Growing Your Business With Twitter An Infoboom Webinar theinfoboom

1. Growing Your Business With TwitterAn Infoboom Webinarwww.theinfoboom.com Paul Gillin, Author The New Influencers Secrets of Social Media Marketing Social Marketing to the Business Customer

2. Twitter is a Microblog Service It is the simplest form of blog. But in simplicity there is often great power. “ A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically much smaller, in both actual size and aggregate file size…microbloggers post about topics ranging from the simple, such as ‘what I'm doing right now,’ to the thematic, such as ‘sports cars.’” --Wikipedia

3. A Few Microblogging Services And, of course…

4. Using Twitter is Like Fishing a Stream It’s a constant flow of information that yields continual discovery

5. What’s the big deal about 140? • 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”

6. The Appeal of “Ambient Intimacy” “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

7. Uses For Twitter in Business • Branding • Hiring • Traffic building • Professional networking • Publicity • News • Prospecting • Feedback • Peer relations • Competitive tracking • Search engine optimization • Mobile visibility $ Source: Sirona Consulting

8. Getting Started • 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

9. Step Two • 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)

10. Monitor Conversations

11. It's Your Turn to Talk • 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 Do not have your username "admin" when using a wordpress blog #wcmia New Mashable app is massive improvement from previous incantation and soo glad they dumped that 'graphic' or whatever it was Facebook Problems Today: Photo Uploads Broken and Other Issues http://bit.ly/cuRs2n 4 Reasons Why Nobody Reads Your Blog http://ow.ly/19kDd #BloggingTips by @binterest Romania seeks to tax fatty fast food http://is.gd/8JS5a 16 unusual facts about the human body http://u.nu/3fpw5

12. Consider Your Persona • Helpful? • Funny? • Offbeat? • Sympathetic? • Snarky? • Unpredictable? Try following some popular people , then choose a style that makes sense for you

13. Info tweet Check out this interesting article! 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. It’s snowing in Austin and raining in New York. Something’s wrong! We just launched a new product! http://bit.ly/bvnPDV Retweet Help tweet Six Types of Tweets RT @copyblogger Revised AP style guide http://bit.ly/bvnPDV Postman tweet Smiley tweet Source: Sirona Consulting Youtweet

14. Don’t… • 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 Twitter is public and searchable. People are listening!

15. URL Shorteners – There are About 100 of Them Statistics about URLs you share Embeds ads in tweets Create custom URLs like bit.ly/IBWebinar Look For: • Bookmarklets/browser integration • Analytics • Geotargeting • Custom URLs • Compatibility with your reader From This: 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 Claims world’s shortest URLs To This: http://3.ly/lyx

16. Tips from the Experts • 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 • 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)

17. Advanced Tools • 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

18. Use Hash Tags To… • 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

19. Twitter Culture • Trends: Popular topics of the moment, often displayed as tag clouds • Selling: Just don’t • 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

20. Building Followers: The Quality/Quantity Tradeoff

21. Building your follower base • 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 RT @tshuttleworth: This is the golden age of engagement for book publishers. - Arianna Huffington #toccon Tweeps: I'm in front of a college journalism class. What shld these students know abt social media. Checking out "Facebook and Health Ads" on @WEGOHealth : http://ning.it/93dQ6z

22. Building Your Follower Base • 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

23. Auto-follow Follow Robotic process in which a person automatically follows back any new followers Follow • 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

24. Twitter Buzz 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

25. Offbeat and Original 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.

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

27. Business Uses of Twitter

28. Spending time connecting with candidates on Sodexo Careers Facebook page this AM - http://www.facebook.com/SodexoCareers Sodexo Recruiters • 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 Principal Value • Personal relationships with recruiters improve applicant quality • Image of Sodexo as progressive company appeals to young workers • Recruitment costs substantially reduced Quote “The human touch is essential. People know there’s somebody behind the message and the photo.” -Kerry Noone, Manager, Marketing Communications

29. Albions Oven 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 Contrary to popular belief, our golden gallic Croissants are perfect anytime, not just breakfast. http://bakertweet.com/m/714 Analysis & Frameworks Flow of Information Type of Comms Personal Broad-cast Infor-ma-tional Auto-matic En-gage Listen Promotional Best Practice • Good use of realtime/neartime Twitter features • Messages are informative, witty and original Source: Richard Caelius (@rcaelius)

30. Twitter in the Enterprise • 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

31. Thank you! Site: gillin.com Blog: paulgillin.com Twitter: pgillin Paul Gillin 508-656-0734 paul@gillin.com Free bi-weekly newsletter; sign up at gillin.com

32. Be Sure to Attend Our Next Webinar Understanding E-mail Legalities and Governance May 26, 2011 Details at http://bit.ly/IBEmail