Respect the social context

Twitter is a social tool, used by friends to share information and engage in dialogue. Businesses can and do fit into this world, but they must respect this social context. Dan Germain, of Innocent Drinks, suggests asking whether you would welcome customers to “drop in for a cup of tea”. If the answer is no: “don’t get involved”.

Be interesting

“The most important thing is to always be interesting”, says Amelia Torode of ad agency VCCP. Before you begin ‘tweeting’, consider the content you have to offer. Can you consistently create tweets that are interesting, informative, useful, conversational, or beneficial? When devising tweets, think twice about the social context; about why people use Twitter, and importantly, about the kind of people that use it.

Engage in conversations

“If you believe it’s important to get out there and have conversations with customers, then you should be using Twitter”, says Bob Pearson of Dell. Such interactions can provide businesses with qualitative information on customer opinions, insights and feedback on subjects such as existing or new products, services, or ideas. Importantly: be sure to listen; Penguin Books digital marketing director Anna Rafferty argues that showing you listen is “the only way to build true value into brands’ use of Twitter”.

Don’t be too ‘salesy’

“The last thing any brand should do is approach Twitter like a textbook marketing activity”, says Dan Germain of Innocent Drinks. A sentiment echoed by ad agency strategist Amelia Torode: “This isn’t a pipe down which to pump press releases”. This does not mean you cannot tweet promotional content, just keep a check on it, and be sure to find a balance between being ‘salesy’ and being social.

Balance frequency

Brands are sometimes criticised for tweeting too infrequently, reflecting a lack of commitment, content, or both. Conversely, brands that tweet too often could annoy followers who may feel bugged by tweets. This problem worsens the more promotional you get. Remember that Twitter is primarily a social tool, thus relentless promotional content may inspire users to delete you from their Twitter list. To strike a balance, always ask yourself: is the reader going to find this tweet useful, relevant, and above all: interesting?

Find your voice

Companies tweet in different ways. Some take a personal tone, tweeting directly from directors or executives, while others tweet anonymously under their brand name. Some take an informal approach to content (perhaps tweeting about an employee’s recent personal achievement), while others prefer to keep things focussed on business. There are no set rules, but it helps to find an approach that is comfortable for you.

Take it easy

Innocent’s Dan Germain: “The key is to not try too hard. With only 140 characters, if you think for more than a minute about what you post, you’re taking too long”. This advice should not be taken too literally, but it helps to illustrate that Twitter is designed to be short, sweet and social. You want to avoid damaging your brand by being too casual, but also try to take things easy and embrace the relaxed tone of Twitter.

We know we should have different, long, hard to guess passwords for everything, but it’s easy to ignore such practice and favour convenience over security. And as we use an increasing number of devices, networks and services, the dangers of using one password for all get ever-greater. So, what steps can we take to improve security while keeping passwords memorable and convenient?

Create better passwords

What makes a good password? Long; containing letters, numbers and symbols; used for one purpose; hard to guess. Problem is, these rules challenge us to retain lots of lengthy, obscure data. Practicably speaking then, a good password is hard for others to guess but easy for you to remember.

One tip for hard-to-guess but memorable passwords: replace letters with numbers or symbols that visually resemble letters; for example, ‘Inception2010’ becomes ‘!nc3pt!0n2010’. Or to make things more obscure, use the first letters from a memorable sentence; so ‘My first dog was brown and born in 1981’ becomes ‘Mfdwbab!1981’. This seems obscure but can be recalled using a memorable code. Brainstorm words and phrases that are memorable to you but not others, and apply these tricks to see what you get. Your IT team, or a search online, may offer additional password creation tips that better suit you.

Avoid using one password for everything

Using one password for everything works, until: someone watches you enter it; you enter it onto a hoax website; one of the places where you use it is hacked. Your thief could then attempt to log into other popular services which you may use, and access sensitive data or use your accounts fraudulently.

Better balance security and convenience

Still favour convenience? If so: list the places where you use passwords, grouped by importance, based on how vital their secure use is, or how much sensitive data they contain. Your top priority list is likely to give impetus to create stronger and different passwords for each. For lesser priorities you may choose convenience – perhaps using one password for all – but at least your sensitive places are more secure.

Or you could mix security and convenience with a password manager; an encrypted software repository where passwords are accessible using one ‘primary’ password. Typically such software offers features including secure password generation, web integration to auto-login to services, and smartphone or web access. Systems fail if someone gets access to your data, so it’s vital to have a strong primary password and store your database securely (which arguably means not storing online). Other weaknesses: you may find yourself without access to passwords in some situations; potential for data loss. To alleviate the dangers, good password managers focus on reliability and offer automated backups. Key advantage: rather than creating memorable passwords you can enjoy easy access to random, secure passwords.

You must take reasonable steps to ensure you don’t discriminate against disabled customers and employees. We explore what the law requires, why it’s important, and the sort of things you can do.

What the law requires

The Disability Discrimination Act, which applies to all companies, states that small to medium sized businesses must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to avoid discriminating against disabled customers and employees.

When deciding what constitutes a ‘reasonable adjustment’, the Department for Work and Pensions suggests considering: the type of business, its size and annual turnover; the cost of an adjustment; disruption while the adjustment is carried out; practicality of the adjustment; and the potential resulting benefits to disabled customers or employees.

The law is framed in this way so that businesses are not forced to make unreasonable changes. Ultimately, failure to make reasonable adjustments could result in legal action by disabled individuals who feel unfairly treated. In essence, the law requires you to be fair and do what is reasonable.

Why it’s important

Disabled customers who feel unfairly treated may not choose to take legal action, but they are unlikely to interact with your business again. Being unfair to a customer usually means losing a customer, so taking steps to provide access for all makes good business sense, and of course – it’s the right thing to do. An estimated 17 per cent of UK citizens have a disability, so it’s important to accommodate this sizeable customer group.

The sort of things you can do

Create accessible information. Use clear text and contrasting text and background colours; Be prepared to provide alternative versions of printed materials, such as braille, large print or audio; Have accessible telephone options such as textphone or typetalk; Audit your website and if necessary make it accessible.

Ensure accessible premises. Fit a ramp or lift if you have steps or steep slopes; Install a bell or buzzer at entrances for customers to request assistance; Install visual as well as audible alarms; Ensure door handles are easy to reach or grip; Document the needs of regular visitors to provide correct assistance in the future.

Customer service. Offer an accessibility statement outlining what assistance you can offer; Train staff to give appropriate assistance, such as help for a wheelchair user, or reading aloud to a visually impaired person.

Employing people. Create flexible working arrangements, and accommodate the needs of disabled workers; Be prepared to provide job application forms in alternative formats; Hold interviews in accessible premises.

There are many other ‘reasonable’ steps you can take, some of which may be specific to certain industries. Seek expert guidance or conduct an accessibility audit if you are unsure about your specific obligations.