Why You've Got to Be Tweeting

Why You've Got to Be Tweeting! Dena Botbyl :: evolutionyou.net

Introduction Dena Botbyl Social Media :: 11 Years Blogger :: evolutionyou.net Twitter User :: 980 Followers :: 400 Following

What Is Social Media? Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques. Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. A common thread running through all definitions of social media is a blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value.

Social Media Platforms MySpace Facebook LinkedIn Twitter YouTube Flickr

What is Twitter? Twitter was produced in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched in July. Twitter offers a social networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the user's profile page. Since 2006, Twitter has gained popularity worldwide and is estimated to have 200 million users, generating up to 177 million tweets a day and handling over 800,000 search queries per day.

Why Should You Use Twitter? Twitter is one of the fastest growing Social Media networks in the world. Statistics: 200 million registered Twitter users Up to 177 million Tweets posted per day 460,000 new Twitter accounts created every day Average number of Tweets per day increases 280% month over month From 2010 to 2011, the number of mobile Twitter users increased 182% Between 2008 and 2011 there was a 5000% increase in the number of employees at Twitter

Why Should You Use Twitter? It's cost effective. In fact, it costs nothing. The investment is time & energy. And the business world is realizing this. Just three weeks ago it was reported that Twitter is the tool of choice for talking by Fortune 500 companies: ‘ Nearly 50 percent of the top 100 companies have a Twitter account. Four of the top five corporations, Wal-Mart, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and General Electric, consistently post on their Twitter accounts.’

Twitter & Accounting According to Twitter’s Yellow Pages, Twellow, last January there were more than 2,800 accounting-related Twitter accounts. Today that number is 41,411 . A 1,379 percent increase in just over one year. Accounting professionals and accounting firms are Tweeting.

Twitter & Accounting Google’s blog search shows more than 600,000 results for accounting-related blogs. There are more than 500 Facebook pages dedicated to accounting businesses and groups. Accountants and accounting firms are blogging and Facebooking!

Twitter & Accounting Each of the Big 4 accounting firms have: a blog (or multiple blogs) Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. Not only are accounting firms and professionals using these forms of social media, they are making it work for them.

Twitter & Accounting A few examples: For the 13 th year in a row, Plante and Moran, the 12 th largest accounting firm in the United States, was named one of the “Top 100 Firms to Work For” by FORTUNE Magazine. To celebrate the award, the firm issued a charity challenge via Facebook, using the social network to send out a survey asking which one of the 15 charitable organizations the firm supports should be awarded $1,300. The response was so overwhelming they ended up with four winners instead of just one!

Twitter & Accounting Andrew Rose, director of marketing and business development at accounting firm Naden/Lean has a fantastic Twitter success story. After setting up his Twitter account he searched his firm’s name to see what people were saying and found a Tweet mentioning how great his firm’s advice was. He followed that person and thanked him for recognizing them publicly. The person’s Tweet, which linked to one of Naden/Lean’s industry blogs, got the firm ranked in the top 20 in Google’s organic search results.

Twitter & Accounting CPA Dan Morris from VeraSage Institute made front page of the Marketplace section of the Wall Street Journal after sharing information about alternatives to hourly fees for accountants via Facebook and Twitter. He credits the success of the placement of the story to spreading the word via social networking.

Interesting Tweets Social media may have been integral to the Middle East revolutions and revolts of 2011. As one Cairo activist succinctly put it, "We use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world."

Interesting Tweets Recently, Navy SEALS found and killed Osama bin Laden. This was a massive Twitter event. Perhaps the first major news event to unravel on Twitter. News leaked out on Twitter a full hour before President Obama’s 11:30 p.m. address to the nation and set a record for the most tweets. From 10:45 p.m. to 2:20 a.m. that Sunday, an average of 3,000 tweets per second (TPS). Peaked at 11 p.m. with an astonishing 5,106 TPS. Tops Super Bowl (4,046 TPS), royal wedding (3,966 TPS), and earthquake in Japan (5,000 TPS).

What Can You Do With Twitter? Build your network and connect with colleagues Market your products or services Answer and ask questions Announce events, contests, & giveaways Ask for or provide feedback Provide customer service and support

What Can You Do With Twitter? Share resources, tips, tricks, and thought leadership Post news and events from your company or industry Post interesting resources Post company blog articles or links to favorite blogs Tell followers about job openings And much more -- be creative!

