Archive for Twitter

Twitter in Business for Success Tip #2

So you want to know the secret to my Twitter success that you can apply it to your Twitter business marketing strategy? You are not alone in the quest to learn what to tweet for success in marketing your business. This blog post is about Tip #2 in My Twenty Tips for Twitter Success.

Why are you reading this post – did one of your friends shared it via Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter? Are you subscribed to my blog via email or RSS (f you aren’t certainly click & do so now! LOL!)  Perhaps the title of this post caught your attention, you are curious about My Twenty Twitter Success Tips!

As you may already know I love talking Twitter, teaching Twitter and playing on Twitter. My passion is helping small business owners and individuals use social media marketing sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and now adding Google+ to the mix!

If you missed Tip #1 – “Register your account, SEO Optimize your Twitter Bio, and Upload a Profile Picture” you can read it here.

2nd tip to achieving Twitter success:

Send your 1st Tweet: Welcome your new friends – Don’t SELL in the tweet

What exactly do I mean? Often someone will register a Twitter account and wait to send their first tweet. They will go out and start following others, which is an invitation for them to follow back, but they don’t send any tweets out for the potential follower to judge who they are and what they are about. When you follow someone they look at your Twitter stream and see what you are tweeting to determine if they want to follow back. If you haven’t tweeted they have nothing to look at to help them to make their decision.

If you are tweeting and it is all self-promoting, they will decide not to follow you and perhaps even block you so you can’t even follow them. Here are a few samples of these no-no first tweets:

  • Check out my website http://websiteurl.com! (If they want your website url it’s included with your profile information.)
  • Follow me on Facebook http://facebook.com/IAmVain. (If they want you on Facebook that bad right away – they will go find you & ask for the link connect with you on Facebook.)
  • Let’s connect on LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/in/MoreVanity. (Same as above – they will go find you or ask.)
  • I need a job in the _________ industry. Can you help me? (They might really know someone or have a good lead for you, but if you seem too pushy before they even get to know you it will scare them off.)

Quick add: It is ok to send the above tweets out occasionally after you have grown your following and developed a relationship with your followers.

The first tweets you send need to be worthy of a read.  When I am setting up a new Twitter account or teaching one of my social media coaching clients how to use Twitter I tell them the first tweet needs to be something sincere. Don’t use any links at all. Give them a welcome, what you stand for …something that will help them decide to follow you.  This is the tweet I use or something similar:

Welcome! Thank you for checking out my stream. I’ll be sharing __________ information with you. I am passionate about ____________.

You have sent the first tweet, the tweet that lets them know who you are!  Now, go out and find some content that backs up this tweet and tweet it. Content that you can share that is information related to your business, what you’ll be sharing and what you are passionate about.  Make sure and send out at least three others tweets. I realize you might be new to Twitter and you will not be tweeting as much as an experienced user, that’s ok, but do make sure and check your Twitter daily and tweet.

Realistically, you probably have already sent your first tweet and unfortunately you can’t undo that! Are you proud of what you sent? Maybe not ….

You can make up for it.  Send out a few tweets on different days at different times letting those already following you know why they did – who you are and what you are passionate about.  Luckily, Twitter is a timeline and those self-promoting tweets won’t be as visible after you have tweeted awhile.

Make sure you are tweeting to a theme. If you are using Twitter for business you would tweet stuff related to your industry. (i.e. If you are a web designer tweet articles and content related to design, graphic arts, technology trends, SEO related content).

Do mix it up a little and tweet some content about things you are passionate about also! Remember though when you tweet to avoid topics like politics, religion and profanity. When you are growing your following on Twitter you don’t want to tweet stuff that would make your potential follower decide not to follow or something that would make a follower unfollow!

That’s it for Twitter Business Success Tip #2. What I thought was going to be a very short blog post ended up a very long blog post.  Hope you don’t mind!

It’s your turn – share your first Tweet success stories and horror stories. We all learn from each others’ mistakes after all!

(P.S.: People really don’t want to know what you are eating – keep those tweets to yourself, unless of course you consider yourself a foodie and want to share a great place you just checked out.)

