Or,”It’s impossible to track conversations on Twitter.”

Both can be valid points, however, it all depends on how you use the service. For those just starting out on Twitter, having conversations is essential for your business and to develop your personal brand. The conversation aspect that Twitter brings allows you to show others what you are about. Are you real and not a bot? Are you transparent? Are you just trying to sell me a product?

Since other users on Twitter are most likely not familiar with who you are, these are the types of questions that are going to be running through their heads. They want to feel you out, but social media is all about “wanting” to trust people. The conversation aspect of Twitter allows you to build that trust and relationship with another person. However, the best part of a Twitter conversation is bringing that conversation offline. Now, you may be wondering if this is actually possible. You might worry that someone who doesn’t know you in real life would never want to talk to you offline.  You would be surprised, it happens very often.

I’ve had the pleasure of having conversations with many people that started on Twitter, but we took the conversation offline. Well, alright, when I say offline, I mean off of Twitter. Since I do podcast interviews on Social Tech Zone with many well known internet personalities, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know these people not just from conversations on Twitter, but also on platforms like Skype. Talking on Twitter is a great starting point, but when you continue the conversation off Twitter, that’s where Twitter provides its ultimate value.

Wondering how it’s all possible?

Well it’s simple. When someone agrees to talk to you off of Twitter, they want to know more about you and what you represent. Twitter defines relationships and starts new friendships. Since Twitter restricts how many characters you can type, taking the conversation to a platform such as Skype is where you can pick the brain of the other person. You now have more of an opportunity to talk about your business, learn what they’re doing, and build a community around Twitter and not just a “follower” which isn’t very credible. Just because someone is following you, doesn’t mean they take the time out to actually pay attention to what you tweet.

The moment the conversation is brought off Twitter means they have taken interest in the things you have posted and want to learn more about you. They’ve gone from a follower to apart of your community as well as you becoming apart of their community. The more relationships you have with people off Twitter instead of ONLY on Twitter shows how strong of a community you have. That in itself defines the true value of a Twitter conversation. Its fine if you only have one brief exchange with someone on Twitter, but when you have frequent conversations with a person…they will be more likely to pay closer attention to your tweets the next time around.

People always wonder how some users get so many clicks on their links. It all comes down to conversations. The amount of people, they’ve reached out to and talked to in a “one on one” capacity are going to be interested in seeking out what that individual is sharing. Believe me, this technique works. I’ve been able to interview some well known people like Robert Scoble, Cali Lewis, and Chris Pirillo to name a few… and its all from interacting.

If you don’t believe me, try it out for yourself. Interact with people, especially those that you appreciate. Sooner or later they will realize that you are interacting with them often. They will reach out to you. Yes, there are some people who just ignore, but you will get that. However, there are more genuine people out there who want to talk especially if you share a common interest.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



The Power Of Having Twitter Conversations Off Of Twitter

This is kind of a follow up to Thomas Baekdal’s excellent article here on Twitip “7 Secret Ways To Use Twitter Search” which you should check out as well.

1. Who’s saying stuff about me outside of Twitter?
This search will show you Tweets that people write about you or your company that link out to an external page. This is useful for finding what people are writing about you, or indeed when people link to your site without using your Twitter name
[your name|company] filter:links
Live example: mailchimp filter:links

2. Free Stuff
If you’re on the hunt for freebies, create variants of this search and save them to monitor when companies or bloggers are giving away freebies or offers across Twitter. This will work best if you monitor it over time. Use the “near” search operator to try limiting this to your local area (e.g. near:Sydney).
free code|coupon + keyword
Live example: free code|coupon iphone

3. Who’s showing me love/hate?
The one is a bit sporadic in terms of how effective it is, but if you add a smiley or frown to your search, Twitter (in theory) will show tweets that mention your search term in a positive or negative light. As mentioned, results are not always accurate but this is useful to setup as a monitor if you’re running a marketing campaign and want to keep an eye on the haters …..
@yourname|your real name|company name -filter:links
Live example: ipad

4. Create customers out of thin air
[variants of questions you can answer] ? -filter:links
This one needs a bit of thought and tweaking, but it’s potentially powerful. Essentially, this search finds people asking questions that your product/service/blog post can answer. So if you’ve written a great article on how to use solar power, you might search for:
“solar power” ? -filter:links

That search should show people asking questions related to Solar power due to the ? search operator Twitter supports. Adding the -filter:links will strip links from the results, which are unlikely to be people asking questions of their followers. To further target people asking for advice, just add a “How” or similar at the front.

