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1 7 S T E P S F O R U S I N G T W I T T E R F O R B U S I N E S S

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2 7 S TE PS FOR US IN G TWITTE R FOR B US IN E S S

Welcome 3

Twitterb By the Numbers 4

Twitter Lingo 5

Anatomy o a Twitter Page 6

7 Steps or Using Twitter or Business

Step 1: Start Out on the Right Foot — Set Up Your Account and Pick a Goal 7

Step 2: weet Like a Pro — Know What, When and How to weet 9

Step 3: Build Your Network — Follow Others and Gain Followers  13

Step 4: Search witter — rack Your Brand, Industry and Competitors 15

Step 5: Harness Lists — Segment Users into Meaningul Groups 17

Step 6: Connect witter to Your Website and Other Social Media  19

Step 7: Kick It Up a Notch — Use ime-Saving witter ools 21

Case Studies 

Riggins Construction — Santa Ana, Caliornia 23

Naden/Lean LLC, CPAs and Business Consultants — Baltimore, Maryland 25

Dr. Cynthia Haines — St. Louis, Missouri 26

CityVet — Dallas, exas 27

Kooky Canuck Restaurant — Memphis, ennessee 28

Advice rom Experts in 140 Characters or Less 29

Next Steps 30

Copyright © 2011 Deluxe Enterprise Operations, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Feel ree to share this eBook or publish excerpts rom it, but please link back to deluxerev.com or attribution.

Disclaimer: Twitter is a registered trademark o Twitter, Inc.

Contents

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4 7 S TE PS FOR US IN G TWITTE R FOR B US IN E S S

52%  Twitter users who ollowbrands and companieson the platorm

26% Twitter users who havecomplained about abrand on Twitter

58% Twitter users who havepraised a brand on TwitterSOURCE: ECONSULTANCY,

TOP 5 REASONS PEOPLE SAY THEY USE TWITTER

. To ollow amous people

. To ollow news

3. To connect with riends and amily

. To connect with new riends and people o similar interests

5. To express opinions and make their voice heard

TOP 5 REASONS PEOPLE SAY THEY FOLLOW BRANDS

. To keep inormed o the latest deals, discounts and oers

. To keep up to date with the latest brand news

3. Because they’re ans o the company

. Because the brand tweets interesting/relevant content

5. Because they’re current customersSOURCE: ECONSULTANCY,

95% Twitter users with

mobile phones — hal o whom access theservice via their hand-held devicesSOURCE: PEW RESEARCH CENTER

25 to 34Ages o largest group on

 Twitter — making up athird o monthly users

SOURCE:·EDISON·RESEARCH,·¶

100 million Active Twitter users worldwide

250 million Tweets sent per day

SOURCE: TWITTER, SEPT. AND OCT.

 Twitter By The Numbers

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5 7 S T E P S F O R U S I N G T W I T T E R F O R B U S I N E S S

#: Also called a “hashtag,”symbol used to denote a

keyword or subject. Hashtagsmake it easier to nd yourtweets in searches. Seewitter’s guide What AreHashtags? 

@: Used beore someone’susername to direct a tweet tothem. For example, @jo-eschmoe. By using the @ sign,you ensure your tweet will be

displayed or the other personto see. Can be used at the be-ginning or middle o a tweet.Also called an “at mention.”

Blocking: Preventing someonerom sending tweets to you.

Direct Message DM: Private message that can’t be

 viewed by anyone else.

Favorite: A way to mark aavorite tweet — by clicking astar or “Favorite” link — so it’seasier to nd and the sendercan see it’s a avorite o yours.

FF: Short or “Follow Fri-day;” many witter userssend tweets to their ollowerson Fridays suggesting other

people to ollow. Tese tweetsusually include the hashtag#FF.

Follow: Te act o signing upto see a person’s tweets in yourwitter stream.

Follower: Someone ollowingyour tweets.

Handle: Your username. Eachone is unique.

Lists: Groups o witter con-tacts that can be organized by industry, geography, etc. I youare placed on a person’s list,you have been “listed.”

OH: Standard abbreviation or“overheard,” most oen pre-cedes a tweet about somethingsomeone overheard in a publicplace.

Over Capacity: Te errorscreen users see when the site ishaving trouble keeping up withtrac. Te page eatures a car-toon whale, which witter usershave dubbed “the ail whale.”

Retweet: Te act o resending atweet that you liked to everyonein your network. Can be usedas a noun, as in, “Can I get aretweet?” Oen abbreviated R.

Trending topic: A top wordor subject being tweeted; wit-ter lists trending topics in the“trends” section on the right-hand side o the page.

Tweet: A message or updateup to 140 characters long. Alsoused as a verb, as in the act o sending a tweet.

Unollow: o cease ollowinganother witter user whosetweets no longer show up onyour homepage timeline.

For more denitions,see  Twitter’s glossary.

 Twitter Lingo

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6 7 S TE PS FOR US IN G TWITTE R FOR B US IN E S S

Anatomy o a Twitter Page

 Type a username

or term here

to search

View prole

or edit your

settings

Click Twitter

logo to

return home

Use tabs to see

@mentions, RTs,

searches and lists

Click to see direct messages

you’ve sent or received, or to

send a new direct message

 Type status

update here

Click or the

latest tweets

Running listo tweets by

people you

ollow

 Twitter page navigation: I you

need something rom Twitter,

you’ll nd the links here.

