Ghost tweeting – where a communications or marketing person tweets on behalf of a CEO or celebrity – got an airing in the Herald on Sunday today.

I got quoted in the story. I’m not really sure the irony shows when I’m called a guru:

Social media guru Simon Young said ghost-Tweeting “might be needed as a transitional thing, but it’s ultimately not sustainable”.

Twitter should be a “conversation”, said Young, between real people.

Some more thoughts that didn’t make it into the final article:

• Who says a CEO should tweet in the first place? Sure, they run the company, but is that relevant to the customer? Instead, empower some front line people within the company who can offer genuine value to customers – that might be customer service, it could be specials, it could be infotainment, or it could be genuine, stimulating conversation (as opposed to “conversation”!). It all depends on the business, the customers, and the value that’s exchanged.
• Of course, that’s a little bit more complicated than just putting a virtual mic in front of the CEO, but that’s the nature of fundamental change. Isn’t it time to start figuring out what your company should look like in revolutionary times?
• Here’s what it might look like: a team of people with different departments and disciplines, but one passion – the customer.
• The skills they will need: a mix of talking (communications, marketing, IT) and listening (customer service, knowledge management) and, most importantly, the ability to learn and adapt quickly.
• A great idea Laurel Papworth shared with me at Marketing Now: find the person in your contact centre who causes the most trouble because they’re too loud, or spend too much time in conversation with clients, and get them on social media. Being a bit of a show-off in a call centre can be a problem, but for social media it may be just right.

(Ghostly pic from peasap)

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