I joined Twitter just about when my grandbaby was born . . . and that was a few weeks before Oprah, early in 2009. Back then there were somewhere around 10 million Tweeple. Now there are more than 145 million.
Jack Dorsey’s visit to my San Francisco State marketing class convinced me that Twitter was NOT a fad. And now it’s my job to convince my many Baby Boomer friends and business colleagues that they need to get on Twitter sooner rather than later.
Here’s how Twitter has grown — and changed — since 2009
1. People who created a Twitter profile before January 2009 now account for just 4.7% of the total Twitter population. [Love to think I started the UP trend :-)]
2. 82% of Twitter users now provide a name, compared with only 33% in 2009.
3. 73% provide location information, compared to 44% in 2009.
4. Having a profile on Twitter is becoming increasingly important.
5. The vast majority of Twitter users – 95.8% – follow less than 500 people.
6. What Sysomos calls “a small hard-core group” – 2.2% of Twitter users – have accounted for 58.3% of all tweets, while 22.5% of Twitter users have accounted for about 90% of all activity in 2010. In 2009, Sysomos reported that 5% of users accounted for 75% of all activity, 10% account for 86% of activity, and the top 30% account for 97.4%.
Are you on Twitter yet? If so, how do you fit into those stats?
“What to Tweet” articles have been among the most popular on my blog. That’s why I suggested the topic toMichael Cohn, founder and CTO of CompuKol Communications — when he asked me to write a guest post for his very popularsocial media for business blog.
I’d been reading CompuKol Communication for quite awhile, and a recent article stood out as one I wish I’d written. Michael allowed me to republish it as a Guest Post here: Why your website really needs a blog.And here is the article I wrote for his blog:
17 Ideas to Make Your Brand a Twitter Success Story
Companies that understand the power and potential of Twitter to effectively communicate with their markets, their employees, their communities – and the entire globe – are growing their reputations as industry innovators and category leaders.
Two recent reports show Twitter to be the social tool of choice for businesses. The Burston-Marsteller study showed that 65 of the largest 100 international companies have active Twitter accounts, and 96% of marketers with social media knowledge are using Twitter.
It’s all about Influence and Interaction:
(a) The online population that’s creating the content influencing the rest of the world is on Twitter
(b) Customers prefer Twitter as the mechanism to truly interact with brands and learn more about them.
With Twitter as a communication platform, brands capitalize on speed and brevity to listen to the marketplace, respond to inquiries, resolve issues, build community, and promote their products and services.
Here are 17 suggestions on what your company should Tweet:
1. Announce special offers and sales instantly to a large audience.
2. Write live updates on events like conferences and trade shows. Twitter is a great last minute marketing tool.
3. Provide links to blog posts from your company officers and employees.
4. Highlight URLs to relevant articles from respected industry sources.
5. Retweet [RT] brand followers to show you listen to them and respect their opinions.
6. Offer rewards to customers who Tweet about your brand.
7. Engage in real-time conversations with key influencers to establish your brand as an industry source for bloggers and other media people.
8. Create valuable webinars to generate leads and promote them through Tweets.
9. Post photos & videos from your offices, stores, and warehouses.
10. Ask questions and get opinions. Twitter is like a real-time focus group; it’s great for feedback. This can be especially helpful for market research and product development.
11. Answer questions, especially about your brand. Show you are listening.
12. Set up a Twitter account that acts solely as a Help Desk. Have experts ready 24/7 to respond to inquiries.
13. Share sneak peeks of projects or events in development.
14. Recommend sites and events that your customers might enjoy and benefit from.
15. Comment on industry issues.
16. Congratulate employees on promotions and other achievements.
17. Publicize customer success stories.
Twitter eliminates the middleman and allows brands to both listen and talk directly with their customers. Many companies like Dell, Home Depot, Starbucks, Jet Blue, Whole Foods, and Southwest Airlines – to name just a few – have already developed successful Twitter strategies. Follow them. Listen to them. Engage with them. Learn from them, and then just do it.
Twitter Power for Business is an awesome LinkedIn group if you want to hobnob with folks who understand and use the power of the ultra-popular microblogging site to (a) listen, (b) converse, (c) promote, and (d) build profits.
My research has included a check-in at the Twitter Power for Business group on LinkedIn, where I found a great discussion by Reese Ben-Yaacov.
