The Social Integration of Twitter

While technology keeps us moving forward with each new development, the creation of the Tweet-O-Meeter that can measure Twitter activity in major cities cites the Titanic as inspiration for its design. While the tool measures tweets-per-minute, it’s sleek design is on display in the British Library for free
until July 16 2011. The exhibit shows how social media has integrated itself into society; to measure tweets world wide puts Twitter and its use at the height of importance.

While the design pays homage to the Titanic, its real success is easily noticed: the acceptance of social media in daily life around the world. Social media’s place in society has grown ten-fold within the last few years, placing constant contact and connectivity at the fore front of our civilization.A quote from blogger Gil Pizano states,

“The social in social media also implies the tools, places and services that allow people to gather for social interaction. Social media allows individuals to gather and express themselves in a much more simple and immediate fashion. By giving people this capability, they not only have the ability to share ideas, opinions and other contents, but also (if they wish) gain notoriety, and expand their influence.”

We have progressed to the stage in our society’s fascination with social media that we are not only heralding it as communication at its finest, but rather the influence it has around the world. Pizano adds,

“Needless to say, social media has forever changed the way society works, whether it’s the sharing of an idea, the communication of news, or the availability of a product or service. Society today is on the verge of a new way of existing that it’s never experienced before. No longer will people from one side of the world be really able to say that they will never see a person or communicate with someone from the other side of the world ever in their life. “

We are beginning to take social media off its glorious pedestal of a new invention and showcase it as another venue for communication. The telephone’s spectacle eventually wore off as well, and when it did it became a house hold item. The Tweet-O-Meter throws away the mystique of Twitter and puts it on the back burner to the real success story: the connectivity of the world in under 140 characters.

25 Case Studies Using Twitter to Increase Business and Sales

1.Dell Outlet
Dell Outlet doesn’t have the time to hire an agency and develop an ad campaign. Instead, the company turns Internet marketing using tools like Twitter. The company started to use Twitter to push information out and soon found out that people were interested in talking. Twitter is good source for not only raising awareness on deals but to interact with customers. The company offers post exclusively on Twitter and makes sure to use twitter only a few times a week to avoid spamming their followers. They also use tracking URLs to determine what users find most appealing. Last but not least. The company found that the Twitter deals do increase sales. Dell Outlet has booked more than $3 million in revenue which can be attributable to its Twitter posts. In addition, the division has done research showing that the overall awareness of the outlet has grown, too.

2. JetBlue
JetBlue was among the first corporate companies to join Twitter in 2007. Now in 2010 JetBlue has nearly a million followers and is often cited as an example of small corporate twittering. It’s goal when joining Twitter was to simply, help customers. They eventually found out what the dos and don’ts were for their customers. How did they do this? By asking. The company found that customer service tweets generated more followers and replies. When tweeting about a press release they found no response. JetBlue then began asking question in order to find out what the customers wanted. This approach has made them quite successful. JetBlue tore downs the wall between the customer and the brand by implementing what was to be just an experiment, Twitter.

3.Teusnerwine
Teusner Wines, is a boutique winery located in Australia and has only three employees. One of the three employees, Dave Brooks, sales and marketing director, noticed that Lance Armstrong was on Twitter. Brooks soon joined and started following Armstrong. He started to think that Twitter would be a good tool to tell people about the winery, in hindsight he was right. To get started he searched for wine-related terms. When he found influential and relevant users he followed them and eventually started conversations related to the business. He has since grown the following and makes a point to send personal thank you messages to customers. His mentality is to build relationship which can’t be done by simply selling a product. Since using Twitter, Brooks has seen more people coming to the winery for tours, more traffic to the website and numerous people in the United States and Canada asking where they can find the Teusner Wines. His focus is on the customers not the numbers.

4.Tasti D Lite
Tasti D Lite, a guiltless place to enjoy frozen yogurt, began its journey with Twitter cautiously. BJ Emersonl, Director of Information and Social Technologies, started by using Twitter to listen to what customers were saying about Tasti D, its products and it’s competitors. BJ advise a three “m” approach when getting started on Twitter-monitor, measure and mingle, which is exactly what he did. Once he did that he started following users who had mentioned tasti and began turning the comments into conversations. BJ often tweets exclusive coupons where he creates specific codes for each coupon. These codes are entered into the point of sale cash registers at tasti locations to enable the tracking of coupon conversions and the resulting sales. BJ concludes from the numbers, that Twitter coupon campaigns can outperform similar targeted ads on other social network platforms or certain PPC ads if used effectively. Their next plan is to begin experimenting with paperless mobile coupon options and Twitter accounts for individual stores.

