Twitter has been spending money left and right, and it seems that every time we turn around, they’re doing something to demolish what people have been used to. Their reasoning, they claim, is that they’re working to “avoid having the user stream disrupted”. Personally, I think it’s because they would rather make the money from advertising themselves, and not allow others to gain financially from the use of their API. They’ve got to pay back their investors somehow… right?

So rather than hire the brains behind the great ideas, they’re going to once again render them useless. They’re playing a much meaner game than Monopoly here, simply because they can. They’ve got the big bucks, as proven by their recent spend of $40M on TweetDeck.

I’m not a fan of web companies forgetting where they came from. I was actually okay with the purchase of TweetDeck, because it meant that the TD devs were recognized for their hard work in some way that actually satisfied them. I’m also aware that they can’t simply go around buying up existing companies, and that for all we know, they did try to buy up Twitpic and were refused. I’m sure we’ll find these things out sooner or later, but for the time being, I think it’s just pretty crappy to take over others’ ideas and make them your own because you’re afraid they’re making money you should be making.

Am I being unreasonable? I’m all for businesses growing, making more money, etc. but I’ve got issue with stepping on the hands of those that have fed you for years.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Kicks More 3rd Party Sites To The Curb

I’ve previously written about Twitter’s behavior towards its third-party developers and the risks they’re taking if they focus only on developing Twitter-based tools (See Twitter Commits Suicide and Twipocalypse Now). The bottom line is that building a business that is entirely dependent on a single partner isn’t a safe model to follow.

Surprise, Surprise?

So, should Twitter’s actions come as any surprise?

Yes! And, No.

Yes, because Twitter was built on the backs of tens of thousands of third-party developers who added much need functionality and played a key role making Twitter what it is today. These third-party developers, along with the broader Twitter community, were the ones who implemented hash tags, RTs, @ replies and many of the features that Twitter now takes for granted. Even Evan Williams, one of Twitter’s co-Founders, admitted as much at the 2009 TED Conference. See the embedded video below (thanks to Tac Anderson reminding me about this in his post Twitter Grows Up Figures Out Its Business Model And Doesn’t Need You Anymore).

And, No, because there has been ample warning about the risk of developing for Twitter – just read my posts mentioned above, and I certainly was not alone. Also, in their announcement, Twitter stated that enterprise tools such as Seesmic and HootSuite and special-purpose apps are welcome.

So, why is Twitter doing this?

For some insight, consider the following:

• Usage: While Twitter claims that 90% of users are using official Twitter apps, the blog Mashable disagrees claiming that only 58% of Twitter users access the service through official Twitter apps. That leaves a whopping 42% who never see the Twitter home page or those Twitter apps. This means that 42% of Twitter’s users may never see any of the various advertising features that Twitter has been counting on to actually justify its valuation.
• Money: Investors have poured $360 Million into the company over the past 5 years and it’s easy to understand why they might want an out. While these investors certainly could find eager buyers for their shares, they want to maximize their returns. That means pumping up the valuation of the company and finding an appropriate buyer who can afford it.

Buyer Beware

Unfortunately, there aren’t too many adequate suitors for the company, especially when it has a rumored price tag of $8-10 Billion. In order to justify that valuation Twitter needs to do the following:

• Work the kinks out of its advertising model so it can maximize ad revenue. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Increase the number of people who use Twitter properties, thus maximizing exposure to those ads. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Get those users to stop using third-party apps and “come home.” To do this it needs to…
• Kick those third-party apps out of the loop. This ultimately means putting an end to the Twitter ecosystem. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Prevent third-party app developers from getting into the game and making conditions for those who are already there too difficult for them to operate, thus they’ll be forced to close down. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Add more features to its properties. Something it’s already been doing.

