Twitter: Inane Chatter or Powerful Conversation Channel? Our Ford Story in 140 Characters
by Anne Deeter Gallaher

The power of social conversation and social networks in creating fresh marketing approaches is illustrated by a Deeter Gallaher Group case study that follows a car dealership’s foray into the stream of social media.

With the support of our innovation-game clientele, we are honing the two imperatives for anyone wishing to pursue successful social media campaigns: significant investment of time and dedicated people and financial resources.

To be effective in social media you must — engage people in two-way conversations, share ideas and information, measure results and opinions—there is no way to circumvent the huge investment of time and resources on the public timeline. These media platforms might be free for now—Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook—but the man hours and agency hours to create strategies, engage customers, and measure feedback is far from free. Tempering our insatiable desire to learn and absorb all this information with the economic realities of billable time is a Herculean struggle. I know we are not the only firm working to achieve this balance and trying to define the elusive ROI.

Do a quick search of the #marketing, #IABC, or #likeminds hashtags on Twitter, and you’ll find lively debate on social media’s ROI. Whether it’s Return on Investment for the CFOs, Return on Influence for the CMOs, or Return on Information for the CIOs, every client wants and deserves a measurable return.

Business owners and agencies alike wonder, What’s the best social media engagement for us to follow? Should we begin with a 10-page strategy or a one-page blog decision tree like the US Air Force? The good news is that there is no one prescribed methodology for social media success. Listening is not scientific, and it doesn’t take a degree in marketing to glean results from your efforts.

For us, we have created a blend of traditional and social media that is producing impressive returns for our clients. Our latest case study involves Pennsylvania Ford dealer LB Smith Ford Lincoln Mercury, Ford Motor Company, and social media marketing. This is our version of The Ford Story:

1. Engage in social media first by listening to people of influence. Ford’s Global Digital Communications Director, @ScottMonty, tops our list of communicators who provide highly informed, highly valued tweets. His Social Media Marketing Blog is a perfect place for businesses to learn the art and influence of social media.

We engaged with Scott on Twitter and have learned an MBA’s worth of strategy and networking just from listening to him. Soon our listening turned to talking (that’s happened on several occasions with our Twitter friends like @HowellMarketing, @TrendTracker, @CMEGroup).

More important, On June 24, 2009, we brought him to Harrisburg for a professional development seminar on Social Media and Business co-sponsored by Deeter Gallaher Group, LB Smith Ford Lincoln Mercury, and the Harrisburg Chapter of IABC.

Ford’s success in the social media realm has attracted international industry attention and a branding award by the Society for New Communications Research, as well as a recent surprise $1 billion profit announced in the WSJ.

2. Communicate to all your audiences. The printed word is not dead, declares Tyler Cowen in his opening sentence of Three Tweets for the Web. But how can you garner the greatest media mileage from an article that’s in print? A perfect meld of traditional and social media can begin with the op-ed or an 800-word column “opposite the editorial” in a publication.

More over, On May 29, our client Richard E. Jordan II (@RichardEJordan2) wrote an 800-word op-ed that was printed in the Central Penn Business Journal’s transportation issue. Rick Jordan is CEO of LB Smith Ford Lincoln Mercury, in Lemoyne, PA, the number 1 dealer in the Philadelphia region. As part of a campaign that includes full-color ads, targeted event sponsorships, and public relations, Rick’s op-ed offered timely C-level insight in his own words. Teamed with social media, the op-ed packs a strong communications punch.

3. Take it into the social web. As soon as the Central Penn Business Journal ran the article and posted it to their Web site on Friday, May 29, we began tweeting it (which drives traffic to the business journal’s site as well) and linked it to Rick Jordan’s two company Web sites: www.LBSmithFord.com and www.SmithLandUSA.com.

It’s wise to tweet articles using a measurement tool like bit.ly so clients and agencies have an accurate analytic of the force of social mentions. Within a few hours, ““Is Ford at a Competitive Disadvantage? PA Ford Dealer Responds” was tweeted and retweeted across the public timeline.

It caught the attention of @ScottMonty and @Ford. The quality and value of the conversation on Twitter is what propels retweets, so in blog postings or guest columns be careful not to minimize the credibility of powerful language and clear writing. The influence from retweets is vast and deep, forming simultaneous media channels. In addition to Ford dealers on Twitter who retweeted Rick’s op-ed, the article was retweeted by @riGMBlog, @DrivenMediaComm, @nadaguides, @dtdbob3 and throughout central Pennsylvania.

4. Capture the serious attention of C-levels. Knowing how authentic and innovation-focused Mr. Mulally Ford’s CEO is, I felt he would appreciate reading what Rick Jordan had written as “a Ford foot soldier on the front lines of American car manufacturing.”

The day the op-ed ran, I sent an email to Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally with the article link in it. Was this a long shot? Perhaps. Do CEOs really care what people say about their brand? The great ones do. Rick Jordan had quoted Scott Monty, Alan Mulally, and Bill Ford in his fresh perspective on the automotive industry from the dealer’s viewpoint.

