I’m looking forward to embarking on a new adventure as a corporate tweeter. As such, I’ve taken a good deal of time accumulating best practices for corporate accounts. Many of these are the same as I would recommend for anyone operating a business Twitter account for themselves:

1. Have a mission/message in mind before you post your first tweet.
2. Your message should also consider your target audience.
3. Twitter directories are a good way to gain some followers initially, but there is no get followers quick solution.
4. Be selective in following. There is no need to follow everyone who follows you.
5. Be careful of your language. This is even more important for corporations than for individuals.
6. Your posts are 100% public. Remember that bad news travels faster than good news and anything your shareholders wouldn’t like will travel out of the Twitterverse and onto TV screens and into newspapers.
7. Corporations need to select a voice. It’s best if one person, or a couple of people, man the account, for consistency, and to be sure there’s no redundancy. Most corporations invoke the royal ‘we.’  Other more customer-service oriented Twitter accounts have used an individual speaking from the first person.
8. A regular stream of content is important to any Twitter feed to maintain followers. Appropriate corporate topics include:

• • respond to follower/customer inquiries
  • retweet satisfied customer tweets
  • link to updated/interesting information on corporate websites/blogs
  • retweet updates from affiliated Twitter accounts
  • Twitter contests
  • advance notice of corporate news
  • Twitter discount codes
  • stimulate Twitter discussions with product-related questions
  • product-related trivia
  • run online surveys
  • photos of corporate events

Have some other ideas? Please share in the comments!

Bird art by Triax Mills.

Washington DC’s Metro system (WMATA) is in financial trouble.

As a regular commuter via the Metro subway system, this is a big deal for me. I need to get to work downtown, and Metro is still cheaper and faster than driving and parking downtown.

Frankly, as someone who has lived in both DC and in VA, I see how states have privileges that the District doesn’t. In my honest opinion, I think Virginia and Maryland, or the Federal government, should pitch in some capital for WMATA to refurbish the Metro system. Because as long as Congress refuses to grant statehood to the District, the District’s problems belong to the entire country. But I am aware the country is short on cash, and subway repairs are not top priority when we’re at war and people need jobs.

(Hey, wouldn’t subway repairs put people to work…? Never mind me.)

That said, I have also utilized a number of community bus systems as part of my daily life. In Arlington, there is the ART system. Georgetown Business Improvement District has its own shuttle bus between Rosslyn Metro, Foggy Bottom and Dupont Circle. Then there’s the downtown Circulator bus. I’ve got no idea what Maryland might have going on. If WMATA held a summit with all these operations, they might very well find some money to made on the roads – via these ‘new’ bus routes that have been already tested – to help their underground business.

How about the money that’s been put into these operations by Arlington, the Georgetown BID and the Downtown Business Improvement District? Seems like there’s an opportunity here. And I still think, despite a few accidents and scandals, that WMATA bus drivers are the best bus drivers in the area.

It has been nice to have a clean, safe subway to be proud of. Wouldn’t it be nice to keep it that way? I think it’s worth a little raise in rates, and I’d love to see WMATA take over the ART route I need to get me all the way home.

More details and opinions on the mess that is my daily ride to and fro:

• The Washington Post – Metro to cut official who oversaw safety: FARE INCREASES ALSO PROPOSED – Agency seeks to close $175 million budget gap
• Unsuck DC Metro – Metro Has a Sad
• Prince of Petworth – Friday Question of the Day – Do You Support a Commuter Tax for DC?

It’s not news that lots of folks have been losing their jobs lately.

What’s been news to me is how many people, when they lose their job, are left scrambling to put together a current resume. You don’t want to waste time hunting down the dates and names of places you worked when you should be customizing your cover letter or tweaking a few lines for your dream job.

Not everyone is always looking towards their next job. But it never hurts to have your resume up to date. It’s like your financial portfolio. Just because you’re not ready to cash it in doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep it in tip-top shape.

To keep your resume in ready-to-go shape at all times without constantly acting like you’ve got one foot out the door:

1. As soon as you get a new job, add it to the resume that just landed you the new gig. It’s going to be hard to remember the date of your first day at work a few months down the road. Your resume is a good place to jot it down.
2. Use Linked In or a similar website to keep track of your jobs. This is also a great way to ask for recommendations, and to keep in touch with former employers and co-workers for when references are requested.
3. When you gain a new asset, such as learning a new software package or attaining a new certification, add that to your resume immediately. At the same time, you might want to remove outdated terminology and software that’s not being used much anymore. (Removing WordPerfect from your list is safe at this point, in my opinion.)
4. Keep a copy of your resume in multiple formats: hard copy, Word document and PDF at a minimum. If you have any website publishing skills on your resume, I’d have an HTML copy of your assets as well.
5. Forecast a complete computer meltdown. Since a best-case scenario means that you won’t need this resume for a LONG time, figure out a way to archive your resume in more than one place. It may need to outlast the computer you’re writing it on. That’s another good reason to put it in multiple formats. Consider e-mailing it to yourself in multiple places, including a web-based e-mail account. Keep it on a USB drive or external hard drive.
6. Above all, you’ll want to be sure your resume is free of grammatical errors and emphasizes the active responsibility you took in each position you held. If you can’t find a copyeditor within your budget, then have every bright person you know read it over for mistakes.

I sure hope you don’t need to distribute your resume, but remember haste makes waste. Be prepared with your best representation of your experience at all times. I wish you all the success in the world.