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April 1, 2009
March 30, 2009
Quick Tips To Get Started Using Twitter For Your Job Search
Tweet? If not, maybe you should.
By: Michelle Dumas
About the Author:
Perhaps it would be misleading to say that as a job searcher you MUST be on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or other social and business networking sites. But, assuming that you use social media in appropriate and professional ways, being connected and networking in these ways can only help. And, few people would argue that you shouldn’t seize on any edge that you can give yourself in a job market that is widely being called the most competitive in a quarter-century.
Twitter, for those unfamiliar, is a service that allows you to communicate and stay connected with your colleagues, current and former co-workers, friends, family, and other contacts through the exchange of quick, simple answers (140 characters or less) to the question, “What are you doing now?” While the premise is simple-so simple that you might at first question how “Tweeting” (Twitter-speak for posting an update to Twitter) could be helpful in your job search-I would urge you to take another look. Twitter has become vastly popular and you might be surprised at how many of your colleagues, friends, and even top experts in your field or profession are on Twitter.
If you are actively involved with managing your career or conducting a job search, here are just a few benefits that will justify the time you spend setting up your free Twitter account and learning how to use it:
1) Twitter can be a great tool to help you build, enhance, and promote your personal brand. Briefly, your personal brand (as it relates to your career) is what differentiates you and makes you and your contributions uniquely valuable in the workplace. As a job searcher, you can use Twitter to make your followers aware of your expertise, post links to interesting news stories about your industry, or post tips related to your profession. All of these are brand-building activities that will make you memorable to your contacts, boost your credibility, and help set you apart as a leader in your field.
2) Twitter is an extraordinary networking tool. Remember that networking is all about building relationships. Twitter helps you stay in contact with people in your network in a quick and easy way that was never before possible. It will allow you to keep your contacts up-to-date on your job search, it is a great way to learn about unadvertised job openings, and it is often an easy way to get referrals to people you should talk to. Of course, it is important to remember that networking is also about providing reciprocal help, and Twitter allows you a fast, easy way to let people in your network know about job openings you’ve heard about, or give other help or advice to your contacts when they need it.
3) Twitter provides you with a way to connect almost instantly with recruiters and other hiring authorities in your field. More and more recruiters are using Twitter and other social media tools to find candidates for job postings. Some companies are actively encouraging their employees to Tweet about (or discuss on LinkedIn or Facebook) job openings that they are trying to fill. If you are regularly Tweeting about your job search and posting other on-brand Twitter posts, it is just a matter of time before you start uncovering and being referred for attractive job or business opportunities.
Are you convinced? Even for the time-challenged professional (does that describe nearly all of us?), Twitter is easy to use. You don’t even need to be sitting at your computer as Twitter is mobile and can easily be used on your iPhone, Blackberry, or cell phone.
When you are ready to get started, here are some quick tips:
1. Sign up for your free Twitter account and fill out your profile. Remember that you will be using your account for networking and professional purposes, so use discretion and only include information or a photo that you would be comfortable sharing with recruiters, your colleagues, and the world. If you have a reason to keep your business and personal life separate, you should create separate accounts.
2. Search for and “follow” people that you know. Twitter provides easy tools and instructions for doing this. Consider friends, family, current and former co-workers, industry contacts, people you went to college with, etc. Once you are following these people, look through their contacts and selectively follow some of their contacts. Even if you don’t know someone, if you have a reason to do so, follow them. This is a way to build new relationships.
3. As you begin to build your list of people you are following, many will begin to follow you. When you are getting started, try to post Tweets daily-perhaps twice daily. Besides just answering the basic question “What are you doing now?” (always keeping in mind that your Tweets should be appropriate and follow basic rules of etiquette) try to regularly post useful, on-brand information and links.
4. When your contacts Tweet, respond if you can answer a question or have useful information or tips for them. Twitter gives you two ways to do this: direct messages and replies. Be selective about which method you use. A direct message will only be seen by the person you are responding to. A reply will go to everyone that follows you.
5. Search Twitter for keywords. This is a good way to find out what is going on and being discussed on topics of interest to you among people that you aren’t already following. You may also find interesting people that you will want to follow. The place to do that is search.twitter.com
5. Do you have a Facebook account, a LinkedIn profile, a blog, or another website? There are options to link them all and post status updates simultaneously to all of them. This can be a great timesaver, so it is worth taking the time to learn how to link them. You could also consider including your Twitter user name in your email signature files or on business cards. Doing so will quickly build your following, and the larger your following, the more beneficial Twitter will be to your job search and career.
By: Michelle Dumas
About the Author:
One of the nation’s leading authorities on resume writing , personal branding, and job searching, Michelle Dumas is the founder of Distinctive Career Services LLC. Since 1996, Michelle and her team have empowered thousands of professionals all across the U.S. and worldwide with resumes and job search strategies that get results and win jobs fast. Visit http://www.distinctiveweb.com for more info and follow Michelle on Twitter @michelledumas.
How to Use Twitter for Marketing
s a relatively new web 2.0 site that is starting to gain a lot of popularity. That means that a lot of people have heard of it but it is also quite common to run into people who haven’t heard of it.. yet. Twitter.com is this social site that encourages users to post often about what they are currently doing.
A lot of people are using it to improve their marketing reach, by being an active twitterer they gain followers who are interested in what they got going on. This means people being exposed to their updates on a regular basis. For example, if you have hundreds of followers in Twitter and you decide to post an affiliate link, that means that hundreds of people have instantly been exposed to your offer. In this article I will discuss ways to maximize Twitter for your marketing, and also a big mistake to be aware of.
In order to have a fan base per say of followers in Twitter you must be able to keep their interest in you and what you are doing now. “What are you doing?” is the whole foundation of what Twitter is about in the first place. Make sure to post daily if not several times throughout the day updates about what you are doing. The magical thing behind this is that many of your contacts will be able to feel like they know you so much better, will trust you more, and feel much more comfortable about working with you. On the other hand, when you follow others you can learn about them and their possible needs.
The big mistake to watch out for is only posting affiliate links or offers on your Twitter page. This looks like Spam and many people will see you as just abusing Twitter for your own personal gain. Think of it this way, if you would not want to invite your friends or family to keep up with you via Twitter then you are going about it all wrong. As with anything you send out or provide, ninety percent should be content and ten percent (at most) advertising. So this concept is quite simple… constantly post throughout the day what you are doing.. it is usually very simple and only takes a few seconds to post! Secondly, if you write articles or provide content online, provide a link for those in your Twitter posts. You may post many things within one day, but the last thing you post for the day is usually the most important because it will be there the longest. This means that your last post for the day should very well contain a link that you want your followers to see before your start Twittering again the next day!
Another part of Twitter is contributing. As with any social site it should be a give and take relationship. Notice that give comes first… the more you give the more people will want to work with you and the more attention you will receive. Make sure to read and follow other users in Twitter. If you read something interesting or helpful then make sure to reply and say so, or even put a link for it on your Twitter so that you are directing others to more quality content. This can also be as simple as connecting with other users, if they know you are reading their Twitter page they will be much more likely to check out what you have going on too.
To get started in Twitter you should first invite contacts who aren’t using Twitter and also find contacts who are already using Twitter so that you can start following them and also start getting people to follow you. Twitter has a nice invite and find feature that makes this incredibly easy. To grow your reach even more you can start following people who follow or are followed by the people who follow you.. or that you follow. You might need to read that sentence again.. but basically you can find other users to connect with that are already connected to other users.
Now for a big tip. If you really want to maximize the potential with Twitter, you should make sure to take advantage of any plug-ins or sites that support Twitter. Here are three, but I’m sure there will be many more in the future if not already. Squidoo allows you to input your Twitter account info into your Squidoo account and then it can automatically post updates to your Twitter account when you create or update Squidoo lenses. Facebook has an application called Twitter, it automatically updates your Facebook status when you make a Twitter post. The other tool is a free WordPress plug-in called TweetMyBlog that allows you to create a two-way connection from your blogs to Twitter. TweetMyBlog allows you to use a widget on your Wordpress blogs that will display your current Twitter feed.. that way all visitors to your blog can look at the widget and see a running feed of your latest Twitter posts. If they click on that they will be brought to your Twitter page. In addition, when you make a new post to your blog, TweetMyBlog will automatically make a post to your Twitter page with a link to your latest blog post. Imagine the extra exposure you can receive by using these tools that help people see more of what you are doing.
Lastly, have fun! Twitter is a social site… so interact and enjoy!
By: Darren Olander
About the Author:
A lot of people are using it to improve their marketing reach, by being an active twitterer they gain followers who are interested in what they got going on. This means people being exposed to their updates on a regular basis. For example, if you have hundreds of followers in Twitter and you decide to post an affiliate link, that means that hundreds of people have instantly been exposed to your offer. In this article I will discuss ways to maximize Twitter for your marketing, and also a big mistake to be aware of.