5. Never underestimate the power of conversation. The following Monday morning, Mr. Mulally sent a personal email with genuine remarks and appreciation for the “PA Ford dealer” viewpoint. He sent Rick Jordan a personal email as well. Astonishingly, our email exchanges were in the midst of GM declaring bankruptcy on June 1. As a Fortune 10 executive, Mr. Mulally certainly has global concerns that demand his attention, but his willingness to listen and respond to a Ford dealer’s first-person perspective defines his leadership style and successes.

The lesson is that social media conversations are extremely important to a company’s marketing and branding strategy. It’s also an opportunity to carry timely, unfiltered business information straight to the corner suite.

Is Ford listening? Absolutely. Are your customers listening? Yes. Are you telling your story? Social media demands a top-down mandate. If the CEO of Ford Global deems it valuable to sit with his Social Media director Scott Monty and engage consumers in two-way conversations, then certainly it’s a wholesale embrace of new media channels by Ford. Mr. Mulally has invited the “empowered consumer” into Ford’s product decision-making through blogs, the Fiesta movement, and The Ford Story video collection. Clearly the public has responded with renewed brand enthusiasm.

What did the LB Smith Ford CEO Rick Jordan think of our traditional and social media marriage? “I am a social media believer, and although I’m not in my 30s, you’ll find me on Twitter (@RichardEJordan2) and below on YouTube.

“I understand my role as the CEO involves communicating with our customers and the community in many different channels.”

Beginning on Twitter, Rick’s conversations with @ScottMonty evolved into a conversation with Alan Mulally, and he has now achieved a social media Grand Slam. Mr. Alan Mulally will be the first honoree at The Second Mile’s “Celebration of Leadership 2010” event in Hershey, PA, sponsored by LB Smith Ford Lincoln Mercury.

“We are thrilled to invite and honor Mr. Mulally to tell the Ford story of turning the Ford ship around to 1,200 people in our business community,” says Rick.
“Our social media investment and commitment to a conversation has yielded more Return on Investment, Influence, and Information than we have ever imagined.”

The Deeter Gallaher Group, a Harrisburg-based marketing firm, has always taken pride in its tagline: “Powerful language. Smart marketing.SM” The advent of social media, however, has caused us to internally recognize a new ethos: “Powerful conversation. Smart marketing.”

Anne Deeter Gallaher is owner and CEO of the Deeter Gallaher Group LLC, a marketing/ad/PR firm in Mechanicsburg, PA, delivering Powerful language. Smart marketing?.

She can be reached at ADG [AT] DeeterGallaherGroup.com and @AnneDGallaher on Twitter.

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We Care: 5 Easy Steps to Make Listening a Form of Activity

By Anne Deeter Gallaher

Are you tired of reading and hearing about Twitter? You’re bombarded by social media seminars. And now your clients have started asking whether their businesses should have a LinkedIn account, a Facebook fan page, a Twitter profile, or all of the above. (For a complete social media platform base, you’ll also need a blog, a YouTube account, Flickr, and Digg!) It’s time to conquer social media anxiety and join the conversation.

Where should you begin? With the same basic communications protocol @DaleCarnegie explained in 1936. In chapter four of How to Win Friends and Influence People, “An Easy Way to Become a Good Conversationalist,” Carnegie writes about former Harvard president Charles W. Eliot, who said, “There is no mystery about successful business [conversation]. Exclusive attention to the person speaking to you…Nothing else is so flattering as that.” Carnegie observed that “Dr. Eliot’s listening was not mere silence, but a form of activity.”

For a business owner, the thought of paying employees or agencies to listen in silence in social media channels seems wasteful. Businesses need customers, not conversation monitors. Or do they?

The most successful businesses understand their markets, their customers, and their suppliers. The best companies are futurists, trendseekers, customer-centric, and great listeners. The quickest way to forge connections in all these areas is the public timeline, and the ROI can be immediate. By following Ford’s @ScottMonty or @comcastcares you’ll quickly discover the value they bring to their companies just by listening.

Although it’s hard to convince management and clients that being productive now includes listening to hundreds of 140-character tweets or reading industry blog posts from consumer bloggers, that’s precisely the truth. New media has snatched new mindshare, and business media channels no longer cater to the elite. Consumer opinion rules.

To ease into the conversations, here are some simple steps to help you find and listen to people in the social media sphere:

1. Choose one or two platforms to engage in. While you are “doing” business—producing, servicing, selling—smart companies are listening to conversations about their competition and searching the public timeline for opportunities to create their own Blue Ocean Strategy. Listening on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and reading blog posts from consumers in your industry provides enough data to develop a competitive landscape. What’s your competition doing? Who are their customers? Is there a need being unfulfilled? Is there a weakness? Is there a service delivered unsatisfactorily, hence an opportunity? You’ll find your answers in social media channels.

