Last week I had lunch with a marketing director from a well known cosmetics company. He believes in the power of social media, especially Twitter to promote the brand. He created a company Twitter account as well as his personal account where he announces company news, new blog posts, promotions and sales.

When we chatted, he shared with me how difficult it is for him to convince his boss about the effectiveness of Twitter marketing. He had a quarterly marketing report due where he had to show “the numbers”, i.e. how much time was spent on Twitter, how many tweets and how it converted into sales.

Twitter results depend very much on the type of products you market. In most cases the immediate call to action does not bring the expected results. So should you cross off Twitter from your marketing tools?

I had this thought when I first joined Twitter. I remember a couple of my Tweets promoting a jewelry piece, offering a discount. After posting it, I would immediately go and check the results only to be disappointed and find out how few of my couple of thousands followers actually bought the piece. But then I would show up at a party where someone I was introduced to, has heard about my jewelry collection thanks to Twitter. Before the Holidays I received an email from @masscontrolkern, an online marketing guru who asked me if we could design a 14K gold and diamond necklace for his wife. He said he found me on Twitter.

As I was getting more online orders, more press inquiries and interview requests, I understood how Twitter marketing works. It’s not direct, it’s not always that you can just plug in the formula of the amount of time you spend on Twitter divided by the generated sales. You can’t measure the immediate impact of your brand’s Twitter presence. Trying to plug Twitter into a formula won’t work unless the formula results include brand awareness, exposure and word-of-mouth.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Intangibility of Twitter Results

I’m speaking later in the week on the topic (I’ll post a summary of my presentation next week) and would like to feature the tweeted advice of a few readers of this blog.

Here’s how it’ll work.

Login to Twitter or your favorite Twitter Client reply to @twitip with your advice. I’ll take a screenshot of as many people’s advice as I can to include their responses in my presentation.

Please keep your advice to a single tweet. Thanks for your help.

Please note: I won’t be able to use comments in this post, just tweets as I want to show the tweets as screen shots.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



What is Your Advice to Businesses Exploring Twitter?

One of my networking/leads groups got off on a tangent in early December and decided that we needed to learn more about social networking. One Facebook enthusiast volunteered to do a presentation on that, and since I had the most experience with Twitter (all of 5 weeks) I was nominated to do the Twitter talk.

So I’d been using Twitter for just over a month, although I’d had an account for a lot longer. I had never really spent the time to understand what it was about, and frankly wasn’t convinced that it would useful for me as a businessperson.

That may sound odd. I’m a web designer and developer, and for the past six months I’ve been a very busy one. I have a lot of demands for my time – taking online classes, going to meetings, project work, blogging, LinkedIn, and so on. I thought that Twitter looked like a big waste of time.

But, I decided to give it a try. I read a lot of articles on using Twitter for business, and that did help – it gave me a laundry list of things I could be using it for as a creative – but I’m convinced that the only way to figure out if Twitter’s good for you is to try it yourself.

My verdict? For me the answer is ‘yes.’ I’ve met a lot of other professionals that I would never have known otherwise. I get feedback on questions, I get help with problems in my work. I talk to other web designers and developers and get interesting opinions on just about any topic you can imagine from people in wildly different fields.

I like the immediacy of Twitter. What it’s really like for me is a river of ongoing conversation that I can dip into at any time and get caught up in, if I choose. Sometimes I do have to turn it off – it gets distracting. But when I want to be involved, I can be, instantly. It’s kind of nice to have so many to talk to when you’re working on your own.

I’ve also found that it’s much more personal than tools like LinkedIn, where you basically spread out your entire professional life for someone to see on one page. Twitter requires ongoing participation and rewards it by allowing you to get to know people over time – not just as a representative of some company but as a real person with real interests including and beyond their work.

Anyway, my talk was very well received. There were a lot of questions (I take that as a compliment) and it was a good hour of back-and-forth discussion that morning. A few others in our group have taken the first step in getting involved and have actually set up accounts. I couldn’t promise them that they would love Twitter, but I think I gave enough information to make it less intimidating and fueled their curiosity enough to give it a try.