This creates a constant stream of users you can approach with a recommendation to check out your offering.

Live example: “solar power” ? -filter:links

5. Snipe your competitor’s customers
A variation on (3), this one will find everyone saying negative things in relation to your competitor’s Twitter account, which means it’s time to swoop in and show those neglected souls some love. Add words like “problem” “useless” “unhelpful” to really zero in on unhappy folks.

@competitoraccount
Live example: @microsoft – (switch for your competitors, I didn’t want to single anyone out!)

Bonus Link

Going outside of Twitter, this article on searching Twitter via Google has some absolutely oustanding ideas to try. Lastly, for more on Twitter’s advanced search operators, check out their guide here.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



5 Awesome Twitter Searches

NASA gets “Twitter Fever” and invites the public to a TweetUp at NASA Headquarters to honor the crew of STS-127.

I want to be an astronaut. Not “wanted,” as in it was my childhood dream. I want to be one. Ever since I was a kid I knew the difference between “LOX” and “lox” (LOX is liquid oxygen, a key ingredient of space shuttle fuel and is carried in the orange external fuel tank during a shuttle launch. Lox is smoked salmon and tastes great on a bagel with cream cheese).

I was not a normal kid.

But as badly as I want to be an astronaut, as much as I studied science and technical manuals of the shuttle’s flight controls, I chose another path, one that would ultimately bring me full circle to NASA Headquarters in Washington DC on September 24, 2009. On that date, NASA held a TweetUp.

A Tweet What?

While there’s no official definition, “TweetUp” is a Twitterism for “Meet Up” and is simply a gathering of Twitter users and is usually organized exclusively through Twitter. To be sure, there are different types of TweetUps. Some people prefer them to be somewhat spontaneous and informal. Others like to schedule their TweetUps and give presentations or do other activities. The great thing about TweetUps is that there is no right way to do them; whatever works is the prevailing rule of thumb.

In early September, I noticed a tweet from @NASA offering invitations to their next TweetUp in honor of the crew of STS-127. Although NASA has been on Twitter for less than a year, there are now nearly 50 Twitter accounts for NASA centers, programs and projects (you can find them here under the Twitter logo). There are also nine astronauts on Twitter and the first astronaut to tweet from space, Mike Massimo (@Astro_Mike), now has over 1 million followers (you can follow them via @NASA_Astronauts).

Of course, it helps to have an agency like NASA which tries to be progressive in how it communicates with the public. According to the NASA Public Affairs Office, “NASA is always looking for new ways to engage the public and spread the word about what we’re doing, so it was natural that we would look into using Twitter.” And TweetUps were a natural extension of that public outreach.

So, what’s a TweetUp at NASA like, and do they serve Tang?

As soon as you enter the lobby at NASA HQ, you know you’re entering a different world (no pun intended). Many organizations decorate their lobbies with items demonstrating their success and history, but how many places would you find a Nobel Prize for Physics, a model of the new Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle or the space suite that Frank Borman wore as he hurtled around the Moon on Apollo 8? And before you ask, NASA HQ does have a gift shop where you can buy official NASA clothing, mugs, pins and other cool trinkets, but I did not see any Tang (the price-conscious should skip the Air & Space Museum, the prices here are better).