5.Coffee Groundz
Coffee Groundz is an independent coffee shop in Houston, TX. The owner J.R. Cohen began his Twitter journey by going out of his way to interact with Houston Twitter users following him on Twitter. He says his growth was slow and organic but the connections he made were strong.  He began to ask his followers to “come into the store and ask for J.R.” This gave him the oppurtunity to meet with every patron who asked for him, thus strengthening the bond with his followers. Due to an odd request from a cutomer using Twitter J.R. started taking and recieving to-go orders via DM. Customers can also reserve a table/booth, order from the patio, or reserve the place for events through direct message. Twitter helped J.R. create a more efficiently run coffee house and his many patrons agree.

6.Etsy
Etsy is an online marketplace for buying and selling all things handmade. Naturally, Twitter was an ideal fit. The company found that their community was using Twitter to promote their handmade items for sale on Etsy. So by watching and learning from them they adopted the same ideas. The initial use of Twitter was to share when their blog was updated. Now they use Twitter in a variety of ways ,alert followers to particularly creative products from Etsy sellers, share valuable tips & tricks, and provide information about upcoming events and promotions on the site. In Etsy’s experience they’ve found that Twitter is a valuable way to harness the creative minds of the community. Most importantly, they have fun with Twitter.

7. NAKED Pizza
Naked Pizza is an organic pizzaplace that tastes good and even better yet, is good for you. A Twitter account was created after the advice from  investor Mark Cuban who outlined these goals: help create a community around healthy eating, save on marketing costs, and ultimately drive sales. Twitter is now such an influential tool for the company that Jeff Leach, co-founder along with Randy Crochet, has set up a kiosk within his store, where customers can sign up for a Twitter account if they hadn’t already been users. In addition, Naked’s online ordering page, there will be the Naked Pizza Twitter stream in case customers have questions about the company’s product offering. As of May 29,  2010 a surprising 68.60% of total dollar sales came from customers who said “I’m calling from Twitter”.

8.American Apparel
American Apparel got their start on Twitter after some employees were playing around and setting up accounts. Now multiple employees are involved with responding to comments on Twitter when users make about the company, taking advantage of the opportunity to interact directly with customers.American Apparel fans with blogs occasionally write posts with favorable mentions of the company or its products on Twitter. In one case, they received a DM from a freelance photographer who was chronicling his wife’s pregnancy with weekly photos of the mother-to-be in American Apparel clothes. After seeing the blog, American Apparel liked the photo series so much that they provided the new mom with free clothes and used the images as the basis for an ad campaign .Thus launching  an  ad campaign for expecting mothers with an unique banner ad for baby clothes, and the blog became one of American Apparel’s top performing sites for online ads. Twitter led the minds behind American Apparel to new ideas and opportunities for advertising.

9. Pepsi
Pepsi started usign Twitter to connect with customers on a more meaningful level. For years the company had relied on its toll free number where customers could call in with concerns. Twitter helped to humanize the brand. The toll free number tended to focus on the product where as now Twitter allows the customers to give feedback on promotions as well as opinions on the products.The company collects reactions and likewise can give fast feedback. Pepsi is till figuring out what the customers respond to the most but have found that they are able to give the customers better service by monitoring Twitter.

10. Levi’s
To connect with a young male demographic, Levi’s hired recent college grad Gareth Hornberger to manage their Twitter feed. Gareth, a.k.a. “@Levisguy”, provides Levi’s fans and denim aficionados an insider look at Levi’s the company. He shares behind-the-scenes access at Levi’s events and updates on new products. In addition, he engages his followers’ interests by spurring conversations about topics that matter to them. By hiring Garth to represent the brand they promoted the correct image that Levi’s has always strives for, authenticity.He’s just an ordinary guy, in an extra-ordinary position, sharing interesting stories, encouraging fun conversations and attempting to get everyone he can in a pair of 501 jeans. He just so happens to be doing all of this on Twitter.

11. MTV-2010 VMAS
MTV has integrated Twitter with live TV. This was evident during the 2010 Video Music Awards, which pulled in 11 million viewers. For the viewers watching at home there was a live Twitter scoreboard. there was the visualization for web users. Users could tweet directly from the app, that MTV created with the help of Stamen Design…and tweet they did-194,000 times. MTV is innovating how TV can be used on Twitter. They established themselves as a leader.This kind of integration creates a conversation  surrounding a live event on Twitter and at the actual event.MTV also stirred up some competition between the fans on Twitter. The Sunday before the VMAs, fans found a Twitter Tracker and tweeting would give their favorite artist a higher ranking on the list. Ultimately, MTV found that  the activity on Twitter went beyond the original audience via followers,  Trending Topics, Twitter Tracker and more. MTV found a way to excite audiences and create strong fan engagement.