I learned a lot in preparing for my presentation; besides my slideshow (see below), I also have a resource list I put together a handout (PDF).

Slideshow: http://www.slideshare.net/redkitedesign/twitter-010909-presentation

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Tweeting For Business

At last the weekend came, and I decided to see what this Twitter concept was all about that I had been hearing of. I looked, I thought, I read and then read some more. Suddenly, I plunged in and became a follower and soon, a follow-ee.

It occurred to me that weekend, that, as a professional in the kitchen and bath industry for many years, Twitter is absolutely perfect for sharing the knowledge I have of my profession. Sharing on Twitter can include the communication of:

facts
concepts
information
experience
ideas
descriptions
images

I thought it might be interesting to gather some or all of these various ways of sharing my knowledge and organize them during the course of ONE day, to be focused into ONE subject.

For example, one day’s tweets had a subject of “Social Kitchen Design Day”. This title was in every tweet as a reminder of the topic. In the first tweet of the day, I announced what the topic of the day would be. Another day became “Kitchen Design Hood Day” where I provided information on kitchen ventilation. My key words are “kitchen design”. Therefore, I try to use those words in my tweets wherever possible.

Another use for this concept might be for the introduction of a product to convey useful information over time, creating familiarity with the product for one’s followers. I plan to do this for a product I represent, Hansen Kitchen, when new features are introduced into the product line. In my opinion, this type of use of Twitter should be done on an infrequent basis so as not to be viewed as a continuing “commercial” but I believe it can be very effective in building knowledge and awareness.

One day soon I will have some fun and do a topic called “Random Kitchen Design Day” which will be a whole day of random tweets on kitchen design issues. To announce it as “random” should, I hope, generate interest and anticipation as to what will come next, tweet after tweet, during that day. This can work for any business, any profession. One will quickly establish oneself as an expert in their field as they share their knowledge in this manner.

I try to make my tweets sometimes factual, sometimes fun, in an effort to keep the topic interesting. Sometimes several tweets will be connected in a micro way to one another to form a longer discussion and later tweets connected in a more general way to all the tweets, but they are all on the same topic.

Any business has a very wide assortment of topics to share information on. Selecting a topic for a given day adds substance to the days tweets, as one tweet builds on the next, helping the reader learn one topic in a way that is more broad, than is otherwise possible within one 140 character tweet.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Theme Days Helps To Organize Sharing

Reader Question: My company recently started a Twitter account and we chose to have 3 “tweeters” in order to spread workload, include separate areas of expertise, and just give it variety. Do you think that a twitter account should always be (or at least look like) one person? Right now we describe each person in our bio. – Sean Robbins (@saucony)

As more and more businesses get into Twitter, this question is one that I’m sure many will struggle with. If the CEO of a company joins Twitter and decides to connect with people, that’s great. But the question is bound to come into a follower’s mind, “Is this really the CEO or is it someone acting on his/her behalf on Twitter?”

But what if your company has different types of products or services, geared toward different types of users? In that case, yes, I think it’s a good idea for multiple “company” twitter accounts. Let’s use the time-tested “widget company” for an example:

Widgetz is a company that manufactures, sells, and repairs widgets of many different kinds.

1. CEO of Widgetz should have a Twitter account to initially put a “face to the name”.
2. The VP of manufacturing should also have a Twitter account.
3. As should the VP of Sales.
4. And also the VP of Marketing/Advertising.
5. And definitely, the VP of the Repairs department too.

All five of these people bring different experiences with widgets to the table. They interact with the product differently, their day-to-day dealings with customers, suppliers, and retailers are entirely different. Therefore, they should be interacting with people differently, regardless if it’s on Twitter or not.

In the case of @saucony, the people using the account are currently adding their names to the end of each tweet. With only 140 characters available, they’re using valuable real estate to say who it is that’s actually responding, upwards of 8 characters worth! Having separate accounts would alleviate this.

The bottom line is that not only should multiple employees of a company be using Twitter, but they should have their own Twitter accounts. The “streaming” nature of Twitter makes it extremely difficult to have multiple people logging into one account to track follower questions or participate in a flow of discussion, without the follower being confused or unsure of exactly who he or she is talking to.

