7 Ways To Act Like An Animal On Twitter

One of the most interesting aspects of social media is the fact that there really aren’t any rules, anyone can use the platform however they want. When it comes to Twitter, a lot of organizations that aren’t associated with cutting edge marketing tactics are using some creative, outside of the box thinking. In fact, some of them are acting like animals … literally.

First up is the Whale in the Natural History Museum of New York. If you’ve never been to the Natural History Museum, there actually is a large whale hanging from the ceiling there.

The whale tweets about a lot of things from children underneath, things going on at the museum, whale facts, even having a little fun with the night watchman. The Natural History Museum isn’t the only famous whale on twitter, you can also find Shamu the mascot of Seaworld. Killer whales aren’t as docile, and looking at this account, you can see it’s quite a bit more snarky in tone.

This account tweets lots of pictures, such as rescue efforts, funny animal pictures, contests, and a bit of killer whale humor. Museums, aquariums and zoos aren’t traditionally organizations that embrace this type of bleeding edge marketing efforts, but there are lots of other zoos and aquariums who using Twitter effectively:

Fictional characters on Twitter aren’t limited just to animals, the Mars Rover and Mars Phoenix landers gave personalities to robots in 2008. You can also find Darth Vader and The Joker on Twitter as well.

While smaller and mid-sized business may not have the luxury of well known characters or mascots, they can replicate and adapt some of the tactics and strategies used by these accounts. Here are a few suggestions to help you put your plan into action:

1. Be transparent. If you are going to pretend to be an animal, people can figure out there is a human behind the keyboard without you telling them. The closer you come to pretending to be an actual person, the clearer you need to be about who you really are.
2. Role Accounts. Use role accounts like “HardwareHelper” or “MrAccounting” instead of accounts with actual names in them.
3. Be an Actor. Portraying a fictional character like “TechLepruchaun” you’ll be able to get away with a little bit more than “BobFromTech”.
4. Multiple Authors. Using multiple authors is a smart strategy for many companies, it keeps any single employee or subcontractor from feeling they own the account.
5. Keep a Consistent Voice. If you do use multiple people, try to use the same voice or tone as much as possible.
6. Engage Your Audience. Don’t use Twitter strictly as a broadcast medium, find ways to interact with the people who follow you.
7. Use Humor and Current Events. Look for opportunities to inject a bit of humor into the account whenever possible. Current events are another opportunity, for example: the Natural History Whale used Sarah Palin’s stance on whale hunting to promote whale conservation links.

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Michael Gray