12. Comcast
Comcast developed a Twitter account to change what most associate with a cable company. Essentially, they wanted customers to know that they cared, which gave the idea for their Twitter name, ComcastCares. Instead of waiting for negative comments to appeare and the react. Comcast is proactive by searching and tracking comments.  Comcast is handling an individuals issues publicly through Twitter. Additionally, Comcast announces via press releases the addition of a social media component to help customer service reach a large audience effectively. Comcast has found a way to reinforce quality customer service with an appropriate Twitter name and proactive attitude when reaching customers.

13. Namecheap
Namecheap is a 10-yr-old company based in L.A. offers cheap domain registration. Their mission statement is to thrive on making customers happy. Upon visiting their Twitter page you’ll see that their mission statement is well in effect. It seems that every tweet is centered on connecting with the customer and their needs. Michelle Greer, the company’s sole marketing specialist,set up the Twitter account. To catapult the account she created a contest. The contest was launched in December so she posted a Christmas-related trivia question. Then To win, you had to be one of the first three @replies with the correct answer. The prize was credit a for one-year domain registration. People began to anticipate the questions and were tweeting and blogging about it. NameCheap used the search.twitter.com API to automate winners and the Twitter API to automate the questions. As a result of the contest, Namecheap’s follower count went from 200 to 4,000. In terms of the actual business aspect,  Namecheap’s site traffic increased more than 10 percent in December, which resulted in a 20 percent increase in domain registrations.

14.BestBuy
The Twitter account for BestBuy is an all exclusive look into the latest and greatest news from Best Buy,which  includes updates from employees, deals, event notices, and more. For instance. On October 15,2010 one tweet from a BestBuy representative said,“It’s officially Free Phone Friday!! Check out the phones and/or order online here: http://bit.ly/1015FPF via @Coral_BestBuy”. What BestBuy has done is to create an interest among customers to keep them visiting their Twitter page. At over 80,000 followers its safe to say that BestBuy established a following by giving an incentive.

15. Nabbit
Nabbit is technology start up that allows people to tag or dubbed appropriately, “nabb” radio tunes they like by pressing buttons on their cell phones.They have used Twitter to increase favor with influencers while allowing users to generate an automatic tweet with every nabb.Nabbit has over 18,000 followers. They’ve taken Twitter and made it work for both interaction and integration by generating a tweet with every nabb. It’s a win win.

16. Realtors
Specifically, Teresa the Realtor, who has over 3,000 followers on Twitter. Many of her tweets are conversational. She is retweeting and answering questions. In a word she is engaging. The world of real estate requires communication between the buyer and the realtor. She has created a new line of communication through the use of Twitter. Teresa also takes the time to teach other Realtor’s how to soft sell using Twitter. She puts it simply, “It is like breezing through a party, she said, and “being introduced to a friend of a friend who just might be looking for a house.”

17. Vistage International
Vistage International is essentially a members organization for CEO’s. They used Twitter to prospect new members, up and coming entrepreneurs who are apart of younger generations. The concerns when launching a Twitter accounts was whether or not their audience was using the social tool. After a few tiny campaigns the results were in favor of Twitter. During a two month period they found: Twitter to be an easy way to build relationships with members  very efficiently. Vistage empowered them to talk about their  experiences with the company good and bad) as part of what they already discuss on Twitter. Then every time the Twitter community talked about their experience, five to 10 people asked us about the organization, which led to some great leads.They were able to widen their reach by adding new experts and new topics. After the  two month period, the Twitter campaign secured 36 member inquiries and six new members, which was attributed to the network of members, Chairs, and speakers. For a small and member’s only organization this is quite the feat.

18.Open Forum
OpenForum is a community built to help grow small businesses. They created a Twitter account to provide information, strike up conversation with small business owners, and to drive people to their conversational site, which is separate from their website. The goals are to:Build brand equity, acquire new customers, and build loyalty among existing customers. OpenForum lets the conversation happen versus trying to control it. The reaction from that is more brand loyalty from existing customers. In addition they have over 12,000 followers.