As if that wasn’t enough…

I arrived very early to the TweetUp hoping to sit and start drafting this post. However, I never imagined I’d be invited to sit in on the historic press conference where NASA announced discovery of water on the moon. Nor did I expect to be interviewed on NASA TV about TweetUps (I’m on at the 6:40 mark, mercifully short); all very exciting for me, but just a typical day at NASA.

During the news conference, the other TweetUp guests gathered in the lobby. It was a great mix of people from near and far. Some, including Jan DuRaine (@rockteacherjan) from California and Argelia Perozo (@argelialibertad) from Caracas, Venezuela, actually flew in specifically for the event.

The TweetUp

The registration process was simple. As this was an invitation only event, each of us had an official NASA TweetUp badge with our twitter names and handles waiting for us. We also received a NASA gift bag filled with everything from educational information for kids, stickers and pins with mission insignia, pamphlets and flyers on NASA missions and projects, a cool little 3-D viewer, a huge poster commemorating the X-15 program, etc. NASA was also kind enough to provide free Wi-Fi for the attendees.

After registration and mingling, we were let into the auditorium and took our seats. The crew entered and was introduced by Michael Curie, a NASA Public Affairs Specialist (approx 23:10 minutes into this video. His is the voice you hear narrating shuttle launches. Mission Commander Mark Polansky kicked things off by introducing his crew (starts at 24 minutes), then narrating a video presentation about the mission (starts at 26:40). The astronauts all joined in, commenting on various aspects of the video; all very cool.

After the presentation, the floor was opened to a Q&A session (starts at 44:40) where the TweetUp guests got to ask their questions (I asked two, starting at 1:02:20). The Q&A lasted about forty five minutes after which the formal part of the TweetUp concluded and we were allowed to approach the stage and mingle with the crew.

Meet & Greet

For me, this was the best part; not just because you get to hob-nob with astronauts, who are always cool, but because you get to see that they are real people who are just as curious (and sometimes as confused) about social media as some of us. And while I can’t guarantee that they put their pants on one leg at a time (they are astronauts after all) all the astronauts I’ve had the pleasure of meeting over the years have been friendly, cordial and even funny.

Afterwords and Thanks

NASA is planning more TweetUps at various centers across the country and even hopes to hold one at the Kennedy Space Center during an actual launch. So, if you want to be invited, follow @NASAtweetup and keep an eye out for notifications. As Commander Polansky told me, “this is your space program,” and tweeting about what NASA does is a great way to support the program and get involved.

I’d also like to offer my personal thanks to Stephanie Schierholz, Michael Curie and the rest of the crew at NASA’s Public Affairs Office (follow them @NASA) for being so helpful during the preparation of this post, and especially the crew of STS-127 (not to mention all of our astronauts) who risk their lives so that we can not only learn more about the Universe, but our home as well.

BTW; The folks at NASA are really interested to get your feedback and seeing how far this post spreads, so be sure to leave a comment, and please Retweet.

Tomorrow: Read 25 Things You Must Know About How NASA Uses Twitter

For more about NASA’s TweetUps, try these links:

• How NASA is Reaching the Public
• NASA Tweetup
• NASA Shuttle Crew Host DC Tweetup
• NASA Connects With Community via #NASATweetup
• Grassroots Outreach: STS-125 NASA Tweetup
• Astronauts Mission 127 Tweet-Up in DC

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



What’s a TweetUp, and Should I Wear My Spacesuit?

As blogging went mainstream, and more newcomers started flooding the market, the earliest bloggers were given a bit of momentum forward into the online equivalent of celebrity status – they were the trend-setters.

Not all of them took advantage of this push, though, while some of the newcomers rapidly adapted to blogging and took it by storm, getting their own place high up in the heirarchy with amazing speed.

The difference between these thought leaders and the majority of bloggers is the same difference we see affecting who gets promotions at work, makes it as a ’star’ in Hollywood, or even gets nominated to run the local Rotary Club.  It’s simply this: in order to lead others, you have to be willing to get out the front and lead others. Much easier said than done, I know.  After all, the ones that sit in front at school are picked on for questions, and it may be a movie cliché but the sketch about asking for volunteers to step forward, and one person gets picked because everyone else steps back, is more true than we’d like to think.  Leadership is something we’re not only encouraged, but trained to avoid.