My Prediction

I could go on, but to me the path is clear; within the next 12-24 months, as Twitter slowly improves its mobile apps and website, it will eventually cut off ALL third-party apps including TweetDeck and Seesmic. Then, once its numbers (traffic and review) demonstrate clear upward momentum, it will be sold to the highest bidder. Perhaps after that, Twitter’s new owners will remember the goldmine of innovation that Twitter’s third-party developers provided the company and invite them to return

One can only hope.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Neal Wiser is Vice President of Digital Strategy and Operations at The ODM Group where he leads teams in the creation and execution of digital marketing campaigns. You can follow Neal on Twitter (his handle is @NealWiser). Neal is also the Cofounder and Co-host of the Addicted to Social Media podcast.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter’s Black Friday Signals an Exit Strategy

1.) Start searching for and following twitter accounts that post internships and jobs. Both in your desired field, and general ones as well. Internship Queen has a ton of internships she posts, along with tips for finding ones.

2.) Search for and follow twitter accounts by respected members of that field, as well as companies, and business groups. For example, if you’re interested in PR work follow local PRSSA groups, follow PRSAJobCenter, follow people you know that are PR Gurus.

3.) Clean up your twitter, no more “Going to ____ bar tonight, PARTY!”. Make it professional. Start posting interesting articles that you find online, and ADD YOUR OWN INSIGHT TO THEM. Retweet interesting posts the professionals you follow, post or add your own insight to them. The main issue of importance here is to INTERACT on a PROFESSIONAL LEVEL with these people you now follow. Remember, these people are full of connections, and that is what Twitter is about! Try to make actual connections with these people.

4.) Keep your eye out for job and internship posts. And, don’t be afraid to ask a professional (through direct messages) for suggestions on how to get in touch with an industry/company you’re interested in. Most people want to help others, if you genuinely ask for help, someone will answer the call.

Hope this helps, there really isn’t much too it and it is that simple. It’s going to take time and effort, but it may be worth it in the long run. Remember, Twitter is an extension of yourself, and it can be used for professional benefit and to meet people while making connections that would otherwise be impossible.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



4 Twitter Tips for College Students Seeking A Career

I started out in the real estate profession and always loved the concept of building equity from property value. This is likely why I became interested in Twitter and influence of Tweet value. Not to mention the financial industry booms and busts totally shattered my real estate business model.

With a passion for building equity I set out to target the Twitter industry and create online empires. Quickly I discovered that how many followers you have on Twitter did not matter as much as how much influence you had over those following you on Twitter. Leading me to build niche Twitter empires focused on content engagement for specific subject matters. A business model that involves creating numerous niche Twitter profiles.

To simplify things how much influence you can create through Tweets is what determines the value of how much credibility you build. Then it became crystal clear to me that niche Twitter profiles would be the next big Internet rush. The need to be able to engage followers and influence buying decisions is likely why everyone is on Twitter or at least considering joining the social media network.

Say you market and promote products, goods, or services it would be smart to have a niche Twitter profile that Tweets about those products, goods, and services. I have a Twitter profile that talks about building website traffic on Twitter my handle is @TrafficOpps. I love video games so I created a niche Twitter profile where my handle is @PCVideoGamer. The point here is to target and attract Twitter followers interested in unique subject matters.

Are search engines taking interest in niche Twitter profiles? With the help of my team we even created a niche Twitter profile that is focused on urban luxury and the Twitter handle is @UrbanLuxury.

If you do a key word search on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or Ask for “Urban Luxury” you will find @UrbanLuxury in the top 5% indexed over millions of websites.

Twitter is the universe and the greatest place on earth to deliver a message to the most amounts of people in the fastest amount of time. Building niche Twitter empires are the next generation for Web 3.0!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Building Niche Twitter Empires – The Next Internet Rush

I have been using Twitter since it launched a few years ago, but have participated more actively within the past 12 months. For much of that time I have tweeted at the username @printedproof. This user name was a mirror to my printing resources website at the time. Originally, the only reason I joined Twitter was to promote my articles and make some money from affiliate programs. This all changed as soon as I begun to witness the true power of this popular social networking tool.

As many of you know, Twitter is much more than simply a place to plug your posts, market for money, or blog for business. Twitter is a networking, connecting, and interacting online powerhouse. Don’t get me wrong, it’s OK to promote your projects on Twitter, I would say it’s even required for online success. However, if you truly plan on sharing everything about your personal life as well as run your blog or business on Twitter, I recommend having multiple Twitter accounts.