19. Intel
For starters Intel has over 25,000 followers and has no official Twitter strategy. However, they use the tool  for many employees  to build relationships, listen, learn from others/each other, and get the latest in news.  Their tweets do not typically revolve around Intel as they feel that people are people not brands or logos. They also feel that Twitter is a place for conversation not one-way marketing. A lesson to learn from Intel, Twitter builds community, connects people, and fosters relationships; and in order to do so requires authenticity. It’s difficult to be authentic when hiding behind a company logo.

20.U.S. Geological Survey
The U.S. Geological Survey’s  has a unique responsibility which is to  monitor and report earthquakes. Twitter helps the USGS expand these reports through first-hand accounts after an earthquake occurs. Earthquakes as well as any natural disaster affects thousands if not millions of people at one time. They began their journey with Twitter by listening. They soon found that seconds after an earthquake people were tweeting about it. As it turns out Twitter is one of the first places to indicate that an earthquake has occurred. What the  USGS does with this information is to gather, summarize, and map out earthquake tweets to provide a rapid overview of what people experienced during an earthquake.They now have their own Twitter-based application which provides tweet counts for affected cities and lists the tweets created immediately following the event For the future, USGS is using Geocoded tweets to allow for more accurate pinpoints of the locations that users posts, and a distinct retweet channel helps them to differentiate between people who experience the shaking and those who are broadcasting others’ experiences.The USGS is following advances and listening to users feedback. Turns out the newest tool for monitoring earthquake effects is Twitter.

21. The North Face
The popular brand joined Twitter in October 2007. However, they had no clear direction until 2008. In 2008, The North Face  went to create a free digital tool that would enhance the user’s outdoor experience. By December of 2008, they launched a free iPhone application. \The app was successful with nearly 250,000 downloads but users shared some constructive criticism to share.  In 2009, they relaunched the app with the consumers feedback in mind. The new and improved application included Twitter. They soon realized that the best way to leverage Twitter and build a communal following was to promote The North Face branded content.. Serving up industry information to their Twitter community, they quickly increased the following, and saw a steady flow of re-tweets, which spurred community interaction. Their success came by combining technology with the outdoors, leveraging Twitter and in the end they are able to give users and accurate tool.

22. American Cancer Society
As found on Mashable,the American Cancer Society tweets about cancer research, specific types of cancer news, and information. They also connect to @RelayForLife, a Twitter account that provides updates on one of the American Cancer Society’s largest fundraising and awareness events. As of October 15, 2010 they have over 85,000 followers. They have created an online community on Twitter by engaging in conversation and listening to what users are saying.

23.American Red Cross
On Twitter the American Red Cross makes it their cause to inform about catastrophes or offers ways to find out about the  terrible events happening around the globe. They tweet to educate what is  is affecting the lives of millions of people. The official account  uses Twitter to warn as well as interact with people about situations that may require additional help. Wherever, and whenever disaster occurs the Red Cross lends a hand and now they are tweeting so you can as well. They currently have over 200,000 followers.

24. Create the Good
Create the Good is an organization that connects the  AARP members, friends and families with ways to make a difference.As read on Mashable, AARP uses the Twitter account to  network and point out members of the organization who are making a difference in the world. On Twitter they also help promote other organizations and  media channels making a positive impact on the lives of others. Twitter also educates others about regional opportunities to get involved with good projects.

25. Humane Society
The Humane Society uses Twitter to spread the word and motivate their constituents to action.They engage followers by  asking for feedback and reactions on issues in the media that affect animals.Their website features all the social tools their are using and really drives people to action. The Twitter page is  not intimidating and comes across as personal versus an off putting organization. They have found success by being open, engaging and informative.

Size Does Not Matter in Social Media

Sometimes size does matter… in this case… it does not.

The debate over quality vs. quantity in social media is one to consider when using Twitter. The amount of influence a user has on Twitter is not a direct reflection of the amount of followers. So the debate favors quality. According to Mashable a study done by Northwestern University indicates that celebrities with millions of followers are mostly ignored on social media sites, which results in little influence, if any at all. Social media isn’t a popularity contest (though some may disagree) and size does not equal influence, engagement or action. What creates influence is amount of quality content. Popularity doesn’t do anything but allow for bragging rights.

The researchers from Northwestern applied their mathematical algorithm to the countless tweets that appear on Twitter each day and found that experts in certain fields were much more likely to influence topics to become trends. Thus meaning the quality of content shared on Twitter is what matters not the quantity. Social media enthusiasts turn to Twitter for substance and to engage with other users who share the same insight. Therefore, a big named celebrity may have millions of followers but they are not necessarily reaching their audience in a meaningful way. Numbers mean nothing in the big spectrum of Twitter influence.