The Basics Tweets – On Twitter you can express yourself in 140 characters at a time. These expressions are published and shared on your personal Twitter feed. The people following you will see these expressions. The expressions are called Tweets.

The Basics Tweeps – The people following you and the people that you follow are your Tweeps. You know how some people call their people their “peeps?” The word Tweeps is just like that.

The Basics #hashtags – #hashtags are a method of categorizing Tweets. They are just like tags. For example, if you write a Tweet about Dalmatians, you can tag it with a #hashtag. At the end of the Tweet, simply type #Dalmatians. That way, any Tweep who is looking for other Tweeps discussing Dalmatians can easily find you & your Tweet. Likewise, if you are looking for Tweets about bulldogs, you can do a Twitter search for bulldogs and every tweet that is tagged with the #hashtag #bulldog will show up for you (in order of newest to oldest). #hashtags make it easy to find other Tweeps who are talking about things that interest you.

The Basics @mentions – In all of the madness, how do you know when someone is talking to/interacting with you? The answer to that is @mentions. Whenever someone is talking to/engaging with you they will @mention you. That simply means they will type your Twitter handle in the Tweet that references you. You can view your @mentions anytime and therefore you will know when someone speaks to/references/engages with you.

The Basics Retweets – If you enjoy something that another person Tweets, with the click of a button you can easily Retweet it and share it with your followers. Likewise, if a person enjoys something that you Tweet, they can Retweet it and share it with their followers, too. If someone Retweets your Tweet, an @mention will automatically be created so that you can say thank you. On Twitter, Retweet is always abbreviated as RT.

The Basics Automatic Retweets – + Quick + Easy – Take you out of the equation Manual Retweets – + Keeps you in the equation + Increases your exposure + Gets you more followers – Takes a few seconds longer

The Basics DM’s – DM stands for Direct Message. If you don’t want to publicly address a Tweep, you can send them a DM which will be sent directly to his or her Twitter inbox. Likewise, Tweeps can DM you. Just like email, only 140 characters.

The Basics Followers & Following – On your Twitter profile you will see these two headings and each will have a number beside it. The number next to followers represents the total number of Tweeps following your Twitter stream. The number next to Following represents the total number of Tweeps that you are following.

The Basics Favorites – Tweets are not archived. Therefore if you want to save a Tweet, the best way to to this is to add it as a favorite. In the bottom left corner of each Tweet, there is a small star with the word Favorite beside it. Click on the star, when it has become yellow, it has been added to your favorites.

The Basics Lists – When you're getting started on Twitter, it's a great idea to follow back all of the Tweeps who follow you. But, this can quickly clutter your Twitter stream with information that is not useful/relevant to you. The best way to handle this is by using lists. Create lists to identify the people that you want to hear from. At this time, Twitter allows you to create up to 10 lists.

The Basics #FF – Finally, #FF is a #hashtag that stands for Follow Friday. If you would like to recommend a special Tweep to your Followers, just create a Tweet including that person’s Twitter handle and #FF. For example, this Friday you could Tweet: Hey Tweeps, follow @denabotbyl. She rocks! #FF It’s a great compliment to the recipient and maybe one day she will return the favor.

Building Your Twitter Community Know who your target market is. Try to follow: 1. People in your niche target market . 2. Competitors –Watch their content flow, get ideas, and make friends. 3. Industry Leaders – Follow the top people in your industry to keep your finger on the pulse and to be well-informed. 4. People who inspire you.

Building Your Twitter Community 5. People who tweet information that your target audience needs. You'll look like a guru, know everything, and have the latest news before your competitors. 6. Local businesses in the neighborhoods you serve. 7. People who engage with you. 8. Media – Huge opportunity for PR on Twitter. Media people (journalists, reporters, producers) are all over Twitter, expose them to your name and your tweets.

Warning: Twitter can be addictive! As with anything, remember that there is such a thing as "too much of a good thing."

What Not to Do Don't spam your followers. Don't over-tweet/under-tweet. Don't forget that Twitter is a two-way street. Don't ignore Retweets and @mentions.

What To Do Provide value. Be consistent. Interact, connect, engage. Entertain & inspire.

Doing It Right Okay :: http://twitter.com/#!/Act1Jobs Good :: http://twitter.com/#!/btreedercpa Better :: http://twitter.com/#!/sykesaccounting Best :: http://twitter.com/#!/PBBsRealm

Ready, Set, Tweet! Opportunities for success are as limitless as your creativity & willingness to learn. The better you understand it, the more effectively you will be able to use it. Don't be afraid, get your hands a little dirty!