If you want to go professional, though – on twitter, on your blog, or in life – you have to be willing to step out in front and take the risks and responsibilities that go with it.

Let me be clear here, though.  You don’t actually have to do this.  It’s not only possible, but fairly easy, to build up a modest following by taking the lessons of the last 3 posts on board; sharing of yourself, offering solid value and building relationships.  If you’re happy there, by all means stay there.For those willing to move on further, though, this is where you distinguish yourself from the pack.

The biggest lesson to advance yourself to this next level is: You have to be fearless – or at least appear to be (it’ll come if you fake it long enough).

You still need to edit what you say, but this is where you stop editing out those things you’re only holding back because of what others might think.  Be up front about what you believe every now and then, and if you get some controversy going, great!  People that don’t think along the same lines will either argue with you (getting you more publicity as well as giving you the chance to put your reasons forward) or if they’re really opposed to your thoughts, leave.

You may be surprised that this is where I tell you that’s a good thing.

The people who leave you because of something controversial you’ve said can actually get you more followers, believe it or not.  They talk about your stand, so they can tell people how they disagree, and some people come looking for you so they can see your side of the story (or so they can pick a fight with you too).  Some of them may stay.

To become a thought leader, you want to lead people who are happy to have you lead them.  I’ve already mentioned that most people are happier being followers than leaders (to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, most people “prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.”) but the internet is big enough that you should find plenty of people who like your point of view, or at the very least admire you for having the strength of your convictions, and decide to keep watching.  That’s the nuts and bolts of how you start to get a following.

Next issue, we’ll cover one of the biggest topics in blogging, and rapidly in twitter too – turning that following into an income.  Monetisation.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Tips for Beginners: Lessons from the Evolution of Blogging Part 4 – Thought Leadership

The Blogging community grew bigger as more blogs were started, and existing blogs shared the love by linking to them.  Of course if you know SEO, you’d know that this meant the search engines started paying attention to these, and more people started discovering blogs. The community stopped being small, but started to distinguish between the well known and established bloggers, and the newcomers who were still learning the ropes.

This is where conversations come in.  Bloggers would read a new post by someone, with their editorial comments on it, and write an answering post on their own blogs. Naturally, this added fuel to the SEO fire, as cross linking gave blog sites some serious weight.  As the art took off and gained momentum, and more people wanted to start blogging themselves, software started making it easier to create and update your blogs, and eventually the ability to comment was born.

Enter the era of interactivity. (Don’t try saying that after a few drinks, ok?) Bloggers could now do more than just put their opinions out there – they could get feedback and, more importantly, develop a following.  For the bloggers that had come from the beginning, this was a major step forward – they could write responses, as well as just diarize their thoughts.  They could build their own reputation and grow their audience.

Twitter uses the @reply for exactly the same thing.  This is the essential tool for making contact with people you’re following, who are asking questions you know the answers to, or to catch the attention of people you’d like to connect with.

@replies turn twitter from a one way monologue into a dialogue.  They’re an important part of any twitter user’s toolbox.

The lesson you need to take from the successful thought-leaders of the blogging world in this stage, though, is the importance of holding conversations that include, and don’t exclude, your other followers.  Have you ever stood waiting at a party where someone you wanted to talk to was so involved in a one-on-one discussion that the rest of the room might as well not have existed?  That’s what you want to avoid.  Don’t cold-shoulder the room.

Remember that not everyone will know what you’re replying to when you send a response to someone else – try to phrase your reply so it’s not one-sided and people have no idea what you’re talking about.  Put it in context, like the second example tweet below.

@questionasker Pirates of Carribbean. Years ago.

@questionasker – last movie I went to see was yrs ago: Pirates of Carribbean”

Anyone reading the second one knows what you’re answering, and may even join the conversation.