However, celebrities can have great influence with the advantage of being a prominent figure.A case of celebrity and influence done right is in the case of LeBron James . He has hundreds of thousands of followers as well as influence. He tweets about basketball, what he knows, what people following him want to know. If he chose to tweet about politics he may not generate as much influence as a politician would… tweeting on the subject. James’ influence is a direct result of him tweeting quality content related to what he is well known and respected for.

Next time you get discouraged when thinking about how few followers have. Don’t. Keep tweeting quality content and with your loyal following. In the end it doesn’t matter how popular you are…what matters are the relationships you’ve built….and the discussions of substance you’ve had.

The Right Way to Market Yourself on Twitter: Part 2

Viral.  Almost anyplace you see that word it conjures up images of bad things.  Viral at the doctor’s office is never good news, nor is it welcomed on your computer.  The one place it has the connotation of being a good thing is in the realm of social media.  (Note: It can still be bad in social media if the viral story reflects negatively upon you or your organization.)

There are lots of benefits of social media vs. traditional communication, and they include 1 to 1 conversation, listening, etc.  But perhaps the greatest is the ability to spread the word about something very quickly one Twitter user at a time.  I recently had this experience and I can give you some hard numbers to support it.

Kyle was kind enough to ask me to write a post on the right way to market on Twitter which was regarding a conversation we had on a positive experience I had on Twitter.  I was pretty excited about it and Tweeted to my followers to come check out my blog post.  I have a bit.ly integration with CoTweet, so I am able to track how many times somebody has clicked on my link.  As you can see below, I tapped out at 49.

As my following is relatively small at 200, I was pretty pleased with that number.  But I was curious to see how often it had been clicked on based on Kyle’s reach.  When I clicked on the aggregate bit.ly numbers I got quite a different number.

Holy Canoli!  I had found out that the article had been clicked on 436 times.  Furthermore, it had been Tweeted or ReTweeted a total of 99 times and the reach was all over the globe.

Over 15 countries have seen this Tweet!  And at this point in time, the true power and possibilities of Social Media start to become a reality.

So what have I learned?

1. Influence the Influencers- If you want to get a message to the masses; you need to network with key influencers.  Note their number of followers, Klout score, and plan accordingly.  Here is a great article on how to get the attention of influencers.
2. Track your stats- There is no better way of seeing if your links are of value, than to see if anybody is clicking on them.  Find the total clicks, tweets, shares, comments, etc.
3. Activity Breeds Activity- I had some conversations with Kat @goheadband and she shared that she had an excellent day in sales the day this article was released.  It only stands to reason with the amount of people who read about her success, but I like to validate the hypothesis with real data.

Incidentally, my Klout received a bump during this process as well.  It sure is nice when everybody wins.

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Todays guest post was written by Brian Richardson has 19 years of sales and management experience and is a sales trainer at ExactTarget.  Follow him at B__Richardson (that is two underscores) and check out his Twitter bio for hobbies and interests.

6 Ways to Get Noticed By People on Twitter

It’s been a year and a few days since I first joined Twitter. I admit to being one of those people who didn’t see the point of the platform. I thought it was useless. But I was intrigued and I was on a mission. I knew Twitter was up and coming and rapidly gaining in popularity. For that reason I chose to write my diploma thesis about Twitter as a tool for Relationship Marketing. It was a challenge to say the least. I’d never used the platform before. Hell, I didn’t even know ANYONE in the Marketing, PR or Social Media industry. And yet, I needed a minimum of 120 experts to take part in my survey. I needed them to share their knowledge and experience with me. Someone, no-one had ever heard of before.

I’m not going to lie to you. Being new to Twitter sucks because you need to build an audience that helps you spread the word. Preferably an audience that has a big audience themselves. You want to connect with people that have influence in your niche, that know what they are talking about and whose single Tweet can get you noticed by a lot of other people. All of this is intimidating. You’ll need to be interesting, humorous, provide quality content and not be afraid to approach people. It’s a lot to take in and a lot to handle for a Twitter newbie.

A year ago, I was a newbie. Now, 5000 something Tweets later, a great thesis and some wonderful connections in my bag I’m going to share with you what I would have loved to know a year ago. I’m not going to talk about how you need to provide quality content or Retweet others because there are a million posts telling you exactly that. What I am going to do is to give you some tips that will help you become a blip on the influencer’s radars. The people that do something awesome, are interesting, have a wide reach and know their stuff.