Reese is the CEO and Founder of Assistant Connect, a Virtual Assistant Business. She has worked as an Executive Administrative Assistant to C-Level Executives for more than ten years and is passionate about the Internet, Emerging Technologies, and Social Media Marketing.
Here are some of her services [for you Social Media Virtual Assistants to think about[
Calendar Management Travel Management Relationship Management Project Management Human Resources Recruiting Document Creating and Editing
in addition to: Social Media Marketing Management such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
One of the hardest things about marketing on Twitter is that it doesn’t even look like marketing.
In fact, the closer you watch those who have made a success using inbound marketing techniques, you’ll see that it seems that they’re not doing much of anything at all. Sure, they’re talking to people and sharing some great resources, but that can’t be marketing …
But it is marketing – and it’s a powerful kind of reverse-marketing. It’s relatively easy, it’s fun, and it’s really effective.
Looking for ways to tap into this almost effortless style of business promotion? Here are seven easy steps you can follow:
1. Choose Topics Outside Your Niche As hard as it may be to swallow, you are not your niche. A niche is something you have. But it is not who you are. Choose 5 other things you could possibly Tweet about. On my list are technology, parenting, water safety, and of course the weather here in HOT Jerusalem. Find more opportunities to Tweet and talk about other things than what your business is. Getting people to like you first is a great place to start on Twitter.
2. Define the Personality You Want To Reach Thanks to David Meerman Scott, we have the concept of buyer persona and a method for applying it to marketing. Thanks to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, we have a tool for getting inside that buyer persona’s mind. It was easy for me to choose ENFPs (Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving) as my target market. They’re the types who get lots of ideas and are natural entrepreneurs but struggle with things like internet marketing implementation. 4 little letters can give you a lot of potential Tweet ideas.
3. Use the Search Button at Least 3 Times Per Day + Tweet at Least 15 New People Lots of Twitter help articles will say “Join the conversation!” but if the people you’re following don’t seem to engage in conversation and only promote themselves or send out quotes for Re-Tweet bait, what are you supposed to do? That’s where the search button comes in. Search for something you’re interested in. Find someone you’d like to talk to. Then repeat as much as possible. Use your @ function more than anything else. Engage, don’t broadcast.
4. Ask 5 Questions on a Daily Basis Once you start to find more followers, just ask questions. Will they always get answered? No. But did it cost you a ton of money to ask? Absolutely not. You can’t take it personally if no one answers the first time around. But if you’re focusing on your buyer persona, you get closer to getting inside their mind. You’ll know you’re asking the right questions when you start to get responses. Easy to do, easy to measure.
5. Answer at Least 3 Questions Daily The fewer questions someone has on their mind, the more at peace they are. Questions, especially ones that don’t get answered, are the things that keep us up at night. Though it might seem extreme to say, it’s very likely that anytime you answer someone’s question via a Tweet, you’re helping them sleep better at night.
6. Send Out 10 Useful or Entertaining Links (But Be Sure To Track!) Every Day While desktop applications like TweetDeck or Twhirl offer convenient URL shortening, they are not necessarily the best. You’re missing out on one of the best features of Bit.ly and other URL shortening tools like it: click tracking. This is the simplest way to find out if you’re Tweeting things that your Followers actually want to know about. Just sign up for Bit.ly’s service and Tweet from there when sharing articles and blog posts.
7. Share at Least One Blog Post, Article or Video Per Week There are so many options for connecting your blog posts, articles, videos, and all your content to your social media venues. But self-serving promotional content just doesn’t cut it. Remember the question theory? Use it to your advantage. Think of the questions your target market (or even better, your buyer persona) has and make sure your content answers those questions.
What works on Twitter for you and/or your company? How do you “get what you want” from your Tweets?
My Laney College students are participating in social media to build writing and reading skills. For many of them, however, this is a significantly new experience, i.e., creating blogs and signing up for Twitter.
What is Social Media and why is it important?
and . . . here are many of their other questions:
Where can and will SM take me?
How did Social Media get so big?
Is it possible to become famous on SM?
What percentage of SM is business?
How much time do/should people spend on SM?
Who started SM?
What makes SM important?
Why are people addicted to SM?
Can SM help better the world?