Just make sure that you’re all together avoiding overly repetitive tweets (or too many RT’s) and make sure that you’re not using Twitter with each other when you should be using an IM service. Not that you can’t interact with each other on Twitter, but keep it to a reasonable level.

Bonus Tip: Develop a Twitter landing page on your site that all the Twitter accounts link to in their profiles. There, you can explain the accounts and who’s behind them, all on one page. That’ll give you more chances to get visits to your site, and you may wind up encouraging followers to follow all members of your team on Twitter!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



How To Handle Multiple Users Within Your Company

Much has been written about businesses using Twitter badly – but I’d be interested to hear some examples of businesses that use Twitter well.

Which businesses use Twitter well? What are they doing to make you think this?

Let me ask it a little differently:

Which businesses do you follow on Twitter? Why do you follow them?

I’m interested to hear your thoughts.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



What Businesses are Doing Well on Twitter?

Actually my acupuncturist Anthony Olsen IS using Twitter (but more connected to his Joomla Template membership site) but what I was thinking about as I lay on his table today was more about how an acupuncturist (or really any person with clients) could potentially use Twitter.

Here’s what came to mind.

Every time I go to see Anthony the session starts with some Question and Answer time. It usually covers a few topics like:

• Have you had any headaches (I go for migraine treatment)?
• How has your diet been?
• Have you been exercising?
• Have you been drinking enough water?
• How have you slept?
• Are you stressed?
• Can I see your tongue? (who knew that the color of your tongue could say so much!)

The answers to these questions help lead to diagnosis and treatment. The only problem is…. that I often can’t remember how I was over the last 3-4 weeks since I last saw him. I did try to keep a food diary for a while to record my eating – but…. well I kept misplacing it.

Actually today when I told Anthony that I’d not had any headaches for a few weeks since we last had an appointment he said ‘but I saw you had one on Twitter two weeks ago’….

This is where Twitter could come into it as a useful tool in seeing patients.

If I were an acupuncturist treating me (or you…. or anyone else with a technological bone in their body and access to the web via a phone) I’d set me up a private Twitter account. It would be password protected and only able to be seen by the two of us. I’d then ask them to tweet their day including:

When they slept, what they ate and drank, when they had symptoms relevant to their health issues, when they exercised, when they felt stressed, how they were feeling etc. If they had a camera on their phone they could even take pictures of their tongue for that matter!

That way at the end of the week they’d have some great data on the week (or month) that had just been and be in a much better position to diagnose and treat problems. I think that this would be a great way of observing patterns and potential causes of issues.

Of course this would only work if the person was reasonably tech savvy and had access to Twitter during the day and was committed to the task – but if they did it could be quite illuminating. I think it’d be particularly useful in short bursts, perhaps particularly at the start of seeing a new patient/client and trying to establish what their lifestyle was like.

Add to this the ability for the Acupuncturist to give feedback and observations between appointments (‘Darren you’ve eaten 7 big macs and slept for no longer than 97 minutes per day for the last 4 days) and there is potential there for ‘treatment’ and consulting between physical appointments.

Of course this could be adapted to many professions (almost any with a professional client interaction – particularly those when the client is diarizing or monitoring some aspect of their activity) including:

• Personal Trainers – monitoring diet and exercise
• Dietitians – monitoring meals
• Doctors – monitoring symptoms, medication, diet etc
• Accountants – monitoring expenditure (actually I should set my wife up with this….)
• Interior Designers – take a picture and Twitpic it every time you see a color, picture, style you like

What do you think? What professions could use Twitter in this type of way? Where have you already seen it used in these ways?

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



How I’d Use Twitter if I Were an Acupuncturist

So I thought it’d make an interesting question for some discussion – are you using Twitter for business or professional purposes or are you using it more in a personal, social or fun way? Or…. are you a little like me…. and use it for a bit of both?

Lets have some discussion – how do you use Twitter?