Approach people!

This one is really important because people are not going to come knocking on your door. You have to work for what you want. Say hi to people. Ask how they are. Provide them with quality content. Comment on their blogs. @message them on Twitter. Do not spam them. No-one likes to be spammed. It’s probably not going to work the first time or the second time or even the third time. It all takes time. Don’t give up. If I had given up I would have not finished my thesis. I would still sit here and wait and hope.

Big shot or not, people are people

It doesn’t matter how famous someone is. People are people. You’ll probably find it intimidating to approach the celebs of your niche. There’s no need to. They are human. Maybe with a bit more knowledge and a bit more $ in their bank account but they are human. Remember that.

Be yourself

There’s nothing worse than being approached by someone who isn’t authentic. Be true to yourself. There’s no need to be something you are not. Being yourself greatly increases your chances of being recognized.

Don’t rush things.

What would you say if a stranger knocked on your door and said, “Please help me build my house.” Would you say yes? I doubt it. If you want others to help you, you need to be patient. Relationships take time. In that respect, Twitter is no different to real life. It’s a give and take. If people start to get to know and like you, they will be more than willing to help.

Don’t be afraid to speak your mind.

Every person has an opinion. Most of us are just too afraid to speak their mind. There’s no harm in saying what you think as long as you pay attention to how you say it. If you read a blog post by someone that is “famous” but you don’t agree with it, say it. They are not going to bite your head off. If anything, they’ll be appreciative of your opinion. They hear all day long how awesome they are. As I said, people are people. Just because people are well known, doesn’t mean they know it all. They still learn from other human beings. Try to be one of those people they can learn from.

Sometimes, just ask!

People will surprise you. Asking never hurts. If you did all of the above and you still haven’t reached the goal you set out to achieve, ask them straight. What’s the worst that can happen? They say no or nothing at all. No-one gets hurt. But, you might just win the jackpot and they will say yes. You never know.

When trying to approach people that you feel intimidated by it’s important you grab the bull by its horns, as they say. The influencers won’t come looking for you. You need to go looking for them. You need to be worth their time. Twitter allows you to approach them. Now, go do it.

Today’s guest post is by Antonia Harler. Antonia recently graduated and holds a degree in Management, Communications & IT. She’s performed extensive research on how to best use Twitter for Relationship Marketing. For more information about her visit her blog www.socialglitz.com, follow her on Twitter (@antwizzel) or join her on Facebook www.facebook.com/socialglitz.

The Right Way to Market Yourself on Twitter

Trying to market yourself on Twitter can be tricky. Being a pushy salesperson, while never popular anywhere, is strictly taboo in Social Media. So how do you engage potential prospects while avoiding the appearance of a door to door vacuum salesperson?

I recently had an interaction with Kat from GoHeadBand.com who negotiated the art brilliantly. I had tweeted how difficult a 2 mile run for me had been in spite of running a mini-marathon just 5 months ago. She responded to me with encouragement and some advice. I was told to take things slow, but to remember that I will attain fitness faster because of my prior running.

As I don’t know this person, I was inclined to look her up on Twitter to see what she was about. Her bio mentioned that she had completed 5 marathons and she also made “moisture wicking headbands.” Since my most recent run was in 94 degree heat and I am fond of headbands, I now found myself as an interested prospect.

Not once has she offered to sell me anything, but here I am as a potential buyer. So what did she do right that we can learn about as we navigate the roads in Twitter?

• Search. She obviously had a twitter client, like CoTweet, where she was searching for keywords like “running.” This helps you identify a group with interests in your product.
• She offered Value. She not only gave me some friendly advice, to adapt to things slowly, but she also offered me encouragement. You can trace those lessons back to “How to Win Friends and Influence People” as classic relationship management.
• She had a great bio. Her bio told me a little bit about herself in that she was a runner. It also clearly defined to me what she specifically offered as a product or service including a website link.

Much of the advice available in the realm of social media is pointed towards telling us what not to do. While those lessons can certainly help us avoid some challenges, it doesn’t give us clarity on what we can do. I am thankful for this experience and I will definitely add this to my “rules of engagement” on Twitter.

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Todays guest post was written by Brian Richardson has 19 years of sales and management experience and is a sales trainer at ExactTarget.  Follow him at B__Richardson (that is two underscores) and check out his Twitter bio for hobbies and interests.