Ready, Set, Tweet! Don’t just set up a Twitter account. Anyone can do that. Establish the page, add information, personal touches and useful content. Share a link, post picture or video, find people to follow, interact with your fans. Comment on other people’s blog posts, re-tweet something relevant to your followers, engage people in conversation.

Ready, Set, Tweet! Remember: Engagement leads to trust, and trust leads (eventually) to more customers and increased sales!

Questions & Answers What questions do you have about using Twitter?

Questions & Answers - FAQ Do I Tweet or Twitter? Asking folks: “Are you on Twitter?” is appropriate. When you want to use Twitter, and want to refer to it as a verb, it’s appropriate to say "I am Twittering" or "I am tweeting." It is never appropriate to suggest "I’m twatting now."

Questions & Answers - FAQ I just joined, now what? I don’t get it. Twitter on it’s own makes little sense, why? It’s a social tool and this means you have to follow others. First, use the address import tool to add folks that are in your Yahoo mail and Google mail. Second, do searches for people you may know to find them. If Twitter search doesn’t’ work, use Google and search “First Last Twitter” to find folks. Once you find people you do know (or want to know) see who they are following, and add them.

Questions & Answers - FAQ Who gives a hoot what I ate for lunch, can I talk about something else? Yes, talk about anything you want. The twitter question “what are you doing now” isn’t the most effective way of using the tool. Instead, answer this question “What’s important to me?” or better yet “What’s important to my followers?” Also, engage in dialogue, ask questions, and answer others questions using the reply feature.

Questions & Answers - FAQ Why 140 Characters? 140 characters is the size limit of text messages using SMS, since Twitter integrates well with mobile devices, you can text to “40404” and enter in 140 characters to tweet from your phone. Also, 140 characters is a true bite sized chunk of information making it easy to consume and create –ideal for rapid sharing of ideas.

Questions & Answers - FAQ Are my Tweets public? Yes! Your tweets, are published to the whole world. Your boss, wife, kids, competitors and enemies can read what you’re writing, for better and for worse. It’s important to remember that you’re publishing (like a blog) and these tweets will stay public forever–even if you delete them they could be archived. The internet tends to trend towards open communications and many (if not most) make their tweets public, however you should be aware of the impacts. If you’re still concerned about privacy, make your tweets private, which means they will only be visible by those you follow. Check out the toggles here on the account page, you can select the ‘make my tweets private’ checkbox at the bottom of the page.

Questions & Answers - FAQ How much time should I spend constructing my Tweets? It depends on what your objective is with the tool. The same thing applies when you’re communicating in real life: Are you have an impromptu conversation with friends? Or are you having a business discussion with colleagues? Tweets should be: Meaningful Grammatically correct Void of spelling errors. The more thoughtful you are, the more people will notice and react. Don't tweet a stream of consciousness or spell out every detail of your mundane activities isn’t going to win folks over. Summary: you’ll get back as much as you put in.

Questions & Answers - FAQ Can small businesses succeed with Twitter or just the big ones? We’ve seen press picking up the successes that Dell, Comcast, and Jetblue have had with Twitter, but what about small businesses? There are more opportunities for small companies–as these small tools have big reach to a global community. In fact, Zappos, an online retailer has done very well for itself by using twitter for customer support, marketing, and thought leadership. Koji a “Korean Taco truck” (I’m serious) has gotten lots of media buzz from tweeting it’s location to it’s community! In summary, there’s plenty of opportunities for companies both big & small.

Questions & Answers - FAQ What should I put on my profile? In all social networks, not just Twitter, the more you fill out your profile and make an effort to connect with others, the more you’ll get back. So, it really depends on your goal. If you’re using Twitter to do heavy social networking with others you don’t know, make an effort to fill out the profile with your name, occupation, location, and an appropriate picture. Bonus points for linking to your blog, Facebook, or LinkedIn site. If you’re using it just among your friends, they already know who you are, and you can put less information. It's always a great idea to include your picture. A clean, professional shot of your face. Head shots work great! Note: Some users suggest they won’t follow those who don’t have a picture or make it clear what their name is.

Keep in Touch ! :: Dena Botbyl :: http:// evolutionyou.net http://twitter.com/denabotbyl Please fill out & return my evaluation. Thank you!

Why You've Got to Be Tweeting

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