PS: a followup question – have you always used Twitter in the way that you now do? As I look at my own use of Twitter I’d say that I’ve gone through phases which have been more ‘personal’ and more related to my work. But perhaps that is just me?

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Do You Use Twitter for Business or Pleasure? (or Both)

Have you noticed all the electronic and tree-based books that have come out on Twitter? There’s an amazing amount of verbiage being thrown at us for such a simple service. The sheer volume of training guides, paper books, and in-depth courses on using Twitter is kind of weird when it surrounds a service that worships brevity, 140 characters at a time.

You can learn about the hottest 3rd party applications that purport to make Twitter more useful, efficient, and effective on thousands of sites. You’ll find over 11,000 search results on Amazon for “twitter.”

On the flip side, there are only a little over 13,000 results on Amazon for “rocket science!” Can a simple microblog actually be almost as complicated to understand as rocket science? Requiring just as much training in order for us to understand it? Don’t forget, Twitter’s history makes it a toddler compared to the much longer history of rocket propulsion.

This made me wonder if there really could be an overlying theme or practice which could sum up in one sentence the most important thing you need to know to be successful using Twitter to generate buzz.

The one thing I believe is more important than anything else about how to use Twitter to gain followers and to move crowds in your direction is this:

90% of what you share on Twitter should be made up of personal insights and thoughts along with a heavy dose of helpful links, while 10% should be made up of messages that more directly benefit you.

90% Helpful Stuff (Giving)

This can be anything really, but should be made up of links and messages that help your followers do something better, find neat things they appreciate, and thereby bind them to you in a positive way. The more the pattern of linking and messaging follows the interests of your ideal followers, the better your buzz will be when it comes time to ask them to visit your blog or take a look at your latest “thing.”

Variations on the “helpful” theme, depending on the market you service with your website, blog, or store, can include funny, controversial, political, or newsworthy things.

The feeling of following you on Twitter should be like “Hey, here’s something from Darren. He always has good stuff!”   And the clicking of the links you share in Twitter, when your followers think this highly of you, becomes second nature. A foregone conclusion. Dare I say, automatic?

Won’t that be nice when it comes to the 10%, more self-serving tweets?

10% for You (Giving and Taking)

Now that you have done such a good job providing an overwhelming amount of great things to click on or ponder by your followers, you can certainly ask them once in awhile to check out your latest blog post or something else that directly or indirectly benefits you.

Now, you still have to massage your message with an air of altruism. And you still have to come through with something good on the other end of that link. That’s why proper blogging is in order and why you should follow the 90-10 rule on your blog as well.

Because you follow the 90-10 rule, your followers will come to know you as a giver. So a blatant advertisement isn’t going to fit the character you’ve shown on your Twitter stream.

Think of the most favorite person you follow. If they are doing their job, and they probably are, then when they post something that obviously helps them out, like their latest post or some other content on a site they own, you aren’t repulsed by this.

Your reaction is probably very positive because you’ve been to that person’s site before and they live up to the same spirit of giving that they do on Twitter.

So the number of times you click on 10% of their “taking” tweets isn’t much different than the number of times you click on 90% of their “giving” tweets. That, to me, is the heavy duty power of Twitter.

You might have to think about the power of that for a moment. But after you clear away all the twitter tools and mountains of strategies and tactics flying about, I believe this philosophy is really the heart and soul of Twitter networking.

It doesn’t mean you wouldn’t benefit from some books and courses on Twitter. But get this down pat first, and the rest is going to support something of value rather than some short-term, possibly cheesy set of tactics.

Is 90-10 Some Hard-Fast Rule?

No. I’ve never actually tallied up the percentages myself. Twitter isn’t rocket science after all. 90-10 is just used to help me prioritize how often I post different things on Twitter. I just strive to make sure that I give way more than I take from my Twitter following.

And remember that you shouldn’t feel like you’re really “taking” anything from your following just because you are pointing them to your stuff. As long as you work to provide content on your site that’s as great as the other things you share on Twitter, you’re actually working to help your followers even when they are helping you.