In order to have a fan base per say of followers in Twitter you must be able to keep their interest in you and what you are doing now. “What are you doing?” is the whole foundation of what Twitter is about in the first place. Make sure to post daily if not several times throughout the day updates about what you are doing. The magical thing behind this is that many of your contacts will be able to feel like they know you so much better, will trust you more, and feel much more comfortable about working with you. On the other hand, when you follow others you can learn about them and their possible needs.
The big mistake to watch out for is only posting affiliate links or offers on your Twitter page. This looks like Spam and many people will see you as just abusing Twitter for your own personal gain. Think of it this way, if you would not want to invite your friends or family to keep up with you via Twitter then you are going about it all wrong. As with anything you send out or provide, ninety percent should be content and ten percent (at most) advertising. So this concept is quite simple… constantly post throughout the day what you are doing.. it is usually very simple and only takes a few seconds to post! Secondly, if you write articles or provide content online, provide a link for those in your Twitter posts. You may post many things within one day, but the last thing you post for the day is usually the most important because it will be there the longest. This means that your last post for the day should very well contain a link that you want your followers to see before your start Twittering again the next day!
Another part of Twitter is contributing. As with any social site it should be a give and take relationship. Notice that give comes first… the more you give the more people will want to work with you and the more attention you will receive. Make sure to read and follow other users in Twitter. If you read something interesting or helpful then make sure to reply and say so, or even put a link for it on your Twitter so that you are directing others to more quality content. This can also be as simple as connecting with other users, if they know you are reading their Twitter page they will be much more likely to check out what you have going on too.
To get started in Twitter you should first invite contacts who aren’t using Twitter and also find contacts who are already using Twitter so that you can start following them and also start getting people to follow you. Twitter has a nice invite and find feature that makes this incredibly easy. To grow your reach even more you can start following people who follow or are followed by the people who follow you.. or that you follow. You might need to read that sentence again.. but basically you can find other users to connect with that are already connected to other users.
Now for a big tip. If you really want to maximize the potential with Twitter, you should make sure to take advantage of any plug-ins or sites that support Twitter. Here are three, but I’m sure there will be many more in the future if not already. Squidoo allows you to input your Twitter account info into your Squidoo account and then it can automatically post updates to your Twitter account when you create or update Squidoo lenses. Facebook has an application called Twitter, it automatically updates your Facebook status when you make a Twitter post. The other tool is a free WordPress plug-in called TweetMyBlog that allows you to create a two-way connection from your blogs to Twitter. TweetMyBlog allows you to use a widget on your Wordpress blogs that will display your current Twitter feed.. that way all visitors to your blog can look at the widget and see a running feed of your latest Twitter posts. If they click on that they will be brought to your Twitter page. In addition, when you make a new post to your blog, TweetMyBlog will automatically make a post to your Twitter page with a link to your latest blog post. Imagine the extra exposure you can receive by using these tools that help people see more of what you are doing.
Lastly, have fun! Twitter is a social site… so interact and enjoy!
By: Darren Olander
About the Author:
Darren Olander is dedicated to teaching others how to create a success online through internet network marketing strategies. He is a site owner, article writer, coach & marketing consultant enjoying the benefits of working full time from home. Learn more about him at http://www.darrenolander.com
Getting Started With Twitter
What Is This Twitter You Speak Of?
So what is Twitter and how can it be of benefit to you or your business? Twitter is a free online micro-blogging application which gives you the ability to send out short messages (up to 140 characters) called “tweets” to people who are following you on Twitter. You can send tweets either through your computer or by using your cell phone via a text message. These tweets/messages can be about anything you want and they can include links, as well. Making Twitter even more useful is the ability to send a direct message to someone you are following (this is done by entering @username at the beginning of your message) or replying to someone’s tweet with your own. You would be surprised how common it is to reply to someone’s message then to have someone who is either following you or the person you sent the reply to reply to your initial message and so on.
People can follow you and your tweets by first signing-up for their own free Twitter account at the Twitter site then adding you to their list of people they are following. Once you have created your account, you can either check your Twitter page (your own personal page which appears after you sign-in at the Twitter home page) for any of your friend’s new messages or you can send out your own. But it is much easier, in my opinion, to use one of the many online or desktop applications which give you the ability to do all of this and more.
Twitter As A Communication Tool
Twitter is a quick and easy way to communicate with family, friends, business associates, and also within a company setting. Being an online service, Twitter is available to anyone with online access. All you have to do is login to your account through any number of third-party applications developed for Twitter or through the Twitter site and you are ready to go. Within a company setting, employees could have a Twitter account created for them with the option to have their messages protected. This means only people they (or you or the person in charge of creating the Twitter accounts) approve will be able to send and receive messages from them. The same thing could be done using an instant message program but with Twitter, there would be no software to install and it would be accessible from anywhere with an online connection. Additionally, the person who is in charge of the Twitter accounts will have the power to control who is and who isn’t part of this private Twitter network.
Even though there are tons of online communication applications available, Twitter can also be used as a way for people who are collaborating on a project to stay in touch with one another regardless of where they are. And depending on which third-party application they are using to Twitter with, these conversations can be saved for future reference. There are even some third-party apps which you can use to send files up to 10MB to anyone you are following as long as they are using the same application, that is. Still, a handy feature to have and one which may become a feature of Twitter if there’s a big enough demand for it.
Marketing With Twitter
Here in lies the great thing about Twitter from a business perspective: the marketing potential it offers users. Sure, it is great to send messages and chat using Twitter, but it can also be a great marketing tool if used correctly. Have some breaking news you want to get out quickly? Send it out as a Tweet. Made an important update to your blog or web site? Let people know about it instantly with a Tweet. Want to promote your project, book, movie, whatever by giving away a free download or preview? Send out a Tweet with a URL to the free download. Only want to market something to certain individuals you are following? Simply enter their username preceded by the “@” and you are set.
Another simple marketing tool available with Twitter is the ability to befriend people who are following someone you already follow. While this practice could backfire on you if you begin to add everyone you find following someone you are following, be picky and just befriend those who either share similar tastes that you do or work in the same field as you or already follow many of the same people you do. Otherwise, you could come off as a spammer which will be a hard image to shake.
Twitter Now And Beyond
Twitter represents a fundamental change in the way people communicate online. There have always been instant messengers and they have their place and purpose but they don’t offer the one thing which sets Twitter apart and that is the ability to instantly communicate with either a couple of people or potentially thousands without the need for proprietary software. No need to download this piece of software in order to communicate with this person or that organization.
Much like how blogging has become a staple of today’s society, Twitter and “twittering” is on the same path to becoming ingrained in today’s culture despite only being around for less than two years. So simple in its execution, powerful in the marketing opportunities it offers, and ease of use, Twitter will be one of the top web technologies to gain worldwide prominence in 2008.
By: Geek Entrepreneur
About the Author:
So what is Twitter and how can it be of benefit to you or your business? Twitter is a free online micro-blogging application which gives you the ability to send out short messages (up to 140 characters) called “tweets” to people who are following you on Twitter. You can send tweets either through your computer or by using your cell phone via a text message. These tweets/messages can be about anything you want and they can include links, as well. Making Twitter even more useful is the ability to send a direct message to someone you are following (this is done by entering @username at the beginning of your message) or replying to someone’s tweet with your own. You would be surprised how common it is to reply to someone’s message then to have someone who is either following you or the person you sent the reply to reply to your initial message and so on.
People can follow you and your tweets by first signing-up for their own free Twitter account at the Twitter site then adding you to their list of people they are following. Once you have created your account, you can either check your Twitter page (your own personal page which appears after you sign-in at the Twitter home page) for any of your friend’s new messages or you can send out your own. But it is much easier, in my opinion, to use one of the many online or desktop applications which give you the ability to do all of this and more.
Twitter As A Communication Tool
Twitter is a quick and easy way to communicate with family, friends, business associates, and also within a company setting. Being an online service, Twitter is available to anyone with online access. All you have to do is login to your account through any number of third-party applications developed for Twitter or through the Twitter site and you are ready to go. Within a company setting, employees could have a Twitter account created for them with the option to have their messages protected. This means only people they (or you or the person in charge of creating the Twitter accounts) approve will be able to send and receive messages from them. The same thing could be done using an instant message program but with Twitter, there would be no software to install and it would be accessible from anywhere with an online connection. Additionally, the person who is in charge of the Twitter accounts will have the power to control who is and who isn’t part of this private Twitter network.
Even though there are tons of online communication applications available, Twitter can also be used as a way for people who are collaborating on a project to stay in touch with one another regardless of where they are. And depending on which third-party application they are using to Twitter with, these conversations can be saved for future reference. There are even some third-party apps which you can use to send files up to 10MB to anyone you are following as long as they are using the same application, that is. Still, a handy feature to have and one which may become a feature of Twitter if there’s a big enough demand for it.