Your tweet

count, and

your latest

tweet

Number o 

people you

ollow and

who ollow

you, plus

latest added

 Twitter

suggests

people you

might want

to ollow

 The top

topics in

your area

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7 7 S T E P S F O R U S I N G T W I T T E R F O R B U S I N E S S

First things rst. o get started on wit-ter, you need an account. It also helpsto begin with a goal, even a loosely dened one.

You may not be sure how oen you

want to tweet, but securing an accountearly on can be a good idea. Uniquewitter usernames are available on arst-come, rst-served basis, so some-one could easily snag the one you want.

SIGN UP AT TWITTER.COM

witter doesn’t dierentiate between business and personalaccounts.

CHOOSING A TWITTERBUSINESS GOAL

 Twitter can help with your busi-

ness goals. Start with one goal.

You can always mix it up later.

n Branding: Claim ownership o 

your brand name. Identiy andengage brand advocates.n Customer Service: Respond

to questions or complaints in

real time.n Public Relations: Friend

 journalists or bloggers in your

area or industry. Share resources

and articles.n Sales: Oer specials and cou-

pons. Promote new products or

services.nMarketing: Become a

resource: Share tips, links or

other helpul content. Gather

testimonials.n Research: Monitor what your

customers or competitors are

doing. Poll others about new

ideas, products or services.

Search or buzz on keywords

relevant to your business.nNetwork: Follow industry

peers. Make connections who

can help troubleshoot problems

or answer your questions.

TOP 5 WAYS

COMPANIES USE TWIT TER

. Publicizing new content

. Marketing

3. Brand monitoring

. Gathering customer eedback 

5. Customer service

SOURCE: ECONSULTANCY,

SELECT A USERNAME (AKA “HANDLE”)

u Keep it simple

Te ideal username is short, easy to remember and easy to spell.

u Stick to what’s logical

For personal and corporate branding, it’s best to choose ausername as close to your real name as possible.

START ON THE RIGHT FOOTSet up your account and pick a goal

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8 7 S TE PS FOR US IN G TWITTE R FOR B US IN E S S

u What i your name is taken? 

n Get creative. Consider variations that touch on your per-sonality, incorporate your industry or include a mean-ingul verb. Example: “eatatsues.”

n Nicknames, initials or abbreviations are OK.

n Add a city or state. Example: “suesdinerX”n You can also use a number or underscore mark, though

such names tend to look less proessional, are harder toremember and are likelier to be misspelled. Example:“joeschmoe59” or “joe_schmoe.”

n I you think someone is intentionally hijacking yourtrademark or impersonating your business, report the

 violation to Twitter support.

NOTE: Ater you secure a username, Twitter prompts you to start ollow-

ing people, brands or topics right away. It also asks you to search or your

contacts on other accounts, such as LinkedIn or Yahoo!, to nd riends on Twitter. But it may be best to fesh out your prole some and start tweeting

a little rst, so people don’t mistake you or a spammer.

UPLOAD A PICTURE OF YOURSELF

OR YOUR COMPANY LOGO

Tis is an important step. A picture humanizesyour tweets and helps people instantly identiy you. (Without a prole pic, you’ll look like anegghead by deault!) You can always changeyour image later by going to “Prole” at the top

o your witter homepage and clicking on “Edit your prole.”

FILL OUT YOUR PROFILE

While in the “Edit your prole” section, ll out your prole ascompletely as possible. Add your location, personal or company name, a link to a website and a short bio o yoursel or company (up to 160 characters). Use your bio to incorporate keywords thatidentiy your business or what you want to be known or. All o that inormation appears in your public prole and search engineresults, so it plays a big role in how searchers nd you on witter.

CUSTOMIZE YOUR TWITTER BACKGROUND

o add branding elements, change the colors o your witterpage or upload a background image that tiles or extends acrossthe entire page. In your settings, click on the “Design” tab. Cus-tom background images are typically 1280-by-1024, 1600-by-1200 or 2048-by-1600 pixels.

WHEN MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS

OR TWEETERS MAKES SENSE

Single Twitter accounts are

adequate or many small busi-

nesses, says Hollis Thomases,

author o Twitter Marketing: AnHour a Day. They are less work,

and keep your audience central-

ized. But multiple accounts can

make sense or:

n Individuals who want to keep

business and personal interac-

tions separate, or segment the

types o ino they share.

n Companies that want to seg-

regate social media by depart-

ment e.g., customer service,

geography or revenue stream.

n Businesses that want to

encourage a company-wide

 Twitter marketing approach.

TIPS FOR MULTIPLEACCOUNTS OR TWEETERS

n Consider Twitter handles

with a common base name 

You can use the company’s

name plus the individual’s

name, such as “bobatsuesdiner.”

n Share a common look and

eel Use a common logo and

background or take prole pics

against a common background.

n Pick usernames or divi-

sions or dierent geographies

served Example: “@suesdiner-

bakery ” or “@suesdinernyc.” This

keeps clients in contact with the

people who directly help them.

n Create posting guidelines 

Drat a basic policy or what’s

appropriate to tweet about

personally or on behal o thebusiness. Prepare responses to

common questions, negative

comments or crisis situations.