Twitter is Changing and Exploding Myths

I had the pleasure to attend Connections 2010, ExactTarget‘s user conference, and hear Dick Costolo (Twitter’s COO) speak about the changes happening to Twitter over the next couple of weeks. If you haven’t heard already…. Twitter is rolling out a new layout to the website with increased functionality and more user support.

Screen shot of New Twitter Courtesy of TechCrunch

According to Dick over 70% of Twitter users still use the website to send, receive, and interact with tweets and other users. Even though the stat has been touted around the web (for at least six months) it is hard for me to comprehend actually using Twitter.com. I have been an avid application user (Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, and CoTweet) for the past two years and it is highly unlikely I will move over to Twitter.com…. however the functionality is pretty sweet.

Laura Fitton (founder of OneForty – the Twitter application network) was nice enough to show me the functionality of the “New Twitter” while we were chatting in Indianapolis on Wednesday. In terms of increased support for your network… it is absolutely awesome. Twitter has taken top level functionality and dove deep. Could we say Facebook and LinkedIn were Twitter’s muse? Probably.

LinkedIn is powerful because it shows you the depth of your network and Facebook brings you a multitude of functionality to share information, video, pictures, and… basically… your life. Twitter is taking the “follower” to an entirely new level by showing the user a break down of their network… three layers deep.

Twitter is becoming a one stop destination for content and we could be witnessing an actual Facebook competitor.

Other posts about New Twitter:

• Behold… The New Twitter.com - TechCrunch

3 Rules for Twitter Growth and Safety!

We need you to be safe and courteous when using Twitter… period. It is important for all of us to remember three important rules when jumping into the world of tweeting.

1. Don’t Drive and Tweet

We should all know by now not to text and drive. Come on people! When Oprah says it… it’s LAW!

Yet we’ve still managed to find a loophole and (much to our grandmother’s horror) we’ve taken social networking to the streets. Although it should be common sense to not tweet and drive… sometimes you have a tweet that can’t wait. However fast you are at tweeting the consequences can be dire… like your car wrapped around a tree. This was the case for plastic surgeon, Dr. Frank Ryan,  who was tweeting before his fatal car crash on Monday,August 16. This is an issue that has received a ton of attention but not much has been done to prevent these texting/tweeting related accidents.

Unfortunately, teenage drivers are not the only offenders. Texting while driving is a serious issue for ALL drivers.A recent report from Pew’s Internet and American Life Project found on Mashable… reported that 47% of adult drivers admitted to sending or reading text messages while driving. Legislation has tried to create a ban on texting by implementing fines for doing so. Yet the threat doesn’t outweigh the urgency behind getting tweets out or answering a text. So in a situation where you get the itch to tweet and just can’t wait, don’t scratch….pull over.  The other drivers on the road, greatly appreciate it, as would your grandmother.

2. Personal Information

There’s such a thing as TMI: too much information. I don’t’ need to know certain things… as your follower… don’t get too graphic here so keep your personal business to yourself. Be careful when sharing information that could be potentially be embarrassing or even dangerous.

3.Give Props When Due

Tweeting can be a great way to share the love. That being said… give shout outs and retweets to others that have helped you out in the past. This will create good “Twitter Karma”… and we all want good Twitter Karma.  Also when blogging about something you read be sure to give that author the credit for their post. Don’t claim ideas as your own. A retweet is intended to give proper ownership so follow suit and give props to rightful creators.

What do you think about this? Is it a soon to be epidemic?

Essential Twitter Tips For Reaching Local Customers

Vince Robisch writes premium web content for businesses that believe their site is an extension of their brand. He believes keyword stuffing looks ridiculous and that Twitter can be used effectively by local businesses. You can find him at his personal blog Help Me Reinvent or on Twitter @vincerobisch as he feverishly prepares for the launch of his new site.

With over 100 million people estimated to be using Twitter, its worldwide reach is without question. Companies with an online presence like @DellOutlet and companies with physical locations around the world like @Starbucks have over two million followers collectively who can all be served via their computer or a short drive from wherever they are located. But how does a local business use Twitter? What if you need local customers and can’t do business with people outside of your limited geographical territory?

The answer is that Twitter can still be an extremely effective social media tool for a locally-based business. Regardless of your geographic reach, there are many techniques you will want to understand in using Twitter to grow your business. For a complete understanding of those techniques, you should just buy Kyle’s book, Twitter Marketing For Dummies and save yourself a significant amount of time trying to figure Twitter out on your own.