Marketing With Twitter
Here in lies the great thing about Twitter from a business perspective: the marketing potential it offers users. Sure, it is great to send messages and chat using Twitter, but it can also be a great marketing tool if used correctly. Have some breaking news you want to get out quickly? Send it out as a Tweet. Made an important update to your blog or web site? Let people know about it instantly with a Tweet. Want to promote your project, book, movie, whatever by giving away a free download or preview? Send out a Tweet with a URL to the free download. Only want to market something to certain individuals you are following? Simply enter their username preceded by the “@” and you are set.
Another simple marketing tool available with Twitter is the ability to befriend people who are following someone you already follow. While this practice could backfire on you if you begin to add everyone you find following someone you are following, be picky and just befriend those who either share similar tastes that you do or work in the same field as you or already follow many of the same people you do. Otherwise, you could come off as a spammer which will be a hard image to shake.
Twitter Now And Beyond
Twitter represents a fundamental change in the way people communicate online. There have always been instant messengers and they have their place and purpose but they don’t offer the one thing which sets Twitter apart and that is the ability to instantly communicate with either a couple of people or potentially thousands without the need for proprietary software. No need to download this piece of software in order to communicate with this person or that organization.
Much like how blogging has become a staple of today’s society, Twitter and “twittering” is on the same path to becoming ingrained in today’s culture despite only being around for less than two years. So simple in its execution, powerful in the marketing opportunities it offers, and ease of use, Twitter will be one of the top web technologies to gain worldwide prominence in 2008.
By: Geek Entrepreneur
About the Author:
The Geek Entrepreneur is Wesley Craig Green, an entrepreneur who is a publisher, owner of an online classified ads network of sites, two web sites focusing on independent and digital comics and graphic novels. You can learn more about me at my Geek Entrepreneur blog which is dedicated to entrepreneurship, blogging, inspiration, technology, and small business.
Improve Every Aspect Of Your Business With Twitter!
You’ve seen countless articles and e-books written about it, but do you know how to market online with Twitter?
If you don’t, you’re not alone. Most marketers are still boggled when it comes to using Twitter in their promotion efforts. The main reason is because marketers don’t realize the sheer ingenuity of our favorite microblog’s 140-character limit communication.
The reality is that the internet is information overload for most people. The genius of Twitter is that communication is forced into small chunks of information which most people can willingly digest. Presented with the option, people are more inclined to read a sentence or two as opposed to a long, involved blog entry or email!
In this article, I will demonstrate how Twitter can not only be used by your business for marketing purposes, but also for customer service, product development, free publicity, and valuable access to experts!
Twitter for Marketing
If marketing entails everything you do to place your product or service in the hands of potential customers, including all communication, relationship building, and brand recognition-Twitter makes it instant.
For this reason, it is the perfect social networking platform for announcing sales, specials, and promotions. Many larger companies, such as Dell, have a Twitter to announce sales as soon as they become available. As a small business owner, you can harness the power of Twitter this way too!
If you can get hundreds, or even thousands of people interested in your niche to follow your company’s tweets, you have a targeted list of prospects at your fingertips. Simply tweet a brief detail or two about the special, and include your link. It’s that simple!
A list of businesses on Twitter:
http://www.twibs.com
As a marketer, you know that the speed at which you can get your message out to your potential clients before your competition can reach them essentially determines your success. Twitter affords marketers the advantage of communicating with thousands of new prospects at the speed of light, and allows them to see your offer in real time.
Twitter for Customer Service
Many companies are designating human resources and time exclusively to enhance their customer service via social networking. Companies can find out the challenges, questions, and troubles that their clients are facing by reading their tweets to others.
Customer service representatives or public relations liaisons can immediately resolve any problems by engaging themselves in the conversation. Customer service representatives who engage their clientele via Twitter increase their company’s transparency, and show that they not only concerned about their customers, but they also care about their brand.
Twitter for Product Development
Twitter can be used as an instant survey tool for product development. You can simply ask the likes and dislikes of others with a simple tweet and can incorporate or improve your current products or services.
It’s catching on. In fact, software development corporation Eclipse is working on a Twitter plug-in called Twitterclipse, which will tweet announcements, findings and questions within their development team. It is faster and more convenient than email, and also avails an RSS feed for posting their development updates within the Eclipse website.
Twitter for Free Publicity and Brand Awareness
As you know, free publicity is priceless-and it can be difficult for a small business to get access to the media. Companies regularly pay millions of dollars to imprint their brand in the minds of prospective clients.
With Twitter’s personalization features you can place your brand or company logo on your Twitter page. Because of the viral nature of Twitter, traffic and publicity comes for free.
People will associate your Twitter with your company, and increase their trust in your products and services.
Twitter Gives You Access to Important People
No other media gives you direct access to leaders in your market like the internet does. Twitter gives you personal access to leaders and mentors that you have only ever dreamt of connecting with.
I bet you never thought you would ever get the chance to be 1-on-1 with Brian Tracy on Twitter, right?
http://twitter.com/BrianTracy_
Simply follow them, and open up the channels of communication with your tweets! The leaders of your field impart valuable knowledge that you can apply to your online business, and can be a great source of free marketing tips.
Improve Every Aspect Of Your Business With Twitter!
Twitter is extremely simple, but this fact also adds to its versatility. You may not realize the effect of Twitter on your business when your followers are at a single digit-but just imagine the scope of your business reaching tens of thousands of followers! Many online businesses are using Twitter now…what are you waiting for?
By: Abe Cherian
About the Author:
If you don’t, you’re not alone. Most marketers are still boggled when it comes to using Twitter in their promotion efforts. The main reason is because marketers don’t realize the sheer ingenuity of our favorite microblog’s 140-character limit communication.
The reality is that the internet is information overload for most people. The genius of Twitter is that communication is forced into small chunks of information which most people can willingly digest. Presented with the option, people are more inclined to read a sentence or two as opposed to a long, involved blog entry or email!
In this article, I will demonstrate how Twitter can not only be used by your business for marketing purposes, but also for customer service, product development, free publicity, and valuable access to experts!
Twitter for Marketing
If marketing entails everything you do to place your product or service in the hands of potential customers, including all communication, relationship building, and brand recognition-Twitter makes it instant.
For this reason, it is the perfect social networking platform for announcing sales, specials, and promotions. Many larger companies, such as Dell, have a Twitter to announce sales as soon as they become available. As a small business owner, you can harness the power of Twitter this way too!
If you can get hundreds, or even thousands of people interested in your niche to follow your company’s tweets, you have a targeted list of prospects at your fingertips. Simply tweet a brief detail or two about the special, and include your link. It’s that simple!
A list of businesses on Twitter:
http://www.twibs.com
As a marketer, you know that the speed at which you can get your message out to your potential clients before your competition can reach them essentially determines your success. Twitter affords marketers the advantage of communicating with thousands of new prospects at the speed of light, and allows them to see your offer in real time.
Twitter for Customer Service
Many companies are designating human resources and time exclusively to enhance their customer service via social networking. Companies can find out the challenges, questions, and troubles that their clients are facing by reading their tweets to others.
Customer service representatives or public relations liaisons can immediately resolve any problems by engaging themselves in the conversation. Customer service representatives who engage their clientele via Twitter increase their company’s transparency, and show that they not only concerned about their customers, but they also care about their brand.
Twitter for Product Development
Twitter can be used as an instant survey tool for product development. You can simply ask the likes and dislikes of others with a simple tweet and can incorporate or improve your current products or services.
It’s catching on. In fact, software development corporation Eclipse is working on a Twitter plug-in called Twitterclipse, which will tweet announcements, findings and questions within their development team. It is faster and more convenient than email, and also avails an RSS feed for posting their development updates within the Eclipse website.
Twitter for Free Publicity and Brand Awareness
As you know, free publicity is priceless-and it can be difficult for a small business to get access to the media. Companies regularly pay millions of dollars to imprint their brand in the minds of prospective clients.
With Twitter’s personalization features you can place your brand or company logo on your Twitter page. Because of the viral nature of Twitter, traffic and publicity comes for free.
People will associate your Twitter with your company, and increase their trust in your products and services.
Twitter Gives You Access to Important People
No other media gives you direct access to leaders in your market like the internet does. Twitter gives you personal access to leaders and mentors that you have only ever dreamt of connecting with.
I bet you never thought you would ever get the chance to be 1-on-1 with Brian Tracy on Twitter, right?
http://twitter.com/BrianTracy_
Simply follow them, and open up the channels of communication with your tweets! The leaders of your field impart valuable knowledge that you can apply to your online business, and can be a great source of free marketing tips.
Improve Every Aspect Of Your Business With Twitter!
Twitter is extremely simple, but this fact also adds to its versatility. You may not realize the effect of Twitter on your business when your followers are at a single digit-but just imagine the scope of your business reaching tens of thousands of followers! Many online businesses are using Twitter now…what are you waiting for?