Check out sample policies at

socialmediagovernance.comor

socialmedia.policytool.net.

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9 7 S T E P S F O R U S I N G T W I T T E R F O R B U S I N E S S

TWEET LIKE A PROKnow what, when and how to tweet

Aer you’ve set up an account, it’s time to start tweeting. Youcan share text, links and multimedia. witter also has its ownlingo. In this step, we’ll review @ mentions, hashtags, directmessages and retweets and oer additional ideas or what andwhen to tweet.

HOW TO TWEET 

u Using the @ symbol

Whenever you tweet someone’s username preceded by the@ symbol, that’s called an “at mention.” Whether or not they ollow you, it’s a way o making your tweet show up on theirwitter page.

Examples:

n Addressing a tweet to an individual

“@joeschmoe Tanks or a abulous presentation today!”

n Addressing more than one person“@joeschmoe @suesdiner You guys did a great job pull-

ing together this year’s biz expo! Congrats!”

n Mentioning someone in a tweet but more in passing

“Had the best time celebrating my birthday with@joeschmoe. Tanks or coming out!”

WHAT TO TWEET

Your tweets should relate to your

business goals on Twitter and

the audience you want to reach.

Here are a ew ideas:

nQuestions: Ask or eedback on ideas. Seek recommendations

on places, vendors or resources.

nTips and answers: Respond

to customers’ questions or is-

sues. Link to FAQs. Oer helpul

how-tos.

n Links or news: Share blog

or website updates. Pass along

community or industry news.

nQuotes, one-liners, jokes: 

Share observations or what

inspires or makes you laugh.

n Say thanks: Acknowledge

your best customers, vendors or

new acquaintances. Thank those

who ollow you, mention or

retweet you on Twitter. Example:

“@joeschmoe, thanks or stop-

ping by today. Hope to see you

again soon!”

n Calls to action: Ask others to

download, sign up or or retweet

your stu.

n Regular eatures: Host trivia

challenges, oer Twitter-only

specials or spotlight customers.

n Sales: Let customers know

about sales and specials — at

your business or elsewhere.

n Events: Tweet during events

you attend or host.

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1 0 7 S TE PS FOR US IN G TWITTE R FOR B US IN E S S

u Using hashtags the # symbol

I you read a stream o tweets, you are bound to see a ew words preceded by the # symbol.Tey’re hashtags. witter users came up with the hashtag system as a way o tagging, trackingand promoting topics o conversation. You can create a hashtag or any keyword.

WHEN TO TWEET

No hard-and-ast rules dictate

how oten or when you should

tweet. Again, requency depends

on your goals and audience. For

customer service, or example,

you may want to tweet as re-

quently as your customers men-

tion your product or service.

n Many social media experts rec-

ommend starting out with three

to ve tweets a day.

n Businesses that get more into

the rhythm o Twitter can pick 

up the pace and tweet once

or twice an hour, or can even

schedule tweets in advance seeStep 7.

n Because users are not always

on Twitter — and resh tweets

can quickly bury previous tweets

— it’s OK to share the same

content multiple times a day. But

it’s better Twitter etiquette to

mix up the wording a little each

time so your tweets don’t sound

like a broken record.

n You can tweet any time o the

day or week. Some studies have

shown spikes in Twitter engage-ment around noon and between

5 p.m. and 6 p.m. — when

people are on lunch break or

have just gotten o work.

Example:n CityVet in Dallas added #dog and #quote as hashtags to

one tweet because those might be broader topics peoplewould search or. Note that #dog and #quote show up

in blue because they are hyperlinks. Any time you seea hashtag in a tweet, you can click on it to see all tweetsabout that specic term.

Other uses or hashtags

n Events: Create a hashtag people can tweet beore, duringor aer conerences, webinars, estivals or other events.

n Contests: Hold a contest or those who tweet a hashtagby a certain deadline; reward participants with a gidrawing or special oer.

n Build a customer community: ake ownership o ahashtag over time. Pick a unique one that won’t be ran-domly used by others.

General hashtag tips

n Hashtags should be one word without spaces. For longerideas, combine phrases or break words into separatehashtags.

n Keep hashtags short but understandable.

n Don’t overload tweets with too many hashtags.n Generally put hashtags at the end o tweets unless you

can organically insert them elsewhere.

n o nd trending hashtags, search Twitter or websitessuch as hashtag.org. Or come up with something clevero your own!

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1 1 7 S T E P S F O R U S I N G T W I T T E R F O R B U S I N E S S

u Retweeting

Retweeting simply means passing along someone else’s tweet to your ollowers. o do it, justclick the “Retweet” link that shows up when you hover over a tweet.

A retweet will be sent to your ollowers exactly as the original author typed it. But you canpersonalize it by adding your own insights. Copy and paste the original tweet, add commentsand “R” with the username o the author. (Remember: Using the @ symbol causes the tweet

to show up on that person’s @ mention list.) I you trim the original tweet to make it t within140 characters, you can use “M” or “modied tweet” instead o “R.”

o make your own tweets easy to retweet, write them in 120 characters or less. Tis way, there’sroom or people to add their own comments.

u Sending Direct Messages DMs

Sometimes a witter conversation reaches a point that you want to make it private, say, i youare responding to a customer issue or complaint or you want to swap personal ino. Ten it’stime or a Direct Message.

o send one, simply go to the top o your witter dashboard and click on “Messages.” As with aregular tweet, though, you still only get 140 characters.

