**by Michael Gray**
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
<http://twitter.com/NatHistoryWhale>
of New York. If you've never been to the Natural History Museum,
there actually is a large whale hanging from the ceiling
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/rodrigo_suriani/1604237069/>
there.
The whale tweets about a lot of things from children underneath
<http://twitter.com/NatHistoryWhale/status/1207111093>
, things going on at the museum
<http://twitter.com/NatHistoryWhale/status/970881816>
, whale facts <http://twitter.com/NatHistoryWhale/status/1485613473>
, even having a little fun with the night watchman
<http://twitter.com/NatHistoryWhale/status/1797429920>
. The Natural History Museum isn't the only famous whale on
twitter, you can also find Shamu the mascot of Seaworld
<http://twitter.com/Shamu>
. 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
<http://twitter.com/Shamu/status/2512784306>
, funny animal pictures <http://twitter.com/Shamu/status/2473895588>
, contests <http://twitter.com/Shamu/status/2483901992>
, and a bit of killer whale humor
<http://twitter.com/Shamu/status/2502060510>
. 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:
Monterey Aquarium <http://twitter.com/MontereyAq>
National Aquarium in Baltimore <http://twitter.com/NatlAquarium>
Mall of America Aquarium <http://twitter.com/MOAAquarium>
Georgia Aquarium <http://twitter.com/GeorgiaAquarium>
Florida Aquarium <http://twitter.com/floridaaquarium>
Tennessee Aquarium <http://twitter.com/TNAquarium>
La Jolla Aquarium <http://twitter.com/Birch_Aquarium>
New England Aquarium <http://twitter.com/NEAQ>
Shedd Aquarium <http://twitter.com/sheddaquarium>
Aquarium of the Pacific <http://twitter.com/AquariumPacific>
San Francisco Aquarium <http://twitter.com/AquariumOTheBay>
Newport Aquarium <http://twitter.com/newportaquarium>
Oklahoma Aquarium <http://twitter.com/OklaAquarium>
Gatorland <http://twitter.com/Gatorland>
Sealife Aquarium <http://twitter.com/SEALIFEAquarium>
San Diego Zoo <http://twitter.com/sandiegozoo>
Houston Zoo <http://twitter.com/houstonzoo>
San Francisco Zoo <http://twitter.com/sfzoo>
Maryland Zoo <http://twitter.com/marylandzoo>
National Zoo Washington DC <http://twitter.com/NationalZoo>
Nashville Zoo <http://twitter.com/NashvilleZoo>
Cincinnati Zoo <http://twitter.com/CincinnatiZoo>
Woodland Park Zoo Seattle <http://twitter.com/woodlandparkzoo>
Phoenix Zoo <http://twitter.com/PhoenixZoo>
Sacramento Zoo <http://twitter.com/SacramentoZoo>
Columbus Zoo <http://twitter.com/ColumbusZoo>
Los Angeles Zoo <http://twitter.com/lazoo>
Memphis Zoo <http://twitter.com/MemphisZoo>
Minnesota Zoo <http://twitter.com/mnzoo>
Cleavland Zoo <http://twitter.com/clemetzoo>
Fictional characters on Twitter aren't limited just to animals, the
Mars Rover <http://twitter.com/marsrover>
and Mars Phoenix <http://twitter.com/marsphoenix>
landers gave personalities to robots in 2008. You can also find
Darth Vader <http://twitter.com/darthvader>
and The Joker <http://twitter.com/the_J0KER>
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:
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.
Role Accounts. Use role accounts like "HardwareHelper" or
"MrAccounting" instead of accounts with actual names in them.
Be an Actor. Portraying a fictional character like
"TechLepruchaun" you'll be able to get away with a little bit
more than "BobFromTech".
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.
Keep a Consistent Voice. If you do use multiple people, try to use
the same voice or tone as much as possible.
Engage Your Audience. Don't use Twitter strictly as a broadcast
medium, find ways to interact with the people who follow you.
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
<http://twitter.com/NatHistoryWhale/status/1245396895>
to promote whale conservation links.
Opinions expressed in the article are those of the author, and not
necessarily Search Engine Land.
Michael Gray <http://searchengineland.com/author/michael-gray/>
has over 10 years experience in website development and internet
marketing. He has helped companies with internal search engine
optimization strategies for both ecommerce and informational websites.
He publishes controversial industry thoughts and observations on his
blog at http://www.wolf-howl.com
.
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