By: Abe Cherian
About the Author:
About The Author: Abe Cherian is the founder and CEO of AdClickMedia.com, an online advertising network and a subsidiary of Multiple Stream Media. http://www.adclickmedia.com
March 27, 2009
Micro-Blogging on Twitter
There’s a hot new trend going on right now and it’s called micro-blogging. So what’s a micro-blog? And moreover, what’s Twitter? Twitter is a micro-blogger platform that allows users to create entries that are only 140 characters in length. These entries are referred to as “tweets.”
Originally designed to keep friends and family up to date on what you’re doing, Twitter can also be a great place to share your latest book project, promotional ideas as well as interacting with fellow tweets (folks who twitter) and writers. And yes, you can have a blog and a Twitter page. I have both but I feed my blog into my Twitter site so that my Twitter page gets updated each time I add new content to my blog. There’s an easy application to add your blog feed to Twitter, it takes just minutes to do. Head on over to: Twitterfeed.
To sign up for a Twitter account just complete their short sign up form. Remember to brand yourself! This is important. Once you create a Twitter account you can’t go back and change your name so find something that works for you. Maybe it’s fictionwriter or businesswriter or whatever you want. My Twitter page is bookgal which is fun play on words for what I do (and what I love). Once you have a Twitter account you can immediately start tweeting. The service is completely free and you can also keep up with other people’s tweets by “following” them. Their micro-blog entries will show up on your Twitter home page so you can easily keep track of them. You can also be notified by phone when they add a tweet. You can twitter from anywhere, even your phone. I’ve been known to twitter from my blackberry.
Why on Earth Would you Want to Twitter?
When Twitter first started, people were a little perplexed. I mean why on earth would you want to blog in 140 characters? Well since the site emerged in 2006, it’s grown enormously in popularity. With Twitter pages from sites like CNN and every one of the political candidates, the site’s popularity can’t be overstated. Nor can its applications for the future. Also, even if you don’t have a ton of people following your tweets, keep in mind that Twitter search sites are popping up everywhere. This means that if you tweet using keywords that matter to your reader/market, you could be found and followed! For one such search site check out: summarize. Also, if you’re trying to gauge the popularity of a certain word or phrase and how often it’s being used or referred to, you can head on over to Tweet Volume and find out. Just plug in your search term or terms and up will pop a list of results!
Most Well-Known Twitter Users
? Many organizations (such as the Los Angeles Fire Department) have embraced the technology and put it to use in situations such as the October 2007 California wildfires.
? Higher education is also using the technology to relay important information to students in a more timely manner. The University of Texas at San Antonio College of Engineering is one such example.
? Several U.S. presidential campaigns use Twitter as a publicity mechanism, Ron Paul, John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton all have Twitter pages.
? Media outlets such as CNN have also started using Twitter to break news.
How to Use Twitter Effectively
If you’ve pondered using Twitter but aren’t sure how to use it effectively, here are some quick tips to give you some great twittering-ideas:
? Teach stuff – teach a little mini-lesson on Twitter. Delve into your area of expertise or just talk about book publishing and how to get published.
? Showcase your book – don’t do this in a “my book is so fabulous” kind of way but offer to give advice (like I mention in Teach Stuff) or share with your Twitter followers how the promotion of the book is going.
? Use Twitter as a news source: you can easily announce news both from your world (as long as it relates to your topic) and from the world of your expertise. So for example I’ve done tweets on book industry stuff, breaking news, etc.
? Widen your network – follow other Twitter folk, this will not only give you some ideas for your own “tweets” but it’s a great way to network with other writers or professionals.
? Keep the buzz going when you’re on the move – it’s hard to keep blogging when you’re on the road (trust me, I know this first hand) – so when I travel, I tweet. I share what I’m doing, what’s happening in my world and try to offer insight and advice.
? Market yourself – remember that while Twitter may seem like a fun little tool, it’s also a great way to market yourself. Just like the ideas we mention above, there are a hundred+ more things you can do.
Golden Rules of Twitter:
Here are a few rules to live by when tweeting:
? Be Original, useful and helpful.
? Every Tweet counts (don’t tell people you’re washing your cat) don’t just tweet on useless stuff or you’ll lose followers.
? Ask questions: you’ve got a network (or you want one) now use it! Ask questions, take surveys, get your followers involved in your message and marketing!
? It’s not all about you (again, back to the cat) people want to know useful stuff, I know, it’s getting repetitive but there’s a reason: it’s important.
? Promote your Twitter account in your email signature line and on your blog.
? Network: don’t expect your followers to grow if you’re not following other people. Network, search for others in your area and follow them.
? Personal is ok. Even though I said not to post useless information it’s still not a bad idea to (from time to time) post a personal Tweet or two. Provide value and twitter-followers will beat a path to your door.
? Keep Twittering, followers will come if you keep updating your Twitter account.
By: Penny Sansevieri
About the Author:
Originally designed to keep friends and family up to date on what you’re doing, Twitter can also be a great place to share your latest book project, promotional ideas as well as interacting with fellow tweets (folks who twitter) and writers. And yes, you can have a blog and a Twitter page. I have both but I feed my blog into my Twitter site so that my Twitter page gets updated each time I add new content to my blog. There’s an easy application to add your blog feed to Twitter, it takes just minutes to do. Head on over to: Twitterfeed.
To sign up for a Twitter account just complete their short sign up form. Remember to brand yourself! This is important. Once you create a Twitter account you can’t go back and change your name so find something that works for you. Maybe it’s fictionwriter or businesswriter or whatever you want. My Twitter page is bookgal which is fun play on words for what I do (and what I love). Once you have a Twitter account you can immediately start tweeting. The service is completely free and you can also keep up with other people’s tweets by “following” them. Their micro-blog entries will show up on your Twitter home page so you can easily keep track of them. You can also be notified by phone when they add a tweet. You can twitter from anywhere, even your phone. I’ve been known to twitter from my blackberry.
Why on Earth Would you Want to Twitter?
When Twitter first started, people were a little perplexed. I mean why on earth would you want to blog in 140 characters? Well since the site emerged in 2006, it’s grown enormously in popularity. With Twitter pages from sites like CNN and every one of the political candidates, the site’s popularity can’t be overstated. Nor can its applications for the future. Also, even if you don’t have a ton of people following your tweets, keep in mind that Twitter search sites are popping up everywhere. This means that if you tweet using keywords that matter to your reader/market, you could be found and followed! For one such search site check out: summarize. Also, if you’re trying to gauge the popularity of a certain word or phrase and how often it’s being used or referred to, you can head on over to Tweet Volume and find out. Just plug in your search term or terms and up will pop a list of results!
Most Well-Known Twitter Users
? Many organizations (such as the Los Angeles Fire Department) have embraced the technology and put it to use in situations such as the October 2007 California wildfires.
? Higher education is also using the technology to relay important information to students in a more timely manner. The University of Texas at San Antonio College of Engineering is one such example.
? Several U.S. presidential campaigns use Twitter as a publicity mechanism, Ron Paul, John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton all have Twitter pages.
? Media outlets such as CNN have also started using Twitter to break news.
How to Use Twitter Effectively
If you’ve pondered using Twitter but aren’t sure how to use it effectively, here are some quick tips to give you some great twittering-ideas:
? Teach stuff – teach a little mini-lesson on Twitter. Delve into your area of expertise or just talk about book publishing and how to get published.
? Showcase your book – don’t do this in a “my book is so fabulous” kind of way but offer to give advice (like I mention in Teach Stuff) or share with your Twitter followers how the promotion of the book is going.
? Use Twitter as a news source: you can easily announce news both from your world (as long as it relates to your topic) and from the world of your expertise. So for example I’ve done tweets on book industry stuff, breaking news, etc.
? Widen your network – follow other Twitter folk, this will not only give you some ideas for your own “tweets” but it’s a great way to network with other writers or professionals.
? Keep the buzz going when you’re on the move – it’s hard to keep blogging when you’re on the road (trust me, I know this first hand) – so when I travel, I tweet. I share what I’m doing, what’s happening in my world and try to offer insight and advice.
? Market yourself – remember that while Twitter may seem like a fun little tool, it’s also a great way to market yourself. Just like the ideas we mention above, there are a hundred+ more things you can do.
Golden Rules of Twitter:
Here are a few rules to live by when tweeting:
? Be Original, useful and helpful.
? Every Tweet counts (don’t tell people you’re washing your cat) don’t just tweet on useless stuff or you’ll lose followers.
? Ask questions: you’ve got a network (or you want one) now use it! Ask questions, take surveys, get your followers involved in your message and marketing!
? It’s not all about you (again, back to the cat) people want to know useful stuff, I know, it’s getting repetitive but there’s a reason: it’s important.
? Promote your Twitter account in your email signature line and on your blog.
? Network: don’t expect your followers to grow if you’re not following other people. Network, search for others in your area and follow them.
? Personal is ok. Even though I said not to post useless information it’s still not a bad idea to (from time to time) post a personal Tweet or two. Provide value and twitter-followers will beat a path to your door.
