I love Twitter, I will go ahead and admit it, I love using Twitter. Whether I’m tweeting my interesting finds and experiences from my personal account or sharing pertinent information and creating connections for @AgencyEntourage, every day is a new experience and every day creates a new opportunity.

Twitter is one thing I think all PR professionals, whether you’re on the modern side of the field or sticking to the more traditional method, should become familiar with and take advantage of in the realms of social media. So, come on in! The Twitter bird bath water is fine…

• You can get a story published from Twitter. Nowadays, most reporters and journalists have their own personal Twitter accounts that can be found by a simple search. Other accounts, such as @Helpareporter or @ProfNet, are updated almost by the minute with reporters looking for sources for a story. A PR pro could use this to their advantage and possibly come out with a story from simply reading a tweet.
• You can put out a media fire. Take @SouthwestAir, for example. In late April of this year, Southwest Airlines was in full crisis communication mode after one of their planes slid off a runway at Chicago’s Midway Airport. The news of their plane’s mishap made major news headlines, pushing the airline to communicate via social media, which included Twitter. As soon as the crisis happened, followers from all around noticed a tweet from the official Twitter account informing the public on the basic details. Twitter was not the only platform used in the event. A post to their Facebook page and a blog post going into fuller details offered news and, in my opinion, a comforting factor to the brand’s customers. It allowed customers to hear the message from Southwest Airlines first and fast. (A great rule of thumb for any PR pro.)
• You can have fun and represent your brand positively at the same time. The users of Twitter know you only have 140 characters to get your message across and they want it to be an attention grabbing message so, have fun with it. One thing I find so great about Twitter is the conversational atmosphere. It is a social networking site after all; people are there to have fun. Use creative lingo when you’re trying to catch the attention of your target audience. Reach out and start a conversation. Create a captivating strategy. Although public relations is a very professional industry, I don’t think a PR pro should be afraid to step outside of the box a little. Twitter can be the perfect place to do that. Besides, we’re allowed to have a little bit of fun, aren’t we?

Are you a PR pro using Twitter? What is your favorite thing about it? Got any great stories to share? Stay up-to-date with us and other online marketing news by following @AgencyEntourage on Twitter.

Photo Credit: “Twitter Bird Sketch” by shawncampbell. Some rights reserved.