Note that you can’t DM someone unless he or she is ollowing you. But you can ask a personthrough an @ message to initiate a private conversation.

Example: “@joeschmoe Please DM us your phone number so we can help you with that issue.”

Direct Messages also work via text messages. Link your phone to your Twitter account, thensend a text message to witter’s short code (e.g., 40404 in the United States and 21212 inCanada). ype “d,” a space, the person’s username and your message.

Example: “d joeschmoe Give me a call at 555-1234. Tanks!”

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1 2 7 S TE PS FOR US IN G TWITTE R FOR B US IN E S S

u Sharing links URLs

Links are one o the most widely shared types o witter content. But given the 140-charactertweet length limit, long links typically must be shortened. witter has an automatic URLshortener that reduces links to something that starts with “http://t.co/.” As you type, witter’sautomatic counter tells you how many characters you have le.

Other link shorteners include bit.ly or ow.ly, which can track metrics such as clicks on links.Some businesses also adopt their own link shorteners to brand their content.

u Sharing multimedia photos and videos

weeting with photos and videos can be a great way to eature customers, showcase newproducts or services and share something un that’s happening with your business. Multimediacontent shows up as clickable links in a tweet.

You can upload photos rom your computer to witter. Look or the camera icon below the box

where you type a tweet. Click on the icon, and select your photo.

You can also link applications such as Instagram, yrog, TwitPic and Flickr to your witter account. 

For a video, simply share a link to one hosted on a site like YouTube, Vimeo or  Twitvid or 

record a video straight from a webcam using a tool such as  TweetDeck or  Twitcam. When a

video link is clicked on Twitter, the video is shown in Twitter’s sidebar so people can view it

without leaving the page.

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1 3 7 S T E P S F O R U S I N G T W I T T E R F O R B U S I N E S S

BUILD YOUR NETWORKFollow others and gain ollowers

Networking is one o the chie advantages o being on witter. But growing a witter network is not just about numbers. You should strive or quality connections based on your industry,customer base, location and, yes, interests.

As you build your network, you will discover that nding ollowers and identiying people to ollowoen go hand in hand. And remember, even i you’re not ollowing someone or they’re not ollowing

you yet, you can initiate a conversation by tweeting an @ mention with someone’s username.

WHO SHOULD YOU FOLLOW?

As soon as you log on, witter will oer “Who to Follow” suggestions. Tey’re based on accountssimilar to yours, the way you interact on witter and other actors such as geography.

witter also gives you the option to nd out which o your contacts on other accounts, such asGmail, Yahoo! or LinkedIn, are already on witter.

u Other people you may want to ollow

n Journalists or bloggers, especially those who cover your industry.n Local businesses. Search or other businesses in your community active on witter, or

ollow competitors. (o learn how to track competitors on witter without them knowing,see Step 5 about witter lists.)

n Your customers. Ask them i they’re on witter, and ollow them. Pay special attentionto your biggest ans or the ones who are most vocal on witter.

n People tweeting about your community and theregional topics you care about. See Step 4 onusing witter Search to learn more.

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1 4 7 S TE PS FOR US IN G TWITTE R FOR B US IN E S S

u Other cool tools or fnding people to ollow

n Weollow.com 

Search by geography or keyword. Sort witter users by greatest infuence or number o ol-lowers. Add yoursel to the directory.

n Twellow.com 

Consult this witter account directory with hundreds o categories and a map eature. Andadd yoursel.

n Followerwonk.com  

Search or people by their witter bios. Sort by relevance or ollower count.

n FriendorFollow.com

See whom you ollow that hasn’t ollowed you back yet and who ollows you that youhaven’t ollowed back.

u Other ways to tell people you are on Twitter

n Add your witter handle to business cards, signs presentations, invoices and ads.n Add a witter link or button on your company website or blog (see Step 6).

n Add a witter link to email newsletters and other content such as whitepapers.

n Consider Promoted Tweets. Rolled out in July 2011, Promoted weets are a ormo witter advertising that allows companies to pay or greater visibility at the top o users’timelines. Promoted weets can target non-ollowers and geography.See witter’s FAQ on Promoted Tweets.

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witter Search has many useul applications or businesses. You can use it to nd infuencers toollow, track buzz about your brand and listen to conversations near you around a particular topic.

TERMS YOUR BUSINESS CAN SEARCH FOR:

n Your company namen Products or services (as either you or your customers might reer to them)n Industry keywords or hashtagsn Your city or neighborhoodn Names o competitors

BASIC TWITTER SEARCH

ype terms in the search box at the top o your witter page. Searching or a term without the@ or # symbol in ront o it will pull up all tweets including that term — whether part o an @mention or hashtag or not.

ADVANCED SEARCH

Aer any Basic Search, you can rene your results with more robust parameters. Or you can gostraight to Advanced Search. Learn more about Advanced Search operators.

u Keywords you don’t wantYou can tell witter which keywords to leave out o a search by typing them into the “Noneo these words” eld.

n Shortcut or Basic Search: Use a minus sign beore a keyword. Example: “pets -dogs”would bring back recent tweets about pets, excluding tweets about dogs.