? Keep Twittering, followers will come if you keep updating your Twitter account.
By: Penny Sansevieri
About the Author:
Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a book marketing and media relations expert whose company has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. Visit AME.
March 21, 2009
List Building: 7 Steps to Grow Your Email List With Twitter
(c) 2008 OnlineBizU.com
Twitter is a microblogging platform that has taken the business world by storm, 140 characters per post. The purpose of Twitter is to post short updates (not to exceed 140 characters) about what you’re doing at the moment, read the updates of others whom you’re following (in a non-stalker way), and comment and reply on what they’re doing.
All kinds of applications have been developed for Twitter, and I’ve discovered that people either love to tweet (i.e. submit a Twitter post) or the whole concept drives them crazy. I admit that seeing all the tweets exchanged among those I follow can be overwhelming (like being in a big instant message universe where everyone can see everyone else’s messages), but I am having success in getting to know my fellow Twitter peeps and in getting the word out about my business and in growing my list.
As I became accustomed to tweeting daily, I began to wonder if I was missing a key business marketing strategy in the process, and then a colleague told me about her strategy of sending a direct message, or DM (this is a private message goes directly to your Twitter pal via email and can’t be seen by others) thanking them for following her, as well as a short introduction to her business. I thought that was a wonderful idea, began to implement that strategy, and saw results immediately.
Then I read a great post by Denise Wakeman of The Blog Squad on building your list with Twitter, and knew I had to incorporate this idea into my marketing strategy. Here’s the steps I took to maximize my use of Twitter to grow my email list:
1. Create a Twitter account. Your Twitter ID can be your given name, or you may want to use your Twitter ID to brand yourself, i.e. OrganizingQueen. Just get the basics set up at this point. In the setup, check both options of “Email when someone starts following me” as well as “Email when I receive a new direct message.”
2. Have a freebie to give away. You may want to create a unique electronic giveaway just for your Twitter followers, or you can use the same giveaway that you already use on your site. Once you’ve decided what to give away, create a squeeze page and insert sales copy and an opt-in form so that you can direct your Twitter followers to this page for them to join your list and receive your free giveaway. For tracking purposes, you may want to set up a unique page to see just how many subscribers join your list from this invitation.
3. Twitter bio: You have 160 characters to describe your business as a part of your Twitter bio. Describe yourself and your call to action. Here’s a sample: “Houston Professional Organizer. Follow me for free ebook to learn how to clear your clutter in 30 days.”
4. Set up TweetLater.com account and welcome message: The aspect of this service that you’ll be using is the ability to send an automatic message to new followers, which you should turn on as a part of setting up your account. You can choose a public or direct (private) message. Choose to send the private message. This message is limited to 140 characters, as it’s a tweet, so here’s a sample along the same lines as the sample mentioned earlier: “Thx 4 following. Get free ebook to help clear clutter in 30 days @ .” I have also turned on the ability to automatically follow new followers.
6. Twitter email address. When you create your Twitter account, use an email address that is attached to an account or software that will enable you to forward all new follower notifications that you get from Twitter. My email software doesn’t offer that forwarding capability, so I changed my Twitter email address to my Gmail address, and used the filter capability to create a Twitter label and to forward all of my follower notifications to my TweetLater.com account.
As a part of the account setup, TweetLater gives you the email address to which you forward those notifications as well as instructions on setting up your rules for your email forwarding. What happens when this is set up correctly is that anytime anyone decides to follow you in Twitter, they automatically get your direct email message to join your list without you having to do anything.
If needed, be sure and update your email address in your TweetLater account. You can also forward these messages manually to your TweetLater email address and achieve the same purpose. In order for this to work, the email address in your TweetLater account must match the email address in your Twitter account.
7. Test your setup. To ensure that this setup was working for me, I set up a “fake” Twitter account just for testing, using one of my free account email addresses. In my “fake” account, I found my “real” Twitter profile and clicked “Follow”. Within minutes I got an email message that my “fake” account is following my “real” account, and then at my “fake” account email address, I received my TweetLater direct mail message about getting my free ebook, and a second email that my “real” account is following my “fake” account.
Twitter is a wonderful tool to help you add your Twitter followers to your list, which is one way you can create deeper relationships with your target market to help them get to know, like, and trust you. Start Twittering today and begin to experience amazing list growth!
By: Donna Gunter
About the Author:
Twitter is a microblogging platform that has taken the business world by storm, 140 characters per post. The purpose of Twitter is to post short updates (not to exceed 140 characters) about what you’re doing at the moment, read the updates of others whom you’re following (in a non-stalker way), and comment and reply on what they’re doing.
All kinds of applications have been developed for Twitter, and I’ve discovered that people either love to tweet (i.e. submit a Twitter post) or the whole concept drives them crazy. I admit that seeing all the tweets exchanged among those I follow can be overwhelming (like being in a big instant message universe where everyone can see everyone else’s messages), but I am having success in getting to know my fellow Twitter peeps and in getting the word out about my business and in growing my list.
As I became accustomed to tweeting daily, I began to wonder if I was missing a key business marketing strategy in the process, and then a colleague told me about her strategy of sending a direct message, or DM (this is a private message goes directly to your Twitter pal via email and can’t be seen by others) thanking them for following her, as well as a short introduction to her business. I thought that was a wonderful idea, began to implement that strategy, and saw results immediately.
Then I read a great post by Denise Wakeman of The Blog Squad on building your list with Twitter, and knew I had to incorporate this idea into my marketing strategy. Here’s the steps I took to maximize my use of Twitter to grow my email list:
1. Create a Twitter account. Your Twitter ID can be your given name, or you may want to use your Twitter ID to brand yourself, i.e. OrganizingQueen. Just get the basics set up at this point. In the setup, check both options of “Email when someone starts following me” as well as “Email when I receive a new direct message.”
2. Have a freebie to give away. You may want to create a unique electronic giveaway just for your Twitter followers, or you can use the same giveaway that you already use on your site. Once you’ve decided what to give away, create a squeeze page and insert sales copy and an opt-in form so that you can direct your Twitter followers to this page for them to join your list and receive your free giveaway. For tracking purposes, you may want to set up a unique page to see just how many subscribers join your list from this invitation.
3. Twitter bio: You have 160 characters to describe your business as a part of your Twitter bio. Describe yourself and your call to action. Here’s a sample: “Houston Professional Organizer. Follow me for free ebook to learn how to clear your clutter in 30 days.”
4. Set up TweetLater.com account and welcome message: The aspect of this service that you’ll be using is the ability to send an automatic message to new followers, which you should turn on as a part of setting up your account. You can choose a public or direct (private) message. Choose to send the private message. This message is limited to 140 characters, as it’s a tweet, so here’s a sample along the same lines as the sample mentioned earlier: “Thx 4 following. Get free ebook to help clear clutter in 30 days @ .” I have also turned on the ability to automatically follow new followers.
6. Twitter email address. When you create your Twitter account, use an email address that is attached to an account or software that will enable you to forward all new follower notifications that you get from Twitter. My email software doesn’t offer that forwarding capability, so I changed my Twitter email address to my Gmail address, and used the filter capability to create a Twitter label and to forward all of my follower notifications to my TweetLater.com account.
As a part of the account setup, TweetLater gives you the email address to which you forward those notifications as well as instructions on setting up your rules for your email forwarding. What happens when this is set up correctly is that anytime anyone decides to follow you in Twitter, they automatically get your direct email message to join your list without you having to do anything.
If needed, be sure and update your email address in your TweetLater account. You can also forward these messages manually to your TweetLater email address and achieve the same purpose. In order for this to work, the email address in your TweetLater account must match the email address in your Twitter account.
7. Test your setup. To ensure that this setup was working for me, I set up a “fake” Twitter account just for testing, using one of my free account email addresses. In my “fake” account, I found my “real” Twitter profile and clicked “Follow”. Within minutes I got an email message that my “fake” account is following my “real” account, and then at my “fake” account email address, I received my TweetLater direct mail message about getting my free ebook, and a second email that my “real” account is following my “fake” account.
Twitter is a wonderful tool to help you add your Twitter followers to your list, which is one way you can create deeper relationships with your target market to help them get to know, like, and trust you. Start Twittering today and begin to experience amazing list growth!
By: Donna Gunter
About the Author:
Online Business Manager and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com . Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at AskDonnaGunter.com
March 19, 2009
Everyone is All A-twitter About Twitter
I personally have been Tweeting for a few months. But I use the phrase “tweeting for a few months” loosely. I haven’t been all that consistent with it, and I definitely didn’t have a strategy. I just thought it was kind of cool.
Recently I’ve started paying more attention to it for a few reasons; my mother-in-law was at a librarian conference recently and attended a session on Twitter. I got into a conversation with her about it, and then the next day I saw John Reese’s email about Twitter. It seems like there is a lot of twittering about Twitter going on. What is Twitter?