Let’s go back to my personal example: @printedproof has transformed from a targeted business execution to a place for me to just, well… be me. Since taking twitter flight years ago I have built hundreds if not thousands of mini-relationships. Some of these new connections I am proud to call dear friends and have chatted with on a very personal level. Many of these relationships share interests with me but do not necessarily share interest in my business.

My printing resources website has since taken a back seat to new projects. These new projects have taken new lives of their own with individual twitter profiles. In order to dedicate and target all updates and messages to the loyal followers of those new projects, I keep these profiles separate. Sure, I share some tweets on my personal account, as do I share great things from many of my friends on twitter. But bottom line, when a new user follows my profile on twitter, they bring with them a predetermined expectation of what they will read from my tweets. These expectations are built from important facts found in my bio, link, background, and updates. It’s important to use these things I have created to give my followers the correct impression of this particular twitter account and then deliver it.

One thing to remember on twitter is that people follow profiles because they share interest with that particular person, business, brand, or website. Followers want updates that are of interest to them. As a business owner, my goal is to provide the content that my viewers and customers require.

So relax, it’s OK to run multiple twitter profiles to meet those expectations. Do not lack the “personable” with your professional accounts; just be sure to deliver the updates that you promised.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



It’s OK to Have Multiple Twitter Accounts

Most companies have joined Twitter by now but there are a few that have lagged behind. If you’re a part of this group (as my company was), it can be really intimidating to jump into the social media scene when your competitors already have established accounts with hundreds (or thousands) of followers. I used these techniques to jump my new account from 0 to 350 followers in one month, bypassing the awkward infancy period of a new Twitter account almost entirely.

Why should you care? Getting an established account is the best way to attract new followers, and even more importantly, more interaction with your followers and a quick intro into your local Twitter community, driving communication and clicks through to your company’s website.

Set up the account

As soon as possible, grab your business’s name on Twitter if it’s still available. Mine wasn’t, but luckily the account was inactive and we were able to file a copyright request, releasing the account over to our name. If this isn’t possible, grab an available username as close to your business’s name as possible. Avoid underscores and dashes as much as possible.

Design your twitter account to look human, like the @zappos account does above. One of the best ways to do this is to add a custom background with someone’s real picture — preferably the person tweeting from the account but you can use the founders/CEOs of the company as well. Stock photos are worse than having nothing at all. Customize the colors and the rest of the background to reflect your company’s branding.

Before any promotion of the new account, write twenty tweets to fill out the first page, spacing them at least 15 minutes apart from each other. Thereafter, continue to tweet every day, 4-5 times at max for the first few weeks, and taper (if you wish) after. We want the account to look active and get that tweet count up as fast as possible without spamming. A great tool to use is CoTweet, so you can spend 10 minutes in the morning setting up your tweets for the day, spacing them 2-3 hours between each other.

Very important: Make sure your tweets are high quality and useful to your audience. At the end of the day, your account is to promote your business, but will be more follow-worthy if you interact with the community and post about other items of interest in your field. I usually try to have three or so posts per day promoting our website, one retweet (varying between native retweets as well as non-native which can add commentary), and one link out to something interesting elsewhere. You want to emphasize that you’re a real person, not a robot.

Acquire followers

Now that you have a follow-worthy account, it’s time to get followers. It would be easy to just let this happen naturally, but I’ve found that accounts with high follower counts are more desirable, and therefore attract more people. So while the goal is to get a high number of interactive followers, we’ll start out with finding twitter accounts (ideally in the same field) that auto-follow back.

The best way to do this is to use an online application called Tweepsect, built by my friend @shazow, that analyzes a twitter account’s “stalkers” (those that follow but the account doesn’t follow), “stalking” (those that the account follows without following back), and “mutual” (mutually following).

Find other businesses in your field on Twitter and inspect them using Tweepsect. What we’re looking for here is the “mutual” list, and then we can scroll through those mutually following accounts and find those that have nearly identical following/follower counts — sure sign of an auto-follower. Follow every one of these accounts you find for a very quick boost to your following count; if it’s over a hundred accounts, follow only about 50-100 per day to allow for your own following count to rise.