SEARCH TWITTER Track your brand, industry and competitors

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1 6 7 S TE PS FOR US IN G TWITTE R FOR B US IN E S S

u  GeographyYou can search or tweets that originate near certain places by lling in the “Near this place”box on the Advanced Search page. Ten speciy a 1- to 1,000-mile radius.

n  Shortcut or Basic Search: Use the words “near:” and “within:” to look or tweets withina certain proximity, e.g. “near:denver within:10mi.” (Note: Use quotation marks aroundlocation names with more than one word. Don’t use spaces aer colons.)

n Geocodes: o be even more exact, use tools such as geocoder.us to nd the longitudeand latitude or your business address. For example, “geocode:38.922495,-94.778145,5mi”would return tweets originating within a ve-mile radius o one Lenexa, Kansas, address.

u  Sentimentn  Add a lter to look or tweets with positive or negative attitudes or questions.

n  Shortcut or Basic Search: Add :) or :( or ? to Basic Search queries.

 

u Save your searches

I you want to save searches, simply click “Save this search” aer running one. Your savedsearches will then appear in the drop-down menu under “Searches” on your homepage.

u Track your brand via email

While not a search eature, another easy way to monitor your brandon witter is to set up email notications. Find your account “Set-tings” by clicking your witter username on the upper right-handcorner o the screen. Ten click on the “Notications” tab.

You can get notied by email about:n Direct messages, replies or @ mentionsn New ollowersn Retweets, etc.

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HARNESS LISTSSegment users into meaningul groups

As you grow your network on witter, using lists can help you organize your connections intomore manageable groups. Lists can also help you keep up with people you don’t ollow, andidentiy people or brands you do want to ollow.

u Advantages o lists

n You can monitor other witter users without ollowing them.

n Lists can be public or private (useul i you don’t want to publicly ollow a competitor).

n Lists are easy to delete. It’s aster to delete a list o people than unollowing them one at a time.

n I others have compiled lists, you can easily ollow those lists.

n Tere’s no limit on the number o lists.

u Types o lists you can create

n Your employees

n Competitors

n Suppliers or other local businesses

n Industry experts

n Local government agencies and ocials

n Event or conerence participants, e.g., speakers

n Customers, grouped by geography or another trait

n Journalists, bloggers, trade publications and associations

u How to create a list

n Click on “Create a list” in the drop-down menu o the List tab on your homepage.

n Name and describe your list.

n Make your list public or private.NOTE: Anyone can see or ollow a public list, so choose an appropriate name, e.g., not “prstooges”.

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u Add people to your lists

n In a witter user’s prole or beside his or her bio on your “Follower” or “Following” lists,look or the icon that looks like a person.

n Click the icon, and choose “Add to list” rom the drop-down menu.

n Pick the list to which you want to add the contact.

u Follow other people’s lists

n As you network on witter, check out other people’s public lists. It might save you the

trouble o compiling a list o industry experts, local media outlets or businesses similar toyours. Instead o reproducing the lists, you can simply ollow those lists.

n o do so, simply click the “Lists” tab on other people’s witter proles to see a drop-downmenu with lists curated by them or lists they ollow.

n o determine whether you want to ollow a list, click on it and view recent tweets.Or click the “Following” tab to see bios o witter users on the list.

n o ollow a list, click “Follow” in the upper right-hand corner o the list page. Te list willthen show up on your prole’s list tab.

n Search or popular lists using a site such as Listorious.

u Check out who has “listed” youn In the Lists drop-down menu, you may nd “Lists ollowing you.”

n Tis could reveal your biggest ans or at least the people who deem you worthy o listing.

n Consider ollowing those users or including them in your own lists.

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CONNECT TWITTERto your website and other social media

witter makes it easy to share content across many platorms. Hooking up witter with yourwebsite, blog or social media accounts can make it easier to gain ollowers, bring a wideraudience to content (such as blog posts) and add dynamic content such as real-time testimonialsto your various sites.

u Add a Follow button to your website or blog

n Tis makes it easy to get new witter ollowers rom the visitors to your website.

n Start at witter’s Resources page — twitter.com/about/resources— andchoose “Follow button.”

n Pick a button style, e.g., “Follow us on witter” or just the witter bird.

n Copy and paste the code into your website’s code or ask your webmaster to help you do this.

u Add a Tweet button to a webpage or blog 

n Tis step allows people to share a link or blog post without leaving thepage they are viewing and makes it easier to spread your content aster.

n Go to twitter.com/about/resources/tweetbutton.

n Pick a button style and customize the text or people to tweet. Example:“Check this out via @deluxecorp!”

n Copy and paste the code on your website.

NOTE: Many blogging platorms, such as WordPress, have tools that simpliy adding Tweet buttons throughout your blog.

1 9 7 S T E P S F O R U S I N G T W I T T E R F O R B U S I N E S S Tweet this eBook!

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2 0 7 S TE PS FOR US IN G TWITTE R FOR B US IN E S S

u Add a Twitter eed widget to your website or blog

n Tis adds a scrolling list o most recent tweets — rom your ownprole, a list you ollow, a search query or tweets you’ve marked asavorites.

n Go to twitter.com/about/resources/widgets.

n Choose the kind o widget you want to add. Adjust the size andcolors to match your company or website colors. Copy and pastethe code into an appropriate spot on your website.

n Te avorites option is great or showcasing real-time testimonials.

l Hover over a tweet with a positive message about your brand.

l Click the Favorite star or link that appears next to the timestampwhen you hover over the tweet.

l Give the widget a title like “What customers are saying about uson witter.”