According to the Twitter FAQ, “Twitter is for staying in touch and keeping up with friends no matter where you are or what you’re doing.”
Wikipedia says, “Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates via SMS, instant messaging, email, to the Twitter website, or any one of the multitude of Twitter applications now available”.
Basically Twitter asks the question, “What are you doing?” and allows you to send a short update (your tweets are limited to 140 characters) to your followers (family, friends, colleagues, customers, potential customers etc).
Twitter allows you to send and receive updates (also called tweets) via your browser, email, instant messaging clients and SMS (using your cell phone). No matter where you are, you can tweet!
I haven’t been following Twitter since day 1, so I’m not going to comment on it’s evolution but I will speculate that as its popularity grows, as more and more marketers use it, 2 things are inevitable:
1. Rules on Twitter etiquette will continue to evolve as we learn what we like and dislike about it, and as we respond to the inevitable abuse of Twitter (don’t mean to sound negative but it happens with each exciting new opportunity ‘ people end up abusing it).
2. More and more companies will jump on board and try to get in on the conversation.
Start Twittering, (or is it Tweeting?)
Remember, when you first join Twitter, it can feel like a lonely place. When you aren’t following anyone and no one is following you, you may find yourself asking “what is the point?” I’ve heard so many people say they just don’t get it. In fact, I’ve said that myself.
The key is to find the Tweets you want to follow so you can keep your finger on the pulse of your niche. The next key is to start building your followers. More on that in a minute.
How can Twitter help your business?
The more contact you have with a potential customer, the more likely you are to get their business. You can stay “top of mind” through Twitter. Let them know what’s new in your industry, in your company etc. You become a source of quick news flashes for them.
Here are just a few of the benefits of Twitter: – It reminds people that you exist
- It shows people you have something to say
- It shows them that you are human
- It allows you to mention new offers, sales and breaking news immediately
- It allows you to form a more casual relationship
- You can use Twitter to promote your social bookmarking submissions.
- You can ask for referrals, suggestions, feedback and help, and people will respond.
Twitter is also fun and is contributing to the new language we are constantly developing. For example “Twitterference” ‘ the intrusion of twitter updates on your phone making it hard to have a conversation on your phone.
Finding Followers:
Start by reaching out to your friends, family, mailing list etc. You can also add your Twitter link to your email signature line; add links to your website and Blog. Mention your Twitter account in your newsletter.
Twitter Rules
One cardinal rule (that is in your best interest to follow): if you use Twitter as a pure sales tool, you will lose followers quickly. As with all forms of social media, it is about creating a conversation and sharing news ‘ it’s not all about you shoving your sales message down their throats.
Tweets are limited to 140 characters. This is to allow them to be easily sent over mobile SMS systems.
You aren’t able to embed HTML with the exception of hyperlinks. (But they are no-follow links, so they won’t help you in your SEO quest for backlinks) Bonus: Twitter automatically uses the TinyURL service to shorten links.
Don’t tweet too much, or too little. There is no magic number and it varies according to your audience. Some people say don’t update more than once per hour. Others say not more than once or twice a day. I tend to be in the once or twice a day camp. If there is breaking news and some days you just have to update more often then it’s OK. If your tweets are valuable information people will be more tolerant of frequent updates.
On the other hand if you are too quiet, people have nothing to follow so make sure you find that balance and tweet just enough to keep people informed but not annoyed.
Don’t forget that your profile shows a history of all your tweets, so if a new person comes along and sees that you don’t have many tweets they may decide you aren’t worthy of following. Also if your past tweets aren’t informative or interesting, you lose some potential followers.
You’ll find that sometimes you get involved in personal conversation with someone. Try to avoid doing too much of this. Not everyone will be interested in your personal communications. If you do need to do this, put the @ symbol in front of somebody’s name ‘ this indicates that this message is for them.
One thing to keep in mind about personal conversation tweets – some people who are following you may not be following the person you are talking to. This means they get only one half of the conversation. One suggestion is to word your tweet so that spectators have an idea of what you are talking about. That way, they can feel more included in the conversation.
Trust and Twitter
With so much hype in marketing, people are really looking for a company that can trust. You can build trust with prospects by allowing them to get to know you, and by providing them with information. Twitter allows you to do just that.
A great tip: look at your own Tweet history ‘ is the information valuable, does it build trust? Would you want to follow yourself?
Get tweeting!
It may take some trial and error, and you probably want to check out what others are tweeting about to get a feel for the style. But don’t spend too long lurking ‘ check it out and then jump on in.
By: Jennifer Horowitz
About the Author:
Recently I’ve started paying more attention to it for a few reasons; my mother-in-law was at a librarian conference recently and attended a session on Twitter. I got into a conversation with her about it, and then the next day I saw John Reese’s email about Twitter. It seems like there is a lot of twittering about Twitter going on. What is Twitter?
According to the Twitter FAQ, “Twitter is for staying in touch and keeping up with friends no matter where you are or what you’re doing.”
Wikipedia says, “Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates via SMS, instant messaging, email, to the Twitter website, or any one of the multitude of Twitter applications now available”.
Basically Twitter asks the question, “What are you doing?” and allows you to send a short update (your tweets are limited to 140 characters) to your followers (family, friends, colleagues, customers, potential customers etc).
Twitter allows you to send and receive updates (also called tweets) via your browser, email, instant messaging clients and SMS (using your cell phone). No matter where you are, you can tweet!
I haven’t been following Twitter since day 1, so I’m not going to comment on it’s evolution but I will speculate that as its popularity grows, as more and more marketers use it, 2 things are inevitable:
1. Rules on Twitter etiquette will continue to evolve as we learn what we like and dislike about it, and as we respond to the inevitable abuse of Twitter (don’t mean to sound negative but it happens with each exciting new opportunity ‘ people end up abusing it).
2. More and more companies will jump on board and try to get in on the conversation.
Start Twittering, (or is it Tweeting?)
Remember, when you first join Twitter, it can feel like a lonely place. When you aren’t following anyone and no one is following you, you may find yourself asking “what is the point?” I’ve heard so many people say they just don’t get it. In fact, I’ve said that myself.
The key is to find the Tweets you want to follow so you can keep your finger on the pulse of your niche. The next key is to start building your followers. More on that in a minute.
How can Twitter help your business?
The more contact you have with a potential customer, the more likely you are to get their business. You can stay “top of mind” through Twitter. Let them know what’s new in your industry, in your company etc. You become a source of quick news flashes for them.
Here are just a few of the benefits of Twitter: – It reminds people that you exist
- It shows people you have something to say
- It shows them that you are human
- It allows you to mention new offers, sales and breaking news immediately
- It allows you to form a more casual relationship
- You can use Twitter to promote your social bookmarking submissions.
- You can ask for referrals, suggestions, feedback and help, and people will respond.
Twitter is also fun and is contributing to the new language we are constantly developing. For example “Twitterference” ‘ the intrusion of twitter updates on your phone making it hard to have a conversation on your phone.
Finding Followers:
Start by reaching out to your friends, family, mailing list etc. You can also add your Twitter link to your email signature line; add links to your website and Blog. Mention your Twitter account in your newsletter.
Twitter Rules
One cardinal rule (that is in your best interest to follow): if you use Twitter as a pure sales tool, you will lose followers quickly. As with all forms of social media, it is about creating a conversation and sharing news ‘ it’s not all about you shoving your sales message down their throats.
Tweets are limited to 140 characters. This is to allow them to be easily sent over mobile SMS systems.
You aren’t able to embed HTML with the exception of hyperlinks. (But they are no-follow links, so they won’t help you in your SEO quest for backlinks) Bonus: Twitter automatically uses the TinyURL service to shorten links.
Don’t tweet too much, or too little. There is no magic number and it varies according to your audience. Some people say don’t update more than once per hour. Others say not more than once or twice a day. I tend to be in the once or twice a day camp. If there is breaking news and some days you just have to update more often then it’s OK. If your tweets are valuable information people will be more tolerant of frequent updates.
On the other hand if you are too quiet, people have nothing to follow so make sure you find that balance and tweet just enough to keep people informed but not annoyed.
Don’t forget that your profile shows a history of all your tweets, so if a new person comes along and sees that you don’t have many tweets they may decide you aren’t worthy of following. Also if your past tweets aren’t informative or interesting, you lose some potential followers.
You’ll find that sometimes you get involved in personal conversation with someone. Try to avoid doing too much of this. Not everyone will be interested in your personal communications. If you do need to do this, put the @ symbol in front of somebody’s name ‘ this indicates that this message is for them.
One thing to keep in mind about personal conversation tweets – some people who are following you may not be following the person you are talking to. This means they get only one half of the conversation. One suggestion is to word your tweet so that spectators have an idea of what you are talking about. That way, they can feel more included in the conversation.
Trust and Twitter
With so much hype in marketing, people are really looking for a company that can trust. You can build trust with prospects by allowing them to get to know you, and by providing them with information. Twitter allows you to do just that.
