Corporate tweeting can be a daunting task, to say the least. Even though the platform is not new, we can safely say it’s like nothing a new startup has dealt with—it’s quite different from Facebook,  and only shares basic similarities with corporate blogging. Here are some tips and ideas you should keep in mind once you set up a business Twitter account.

Add a relevant picture

People want to know who they are “talking” to. If you are a freelancer or operating a “one man show”, a head-shot photo is a must. Don’t use your company logo. If you are tweeting as “Chris from Company X”, then there should be a picture of Chris in your account.

Share relevant links with your followers

A business twitter account shouldn’t be all about promoting your company products, answering questions and getting feedback. Let’s say you run a used car store. It’s alright to announce the latest BMW model, even though it’s not strictly related to your business.

Have more than one tweeter

Engage more than one member of your team in managing your Twitter account. People take vacations, get sick or quit—you don’t want to leave all queries and DM’s unanswered for a  few weeks while your only tweeter is on leave. Also, your followers want diversity. More than one voice could bend the general feel of the community in a favorable direction.

Share the human side of your company

Twitter tends to be a less formal environment than, say, your company blog. It’s more than okay to share pictures from the latest team building or to announce that one of your employees is expecting a baby (provided your staff is comfortable sharing personal information with the public). Tweet a joke. Mention that you and your colleague will be having lunch in restaurant X on Wednesday, 1:30 PM and ask if anyone cares to join.

Always tweet relevant events

If you have or will be taking part in any sort of meet-up, make sure you tweet about it. If you operate a law firm and will be joining Lawyer’s Congress 2011 in Dubai, it could be too early to write a blog post about it now, in November 2010, but a tweet is definitely worth it. It will make your readers see that you care about what you’re doing, are one of the top professionals in your field and stay always up to date with the news.

Don’t toot your own horn too much

Granted, the goal of corporate twitting should be to promote your products. Just don’t go overboard with it. Don’t bore your followers with relentless pitches of your latest promotion. Focus on having loyal followers, people who read each and every tweet of yours and click most of the links. It’s all about capturing leads versus ‘junk’ traffic.

You don’t have to read every tweet

For your own sanity, don’t bother to read everything your followers have to say. Once you reach a certain amount of followers, you will probably have to have someone spend a fairly significant amount of time managing your twitter account if you want to read what each and every follower tweets about. To save time, skim through your followers, find the few diamonds in the rough and follow them.