7  Times more oten that websites

with Twitter sharing buttons are

linked to on Twitter, compared

to sites without tweet buttons.

SOURCE:·BRIGHTEDGE,

u Connect Twitter to LinkedIn

n Log on to your LinkedIn account. Choose “Settings” in the drop-down menu under yourname in the upper right-hand corner. Select “Manage your witter settings,” and add yourwitter account inormation.

n You can choose to display witter on your LinkedIn prole. You can also opt to post only tweets that contain the hashtags “#in” or “#li.”

n When you post a status update on LinkedIn, you can choose to post it on witter by check-ing the box with the witter bird.

u Connect to Facebook

n o channel witter updates to your Facebook wall, visit twitter.com/about/resources/wid-gets/acebook  or review these instructions.

n Caveat: Many social media experts caution about over-automating your Facebook updateswith tweets. Facebook and witter are very dierent platorms. And witter’s lingo, lengthand requency may seem out o place on Facebook.

u Automatically tweet about new blog posts

n Blogging platorms such as WordPress or Tumblr can be setup to automatically send tweets when you publish new posts.

n You can also use Twittereed or NetworkedBlogs to add blogeeds to witter.

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KICK IT UP A NOTCHUse time-saving Twitter tools

witter has given rise to a whole ecosystem o tools and applications — many created by third-party developers. As you get more active on witter, give some o these tools a try. Tey can helpyou be more productive on witter and do things such as post to multiple social media accountsat once, monitor search terms at a glance and schedule tweets in advance.

Here’s a quick look at just a ew popular witter tools:

 u HootSuite: hootsuite.com

n Allows you to post to multiple witter accounts, Facebook,LinkedIn, Foursquare and WordPress, among other platorms.

n Accessible anywhere through a web interace —allows you to carry your settings and preerences wherever you log in.

n Provides analytics, such as popular content and how tweets direct trac to your website.

n Gives a tab view or each social media prole

n HootSuite Pro (paid) plans allow multiple team members or one account; you can assign

messages or ollow-up or track who’s doing what.n Allows scheduling o tweets in advance, individually or in bulk (Pro accounts).

u TweetDeck: www.tweetdeck.com

n Can post selectively to multiple accounts, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare,MySpace and witter.

n Runs as a desktop or mobile-device application. Requires a little more work to set up oneach o your devices, although a web browser version is in development.

n racks multiple proles and search terms in dierent columns in one window.

n Instantly updates. weets show up aster than on HootSuite.

New tweets pop up on your screen as they come in.

n Can upload video and photos rom a webcam.

n ranslates tweets into many languages, such as Span-ish, Chinese and Arabic.

n Allows analytics with URL shortener bit.ly.NOTE: Twitter bought TweetDeck in May .

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2 2 7 S TE PS FOR US IN G TWITTE R FOR B US IN E S S

u Mobile Twitter Tools

About hal o witter users access the platorm via a mobile device.

n Besides using SMS text messages (as described in Step 2) or witter’smobile website mobile.twitter.com on phones with web browsers,witter users can download numerous third-party mobile apps or

BlackBerry, Android and iPhones.n witter’s own mobile apps also get better all the time. For instance,

witter’s integration with Apple’s iOS5 makes it easy to tweet direct-ly rom iPhones, iPods and iPads to share photos, maps, webpagesand videos and get push notications.

n o learn more about such apps, visit witter’s Help Center pagesabout mobile options.

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Case Study: Building a Following

RIGGINS CONSTRUCTION

Santa Ana, Caliornia

When Bridget Willard started Riggins Construction’s witter account, she didn’t even tell her bossshe was doing it. Te oce manager simply elt that it was something the company should bedoing. Tree months later, she nally essed up.

Her boss wasn’t sure how he elt about the idea. But she said: “I asked him, ‘Do you rememberhow everybody said you need a webpage in the ’90s? Do you ever look up anyone in the phonebook anymore? witter is the new phone book, and we need to be there.’”

wo years later, Riggins Construction has more than 5,000 ollowers,and weollow.com ranks Riggins among the top 10 most infuentialcontractor accounts on witter. People began asking or Willard’sadvice on starting a witter account. She shares tips as well as stories o 

other active construction-related witterers on the blog rigginsconst.wordpress.com.

@RigginsConst

Employees: 3

Founded: 977

On Twitter since: March 9

Followers: 5,+

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Willard’s advice or using witter or business:

Be patient: “Don’t expect to start an account, send a couple o tweets and sud-denly have 50,000 ollowers. People think it’s instant, but it’s not.”

Start by ollowing: Willard started with the area she knew — Orange County,Cali. “It didn’t matter what you did. I you were in Orange County, I was goingto ollow you.” She also ound her email contacts on witter, people in construc-

tion, real-estate people, even newspeople. Willard looked at the lists o some local reporters tosee whom they ollowed. “I someone looked interesting, I ollowed them, too.”