A great tip: look at your own Tweet history ‘ is the information valuable, does it build trust? Would you want to follow yourself?
Get tweeting!
It may take some trial and error, and you probably want to check out what others are tweeting about to get a feel for the style. But don’t spend too long lurking ‘ check it out and then jump on in.
By: Jennifer Horowitz
About the Author:
Jennifer Horowitz is the Director of Marketing and co-owner of http://www.EcomBuffet.com Since 1998, her expertise in online marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has helped clients increase revenue and achieve their business goals. Jennifer has written a downloadable book on Search Engine Optimization and has been published in many SEO and marketing publications.
March 15, 2009
Twitter! Twitter! What is Twitter?
Everyone online seems to be talking about Twitter these days! But what exactly is Twitter?
This is Twitter.com’s official definition:
“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. People write short updates, often called “tweets” of 140 characters or fewer. These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.”
It’s pretty simple really. Twitter is a site where you toss out short notes on the web that tell people what you are doing, feeling, thinking right now. It’s a great way for busy people to keep in touch with friends and quickly broadcast information about where you are and what you’re up to. Twitter is like an instant messaging blog that posts your conversations to the world (although you can also have private conversations.) You only have 140 spaces to write something– so you have to keep it short.
With Twitter you have the option to link it to your mobile phone or to your instant messenger. This turns Twitter into a powerful mobile communication tool, since you can both send and receive updates on your phone, and stay in touch wherever you are.
What is the point? Well, if you’ve ever been hooked on Facebook, MySpace, email, blogging, one of the instant messaging clients, or even just spent a lot of time texting on your cell phone, you probably get the idea. It is a quick way to stay in touch, meet new people, and have some fun. It is like a mini blog.
Twitter isn’t just for personal use, it also has many applications for business use. It can be used to broadcast your company’s latest news and blog posts. Twitter is good for interacting with your customers and employees. It can also enable easy internal group communication, feedback and collaboration.
For the entrepreneur and home worker, Twitter is becoming an important part of business promotion, web marketing, personal branding, and the social networking scene. It can be a great tool to get your messages out to a targeted audience and find new business leads.
There are some great twitter resources and tool out there on the web. One of my favorites is Tweetdeck.com. It organizes your Twitter information and gives your Twitter account an instant messenger style format. Firefox has some great Twitter add-ons. Another good Twitter tool is Tweetlater.com. You can send postdated tweets and auto reply tweets with this. There is also a Twitter download that you can add to your Apple/Mac Dashboard. You can also add twitter feed and wigets to your Facebook, Wordpress and Blogger blogs.
If you are going to be using Twitter to promote your business, here are a few important Twitter Business Tips:
1. Don’t blatantly promote. This is more of a passive promotion media. Blatant promotions turn your audience off.
2. Don’t let it take over and distract you from other important tasks. It’s easy to get too caught up in Twittering and lose track of time.
3. Don’t let it take the place of real communication in your life. Twitter is a communication tool not a communication replacement.
4. Do have fun! Share interesting non-business as well as business related tidbits of information that others might enjoy learning.
So, are you ready? Let’s Twitter!
——————-
By Dianne Ronnow © 2009 Mohave Publishing. All rights reserved. This article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and this resource box below accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.
By: Dianne Ronnow
About the Author:
This is Twitter.com’s official definition:
“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. People write short updates, often called “tweets” of 140 characters or fewer. These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.”
It’s pretty simple really. Twitter is a site where you toss out short notes on the web that tell people what you are doing, feeling, thinking right now. It’s a great way for busy people to keep in touch with friends and quickly broadcast information about where you are and what you’re up to. Twitter is like an instant messaging blog that posts your conversations to the world (although you can also have private conversations.) You only have 140 spaces to write something– so you have to keep it short.
With Twitter you have the option to link it to your mobile phone or to your instant messenger. This turns Twitter into a powerful mobile communication tool, since you can both send and receive updates on your phone, and stay in touch wherever you are.
What is the point? Well, if you’ve ever been hooked on Facebook, MySpace, email, blogging, one of the instant messaging clients, or even just spent a lot of time texting on your cell phone, you probably get the idea. It is a quick way to stay in touch, meet new people, and have some fun. It is like a mini blog.
Twitter isn’t just for personal use, it also has many applications for business use. It can be used to broadcast your company’s latest news and blog posts. Twitter is good for interacting with your customers and employees. It can also enable easy internal group communication, feedback and collaboration.
For the entrepreneur and home worker, Twitter is becoming an important part of business promotion, web marketing, personal branding, and the social networking scene. It can be a great tool to get your messages out to a targeted audience and find new business leads.
There are some great twitter resources and tool out there on the web. One of my favorites is Tweetdeck.com. It organizes your Twitter information and gives your Twitter account an instant messenger style format. Firefox has some great Twitter add-ons. Another good Twitter tool is Tweetlater.com. You can send postdated tweets and auto reply tweets with this. There is also a Twitter download that you can add to your Apple/Mac Dashboard. You can also add twitter feed and wigets to your Facebook, Wordpress and Blogger blogs.
If you are going to be using Twitter to promote your business, here are a few important Twitter Business Tips:
1. Don’t blatantly promote. This is more of a passive promotion media. Blatant promotions turn your audience off.
2. Don’t let it take over and distract you from other important tasks. It’s easy to get too caught up in Twittering and lose track of time.
3. Don’t let it take the place of real communication in your life. Twitter is a communication tool not a communication replacement.
4. Do have fun! Share interesting non-business as well as business related tidbits of information that others might enjoy learning.
So, are you ready? Let’s Twitter!
——————-
By Dianne Ronnow © 2009 Mohave Publishing. All rights reserved. This article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and this resource box below accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.
By: Dianne Ronnow
About the Author:
Dianne Ronnow is an Expert Online Business & Marketing Consultant in the Network Marketing industry. She teaches entrepreneurs how to use the internet & marketing systems to generate more leads and make more money… FAST!! Go to http://Power-Income.com for more information. Sign up for our weekly FREE internet marketing webinar for network marketers at http:/Internet-Marketing-Webinar.com.
March 7, 2009
Twitterpated for Business Success: How To Use Twitter for Business
From a business perspective, social sites provide an opportunity to get in front of potential customers and influence buying decisions because online social networkers are three times more likely to trust their online community of peers over advertising when making purchase decisions.* And, according to a Nielsen survey, consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising with 78% of the respondents.*
So how do you use Twitter, the most celebrated social networking tool of the moment, and generate more business? Here is the formula I use for the clients that are using twitter. These same principles will work for every business because it’s not about the product or service you have, it’s about the people and creating a social buzz that will lead business to you.
Social marketing has grown exponentially especially over the last couple of years. From the beginnings of blogs, MySpace & FaceBook to networking sites like linked in and the newest star: Twitter.
What makes social marketing so popular? Simply put, human nature. We all want to feel like we are a part of a community whether it’s in the local community, like churches, teams etc. or in the online community like Twitter. Thanks to the internet, our sense of community can include people from across the United States and beyond our borders bringing us into the global community.
From a business perspective, social sites provide an opportunity to get in front of potential customers and influence buying decisions because online social networkers are three times more likely to trust their online community of peers over advertising when making purchase decisions.* And, according to a Nielsen survey, consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising with 78% of the respondents.*
In other words, if someone is recommended to your business by a co-worker, neighbor, friend or online network member, that person is 78% more likely to buy from your company. Because of this fact, 81% of people in marketing who were surveyed said they would be spending as much, if not more, on social media than they do (or did) on traditional advertising.*
So how do you use Twitter, the most celebrated social networking tool of the moment, and generate more business? Here is the formula I use for the clients that are using twitter. These same principles will work for every business because it’s not about the product or service you have, it’s about the people and creating a social buzz that will lead business to you.
First, of course, you need to set up an account in twitter, if you don’t already have one. When setting up your account be sure to add a photo of yourself or something representative of your business. Since the key to networking on twitter is to have followers, the photo will make people more likely to follow you. Also, add your location (for local searches), a link to your website (http://ideasthatwork.net) and brief information about your business. For a more professional look it’s best to have a custom background created for your twitter site.
Side Note: TweetDeck.com is an awesome tool to help you manage the twitter universe.
Here are some basics you’ll need to know before you start tweeting:
* a follower is someone who is watching your updates.
* following refers to the act of you following other people.
* the @ symbol is placed before a users name within the tweet to reply to another user, and this will show up in the main twitter stream
* the # (hashtag) is used to help you sort by topic. For example you can use #survivor to tweet with other Survivor fans.
* direct messages go only to the user you are messaging
Once you’ve got your account set up start by posting at least 1 tweet so people who see your profile will know what you’re about.
Next you’ll need to look for people to follow. If you are really in this to gain business referrals, I strongly suggest you don’t follow every person on twitter. Instead, do a search for key terms that describe your business. If you want to concentrate on the local market, use the city and state to for search terms. If you are a wedding planner, look for the search term “wedding.” This search can easily be done within twitter by using the search box at the top of your home page.