Twitter in Business for Success Tip #1

Want to know the secret to my Twitter success, so you can apply it to your Twitter business marketing strategy?

You are not alone in the quest to learn how to use Twitter in business better and more effectively to succeed in marketing your business. Several weeks ago, Fred Campos of Fun City Social Media and I got together to honor Social Media Day and presented a joint presentation, Facebook vs. Twitter.  The attendees gave us excellent feedback and really seemed to enjoy learning about both Facebook and Twitter, how they work together and separately in marketing your business.

The presentation flowed quite well, I gave a brief overview of the different types of Online Marketing and when you might want to use of them. I then dove right into My Twenty Tips for Twitter Success.  Each tip I shared included an explanation of how businesses could apply it to their social media marketing campaign and how I applied it to achieve my Twitter success.  In August of 2009, I had about 200 Twitter followers. By October of 2009, I had built this up to around 4000 and now I have over 18,000.  It is important that I tell you I grew my following using organic tactics only, being real, having genuine conversation with my followers (I really consider them my friends). The 20 tips I am going to share over the next series of blog posts will help you achieve this same Twitter success if you apply them effectively.

First, I want to share with you a little about Fred’s presentation on Facebook Marketing. Most of the tips I shared in My Twenty Tips to Twitter Success can be applied to your social networking strategy on multiple platforms, so it played well into the kind of content you would share on your Facebook Business Page also.

One of the tips Fred shared that really got my attention was a strategy to grow the “Likes” on your Facebook Business Page. He said “While logged in as your page, go to other Facebook Business Pages that would compliment your services and strategic partners and post messages on their wall. Also, go to pages that your ideal customer would frequent and post wall messages there too.” He advised “be sincere in the messages you post, don’t’ try to sell, or be spam like, give them a compliment so the page will leave your comment on their wall”.  The fans that frequent their page will see your wall post, most likely click on it, and go “Like” your page.  I started using Fred’s strategy to grow some of my pages and my clients’ pages. It works. To read more about this tactic, Fred’s business partner, @FunCityGal, wrote a blog post. Check it out!

I know … I know …. You are reading this post because you want My Twenty Tips for Twitter Success and you want all 20 tips right now.  You want Twitter success now … Patience, my friend, I am writing an eBook with all twenty tips for Twitter business success and how to apply each one.  It will be available for download shortly and you can have all 20 Tips pronto.  In the meantime, it will be a blog post at a time …

1st tip to achieving Twitter success:

Register your account, SEO Optimize your Twitter Bio, and Upload a Profile Picture

What name should you use to register your Twitter username? If you are your business, i.e. coach, speaker, etc. register your Twitter id in your name.  If your business provides a service such as dry cleaners, jewelry store, restaurant, etc. register the Twitter id in the business name.

Still need help deciding? Answer this question – What do you want to brand? You or your business? You can always take a poll and ask your friends how they would look for your particular service online.  You can always register multiple Twitter ids. I would suggest if you are new to Twitter to master its use with one Twitter id, before making it more complicated by managing more however.

How do you SEO Optimize your Twitter Bio? Use keywords to describe you or your business. Think of this as a short bio using the keywords in your industry that others would search for to find you or your service. If you have room include the state you live in if your service is for a particular area only (i.e. serving Texas.).

I don’t like my headshot and am still waiting on the company logo. You would like to use a picture of something else temporarily, perhaps a default Twitter avatar or picture taken of you from a distance.  Don’t make this mistake! If you use a default Twitter avatar people that are considering following you will not take you seriously. They will decide you are a spammer and either decide not to follow you or unfollow you if they already have.  I personally don’t follow/unfollow anyone who doesn’t have a real picture for their Twitter avatar.

Should you use your picture or your company logo? That depends on what your Twitter id is that you registered. If you registered the Twitter username as your name, use your headshot, if you registered under the business name use your company logo.

That’s it for Twitter Business Success Tip #1. Now go out and check to make sure you are following these suggestions closely.

It’s your turn … Don’t forget to comment below about what you have learned about this part of the process. Your thoughts and feedback are just as important as mine!

