TWITTER 101

Renegade Business Solutions

What is Twitter?

Micro-blogging Platform

140 character limit in each tweet

Originally started as a “What are you doing” social media platform (think just Facebook’sstatus updates), but now it’s much more

Started in 2006

Over 20 million users

Messages on Twitter are called “Tweets”

Why should you tweet?

If you want to go grow your business using social media is becoming increasingly important.

Can develop your personal brand Expanded lead generation Position you as a leader in your industry

Offers innovative way to drive new traffic to your website, blog or newsletter, engage with a new audience, share opinions, tools, resources, knowledge, find new suppliers, connect with new people, and demonstrate your knowledge.

Personal Branding

Make connections with people in your field

Show that you know your stuff

Point you to articles and blog posts you wouldn’t have found otherwise

Gives you an online presence (i.e. if a prospective employee googles you)

In 140 characters

Twitter Users

Median Age: 31

19% of online adults 18-24

20% of online adults 25-34

Slightly more diverse & more urban than general population

Tweet For Fun

For Breaking News

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Great for breaking news & providing unique content

US Airways crash

Mumbai attacks

Inauguration Day

Presidential Debates

For Charity

For Networking

Twitter Business Uses

Customer Service

Giveaways

Deals & Specials

Reach Customers Anywhere

PC, laptop, mobile phones

SMS, Browser, GPRS, IM, Desktop client

Reach People At:

Office

Restaurant

Gym

Home

How do I get started?

Go to Twitter.com

Sign up for an account

Create a bio, upload your company logo, and select a unique background

Start tweeting

After you have some tweets up, start following people

Sign Up

Fill out your profile

Find and Follow People

Manage

Use Twitter management systems like:

•TweetDeck (most popular)

•Seesmic

•HootSuite (recommended)

Twitter Etiquette

Social networks are

often described as

being at an offline

party because the

and the same rules

of personal

engagement apply

Twitter Etiquette

• Don’t just talk all about your company, yourself or try to sell products or services

• Find the people who interest you

• Try to add value to the conversation

• Follow up with your new friends

• Never spam (send out constant unsolicited tweets

Rules of

Engagement

Speak The Language - Basic Twitter Terms

DM - direct message

RT - retweet

#topic - hashtag used for threads

@username - reply to another user

TinyURL.com/Bit.ly - a website that shortens the URL so you can fit it in your tweet

Replies

@ denotes a tweet sent to another Twitter user.

When you reply an @ symbol and Twitter account name are interested into the Twit

@SpaServices @sjane See you in 5 minutes

Check for Replies from strangers

Customers and general followers will tweet you and expect a reply similar to leaving a phone message

Retweet

To repost something that's already in the Twitter stream to give credit to the original poster.

Useful for providing valuable/interesting information to followers

RT @Dell Computers on sale through Christmas.

Retweets

Retweets are a very important part of Twitter and can grow follower loyalty

When you see an interesting tweet from someone you are following, forward the tweet to your followers.

Keep the name of the original tweeter, so that your followers can decide to follow that person if they find the tweet interesting

Example: ◦ citygovworks tweets “Road closing today at 1st & Main”◦ SpaServices wants you to know appt extended 15 mins due to RT

@citygovworks: Road closing today at 1st & Main ◦ Your customers appreciate the information even if they don’t have an

appointment because now they can avoid the traffic area

Direct Message

DM is a private message that you can only send to those who follow you.

D jdoe Tell @SpaServices will be 15 minutes late because of road closing

Hashtag

# makes a term into a keyword that is searchable

@SpaServices we’ll have a booth at trade show giving free massages

Twitter Lists

It’s Twitter version of a “groups” feature

Allows you to organize the people you’re following on Twitter (ex. Family, Soccer Team, Employees, etc.)

Used to aggregate 2 or more users into groups so that you can get an overview of what they’re up to

Lists brings together streams of the latest tweets from a specified set of users

You can find new people by searching lists

TWITTER TIPS: HOW, WHO, WHAT, WHERE?

How to Use Twitter Effectively

Focus on quality, not quantity

Promote your blog posts, ideas

Interact (most important) Ask Questions

Retweet other people’s interesting tweets

Share links to articles & blog posts

Don’t spam people or use auto DM feature

Don’t share too much personal info (avoid stating what you had for breakfast, etc.)

How do I know who to follow?

Search Twitter for names or brands

Use directories to find users with similar interests & hobbies (ie. CNN, hockey, social media, etc.)

50 people to follow to help with your job search

You can follow me @ MikeRayMarketer

Tips: Groups

If you’re following more than 50 people (and you should!), you’ll get information overload – too many tweets

Separate groups of people into different Lists or categories –and read them in different windows

Use Hootsuite or TweetDeck desktop client

For example, here are three groups:

Group AllTweets: for everything. You can just skim this group

Group IndiaReadCarefully: Indian tweeters to read carefully –read all tweets in this window

Group WorldReadCarefully: World tweeters to read carefully –read all tweets in this window if I’m not busy

Tips: Search

Twitter allows you to search for any keywords

Will show you all tweets in the world with that keyword

Very useful to follow some technology or trend or news event

Example:

“Dell”◦ Any tweet in the world about

Dell

“#bcp5”◦ Barcamp Pune 5

“#mashable” ◦ Mashable updates

Tips: Use search, you’ll be glad Example: Keep a Hootsuite window open with search on

“Taste of DC”

Useful to find out about events during Taste of DC ◦ (e.g. “Anyone going to the Taste concert on Saturday?”)

Useful to find interesting visitors to Taste of DC ◦ (e.g. “Boarding flight on way to Taste of DC ”. Now I can find out

who this person is and is s/he interesting to me.)

Useful to find Taste of DC- related websites◦ (e.g. check out @tasteofdc, @dctaste)

Useful to find experts or officials◦ (e.g. “Giving a talk on Taste of DC at City Hall this weekend”. Now

you’ve found a local contact to get direct information from.)

Use this technique to search for items related to your business

Tips: Auto-post from blog

You can find plugins for your blog that can automatically update your twitter account when you post a new blog article.

Convert your twitter followers to blog subscribers and vice versa

Example: “Posted to my blog: Why you should be on twitter and how to go about it http://tinyurl.com/6b3tz4”

How Do I Brand & Promote My Business?

Grab branded Twitter name NOW

Even if not ready to use it, scoop it up

Generate website or blog traffic

Showcase your website link in profile

Tweet to promote new blog posts (yours and others of interest)

Feature “specials” for Twitter followers

Don’t over-promote, but do share links and information related to your business

Thank You for your time.For more information about how to use

Twitter and other Internet Marketing techniques for Business, contact us at:

Mike@RenegadeBusinessSolutions.comor 202-640-1750