You can start promoting the account once you’ve reached about 100 followers: for example, write a post on your company’s blog, add links from your website and Facebook pages, tell your employees to promote it via their twitter accounts, etc. Why didn’t we do this first? People are more likely to follow an established account.

Bonus: Lists are another great metric, and still a fairly new feature. Use this to your advantage — inspect the lists that your competitors appear on and follow those that create those lists. Usually these creators will add your account to their lists as well. You can also go to Twibes.com and add your business’s account to lists in as many terms in your field as possible.

Find the community

Once you’ve completed these steps, it’s now time to find people in your field to follow and interact with. As large as Twitter is, I often have trouble finding where the good communities of people are. Tweepsect again comes in handy here — we used it before to find auto-follows but now we can use it more generally. Take a look at the “stalking” list in addition to the mutual list to find who other businesses in your field are following. Watch out for inactive accounts, designated on Tweepsect with a face next to account — these accounts haven’t been updated in 90 days.

Another great way to find those in your field is to use Twitter Search. Search for relevant hashtags of topics: #education, #gardening, #marketing, as well as related topics: #onlineeducation, #organicgardening, #ppcmarking, etc. Search for these topics once daily to get a snapshot of others in your field that are promoting that conversation on Twitter. While general topics are hashtagged fairly rarely, conferences almost always have a hashtag for the attendees. Specifically in the education space, #educon occurred about two weeks after we created our Twitter account and it provided a great resource of people to follow in our space.

If you find some really great accounts to follow, I would recommend creating a private list to stick these people on. As your account grows larger, it’ll become impossible to watch the feeds of 300+ people per day. Stick the highest quality accounts into one list and read that instead every morning.

Continue growing and interacting

Hopefully at this point, your account will have the valuable combination of a high amount of followers that also interact, placing yourself directly within the Twitter community and on the same level as your competitors. It’ll be a lot easier to coast your Twitter account since people finding your account will be more likely to subscribe – give months later, the account has more than 800 followers.

Any other tips? I’d love to hear them in the comments!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Jump-Starting Your Company’s Twitter Account

Today’s post comes from Jenni Izzo, a Drexel University graduate turned PR Account Coordinator with a social media obsession. You can follow Jenni at @jenniizzo.

Whether large or small, Twitter can enhance your event in a number of ways. Take a hint from MTV, who recently used a live Twitter Tracker for their 2010 Movie Awards. They encouraged those in the audience, as well as those at home, to get in on the action by tweeting their thoughts, reactions and questions. Throughout the night, tweets containing “MTV” hit over 400 per minute. But, even if you aren’t planning a star-studded event, you can still use the following tips to create a tweet-worthy event.

Establish an event hashtag.
Long before you start promoting the event, create a hashtag. It should be easy to remember, short and relevant. This will be key in incorporating Twitter into your event. Include the hashtag on everything from the Evite to the Facebook page to signage at the event. Other creative ideas include: event t-shirts, business cards and centerpieces.

Create buzz before the event.
Now that you’ve established the event hashtag, get out and there use it. Tweet about sponsors, ticket sales, guest appearances and topics. Get people excited before the event and it will ensure that the enthusiasm carries over to the day-of.

Encourage attendees to tweet during the event.
Using the previously mentioned tips, make sure the hashtag is visible at the event. If you have a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation, make sure it is included on the title slide. If you will be taking planned breaks, display slide encouraging attendees to tweet — or better yet…

Host a live stream.
During scheduled downtime, replace your presentation with a live stream. A live stream should also be incorporated at all times on a projection screen. If you are announcing winners or honorees, use Twitter to share the big news. Also keep your audience actively engaged by tweeting trivia questions and giving an award to the first to tweet the correct answer.

Take advantage of post-event insight.
Twitter gives event coordinators a valuable opportunity to look back attendees’ candid thoughts. Review tweets marked with your hashtag to see what worked and what didn’t. Use this as an opportunity to improve your next event or connect with people who had further questions.