Is SM safe?
What are the most popular blogs?
Who can read my blog?
Are all SM sites free?
Why has SM become popular?
What is the average age of a person using SM?
What is the main reason for using SM?
How can you detect if someone is insincere?
Today I am conducting an introductory Social Media workshop for a Mass Media & Society course at Laney. I will begin asking them to tell me which of those questions they would most like answered.
Then I will chat and show the slideshow below.
And, finally, I will ask THEM to answer any of those questions . . . and I’ll be posting their responses.
Sharing is cool, especially when people share your Tweets. Did you realize that the WORDS YOU USE can help — or hinder — your Tweets from being Retweeted?
It’s scientific. Dan Zarrella reported his research in a slideshare presentation:
And I most likely did what a lot of my friends might have done, i.e. LOOK at the List and THINK “What a great list” and then [most probably] moved on to something else to read.
What were we missing?
A lot!
An Actual Roadmap for DOING & LEARNING Social Media!!
So I thought I’d take a few of our moments here to actually study Chris’s list and chat about each item, i.e., more active reading and more opportunity to “internalize” some of his great advice.
Note: Chris’s 19 tips are in blue. [And he recommends you do them Daily. That, of course, is up to you.]
Twitter
1. Find seven things worth retweeting in your general feed and share.
When starting a new regimen, EASY is good. And finding valuable info on the Net to share will make you feel good as well. Of course, if you have really read the information and can add an insight of your own, that will help you as well as your audience.
2. Reply to at least five things with full responses (not just “thanks”).
Commenting on other people’s blogs is Not Easy, but it accomplishes so much: e.g., adding to the conversation, recognizing the writer’s hard work, and getting your name out there . . . for just three benefits.
3. Point out a few people that you admire. It shows your mindset, too.
Hmm. Have to do a bit of interpretation here. I’m assuming that Chris suggests we use the @name and pat them on the back in a Tweet. That’s very cool, but every day? It might be more realistic to find new person to applaud every day. If you keep praising the same people, that seems a bit spammy.
4. Follow back at least 10 folks. (I use an automated tool, but this is a personal preference. If you want such, I use SocialToo.)
Following people back is easy — but deciding WHOM to follow back is another story. I, personally, am not a fan of anything automated and that alone may slow my popularity growth online. Many people do follow you automatically, most often after you Tweet something with a keyword they are following. And, in most cases, I follow them back — but NOT if their last comment was spammy or missing. And I also look at the Avatar. If I feel it is “inappropriate” in any way, I don’t follow back.
5. 10 minutes of just polite two-way chit chat goes far.
Every time you or I go onto Twitter with some time specifically devoted to participating, I think this is fun to do. If your closest Twitter friends are not posting at the moment, you can engage in some conversation with anyone who posts something you like. The poster could be someone you are already following — or better yet [and a way to accomplish #4] — do a search for an area of interest and converse with someone who writes something interesting, whom you were not following before.
Because I use Tweetdeck and have a steady stream of real-time posts about my key search terms, I can always find new people to chat with.
BTW, I just Tweeted @chrisbrogan asking if I could use his photo, and he said ‘Sure” [only 9 more minutes of 2-way chat to go for today]
Thought I’d take this opportunity for a shameless plug for my own Twitter Cheat Sheet post: http://sharisax.com/2009/12/03/twitter-basics-workshop-cheat-sheet/
Facebook
1. Check in on birthdays on the home page. (Want a secret? Send the birthday wish via Twitter or email. Feels even more deliberate.)
Honestly, it was fun back in October to have all the birthday greetings on my Wall. But I imagine Chris is right and that a Tweet or email would have been even more “personal” and warm.
2. Respond to any comments on your wall.
Actually this tip sounds like a No-Brainer, unless you have 5000 friends — which I don’t . . .
But from what I understand, if we want to use Facebook for Business purposes as well as Personal, then we all will need to connect with many, many people through Facebook. If you are reading this post, please Ask to be my Friend. Chris, you, too. 🙂
3. Post a status message daily, something engaging or interesting.
This advice gives me the opportunity to spout my own viewpoint on “Updates”: At this moment in my social media learning curve, my opinion is that updates to Facebook will Not always be appropriate to other platforms. I am really anxious, though, to hear/read other people’s opinions on this.