There are also well respected members of the twitter community that you’ll want to follow based upon your business. For example business owners may want to follow Business Week (@bizweek). If you’re a coffee lover you may want to follow Starbucks (@starbucks). MrTweet.com can help you find people you may want to follow, just remember you don’t have to (nor should you) follow everyone.
Once you are now following people, you’ll see that people will begin to follow you back and you’ll even see people following you that you didn’t follow first. (All these follows can get confusing, hang in there it gets easier with practice) Remember, you want to follow people who are prospective customers or can lead you to prospective customers. You should also follow people in similar businesses as long as they won’t directly compete with you (unless, of course, you want to see what the competition is doing!) And when people follow you, check their profile before following back. There are hundreds of thousands of people on twitter and not everyone is going to be in your target market.
Now that you’re building your list of followers, you need to start tweeting on a regular basis. You can give tips related to your business, some people put out famous quotes or jokes, others are focusing on the day to day events that they are focused on. I trade off between tweeting about optimization tweets, projects I’m working on, this day in history info etc. I also tweet about everyday stuff like having the forces of technology working against me – argh! The more real and transparent you are, the more people will like you and engage you in conversation.
Twitter is also very good for self promotion – to a point. Nothing is worse than following someone who only talks about their products, services or only passes on their own blog material or articles. It’s a good idea to “retweet” or pass along the good information that others post. Within the 140 characters you can post links to specific information located anywhere on the web, including your website. All you need to do is copy the “URL” or web address of the specific page you want to link and paste it into twitter. Many times you’ll find that the web address for the link is too long for twitter, takes up too much space. In that case you’ll need to use a site like tinyurl.com to make the link shorter.
One big part of twitter is getting involved, participating. You can sit there and read the twitter stream but when you start to reply to people you’ll begin engage others and bring them into your world. The next thing you know, people will be checking out your website and referring you (via twitter) to others. When you are truly involved you’ll really reap the benefits. And, if you are running web analytics on your website, you’ll be able to see the traffic that is referred to you from twitter, and how much of that traffic converts into business.
Once you’ve got the hang of “tweeting” you’ll want to use twitter in more ways like integrating twitter with FaceBook and adding the twitter stream to your website.
There is no doubt that the internet has forever changed word-of-mouth. The power of the people is now greater than ever and is a part of everyone’s daily life. By using twitter as a part of your online marketing campaign you’ll be able to influence the buzz about you and your company.
PS… you can follow me on twitter: @tkimsey
*”Social Networking Sites: Defining Advertising Opportunities in a Competitive Landscape,” JupiterResearch, March 2007
*Nielsen, “Word of Mouth the Most Powerful Selling Tool”
*TWI Surveys/Society for New Communications Research, (November 2007)
———————-
This article written by Teajai Kimsey, Interenet Marketing Strategist, Ideas That Work It may be reproduced and reprinted provided the author’s information including web link is kept intact.
By: Teajai Kimsey
About the Author:
So how do you use Twitter, the most celebrated social networking tool of the moment, and generate more business? Here is the formula I use for the clients that are using twitter. These same principles will work for every business because it’s not about the product or service you have, it’s about the people and creating a social buzz that will lead business to you.
Social marketing has grown exponentially especially over the last couple of years. From the beginnings of blogs, MySpace & FaceBook to networking sites like linked in and the newest star: Twitter.
What makes social marketing so popular? Simply put, human nature. We all want to feel like we are a part of a community whether it’s in the local community, like churches, teams etc. or in the online community like Twitter. Thanks to the internet, our sense of community can include people from across the United States and beyond our borders bringing us into the global community.
From a business perspective, social sites provide an opportunity to get in front of potential customers and influence buying decisions because online social networkers are three times more likely to trust their online community of peers over advertising when making purchase decisions.* And, according to a Nielsen survey, consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising with 78% of the respondents.*
In other words, if someone is recommended to your business by a co-worker, neighbor, friend or online network member, that person is 78% more likely to buy from your company. Because of this fact, 81% of people in marketing who were surveyed said they would be spending as much, if not more, on social media than they do (or did) on traditional advertising.*
So how do you use Twitter, the most celebrated social networking tool of the moment, and generate more business? Here is the formula I use for the clients that are using twitter. These same principles will work for every business because it’s not about the product or service you have, it’s about the people and creating a social buzz that will lead business to you.
First, of course, you need to set up an account in twitter, if you don’t already have one. When setting up your account be sure to add a photo of yourself or something representative of your business. Since the key to networking on twitter is to have followers, the photo will make people more likely to follow you. Also, add your location (for local searches), a link to your website (http://ideasthatwork.net) and brief information about your business. For a more professional look it’s best to have a custom background created for your twitter site.
Side Note: TweetDeck.com is an awesome tool to help you manage the twitter universe.
Here are some basics you’ll need to know before you start tweeting:
* a follower is someone who is watching your updates.
* following refers to the act of you following other people.
* the @ symbol is placed before a users name within the tweet to reply to another user, and this will show up in the main twitter stream
* the # (hashtag) is used to help you sort by topic. For example you can use #survivor to tweet with other Survivor fans.
* direct messages go only to the user you are messaging
Once you’ve got your account set up start by posting at least 1 tweet so people who see your profile will know what you’re about.
Next you’ll need to look for people to follow. If you are really in this to gain business referrals, I strongly suggest you don’t follow every person on twitter. Instead, do a search for key terms that describe your business. If you want to concentrate on the local market, use the city and state to for search terms. If you are a wedding planner, look for the search term “wedding.” This search can easily be done within twitter by using the search box at the top of your home page.
There are also well respected members of the twitter community that you’ll want to follow based upon your business. For example business owners may want to follow Business Week (@bizweek). If you’re a coffee lover you may want to follow Starbucks (@starbucks). MrTweet.com can help you find people you may want to follow, just remember you don’t have to (nor should you) follow everyone.
Once you are now following people, you’ll see that people will begin to follow you back and you’ll even see people following you that you didn’t follow first. (All these follows can get confusing, hang in there it gets easier with practice) Remember, you want to follow people who are prospective customers or can lead you to prospective customers. You should also follow people in similar businesses as long as they won’t directly compete with you (unless, of course, you want to see what the competition is doing!) And when people follow you, check their profile before following back. There are hundreds of thousands of people on twitter and not everyone is going to be in your target market.
Now that you’re building your list of followers, you need to start tweeting on a regular basis. You can give tips related to your business, some people put out famous quotes or jokes, others are focusing on the day to day events that they are focused on. I trade off between tweeting about optimization tweets, projects I’m working on, this day in history info etc. I also tweet about everyday stuff like having the forces of technology working against me – argh! The more real and transparent you are, the more people will like you and engage you in conversation.
Twitter is also very good for self promotion – to a point. Nothing is worse than following someone who only talks about their products, services or only passes on their own blog material or articles. It’s a good idea to “retweet” or pass along the good information that others post. Within the 140 characters you can post links to specific information located anywhere on the web, including your website. All you need to do is copy the “URL” or web address of the specific page you want to link and paste it into twitter. Many times you’ll find that the web address for the link is too long for twitter, takes up too much space. In that case you’ll need to use a site like tinyurl.com to make the link shorter.
One big part of twitter is getting involved, participating. You can sit there and read the twitter stream but when you start to reply to people you’ll begin engage others and bring them into your world. The next thing you know, people will be checking out your website and referring you (via twitter) to others. When you are truly involved you’ll really reap the benefits. And, if you are running web analytics on your website, you’ll be able to see the traffic that is referred to you from twitter, and how much of that traffic converts into business.
Once you’ve got the hang of “tweeting” you’ll want to use twitter in more ways like integrating twitter with FaceBook and adding the twitter stream to your website.
There is no doubt that the internet has forever changed word-of-mouth. The power of the people is now greater than ever and is a part of everyone’s daily life. By using twitter as a part of your online marketing campaign you’ll be able to influence the buzz about you and your company.
PS… you can follow me on twitter: @tkimsey
*”Social Networking Sites: Defining Advertising Opportunities in a Competitive Landscape,” JupiterResearch, March 2007
*Nielsen, “Word of Mouth the Most Powerful Selling Tool”
*TWI Surveys/Society for New Communications Research, (November 2007)
———————-
This article written by Teajai Kimsey, Interenet Marketing Strategist, Ideas That Work It may be reproduced and reprinted provided the author’s information including web link is kept intact.
By: Teajai Kimsey
About the Author:
Teajai “T J” Kimsey was the founder of Advanced Web Strategies Inc, (Beyond Web Design) an internet advertising agency serving over 300 clients with a full range of online services including web development, custom programming, search engine marketing and all channels of online marketing and marketing integration. After selling the company in 2007, Teajai began consulting clients on a variety of internet marketing issues.