On LinkedIn's Multichannel Merchant group, senior writer Tim Parry asks, "How Much Twitter is Too Much Twitter?"

How often do you use Twitter, and can too much tweeting be a turnoff?

Also, do you see Twitter as an alternative to sending your customers/clients text messages, or as an alternative/compliment to e-mail marketing?

We took Tim's question as an opportunity to espouse a few best practices for corporate Tweets:

1. Have an elevator pitch.

Every Twitter account needs an "elevator pitch." If you can't concisely describe what it is and who it's for, don't bother. And then stick to the program. "I'm eating a bagel" isn't worthwhile content for anything but a very lame personal account.

Dell is now famous for driving over $3 million in sales from its principal Twitter feed. Some complain that Dell's offer feed is mainly just coupon codes. But that's fine, that's what it's for. Dell has about 30 different feeds each dedicated to a particular focus or topic.

2. It's okay to sit back and Tweet only when you have something important to say.

Personally, I don't Tweet much — I don't have that much to tell the world. But whenever I do have something important enough to write in a blog post or send out in a mass email, I do Tweet about it to amplify it.

3. Let your email program drive your Twitter posts.

Ecommerce merchants aren't in the business of writing fresh content. It doesn't come easily to most of us. What we do develop well, and frequently, are new products, and new promotions. That's what drives our email programs. And I think that's the model that will work for most ecommerce companies that are too small or too new at this to hire staff and develop content exclusively for social media: Let your email program drive your Twitter posts.

4. Your online social network are your evangelists — a smaller, stronger core of customers. Think quality of relationship, not quantity of followers.

For the ecommerce companies we work with, Facebook friends and Twitter followers are a subset — maybe 10% — of their house email list. Presumably those fans are the really die-hard enthusiasts, the evangelists. It's worthwhile to invest some staff time to:

• Remind the evangelists about your offers
• Give them a platform to rave publicly about your stuff, and
• Communicate with them, in a sort of Web 2.0-style "customer-service/PR/shareholder relations" effort.

5. It's not the medium, it's the message.

The medium (social networking) is hot and trendy. But it's not really about the medium. It's about customer connection and customer service. Good customer service is a mantra that's as old as the hills. Yet few companies are really doing enough to live up to it across their whole enterprise.

Here's what's weird about so much corporate Tweeting: Huge companies are embracing micro one-on-one direct messaging, in public, and I can't help but think it is the novelty of the medium. They have dived into Twitter messaging with a few dozen customers, meanwhile their outsourced phone centers may still give horrendous customer service to the masses.

But obviously some companies (Zappos, for instance) embrace the Twitter platform as just one part of a thoroughly good customer-service approach, whatever the channel.

6. What's boring to the masses can be fascinating to the right niche.

I laugh off a lot of corporate Twittering, but sometimes I reconsider: Take Rubbermaid's Twitter account.

Rubbermade has an active community on Twitter and Facebook built around "organization" — food storage, closet organizing, etc., talking to mostly moms but also dads, professional organizers, etc.

With tongue in cheek but also with evident pride, the Rubbermaid blog describes its focus as "Adventures in Organizing." To me it sounds deadly boring. But if you check it out, there are real enthusiasts out there, and Rubbermaid seems to be building a sincere and healthy connection with them — 600-strong on Facebook and over 6,000 on Twitter.

Sure, that "reach" is a tiny drop in the bucket compared to how many people Rubbermaid reaches with its TV and magazine media buys. But I'll bet Rubbermaid's social media efforts are doing a lot to boost the relevance of their brand among a very active and influential subset of its customers.