Growing Your Business with Twitter: An Infoboom Webinar

Twitter for Business Paul Gillin, Author The New Influencers Secrets of Social Media Marketing Social Marketing to the Business Customer

It’s a constant flow of information that yields continual discovery

Here’s what 140 characters looks like: “ Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposi” Or Tweetshrunk to: “ 4 score & 7 years ago R fthrs brought forth on ths continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, & dedicated 2 the prop that all men R crea”

“ Facebook users didn't think they wanted constant, up-to-the-minute updates on what other people are doing. Yet when they experienced this sort of omnipresent knowledge, they found it intriguing and addictive. “ Each individual bit of social information is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends' and family members' lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting.” --Clive Thompson, The New York Times, 9/8/09

Branding Hiring Traffic building Professional networking Publicity News Prospecting Feedback Peer relations Competitive tracking Search engine optimization Mobile visibility Source: Sirona Consulting

Sign up Create personal and business accounts; keep names short! If tweeting for business, choose username linked to business (i.e. “@MeganCIO” Fill out that profile 160 characters; choose ‘em wisely! Use keywords Link to an “About” page on your site Include photo or logo, depending on intended use Change the default background Choose images and themes consistent with the intended persona Pay attention to business marketing guidelines

Choose a Reader Twitter.com just doesn’t cut it for active users Seesmic (top) and Tweetdeck are popular choices Choose a mobile client Readers support filtering, lists, profiles, follow/unfollow, multimedia, cross-posting to other social networks, tweetshrink, URL shortening Follow people Start with a small list and grow Follow your friends, then find people through search.twitter.com, Listorious the people others follow Listen For a While Tweetdeck Seesmic Tweetie Twitterific (iPhone) Pandora (Android)

Say Something Interesting Cite good articles on the Web Comment on others’ tweets Talk about others, not yourself The Golden Ratio is 9:1 For every one tweet promoting yourself, send nine promoting others Be courteous, even if you disagree Take time to look up user IDs of others you quote @ShellyKramer: It's An Exciting Time to Be A Creative Type | http://bit.ly/c1Fzxo Romania seeks to tax fatty fast food http://is.gd/8JS5a New Mashable app is massive improvement from previous incantation and soo glad they dumped that 'graphic' or whatever it was 16 unusual facts about the human body http://u.nu/3fpw5 Do not have your username "admin" when using a wordpress blog #wcmia 4 Reasons Why Nobody Reads Your Blog http://ow.ly/19kDd #BloggingTips by @binterest Facebook Problems Today: Photo Uploads Broken and Other Issues http://bit.ly/cuRs2n

Helpful? Funny? Offbeat? Sympathetic? Snarky? Unpredictable? Try following some popular people , then choose a style that makes sense for you

Info tweet Retweet Help tweet Postman tweet Smiley tweet Youtweet Source: Sirona Consulting Check out this interesting article! http://bit.ly/bvnPDV RT @copyblogger Revised AP style guide http://bit.ly/bvnPDV New entry on my blog: http://bit.ly/bvnPDV @JasonFalls do you like @Backupify? I've heard of it but never from someone I trust who uses it. We just launched a new product! http://bit.ly/bvnPDV It’s snowing in Austin and raining in New York. Something’s wrong!

Flame or use abusive language Repeat personal or confidential information Talk about your gambling, drinking or other after-hours exploits Complain about clients or colleagues Repeatedly send the same tweet Don’t… Twitter is public and searchable. People are listening!

Claims world’s shortest URLs Create custom URLs like bit.ly/IBWebinar Statistics about URLs you share Embeds ads in tweets Look For: Bookmarklets/browser integration Analytics Geotargeting Custom URLs Compatibility with your reader http://maps.google.com/maps?q=one+speen+street,+framingham,+ma&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=1+Speen+St,+Framingham,+Middlesex,+Massachusetts+01701&gl=us&ei=-hOES45dh-GUB4G1_I4C&ved=0CAcQ8gEwAA&z=16 http://3.ly/lyx From This : To This :

Alternate between something relevant to your business and something irrelevant. Comments on the tax season can alternate with notes about my passion fruits coming into season. Add “Follow Me on Twitter” to your emails, web site, and other communications Focus on one or two of your followers a day. Spotlight something about them in a tweet. They’ll notice. Excerpted from “137 Twitter Tips: How Small Businesses Get The Most From Twitter” by Small Business Trends (@smallbiztrends) Be useful. Be helpful. Be an authority Demonstrate you know your market Promote your work thoughtfully Share links and knowledge Use LinkedIn contacts or business cards to look up and follow people in your field

Direct Message – Essentially a short, private e-mail (Both parties must be following each other). Hash tag – Text string that categorizes a tweet’s relevance to a theme. Examples: #fail, #tigerwoods, #obama, #macworld. Useful in organizing and trending Auto reply – Controversial practice of sending automated responses to new followers