I know there are sites like Ping that make posting to all your sites simultaneously a breeze. I don’t do this [yet], do you?
4. Comment on at least seven people’s status messages or updates.
Now this is WORK, but the kind of “social capital” that pays off huge rewards. As a matter of fact, I’m going to stop writing right now to comment on my friends’ updates.
This reminds me of a related tip: Do things NOW. If you wait, they are forgotten.
5. Share at least 3 interesting updates that you find.
Honestly, this is ONE tip I’d never thought of, but I can see that ANY TIME you share someone else’s thoughts, you make them very, very happy . . . and spread the good words.
6. If you belong to groups or fan pages, leave a new comment or two
Again, something New for me. I’ve been joining a few Fan Pages, but I can’t remember even looking at them. 🙁 Let alone, commenting. This will take some thought; however, that being said, I, too, have a FanPage that would love to see some “love,” i.e., comments: Performance Social Media. [Become a Fan . . . and comment 🙂 ]
LinkedIn
1. Accept any invitations that make sense for you to accept.
A “no-brainer” . . . except for deciding what “makes sense” for you. I’ve heard of people who are VERY discriminating in accepting LinkedIn invitations: their practice is to ONLY connect with people whom they know well and would write a recommendation for.
My own practice follows the advice of many LinkedIn gurus who suggest that the real power of LinkedIn is in your second and third degree connections, i.e., the people who are connected to your connections.
2. Enter any recent business cards to invite them to LinkedIn (if you’re growing your network).
Great suggestion and a practice I do subscribe to. Of course, this means you need to keep up your F2F [Face to Face] networking as well as online. My friend and one of my personal social media gurus Dean Guadagni gave a great networking presentation to a networking group I belong to.
3. Drop into Q&A and see if you can volunteer 2-3 answers.
EXCELLENT ADVICE! LinkedIn is so much more robust and powerful than most people know. Personally I’ve been on the “receiving” end of the Q & A function. I’ve met some great new contacts from all over the world — a few whom I’ll be collaborating with on future projects.
4. Provide 1 recommendation every few days for people you can honestly and fully recommend.
WOW! Wouldn’t this be sensational! I do see that Chris has modified this practice to “one every few days”: I bet that’s do-able. So much more auathentic when you give the recommendation without having been asked.
5. Add any relevant slide decks to the Slideshare app there, or books to the Amazon bookshelf.
Another item for my To-Do List. I know that creating and sharing Slideshows is a fantastic way to build your online authority . . . and I Resolve to do some.
Blogs
1. Visit your blog’s comments section and comment back on at least 5 replies.
WordPress makes this easy as I receive email notifications [and not enough comments . . . yet . . . let’s change that. I do promise to reply to EVERYONE who comments on this post! Chris?]
2. If you have a few extra minutes, click through to the blogs of the commenters, and read a post or two and comment back.
GREAT IDEA: You comment here and I’ll comment back — Be very happy to.
3. While on those sites, use a tool like StumbleUpon and promote their good work.
Absolutely, but I like Digg and Delicious . . . hint, hint. [Check the end of the post for an easy click through to those sites.]
4. Write the occasional post promoting the good work of a blog in your community.
Today ten new Tweeple will be fluttering around the Twittersphere — at least that’s my hope.
In the next few days, you’ll read about some of the things they learned, but a few people left without their “cheat sheet,” so I’m posting it below . . . as well as the earlier Twitter 101 lessons from my blog.
This is likely to be a “Labor of Love” i.e., chatting with you about all the cool things I learned from this very personal, highly researched, inspirational Social Media MUST READ.
A friend just told me that her secret to reading loads of books is to look at the beginning, the end, and then bits in the middle. But, PLEASE, if you want to try that method, don’t start with Twitterville:
This is one book with loads of answers — none of which you will want to miss
In Twitterville, you are what you Tweet & 10 other things I’m going to remember:
1.Twitterville is a global communication community where conversations have power; but its environment is “homey” with a small town feel.
2. In good times and bad, companies can get closer to their customers with ease and at low cost. Twitter is a nonstop “feedback loop.”
3. Twitter is a golden moment in massive micromarketing — less mass, more personal . . . ushering us from the Broadcast Age to the Conversation Era.