The goal of this post is to get you startedon a targeted local use of Twitter. This list will take you from creating your Twitter profile to actually converting a sale. Here are the essential Twitter building blocks for a business seeking local customers:

• Be A Person – People generally like to know who the person is on the other side of the Twitter account. At the very least, use your logo in your profile and have employees of your business be some of your followers. Many businesses have had success by an actual person (president/CEO) being the face of their Twitter account. You can still link your profile to your company website.
• Have A Conversation – Don’t just spam people with offers and tell them to come to your restaurant or store.
• Search For Your Company Name – Find out what people are saying (if anything) about your company and respond. Answering questions and responding to complaints can build serious goodwill in the Twitter community.
• Retweet – People really appreciate it if you retweet something interesting. It not only gives you more to tweet about, it builds a connection with the person you retweeted.
• Search For People To Follow Using Your Email Contact List - This will tell you who out of your actual customer base is using Twitter.
• Research Who Your Local Followers Are Interested In And Follow Them - If this is done in conjunction with the previous step, it’s almost like getting a free list of potential referrals.
• Use Search Tools To Find People In Your Geographical Area You can use the “Find People/Find on Twitter” tool with your Twitter account and search by city or state. You can also use tools like WeFollow, Twellowhood, and Tweepz, among others, to identify local accounts.
• Follow Local Businesses – Think of the local businesses that you frequent and follow them. They are likely to have a similar customer base.
• Don’t Follow Every Local Media Outlet – Many local radio and television stations have a HUGE following. The problem is that they also often don’t engage in a conversation. They simply tweet and don’t listen or respond. If you would like to possibly gain some media attention, follow specific individuals associated with the outlet that actually interact on Twitter.
• Follow National People That You Genuinely Like – It’s not a bad idea to show you have some interests outside of your neighborhood. One thing you might want to consider though is whether following certain people might alienate potential customers. For instance, do you really want to label your business with a certain political viewpoint based on who you are following?
• Let Twitter Do The Work For You – Twitter’s new “Suggestions for You” tool might make finding followers easier.
• Use TwitPics – Show some in-store and behind the scenes photos of your business. It gives people in the community a certain comfort level before they ever enter your physical location.
• Post Events – You might even offer a discount to your followers and tweet a specific promotional code.
• Promote Your Current Customers To Build Loyalty – Retweet their content or simply tweet something nice about @currentcustomer.
• Create An Event – Based on your research up to this point, determine the local influencers and invite them in for an event or give them a special offer.
• Wait Patiently For The Twitter Business Center To Launch.
• Send Out Instant Coupons – Gauge the responsiveness of your followers and encourage business on slow days.

The possibilities are endless. By now though, you should have enough information to take steps in utilizing Twitter to grow your local customer base. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and tweet your business to another level!

Why Are You On Twitter?

Erik lives in Marion Indiana where he recruits for Indiana Wesleyan University,and works with their Social Media Initiatives. He also cohosts a weekly podcast “Social Media Serenity” at http://socialmediaserenity.com Find him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/erikjfisher

Why are you on Twitter?

The most common answers fall somewhere in the realm of the following:

• Mini blogging

• Macro Texting

• Chatting

• Self-Promoting

• Marketing

• News Aggregating

• Spamming

Whatever your reason or motives, it’s a waste of time if no one reads what you write, right?

If your going to share, it makes sense to do it right. Sometimes the original writer gets it perfect and a Retweet, official or manual, will be just fine. Let’s move past the discussion of what method of Retweet is best, and on to an altogether new discussion.

What if the best way to share is to actually write your own tweet? Actually pull us in to the tweet by writing it well, and sharing it to your unique audience. The original tweet writer or blogger may not have packaged their ideas in a way that would draw in your followers, but if it’s something your interested in, perhaps your followers would appreciate seeing it, through your eyes.

Before you cry foul, let’s clarify something. I don’t count this as stealing or repurposing the content. It’s being a content curator. If the content you are pointing to is good, then it will maintain it’s own stickiness. Remember, something drew you to that content originally, and it was compelling enough to persuade you to share it.

If you write a tweet well, or Retweet a well-written tweet, it’s passing on a referral. You’re driving traffic to the originators site, how can they complain? I’ve found many blogs or websites that I’ve subscribed to as well as people to follow and interact with on Twitter due to others Retweets.

The best way to share is to use a URL shortener, and send a compelling tweet. You know your followers, and the reason they follow you, or at least you should. I polled my followers and those I follow that people follow me to hear about Tech or Social Media news, productivity tips, humor, and authenticity. Their words, not mine.