Find people with similar interests Create conversations around a brand or event Create structured online events Monitor topics of interest Discover new sources and information Quick assess sentiment

Memes: Thematic conversations, often tied to days of the week. Ex: #FollowFriday, #Music Monday, #SinnerSunday Responses: It’s considered a snub to fail to respond to a request sent as an @ message Texting Slang: Avoid all but the essential. “IMO” is OK; “LMFAO” isn’t Trends: Popular topics of the moment, often displayed as tag clouds Selling: Just don’t

Building Followers: The Quality/Quantity Tradeoff

Follow people you admire Comment upon and retweet their messages Include their Twitter name If they follow you, thank them Ask for advice, input It’s occasionally OK to ask for a RT They know they’re important; don’t abuse the relationship Checking out "Facebook and Health Ads" on @WEGOHealth : http://ning.it/93dQ6z Tweeps: I'm in front of a college journalism class. What shld these students know abt social media. RT @tshuttleworth: This is the golden age of engagement for book publishers. - Arianna Huffington #toccon

Attend and organize events Tweet from events you attend Create Twitter-only events Add your Twitter ID to all communications Participate in topical Twitter chats Think outside the box: What can you try with Twitter? #brandchat (Weds. @ 10) #smallbizchat (Weds. @ 7) #solorpr (Weds. @ noon) #journchat (Mon. @ 7) #blogchat (Sun. @ 8) A great list of scheduled Twitter chats is at http://bit.ly/TwitChatSched

Pros Quick way for both parties to build follower count Easily automated Can introduce both parties to wide variety of other perspectives Cons Accumulates undesirable followers Tweetstream quickly becomes unwieldy Looks like a numbers game Robotic process in which a person automatically follows back any new followers

Dana Lewis (@danamlewis) and co-creator Arik Hanson created the Twitter hashtag #hcsm in early 2009 to stimulate a discussion of healthcare issues. It has become the most cited healthcare community on Twitter, drawing more than 2,000 followers for the moderator account, 50 to100 regular participants during each weekly scheduled chat and contributions from more than 200 people throughout the week. AdWeek used Twitter, video and near-real-time reporting to bring an eager US audience the latest news from the annual Cannes advertising festival. The coverage spiked the b-to-b magazine’s website traffic and provided comprehensive coverage of an event that’s crucial to its audience

Paul Armstrong has built a following of more than 24,000 people for his Twitter persona @themediaisdying. Last summer he was hired as head of social media for one of Europe’s largest public sector consultancies. A team of 16 publishing professionals collaborate on the satirical tweet stream @fakeapstylebook. They’ve amassed more than 218,000 followers in with just 1,700 tweets. They also have a best-selling book. Justin Halpern began recording his father’s off-color and often hilarious homespun wisdom on @Sh*tMyDadSays. Six months and 140 tweets later, he’s got 2.3 million followers and a TV show.

The Twitter Fan Page Wiki lists more than 700 applications. Everyone’s tastes are different. Some of my favorites: Big directory of businesses on Twitter Schedule tweets for later delivery Who’s tweeting in your area Continuous keyword/ hashtag monitoring Measures power, reach and authority of a Twitter account TweetStats analyzes your own Twitter activity Customer Twitter dashboard

Personal relationships with recruiters improve applicant quality Image of Sodexo as progressive company appeals to young workers Recruitment costs substantially reduced Principal Value Most of the company‘s 60 recruiters user Twitter and other social media to meet hiring demand. Focus is on building relationships and enthusiasm among prospective employees Traffic to careers site up 182% in last two years, job applications up 25%. Recruitment ad costs down $300K “ The human touch is essential. People know there’s somebody behind the message and the photo.” -Kerry Noone, Manager, Marketing Communications Quote Spending time connecting with candidates on Sodexo Careers Facebook page this AM - http://www.facebook.com/SodexoCareers

Flow of Information Type of Comms Promotional Personal Infor- ma- tional Auto- matic AlbionsOven (Der Bäcker Ofen) Keep customers informed/engaged about current status of product/service In this business, timing matters Twitter is low-cost real-time promotional channel Goals: Increase demand and customer loyalty Best Practice Good use of realtime/neartime Twitter features Messages are informative, witty and original Analysis & Frameworks Broad- cast En- gage Listen Source: Richard Caelius (@rcaelius) Contrary to popular belief, our golden gallic Croissants are perfect anytime, not just breakfast. http://bakertweet.com/m/714

Still a very early-stage market Tools mainly manage multiple accounts and monitor conversations Next generation will automate posting across multiple channels, summarize feedback and follow up on actions This will be a hotbed of activity during the next two years as corporations learn that Twitter is the killer social media application

Paul Gillin 508-656-0734 [email_address] Site: gillin.com Blog: paulgillin.com Twitter: pgillin Free bi-weekly newsletter; sign up at gillin.com

Growing Your Business with Twitter: An Infoboom Webinar

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Growing Your Business with Twitter: An Infoboom Webinar

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