#FollowFriday or #FF – What does follow friday mean to you?

What does follow Friday or #FF mean to you?

@VANetworking shouted out to me several weeks ago on Twitter and asked “Why so many #FollowFriday recommendations?” and I have been thinking about this every since.

I do give quite a few #FollowFriday recommendations because it has several meanings to me:

  1. I recommend people that share great content.
  2. I recommend people that have a great business model.
  3. I recommend people that are my friends.
  4. I recommend people that have a service I highly value.
  5. I recommend people that to me – are just plain great for one reason or another.

#FollowFriday was started originally as a way to help our friends grow their Twitter following, especially the new Twitter users that were getting started and didn’t have any followers yet. Over time, as we have all grown our followings and it has turned into the above Items #1 thru #5. Some quit giving #FollowFriday altogether.

Do you even have time to click on the Twitter ids that your friends are recommending anymore? I know for myself I try to, but between giving all the #FollowFridays, Tweeting content and RT’ing, plus thanking everyone for the mentions and RTs it is quite hard to keep up and I am a social media professional. I can imagine who overwhelming it can be for everyone else out there.

I myself have stopped doing all the “Thanking for each #FollowFriday & Retweet”. I do my thanking on Sundays or Mondays for the #FollowFridays and do my RT thanking about three times a week. It gives me more time to have the real conversation that is so important and the reason for Twitter in the first place.

I often write blog posts to get myself back in line on what I should be doing or want to do differently. I am still going to do my #FollowFriday’s as I have been in the past (so don’t worry – I won’t forget about you), but I am going to add in throughout the week a #SoloShout to new friends and businesses that I want to introduce you to.

Why don’t you help me out with this mission? Commit to sending one #SoloShout Tweet per day. (Or maybe for your schedule it will be once a week.) Don’t send hundreds – pick one person or business and help get the word out about them that day! Perhaps you could send the same Tweet out three times that day – to hit the morning, afternoon and evening users. Just think – if you focus on helping your fellow man/woman grow their business and spread their brand, they will want to help you in return!

Please comment below your thoughts on this idea and your commitment! Looking forward to seeing and reading your #SoloShout recommendations in my stream in the coming weeks! Adding a search column in my Tweetdeck right now — #SoloShout!

P.S. Here is to my first #SoloShout to @VANetworking – Thanks for your question about #FollowFriday & your inspiration!

Twellow is the Yellow Pages of Twitter. Read WHY!

Update on this post: This blog post was written in 2010 about the value of Twellow and how having your Twitter ID registered on Twellow can create a great opportunities for you! Visit Twellow.com and register your Twitter ID.

 

Wow! What a great weekend! I spent the weekend working for @MariSmith at a business women’s conference in Dallas, Texas. She hired me to work in her booth at the business expo. I spent the last three days greeting professionals, discussing and selling her book, Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day, and assisting with the logistics during her two presentations and the book signings afterwards.

I know you all are curious how I landed this gig, and I’m going to tell you exactly how, but first you need to read about my experience with @MariSmith this weekend.

Mari Smith is as big in real life as she is online! She had the fans coming at her from all directions. She was very patient and gracious with each one. Many came and asked her social media advice about growing their fan page, strategy, etc…. She happily provided FREE advice to anyone that asked. She was a star to me before, I admire her even more now. She is a great person and I have to say without a doubt, quite humble. As we all know, some well known social media experts have grown incredibly large egos to go along with their large following, which is not an admirable quality.

It was great to have affirmation from a top notch pro like @MariSmith that the social media advice I have been giving to my clients is right on track. Hearing her tell the attendees at her presentations to use the same tools and strategy I recommend was totally exciting!

I knew many of the women attending the event, some of them were @angiestrader, @kymglass, @divatoolbox, @adayva and @minetter. I actually got to introduce most of them to @marismith, which was really cool! (P.S. Guys, you owe me big! LOL!)

Anyway, my whole point with this blog post is to express to you:

  1. Mari Smith is as awesome in real life as she is online.
  2. Not all social media pros are full of themselves.
  3. It’s not always who you know, but who you are that gets you  opportunities.