When it comes to using Twitter to enhance your event, the possibilities are endless. Feel free to add to this list and share some of your favorites in the comments.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



How To Incorporate Twitter Into Your Event

When we make that social, we can see how we can create a more holistic approach which helps us to do this:

We can identify customer requirements when we run a social business by:
- Connecting with our customers and prospects online and Twitter
- Getting involved in their conversations with the focus on adding value and helping them out
- Listening to the language they use and what they like and dislike – what I have heard called the “unfettered conversation”

When we know all this through getting listening, and getting involved and being useful, it becomes much easier to anticipate customer requirements.
- We are already involved and hear what they are talking about
- We’ve got a relationship with them to be able to reach out and ask their opinions
- We can use tools like polldaddy to directly ask our twitter audience what they think, or use a link shortener to ask them using another online survey service
- We can see the response to what tweeps are interested in online, as a small tester for content that works and that we can create more of.

And as a result of all of this, we are in a much better place to satisfy our customer requirements. We are there when we hear things going wrong and are able to fix them, faster. We can use our contacts to put them in touch with the relevant people. And we have programs, products and content which we’ve taken the time to get feedback on, so we’ve built in ways to meet customer satisfaction up front.

Running a social business may not be the way you are used to working, but I think it adds a whole new level of engagement and discussion with your audience.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Marketing Benefits of Running a Social Business

Before you go changing anything around on your twitter profile to make it more professional you must decide what the purpose of the account is.

Is your purpose to connect with friends and family?
Is your purpose to share important updates to customers of your store or online business?
Is your purpose to attract potential clients and to give them an understanding of why they should choose your product or service?

If your purpose is only to connect with friends and family then you don’t really need to have a professional presence in my opinion.

But if your purpose is business related then the following steps will help you create a professional presence on twitter.

Sometimes people will have a personal and a business-related purpose for using twitter. In those cases I recommend having a personal twitter account and a separate business related account on twitter.

1. Get a custom background

To create a professional presence on twitter you want to have your own unique background. The default background is used by millions of people and you want to set yourself apart.

There are many websites that will help you create a customized background for your twitter account. And the best part is that most of them are free.

To create a custom background for my twitter account I used Twitbacks.com.

2. Use a picture of yourself

Twitter allows you to have a small avatar picture associated with your account and I recommend using a personal photograph for this.

It doesn’t have to be a professional headshot where your hair and makeup is perfect; it just needs to be a picture of you.

This allows your followers to connect your tweets and messages with a real person. This personal touch adds credence to what you say.

3. Your phone number

I like to post my phone number on my twitter account for all of my followers to see. When followers see a phone number listed with a twitter account it gives them confidence that if they had a problem or question there is someone they could call.

I know some of you will be uncomfortable doing this and it’s completely understandable.

But if you run a small business or work in any line of sales then you really need to have your phone number listed on your twitter account.

To my knowledge twitter does not allow you to actually list the phone number as part of your account. But you can have it be part of your background.

In the example below you can see my phone number is on the far left side:

4. List your email address

You will also want to list your e-mail address on your twitter account. Just as with phone numbers, you can’t actually list your e-mail on your account but you can include it as part of your background.

I know some of you will be concerned about posting your e-mail and receiving spam.

To deal with this I created a second e-mail address that I used specifically for my business. And this is the e-mail address that I post on my twitter account.

Luckily Gmail has a very good spam filter and so I actually get very few spam messages in my inbox each week.

5. Be professional in your tweets

People follow you for a reason. Whether it’s to hear about new products your store is offering or updates about the cause you represent, people are listening to what you say.

And the minute you deviate from that you will lose followers.

So before you post a tweet ask yourself, “Why are people following me? And is this new tweet something they want to hear about?”

If the answer is no or if you’re not sure then do not post the new tweet.

6. Tweet regularly but don’t overdo it

I will usually tweet something in the morning and then sometimes in the evening. 1 to 3 tweets today is optimal.

You want to your followers to see something from you each day but you don’t want to overdo it.
The last thing you want is for one of your followers to see that the last 20 tweets are all from you. When this happens to me I immediately unfollow the person.