4. [From the final chapter, but a key point you shouldn’t miss]:The better our communication tools get, the less likely we will be to use tools of destruction. Countries that do business together don’t go to war against each other; therefore Twitter is likely to be an instrument for peace.
5. When you’re getting started on Twitter, you may want to lurk for a bit: this allows you to listen and watch to get a sense of the mechanics and rhythm of the conversations. Listening on Twitter will make you smarter.
6. If a tree falls in a forest, and it’s not on Twitter, did it make a sound?
7. Lethal generosity: the greatest influence goes to the most generous:
“If you join a community where a competitor exists, or is free to join and you give more to that community than the competitor, the other player is forced either to follow you or to abstain from participating in a place where customers spend time.”
8. Metcalfe’s Law: The power of the computer network grows exponentially as the number of nodes increases.
9. Followers have influence: they are “Feet on the Street.”
10. What Twitter does better than any other tool: Spreading the word with great speed.
Case studies: Companies large & small have “gotten it”
Zappos: Tony Hsieh discovered he could stay closer with people who mattered to him on Twitter than he had been doing via email, phone or other social media platforms.
Comcast: Frank Eliason made it clear he was on Twitter to solve customer problems.
Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit: Doctors have humanized surgery by “live-tweeting” during operations.
IBM: More than 1,000 IBM employees are now active Tweeters.Management is delighted: Twitter saves time, brings employees and customers together, and makes the company collectively smarter.
This has been just a “taste”
Shel Israel has chapters on personal branding, journalism, nonprofits, the dark side of Twitter, and the very basic Get Started Steps and Vocabulary.
What are you doing still reading this review? Go out and get the book and then get Tweeting.
Because I use Tweetdeck . . . and because I’m interested in the
Future of Advertising,
Twitter for Business,
Twitter Lists,
Facebook for Business,
and the Future of Newspapers,
I can have a constant stream of TWEETS about all of those subjects.
Today, in my Twitter for Business column of Tweets, I found a link for the Small Business Trends report on Twitter Tips. I checked it out for the Twitter workshop I’ll be conducting next week.
A digest of some of the tips I liked best:
I. Getting started
“Lurking” for awhile before making a move can be beneficial
Use Twitter Search to follow your company mentions.
Decide you will schedule some time, even just a half hour, to monitor your stream and write Tweets.
Follow LinkedIn contacts and others in your industry, and then follow whom they are following.
Listen to conversations, join in, and add value.
2. Smart Marketing
Create a custom Twitter background to reflect your brand.
Do Not SPAM. Do Not just talk about yourself and your company.
Pay attention to your followers and engage them in conversation.
When you do talk about your business, mention clients and partners.
Add links to valuable resources — both for your industry and for personal growth.
RT best messages from your followers, and thank people who RT you.
Fill out your Twitter profile to help people know to follow you.
Plan contests, polls, and Twitter-only discounts.
3. Observing Etiquette
Don’t automate. People hate reading robotic posts that lack sincerity and authenticity.
Don’t SPAM.
Give before you expect to receive.
Build relationships, and you will gain a whole lot from Twitter.
Respect your audience. Remember the Golden Rule.
4. Spreading the Message How to get Re-Tweeted
Leave at least 15 characters, so people will not have to shorten your message [because RT’s add another name].
Post valuable content, such as links to online resources.
Use attention-grabbing phrases before links; tell people why they should click.
RT others.
5. Time Management
Don’t feel you need to read every Tweet. If you want to make certain not to miss anything on a certain topic, then do a Twitter search.
If your time is limited, then make sure to limit your Twitter time, e.g. 15 minutes in morning, 15 minutes in afternoon, 15 minutes in evening
6. Advanced strategies
You can tweet requests for all kinds of help.
Set up a desktop application like Tweetdeck to constantly stream certain keywords
Read profiles and begin conversations
Tweet a link to job postings.
Use hootsuite.com to track tweets, get measurements, and manage multiple profiles through one interface.
Check a host of Twitter applications to see what will work best for you.
FINAL HINT: If you read the Full Report, then you can see “Who Said What Tip” and you can follow them.
Please join the conversation, and add your favorite tips, tricks, and “secrets.”
It almost doesn’t make a difference where you are on the Social Media learning curve, there’s always more to discover and integrate into your strategy . . . even if you are just getting started.
