the commenters was AndrewN, the social media guy in the LA Times newsroom, who wrote this message in the comment field:
“We’re now following you on Twitter. Please reciprocate by following us…”
Who is we? Who is us? Is it Andrew or someone else? Maybe a group of newsroom folks? Their Twitter bio is unclear.
Moreover, I live in Massachusetts and follow hyperlocal feeds like @UniversalHub. Why should I follow the LA Times?
Responding to Andrew’s comment, why should I follow you merely because you follow me? Provide customer service, be helpful, offer advice. But don’t ask for reciprocity; you’re a brand, not a person. People follow brands for different reasons; I follow brands if I find value and the brand offers a personal touch.
If you had a personal account, such as @AndrewN, and you identified yourself as the social media guy at the Los Angeles Times, and your tweets were about everything from journalism to social media, then I might find value and follow you.
At the least, you should emulate Morgan at JetBlue and place your name in the LATimes’ bio section above. Be transparent. Be authentic. That way, people (and I) can know who the real McCoy is behind the company.
UPDATE: Based on the above advice and the below comments, Andrew Nystrom and the L.A. Times changed their ways, as indicated in this praise-worthy twitter message.
Photo credit: mattlogelin
About Ari Herzog
I haven’t been following all the discussions about this topic, but I have seen enough of the criticisms being thrown around….I think people are starting to get a bit overly critical and overly demanding about how brands are “supposed” to behave online. I know it took me a while to figure out this space. For a coporate entity to even be involved in social media is a pretty big deal for them. Give them some space, be helpful, they’ll figure it out. I’m sure they’ve got quite a lot of other things on their plates at the moment, too. Just saying…
Helen Hoefele´s last blog post..Degrees of Helpfulness
Great piece! And it’s sage advice for @LATimes. They are lucky to get it for free, too.
Taking your advice a step further…
If I was the LA Times, I would use my brand name Avatar just for news streams. I follow several news streams on Twitter and find them valuable. I would also appoint one person per department to Twitter (as the “faces” of LA Times), each one linking to @LATimes in their bios. And the LATimes ID bio should mention their Customer Service and/or PR tweeter handles. Cross-promote the faces and the feed…
Jaculynn Peterson´s last blog post..Nothing Tweeter than Twitter
Hi Ari,
Your analysis of my experience with @latimes is right on. I’m fine with companies/brands being on twitter and acting like companies, as Jaculynn said.
But I find it slightly creepy to have them flip back and forth from brands to people. It reminds me of salespeople who don’t really know you, but look at your credit card at the last second and then call you by name. You aren’t fooling me!
And by the way, I’ve lived in LA my whole life, and between my parents and me, have subscribed to the LA Times for over 70 years. I have always loved the Times, and it would be incredibly hard for me to stop subscribing. This is not just about where I spend my money, it’s a cultural touchstone and part of my identity as a native Angeleno.
I’m disgusted that Sam Zell is wrecking it for personal profit. But I also know that there are many hardworking people at the Times who are struggling to maintain a first class operation. Can I support them without it going into Zell’s pocket?
I can’t say for sure, but “knowing” people at the Times through social media might be what keeps me hooked a little longer.
sylvia martinez´s last blog post..Words are just words
Helen, you are right of course, about brand critique. But how many companies are also blogging about this? I’d love to read a similar perspective in either direction on a corporate blog. Maybe there’s something out there already?
Jaculynn, speaking of your avatar, you might want to consider signing up for a Gravatar account, per the link at the bottom of this page. Oh, and NASA takes your idea with their approximate 17 feeds, each for a different project.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Sylvia. I’m not following the Times/Tribune issues, but I can only imagine it’s a tight ship run over there.
Thanks @ariherzog, I just replied via @LATimesNystrom.
@LATimes is flattered that you’ve considered the brand so thoroughly, and as you can see, we’ve taken some of your advice to heart.
@smartinez – Let’s continue the conversation. We value you and your family’s longtime patronage of the newspaper and digital media.
@figmentations – Thank you for your kind, understanding reply.
@diablogue_chat – Several of our staff reporters have their own individual twitter streams, including @LAJourno, @latimestot, @latimesfood (Rene Lynch + the LAT Test Kitchen crew), @latimestravel (Editor Catharine Hamm + her staff), @LATimesJerry, freelance Travel blogger @jenleo, New York-based television/media reporter @mateagold …. to name just a few.
Please stay tuned to http://www.latimes.com/twitter to see as we add and list new accounts.
We’ve got an extensive, newsroom-wide Twitter and social media training program planned starting in early 2009.
Sincerely,
~ Andrew @LATimesNystrom
Sr. Producer, Social + Emerging Media, Los Angeles Times
Great discussion. I’m happy to add @LATimesNystrom to my friend list. The paper is doing cool things, has always been a great read, and Nystrom’s a Cal grad like me!
Twitter Comment
Reading: Social media advice for the LATimes (and all companies, for that matter) [link to post]
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