7. Only follow people that you’re interested in

A popular way to get followers is to follow a whole bunch of people and hope that many of them follow you back. This results in you having 3,000 followers and you are following 3,000 people yourself.

When people see this it looks less professional. They know there is no way you can be listening to what all 3000 people are tweeting about.

On the other hand it is much more impressive if you follow just a few people and yet have hundreds of followers yourself. When people see this they are more likely to follow you in my opinion here.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



7 Ways To Create A Professional Twitter Presence

If you don’t know what you are doing, measuring your brand online is like sticking a finger in the air and trying to gauge the direction of the wind. It just isn’t as easy as it looks. However, once you understand the tools required to make it happen, brand monitoring becomes 2nd nature. The trick then, is knowing what to monitor and how to do it.

In the past, people relied on Google alerts to send notifications of brand mentions, which usually came in the form of links. Although this is a great way to measure trackbacks and general sentiment, I don’t feel that it offers a complete picture. Not only that, but the results are delayed, meaning that if you get trashed on a forum or in a blog post, then you won’t be able to react until it’s too late. This is why Twitter is changing the way the game is played.

With Twitter, you can track your brand mentions in real time, using a variety of excellent tools. You can track via keyword or hashtag along with the standard mention/RT tracking on the homepage. If you have Twitter integrated onto your blog, then you can add even more firepower to your arsenal by using Tweetbacks and RT’s as comments, which might flesh out an otherwise empty post footer.

The beauty of Twitter tracking tools is that they tell a much greater story than Google does.

1. Most of the people that read your blog don’t have one of their own, so commenting on Twitter is the only way they can voice their approval/displeasure.
2. It is much quicker to post a comment on Twitter than it is to create a blog post. Also, since RT’s and mentions are part of the game, people want to talk with you…not just at you.
3. The results are real time, which means that you can respond to a fire before it becomes a wildfire.

Twitter is where most of the conversation takes place, and if you aren’t there watching, then you are missing out on valuable information about your business. Rather than holding your finger in the air, you are armed with instruments that can provide you with detailed analysis of what you are doing well, and what you need to improve upon.

The Tools

There are 3 particular tools that I’m fond of, but you don’t have to stick with these. Just take what we do here and find a way to make it work within the scope of your favorite Twitter application.

1. TweetDeck panes: From my experience gazing at laptop screens during the Blogworld Expo, it seems that TweetDeck is by far the most popular Twitter desktop client. It makes sense, because TweetDeck is robust and easy to use. The simple way to set up monitoring in Tweetdeck is to add a few search panes for the keywords and hashtags that represent your brand. For instance, I have a search going for #twitterrockstar and Twitter Rockstar to see what people are saying about my Twitter course.
2. Hootsuite tabs: Hootsuite is slowly growing into a fabulous web client that has all of the features of TweetDeck without having to download an application, which is perfect places where you can’t download (like at work). You can handle multiple accounts here as well, but the best feature of Hootsuite in my opinion is being able to set up a tab for each brand. I set up tabs for Twitter Rockstar, Beyond Blogging, Nathan Hangen, and any other product or name that I want to track. Since everything is saved to my account, it’s always ready and waiting for me when I log in.
3. Tweetizen: Tweetizen was developed by Adarsh Pallian and is a great way to not only track your brand, but to show it off to others. Tweetizen allows you to create a “group,” which you can use to track keywords or hashtags, but the difference here is that you can embed the results in any web page. This is great for product pages or launch pages so that you can build hype for your brand without having to force it on your own. Get the conversation going and watch it take off. You can also filter Tweets via user, which means if you want to plant Tweets (which I don’t recommend doing), you can easily do that.

I use all 3 of these tools on a regular basis for my own brand, and that of my clients. As a business owner or consultant, you simply cannot afford not to ignore what others are saying about you and your brand. Create a daily practice of listening with both ears open and then respond where necessary. Nurture those devoted fans, and earn the trust of the negative ones. Do this for yourself and you’ll be ahead of the game. Do it for another business…and you will look like a rockstar.

[image credit]

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



3 Ways to Monitor Your Brand with Twitter