"I am always doing that which I do not know how to do in order to learn how to do it." -- Picasso
STRATEGY is the key word of the day
i.e., what do you do first, second, third, and so on . . .
As a teacher for umpteen years, I subscribe to a learning philosophy, which is introduced to my students on their first day of class.
It’s so simple, I break it down to these Four Words:
Confusion
Silence
Focus
Effort
Confusion: Accept it. If you already KNEW what you were studying, you wouldn’t need to be in the class, workshop, consulting session, etc.
Silence: Stop worrying, i.e., quiet the FEAR [False Expectations Appearing Real] or you’ll never be able to Listen and Learn.
Focus: Multitasking is the ruination of perfection [according to Suze Orman . . . and me]. So concentrate on one thing at a time.
Effort: Without work and persistence, nothing will be produced or achieved.
Therefore, STEP ONE is to get past your feelings that there is too much to learn, and it takes too much time, and you’ll never get a handle on it.
You are correct: there is a lot to learn; it does take time; BUT you can get a handle on it if you can Listen, Focus, and do the Work.
So what should you do today?
Well, reading through the rest of this article could get you headed in the right direction: I’m going to list some of the “lessons” I heard in a webinar called “Capitalizing on the Conversation” that was sponsored by Social Media Magic, a firm that offers free webinars and fee-based courses and coaching.
Disclaimer: I was not paid to write about them, but I found their information extremely useful.
During the first 40 minutes of the online presentation, I tweeted many of the webinar insights under the hashtag #COC. [If you go to http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23COC , you will find all of them.]
Top Ten Lessons from Social Media Magic Webinar:
1. Social Media is a complex Organic Conversation.
2. Your customers and prospective customers are “out there” talking — and they may be talking about you.
3. Not having a presence in Social Media means not having a Brand out there.
4. The three MAIN sites to establish a profile on are Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
5. Optimizing your profile on each of these sites will have a huge impact. What you say about yourself is one of the key ways that people find you and connect with you — and then buy from you.
6. Don’t worry about numbers. Instead look for targeted users and build relationships with them.
7. The most powerful way to build relationships is to be personal, transparent, and authentic.
8. Twitter has lots of value that people either miss or don’t understand. Twitter search offers Real Time results, i.e., what people are talking about now.
9. On Twitter you can share timely information, promote contests, spread useful links, personify your brand, follow competitors, and build credibility and influence.
10. Know the goals of your company and plan your strategies around them. Then find your target audience and create messages for them.
So now, what do you do first?
Get started.
Get started where?
How?
With what?
Okay, if you are still asking these questions, then my suggestion is to set up accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter AND Optimize your profiles . . . then we’ll talk some more.
I’m planning a Twitter workshop for some of my BabyBoomer friends, who are finally getting the idea that Twitter isn’t going away — and maybe they ought to jump aboard sooner rather than later.
There’s a whole lot of confusion out there: note the “Digital Divide” that Janis Johnson and I discussed in my last post Social Media has a PR problem.
How often do I tweet?
When do I tweet?
What do I tweet — business? personal?
HELP!
And, of course, the “help” abounds all over the Internet. I like my two posts
A recent “tutorial” brought to my attention by my student and colleague Zahid Lilani was a video featuring Social Media Thought Leader Chris Brogan discussing Social Media 101
In the last few minutes devoted entirely to Twitter, Chris describes his own Tweeting strategy:
He promotes other people’s stuff 12 times for every once he does his own.
He replies to Everyone [I think he says more than 80% of his Tweets are replies.]
Chris called Twitter “His Serendipity Engine” through which he’s met scores of people he’d never have met any other way.
NOTE: Super Tech Geek Robert Scoble said yesterday that Chris does Twitter wrong simply because he talks so much about other things and other people, and Robert wanted to read more about Chris.
But my post has had a “secret” agenda, which is now going to be revealed:
I wanted to mix personal with business.
So here are the latest photos of my “Buckeye Family”:
Brian, Karen, Tyler
After all, People prefer to do business with People — when they have the chance.
I joined Twitter just about when my grandbaby was born . . . and that was a few weeks before Oprah, early in 2009. Back then there were somewhere around 10 million Tweeple. Now there are more than 145 million.