Finally, It’s important to remember that, just like any party, conversation should be mixed with mingling, too.  Keep giving out comments and links that others can appreciate and/or react to (which can start more conversations). You build the community, AND your followers, that way.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Tips for Beginners: Lessons from the Evolution of Blogging Part 3 – Conversations

OK – so asking questions is important – but are any questions OK on Twitter? What kind of questions work best?

Photo by Macarena C.

Here are a few tips for asking questions effectively on Twitter.

Keep Questions Relevant

The types of questions you should ask will depend upon the way you normally use Twitter. If you use it in a personal way then almost any question will work but if your use of Twitter is more focused upon exploring a topic or niche, or if you’re using it for business – you’ll want to keep your questions at least somewhat on topic.

Acknowledge Answers

Simply asking questions and ignoring the answers is something I’ve seen a number of Twitter users do as a strategy for building up follower numbers. The problem with this is that it can leave those who answer feeling a little ignored. Of course it is difficult to respond to every person who answers (last time I asked a question on Twitter I had 100 responses – it would have taken over my day to personally respond to each). A few ways of acknowledging answers that go beyond replying individually include:

• a general ‘thanks for your answers’ type tweet
• picking a few responses to retweet and highlight as key answers
• use answers publicly – for example you could pull the answers together and use them (or at least some of them) in a blog post (see below for an example of this)
• summarize findings – for example if you ask people a ‘yes or not’ question tweet the results – eg: ‘13 people said yes they’ve tweeted from the toilet and 16 said that they hadn’t’

These types of responses and acknowledgments show your followers that you value their replies, will help them to see how their responses fit into the overall conversation and will increase the chances that they’ll respond again to future questions.

Be willing to Answer Your own Questions

When I ask a question on Twitter I find that among the answers are usually quite a few ‘what do you think?’ replies. Sharing what you think, have experienced, or what you know is a great way to give your followers insight into who you are. Plus…. being willing to answer your own questions is just polite.

Don’t just Ask them and Run

I made this mistake a few times – a question came to mind just before I was heading to bed so I tweeted it and then signed off for the night. Doing this says to your followers that perhaps you’re not as interested in their answer as they thought. It also means that if people want to clarify your question or unpack it in some way that you’re not there to have a conversation with them.

Next time you consider asking a question on Twitter ask yourself if you have time to interact with your followers for a few minutes (or longer if you have a lot of followers). If you don’t – make a note of the question and ask it later.

Leave Space for Answers and Conversation

This relates to not asking questions and running but the strategy of asking questions to follower becomes so much more effective if you extend the questions into an ongoing conversation. One way to kill this conversation is to follow your question tweet up with another one on a completely different topic.

Some Twitter users I follow tweet so often and on so many different topics that it can be difficult to know how to respond because they’re onto a different topic before you can reply. Take your time, pause, let your followers submit their answers before you move onto a different topic.

20 tips on asking Questions from My Friends:

I asked my followers to my @ProBlogger account what tips they had on asking questions on Twitter. Their responses included a lot of great tips, many of which I’d not considered myself. Here are 20 of their responses:

1. KarenRussell offered – “repeat it several times throughout the day to get different time zones”
2. jpostman suggests – “I like to use hashtags and twemes to gather and display responses on my blog when I ask Twitter questions”
3. incslinger advises – “Ask the question but also ask members of your Twitter circle to retweet it so it gets more exposure”
4. wolfcat suggested – “make sure the answer can be done it a single tweet ”
5. reedracer offered – “I notice Scoble posts a link to the convo. Another trick is to retweet some answers”
6. Bradinator wrote – “offer a cash prize to winning answer.”
7. tonyadam suggests – “asking questions at the right times…i’ve tested this …its similar to publishing blog posts during “prime times” ”
8. BJ wrote – “Don’t be afraid to repost your own questions” – Sometimes there is so much noise, you need to build a taller signal ”
9. mcawilliams wrote – “I have set a time that I do it but then again its for fun at 6pm GMT on tuesday and Thursday. People have now got used to it!” – he followed it up with – “I call it tuesday/thursday twitter question time, ttqt for short, and its amazing the response that people give, a break away!”
10. JohnChowDotCom advises – “I get tons of replies to my Twitter question if I say that I’ll post their answers on my blog. ”
11. styletime suggested – “Dont be pissed off in no-one answers you but retweet it a couple of times in a day!”
12. simontsmall wrote – “giving options in answer’s helps, and adding some controversy or spice gets more passionate answers & debate”
13. JoshAnstey tweeted – “I find if you start it with: QUESTION: it gets more attention and people respond”
14. CraneFactory offered – “make it easy (ie a poll) so they don’t need to write out long answers, or offer enticements (ie a prize draw) to get answers”
15. misosouper suggests – “Give and you shall receive: the more questions you answer (the more helpful the better), the more likely you get answers back.”
16. BtotheEtotheN wrote – “I think it has to do w/ asking questions and then twittering back about the answer or where we can find the research and results”
17. diablogue_chat wrote – “Timing of Twuestions counts. Lead up to question helps. And asking for help never hurts.”
18. scottbird suggested – “consistency. If people are used to answering your questions, they’ll expect them and look for them.”
19. cyberpunkdreams tweeted – “I ask questions that are direct and succinct, to get a focused answer that can be written in the twitter limit. Nothing fluffy!”
20. YuliZ offered – “one great trick is asking your tweeps to finish the sentence, example: “I’m still twittering at 2am because…”"

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



How to Ask Effective Questions on Twitter

Photo by Macarena C.

If I had to list my top 10 ways that I’ve grown my own Twitter network – somewhere towards the top of that list I would share this simple – yet powerful tip.

Ask Questions

The act of consistently asking quality questions on Twitter can have a massive impact upon your network. Here’s 6 reasons why questions are so powerful:

1. Questions Signal to Followers that you are Interested

So many people use Twitter purely to ’shout’ at their followers. They rarely make space for people to interact. Questions send a signal to your followers (and potential followers) that you’re not just on Twitter to have a monologue – but that you’re interested in dialogue and conversation.

2. Questions Prompt Conversation

I find Twitter to be most effective when conversations evolve on it. One of the best ways to ‘get people talking’ is to ask them a question – particularly if it’s about themselves and their experience.

3. Questions Stimulate @Replies

When you ask a question and someone replies to you publicly not only you see their answer – but so do all of their followers. This can stimulate their followers to check you out. If people who are yet to follow you see others who they respect interacting with you and having good conversation there’s a good chance they’ll want to be a part of that interaction too.

4. Questions Draw ‘Lurkers’ into Active Engagement

Have you ever looked at the number of people following you and wondered why you only ever hear from a small percentage of them? Some are likely to be just lurking – watching you but not actively responding. This may be because they’re not sure what to say, they might be intimidated, they may not know how to engage you etc. Asking a simple question is a great way to draw people into their first @reply to you. Once they do – they’re more likely to do a 2nd and a 3rd…

5. Questions (and their Answers) Teach You

One of the reasons I love Twitter so much is that it’s teaching me so much. Asking your followers questions not only about themselves but about things you don’t know can be a rewarding experience. Next time you need to know something – don’t Google it – start by Tweeting your question.

6. Questions give you Insight into who is Following you and what their Needs are

Effective Twitter users are in touch with the needs of their followers. They know what kind of information their followers want, they know their needs and problems, they know what gets them excited… etc. One of the best ways to find out this information is simply to ask a question. Over a few weeks find out as much as you can about your followers – in doing so you’ll find you can be a lot more useful in your use of Twitter.

Now that we’ve covered some of the WHY on the topic of Questions on Twitter – tomorrow on TwiTip I want to explore some of the HOW to ask questions effectively. Make sure you’re tuned into the TwiTip RSS feed to catch the next post in this mini-series.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



WHY asking Questions are a Powerful Twitter Technique