Enough about that – I think you get my point! Now, on to how I landed this opportunity. First, I would like to say I have been connected to @MariSmith online via Facebook and Twitter for awhile, however, until this past week our conversations has been limited.

When @MariSmith decided she was coming to Texas and going to hire a local assistant to help her out, she went to Twellow, after all it’s the Twitter Yellow Pages, and searched assistant Dallas. I was lucky enough to come up #1.

Actually, it wasn’t luck at all that I came up #1. I have worked diligently to grow my brand on Twitter and increase my followers organically. Since I had the right SEO words and the most followers in Dallas with the keyword assistant in my bio, I came up first. When I logged into my Tweetdeck and saw her Direct Message to me I almost fell out of my seat. I was so excited I had to call my mom, Ana (@CyberDivaVA) and Patty (@PattyFarmer) before I even responded. They all know quite well who she is and were excited for me. Anyway, back to the point ….

I want my experience with this great opportunity to teach all of you the importance of:

  1. Registering your Twitter ID on Twellow.com.
  2. Having your bio completed with the right SEO keywords for your target industry and client.
  3. Working diligently to grow your brand on Twitter by providing quality information, content and establishing relationships with others.

I would like to end this blog with a big Thank You to all of you, my Twitter friends! After all, if you hadn’t followed me, and recommended me to your friends, I wouldn’t be where I am today and might not have came up #1 on Twellow.

All of you ROCK and I deeply appreciate each and every one of you! Now go register your Twitter ID on Twellow and get busy spreading the word about who you are and what you represent! Remember, it’s about quality relationships and content, not just quantity!

P.S. @MariSmith Thanks for searching Twellow for your assistant Dallas! You hold the title Queen of #socialmedia in my book! Now, off to read your book, Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day. I have to work on getting my Facebook fans up for the next big opportunity coming my way!

Twitter Tips (Contributed by users)!

At the end of December I put out a challenge to all my Twitter friends to submit their Twitter Tips and Twitter Etiquette. I am posting a disclaimer right now that I don’t always agree with these tips. Or at least maybe I don’t follow them all, I am sharing them with you and it’s your job to determine which ones you’ll follow or ignore.

Twitter Tips Contributed by Users

1. Don’t use an automated welcome direct message and if you’re going to use an automated direct message, don’t share a link, etc… Submitted by @VickiBerry.

Submitted by @julialilly: Use an auto-reply message for new followers. Make sure the message clearly states that it is an auto-reply and that you will get back to their bio soon. Don’t try to be sneaky about it. The trick to making this work is that you actually do get back to the new follower. Set aside some time each day or each week to go back and read each new followers bio and reply to all that are not spam. All real people should be acknowledged, even it just a simple reply such as “Jim, thank you again for the follow. I hope you enjoy my posts”.

My perspective: I use an automated direct message, but tell the people I’m connecting with that it’s automated. If you don’t want to receive automated DM’s follow @optmeout on Twitter, follow their directions and you’ll be opted out of receiving automated direct messages from social oomph users.

2. Do not autofollow Twitter users. Be selective and make sure they are a fit for your interests and needs. Submitted by @mikedmerrill!

Again, another tip I don’t follow. I do autofollow users back. However, I do vet them as they appear in my Twitter stream. (I can always unfollow those that are not interesting to me or send spammy direct messages.)

3. Remember to check your @yourname replies/tweets so you don’t miss something said about or to you. Respond accordingly. Submitted by @iPresort

Great tip here! I do this and would like to add to this, if you use a TweetDeck run a search for yourname, sometimes mentions will get overlooked in the @mentions, but not as often in the search option!

4. Businesses – a high percentage of your tweets should be relevant content to your company, but don’t just tweet company ads. Submitted by @iPresort

Another great tip! Your tweets need to be content, articles, interesting information, etc… related to your industry. Keep your self promotion down to occasionally! Use a 1 to 6 ratio!

5. Make your #FollowFriday recommendations one at a time, with info on “why to follow”. Keep using multiple Twitter id’s to a minimum. Submitted by @evolutionfiles!

I don’t always follow this tip! I do some of both! I do like to give #FollowFriday with by industry.