Have realistic expectations: “Do we get a lot o straight leads rom witter? No,” Willardadmits. “I sometimes joke that witter is like my cubicle mate. It can be like visiting the ocecooler. But to me, it’s more like a think tank. I ask people what they think. We’re peer reviewingeach other’s blog posts. You can make witter whatever you want it to be.”

Do they like us? witter also allows Willard to keep an eye on what’s being said about Riggins— which proved invaluable or customer service on one particular job. She was searching oranybody talking about Riggins in her weetDeck. Someone working near one o the rm’s con-struction sites was complaining about the construction noise. Willard called her superinten-dent. He went up and smoothed things over, and Willard ollowed the person on witter. Notlong aer, the same individual put a picture o a huge stream o water shooting up rom a rehydrant and posted, “Tis is what it looks like outside my oce.” Willard’s rst thoughts: “Ohmy God, what am I going to do?” She called the superintendent, and he asked, “How did youknow?” She said: “Tere’s a picture on the Internet!” Within a ew months, the company wassaying, “You guys are the best, you have the best superintendent.” Willard credits being able torespond quickly to eedback on witter.

Building on their motto: Te company slogan “Building relationships since 1977” is a part o their witter page background image. “Tat’s what we’ve done,” Willard said. witter “allows us tostay connected with our clients and nd out what’s new or them.”

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Case Study: Marketing with Twitter

NADEN/LEAN CPAs

Baltimore, Maryland

Even though certied public accountants are known or dealing with numbers all day, AndrewRose says more accountants should ocus on words and social media. Te director o marketingand business development or Naden/Lean maintains two witter accounts — the main one@nadenlean and @dentalcpas, because accounting work or dentists is a rm specialty.

On how to market: Don’t. “Te old way o thinking about marketing is to think about ‘how do I get my tweets out there in ront o people.’ Tat’s push marketing. Pull marketing is when I want something. I’mthinking about maybe raising bees next year. I read about it. I come to you. I I put the right inormationout there, then the right person can come and nd me.”

But … Twitter has defnitely resulted in leads. “We had an orthodontist who was in Vancouversend us a [direct message] through witter. He had ound us through the Internet, and he wanted

to know i we could provide services or him. We had a partner in Van-couver, and we reerred him to them.”

What Twitter does or the frm: “It’s a way to add to our presence inthe white space when you do a Google search. You have to think o witter as one o many dierent shing lines we have in the water.”

Best advice: “At least lock in your username — even i you’re not ready to tweet. Someone couldswoop in and snap it up unless you claim it. Ten just listen or a while. Beore you send onetweet, just read, absorb and listen to the conversation. Ten tweet when you’re ready, and buildyour ollowing organically.”

@nadenlean and @dentalcpas

Employees:

Founded: 956

On Twitter since: March 9

Followers: 3,+ (COMBINED)

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Case Study: Using Twitter to Keep Up with Industry News

DR. CYNTHIA HAINES

St. Louis, Missouri

Cindy Haines sees hersel as not only a doctor but also as a conduit or inormation. As chie medical ocer or health news outlet HealthDay News, she keeps her witter account lled with

the latest medical headlines. She talked to Deluxe about the role o witter in medicine.

Doctors make shy social media types: Most doctors shy away rom witter, Haines says. Tat’snot always wise. “[witter] would be helpul or doctors trying to build a practice or …service pro-

 viders, like cosmetic surgeons or dermatologists, who market specic pay-per-service amenities.”

What they might be missing: witter isn’t just about marketing your services, Haines says. TeCenters or Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes o Health use witter to get

the word out about the fu season or new vaccinations. “Doctors can re-ally benet rom ollowing groups like that on witter to be aware o thelatest news,” Haines says.

The potential or sharing ino: Haines said she’s also heard o doctorstweeting interesting cases, which could be useul or the medical com-munity at large to know about. But such sharing must be approachedcautiously so as not to violate patient condentiality. She suggests doc-

tors might ask patients i it would be OK to share their cases with no identiying details.

@drcindyhaines

Employees at HealthDay News:

3, plus reelancersFounded: 998

On Twitter since: May 9

Followers: 3,9+

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Case Study: Know Your Followers by Using Lists

CITYVET

Dallas, Texas

When Lauren Aiken took over CityVet’s witter account, the company’s marketing director grewits witter ollowing rom 800 to about 1,500 in just over a month. CityVet has our locations in

the Dallas area and plenty o customers to reach with tweets. But the veterinary services company has ollowers all over the country.

Aiken went over the company’s list o ollowers and divided them into

more than a dozen lists. One is or other veterinary proessionals onwitter. She has one or Dallas-area ollowers. And she has one or res-cue shelters. Here’s what lists allow her to do:

Metrics: Dividing ollowers into lists allows Aiken to provide rened statistics or her company. Forinstance, i someone wants to know how many Dallas-Fort Worth-area residents are ollowing thecompany, she can quickly answer.

Targeting your audience: Lists allow Aiken to target her tweets to specic groups. Say she wantsto reach all o the animal shelters that ollow CityVet. Tey’re all on a list (though she wishes wit-

ter would allow you to send one tweet to everyone on a list.)