–

Jack Humphrey blogs at The Friday Traffic Report. You can also find him trying to stick to the 90-10 rule on Twitter.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



The 90-10 Rule for Successful Twitter Networking

If your organization hasn’t gotten on Twitter yet, what are you waiting for? But if you are looking to use Twitter as just a way to publicize new blog posts or press releases, you’re already on the wrong path. Don’t worry, you can still get on the right one! Here are points to follow to turn an anonymous Twitter account into your organization’s shining advocate.

Get Personal & Be Real

As it often is the case with non-profit organizations, the cause or brand does not usually enter into someone’s heart until it becomes personal for them: they have a personal experience directly related to the cause or someone in their circle of associates motivates them. Twitter can be another way to humanize the experience for people new to the organization or just interested in the subject. Avoid only broadcasting links and mix thoughtful, “We’re real people, too” Tweets in with standard links. For the mechanics of using Twitter, make sure you read 10 Easy Steps for Twitter Beginners. Avoid some of the newbie traps with 8 Sure-Fire Ways To Tick Off the Twitterverse like thanking new followers or using canned auto-replies. Concentrate on showing that there’s a real person (and a soulful organization) behind the Twitter username and get into conversations with your followers! @Greenversations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers not only a “corporate” Twitterer but encourages you to follow their “human” Twitterer @levyj413, and @NWF the National Wildlife Service encourages you to follow their numerous staff on Twitter.

Identify & Target

To start, follow users that have mentioned your organization or cause – use http://search.twitter.com’s RSS feeds to monitor the situation. Twitterers will not be normal visitors to your website, and therefore shouldn’t be treated as such. Customize your profile accordingly and link to a Twitter Landing Page 6 Tips for Using Your Twitter Profile to Get New Followers on your site designed for Twitter followers, with a condensed introduction to organization mission and goals, communication strategy and current initiatives and provide ways they can contribute and get involved…as a Twitterer! @NWF lists a Social Networks Page on their Twitter background which lists all the social networks they’re present on.

Educate & Empower

One of the strengths of non-profit organizations is access to bipartisan statistics, in-depth studies and content-rich research on their particular subject that the average user may not have access to or know how to find. Highlight new, pertinent information for your followers, give them exclusive access to something, and provide materials that can be re-Tweeted (RT) and directly deep-linked (and therefore not behind a login!). They may take the information you’ve given them and run with it – creating their own reflections and analysis elsewhere!

Motivate & Reward

In these belt-tightening times, while wallets might be closed tighter, people will be more willing to donate their time, expertise and opinions. Through Twitter’s word-of-mouth functionality, your message has the potential to be passed among several different and new circles of acquaintances. Give various options to get involved and a range of activities to participate in based on time commitment: re-Tweet, blog, donate time, design work, money or promote and organize offline activities. Highlight some of your biggest Twitter supporters by interviewing or profiling them, thank a particular follower once a week or month on Twitter, or hold contests for re-Tweets or @replies. In the spirit of non-profit organizations, instead of offering prizes or monetary rewards, offer the money you would have spent as a “gift card” that will go directly to the user’s choice of initiative within your organization.

Provoke & Gather

Some of the most interesting discussions on Twitter can revolve around provocative / controversial questions. If you can propose thought and Tweet-provoking questions related to your organization, you can gather your followers’ ideas and feedback to make the organization better or more-informed. You can present their ideas internally or for official blog / site communications or publications citing Twitter usernames, and therefore making your Twitter community direct contributors to your success. Seek out those success stories of evangelists and advocates who are contributing greatly to your organization and communicate their tips and tricks to make the rest of your followers more effective with their networks.

Be Newsworthy & Make News

Do something noteworthy to use the word of mouth and viral communication strategies that work best on Twitter. Think of an innovative way to use Twitter and all of its advantages: spreading the word, immediacy, feedback. Invent an entirely new way to publicize some of your initiatives. You don’t have to change your organization’s goals, but you have to change the way it’s presented and motivates your target. Invent a #initiative tag to utilize/re-Tweet so that people can identify the campaign.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



How to Show Your Soul and Engage Users with Twitter: (Tips For Brands and Non-Profit Organizations)