6. Keep using quotes for your tweets to a minimum. And if you do post a quote, make it relevant to your target audience. Submitted by @evolutionfiles!

I agree! Right on with this tip! Quotes are inspiring, but you can only handle so much inspiration in one day, right?

7. Basic one – “at” people to engage and connect. Then connect in real world if possible. Don’t just tweet your pitch repeatedly. Submitted by @evolutionfiles!

I love this part of tweeting! Having a conversation online one on one is the key to developing relationships, taking an online relationship offline to become strategic partners or even gaining a new client!

8. Instead of, or in addition to, thanking tweeps for #FollowFriday, Retweets & Mentions… *Reciprocate* by Retweeting them back or giving #FollowFriday back. Submitted by @evolutionfiles.

I agree with this tip and actually use this strategy often. However, if someone retweets, #FollowFriday’s or mentions me that doesn’t have good content, I kindly just thank them and skip the returning the favor part.

9. Follow LOTS of peeps. But check their weblink and quality of their content first. Unfollow most who don’t follow back after 1 month. Submitted via @evolutionfiles.

I agree totally! Don’t try and look good on Twitter by having lots of people following you and you following no one. It makes you look like “You think you’re to good to follow back”. Who wants to develop a relationship with this type of person! Not me!

1o. Use a Twitter tool (ie Tweetdeck, Seesmic, etc) to manage followers and your tweets. Submitted by @anitasantiago.

11. Go for quality instead of quantity when it comes to followers. If you provide quality to your followers, quantity will come on it’s own with time! Submitted by @anitasantiago.

Nothing to add here! Right on, Anita!

12. Try to avoid Retweeeting yourself (tweeting with your own username in the tweet). Submitted by @evolutionfiles.

I actually follow this tip for the most part! I do retweet someone that has mentioned my Twitter id sometimes, if I feel they added some value, however, I remove my Twitter id for the most part!

13. Help me to retweet you. Make your tweets 120 characters or less. Submitted by @billhurlbut.

I sent Bill a direct message after sending this tip and asked him if it was a hint! I know this rule, recommend it to others, but don’t always follow it!

14. When modifying someone else’s tweet to fit within the 140 character requirement, add a P for partial in front of the RT! Lets the readers and the person you are retweeing know that you modified their tweet. Submitted by @pattyfarmer.

15. Make sure if you use a tweetdeck to manage your Twitter accounts, don’t forget to log into your Twitter account through your Internet browser occasionally and check for retweets. Users that retweet your through the browser don’t also show up in the tweetdeck @mentions column. You sure don’t want to overlook thanking someone. Submitted via @pattyfarmer.

Here are my Twitter tips (@lissaduty) to add:

16. When you are adding comments to someone else’s tweet, add your comments at the front before the RT! Not after. If you place your comments after, it looks like the original Twitter user posted the comments.

17. Secrets to Shorten words to meet the 140 character requirement: i.e. for use 4, to use 2, great use gr8, about use abt, forward use 4ward, see use c, before use b4, Thanks use Thk or Thx, with use w/, without use w/o.

18. If someone mentions you, retweets you, etc… in the public stream Thank them in the public stream. If they direct message you a request, respond via direct message. If you answer a question for them via direct message, but want to share the answer – write the message as a tip and share publicly, without using their Twitter id in the public stream.

19. Be a generous retweeter. Twitter is not just about you sharing interesting content to make yourself look good and knowledgeable. It’s about helping your friends on Twitter look good also! Retweet them, mention them, etc….

20. Don’t SPAM! Everyone includes this as one of their Twitter tips, so I thought I would add this tip also.

Realizing, most of you that read this post don’t plan to spam on Twitter, however what you view as not spam, another will. Keep in mind when sending a tweet or direct message, is this relevant to my followers. Am I trying to sell them something or share a success. Sometimes spamming is all in the wording!

I highly recommend you follow and connect with all the Twitter users that contributed to this post! As they are excellent at following the tips listed above! Happy tweeting! Please feel free to add any of your Twitter Tips and Twitter Etiquette in the comments section!