Staying on top o things: Segmenting your ollowers into lists also allows you to easily see what’s goingon in specic sectors o your industry, so you can tweet about timely issues and stay on top o industry news. Aiken says that’s key to establishing your business as an authority. “People can go on your witterpage and say, ‘Wow, they know what they’re talking about, they’re current.’ I know …I won’t even go to adoctor or a dentist beore I do a Google search and see i they have a website. witter is the same thing.”

@CityVetDallas

Employees: 5

Founded: 999On Twitter since: August

Followers: ,5+

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Case Study: Connecting with Customers

KOOKY CANUCK RESTAURANT

Memphis, Tennessee

Shawn Danko wasn’t sure i witter would benet his business. Almost three years aer joining, hends it invaluable or reaching customers and building loyalty. Te social network osters more one-on-one interaction with customers, and has some advantages over Facebook, on which Kooky Canuck also has a large ollowing. Danko uses witter to interact with customers in real time. Here’s how:

Take advantage o opportunities in real time: “I’ll be sitting at the barsome nights and say, ‘Hey, it’s kind o quiet.’ So I’ll tweet something outand say the next 20 people get a ree shot or something, and it drives[people into the restaurant].”

Plan promotions: Last year, Danko gave away tickets to Memphis Red-birds baseball games via witter. He had season tickets, and let people claim

them a ew days beore each game.“I had ull seats every single time, and we always had a good time.… Your customers are happy because they’re getting something that a lot o businesses don’t oer.”

Monitor Twitter or mentions: Danko monitors not only his witter account but search results tosee whether customers have mentioned the Kooky Canuck. Doing this and having the inormation

linked to his cell phone allows him to respond in real time. He uses a program called UberSocial,which alerts him any time his business is mentioned on witter. A customer once tweeted: “Sitting atKooky Canucks, server is really slow.” Danko saw it and tweeted back: “What table are you sitting at?”

Surprise customers: Someone once tweeted that two people were at the restaurant celebratingtheir wedding anniversary. Danko went out into the dining room, tracked the couple down andoered them complimentary drinks. “It’s just another way to make people eel a little bit special,”he says. “It’s kind o like the VIP service. And who doesn’t want to be treated like a VIP?”

@kookycanuck 

Employees: 55

Founded: 5

On Twitter since: December 8

Followers: ,+

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* DELUXE PROJECT REV PRO ADVISORS FOR 2012

Advice rom Experts in 140 Characters or Less . . .

WHAT’S YOUR TOP TIP FOR SMALL BUSINESSES ON TWITTER?

@kyleplacySend three tweets a day: one about you, one retweet about your industryand one about your biz.

Kyle Lacy, author, Twitter Marketing for Dummies

@chrisbrogan *

Start listening by using search tools to nd what people are saying about

you, your products, your competitors and more.

Chris Brogan, Trust Agents author and blogger 

@SmallBizLady *To be effective on Twitter, small businesses must have signature contentand a target customer.

Melinda Emerson, host of Twitter talk show #Smallbizchat and small business author 

WHAT’S A MISTAKE SMALL BUSINESSES SHOULD AVOID ON TWITTER?

@deluxecorpDon’t use a ‘set it and forget it’ mentality. Engage. Use a tool likeTweetDeck to track keyword searches and engage in real time.Nathan Eide, Deluxe social media manager 

@genemarks *

Don’t use Twitter if your community isn’t on Twitter. It’s ne for Ashton

Kutcher. But are your customers there?

Gene Marks, small business columnist and author 

@kyleplacyDon’t just create a feed. Use those reply and retweet buttons!

Kyle Lacy, author, Twitter Marketing for Dummies

@chrisbrogan *

Don’t talk about yourself all the time. Talk about your buyers. Equip THEMto be the hero.

Chris Brogan, Trust Agents author and blogger 

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Next Steps

I you’ve nished reading this eBook, we hope you’ve gotten a better sense o witter’s potential asa two-way channel or real-time interactions with customers and industry peers. It’s time to join

the fock! Follow the steps outlined in this eBook, and you’ll be growing your network in no time.

As witter evolves, keep experimenting with what works or your business.Here is a nal checklist and a list o additional resources to keep you going.

u Twitter or Business Checklist

q Set up your account.

q Pick a witter goal.

q weet news, tips, sales and specials.

q Share links, photos or videos.

q Retweet great tweets.

q Use Direct Messages (DMs) or private conversations.

q weet a live event with hashtags and @ mentions.

q Set up alerts or mentions, messages, replies, retweets or new ollowers.

q Search or people tweeting near you, other businesses and brands to ollow.

q Engage others (including non-ollowers) with @ mentions.

q Find relevant lists to ollow.

q Follow journalists or bloggers or your industry.

q Add “Follow,” “weet” or witter widgets to your website or blog.

q Check out more advanced tools, such as HootSuite or weetDeck.

q Download a witter mobile app.

u Additional Resources

q Twitter’s Help Center: support.twitter.com

q Twitter or Business: business.twitter.com

q Twitter blog: blog.twitter.com or new eature and other updates

q Twitter status blog: status.twitter.com or service updates

About DELUXE REVDeluxe REV helps businesses grow with regular one-on-one consultations with a marketingadvisor and a dashboard that tracks marketing activities and results. It also includes easy-to-

use social media and email marketing tools and other marketing resources.

Try REV free for 30 days!Call or visit deluxerevcom to learn more.


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