2. Choose what topics to listen in on. Dedicate at least one hour per day to explore conversations of interest and consequence. On Twitter, use the Search function to find people talking about your products or to discover wholesale conversations on your topic—energy, analytics, IT, commercial real estate, non-profits. On Tweetdeck, you can organize your columns by topics and listen to real-time, continuous conversations. As a branding firm, we listen to @Wegmans, @Ford, @comcastcares, @JetBlue, and @Gevalia. We listen to streaming topics which are connoted by a hashtag—anyone talking about #IABC, #marketing, #PR, #likeminds, #entrepreneurs, and #CEOs is noteworthy to us. It won’t take long to find pertinent topics to listen to and influencers in your fields of interest.

3. Choose who to listen to within a topic. You can’t possibly listen to everyone who’s sharing online, but you can discern who is sharing the best content and who has valuable connections. Find the industry experts by evaluating their tweets. Unfollow the people who don’t add value. We listen to PR colleagues @HowellMarketing, @MikeLizun, @SueYoungMedia, @thinkBIG_Blog, @AmberCadabra, @demicooper, and @kimschaumann around the world and learn from them. We read their case studies and comment on their blogs.

Who are the influencers in your field? Glen Gilmore (@TrendTracker) has developed such a strong knowledge-flow and group of followers that he is a media channel himself. The quality and value of his tweets attracts more than 60,000 followers who use him as a Search engine. Follow the people he tweets and retweets.

4. Listen to countertrend and divergent views. Try not to follow only like minds. Listen to those who rebuke social media and who have opposing political, trade, and business views. Learn why people feel social media is a fad and from that column, you will discover more influencers. Read a mashup of blog posts and comments from sites not related to your field to make your own product and consumer research richer. Regardless of industry, listen to local (@CPBJ, @andreacecil, @bydanielvictor) and national media (@WSJ and @USAToday) and local and national businesses (@Starbucks, @DunkinDonuts, @JetBlue, @mayoclinic, @Nordstrom). Listen to leaders and CEOs like @CEO_INGDIRECT, @jack_welch, @shelisrael, and @Scobleizer.

5. Build a rich personal and business community by listening. You can quickly discover where @SuzyWelch is on her new book tour, what new fast food account @ThePowerofSmall won, or what @garyvee says about wine. Your community on Twitter will be filled with people who are passionate about writing books, raising children, starting businesses, running governments, protesting governments, training for Ironman competitions, and curing cancers. Listening to them is the foundation to building your community.

Frank Eliason is @comcastcares and tweets from Philadelphia. His job is to “listen” to Comcast customers who seek his advice and tech help or who need to rant or rave about Comcast’s service. His real value is to be the ears of the corporation. The biggest signal he sends Comcast customers is that he is listening to them—Comcast Cares.

By engaging in social media for marketing, knowledge, or friendships, you are initiating a two-way conversation that begins with listening. And that sends a powerful message that says “I care.”

If you missed my first “Featured” article title: “Twitter: Inane Chatter or Powerful Conversation Channel?” just click on the link. It’s a Powerful In-depth Case Study on Ford Motors Enjoy

The Deeter Gallaher Group, a Harrisburg-based marketing firm, has always taken pride in its tagline: “Powerful language. Smart marketing.SM” The advent of social media, however, has caused us to internally recognize a new ethos: “Powerful conversation. Smart marketing.”

Anne Deeter Gallaher is owner and CEO of the Deeter Gallaher Group LLC, a marketing/ad/PR firm in Mechanicsburg, PA, delivering Powerful language. Smart marketing?.

She can be reached at ADG [AT] DeeterGallaherGroup.com and @AnneDGallaher on Twitter.

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Position2, By Mary Ann Johnson — Author and technologist Nicholas Carr says, “Twitter is the telegraph system of Web 2.0.” The New York Times has mentioned that Twitter is one of the fastest-growing phenomena on the Internet.

Only a few brands skimmed off profits from Twitter and others just tweeted about some direct marketing stuff. However, there are numerous ways you can leverage Twitter for your business and improve your bottom line. Here is the one-stop Twitter guide for business.

Get started with the Twitter Guide

1. Create a Twitter account

2. Make sure, that you have selected a unique vanity URL for your Twitter account

3. Upload an image and customize your profile image using this tool: Twitter Images

4. Include a link to your corporate website

5. Promote your Twitter presence on your corporate website, client emails, etc.

SEO juice – Recently, Google started indexing tweets; these tips could help you optimize your Twitter account.

6. Include your brand name as the title of your profile

7. Use the Google keywords tool and shortlist important keywords relevant to your products

8. Include those keywords in your bio

9. Use keywords in the first 30 characters of your tweets in order to be optimized by Google

10. Get re-tweeted and increase backlinks for your content

A “following” strategy – This will help you to connect with your target audience.

11. Identify your target audience based on their interests

12. Use hashtags “#” (Hashtags are a community-driven convention to add additional context and metadata to your tweets) to search for your target audience using this tool: Wefollow

13. Use more directories for search such as: Twellow etc.

14. Follow the influencers in your industry using this tool: Twitalyzer

Identify local Twitter users or tweeple – If you are a company that serves only a particular location, networking with local tweeple will add more value to your business.

15. Follow influencers in your location using this tool: Twitterholic This tool lists all the influencers on Twitter, based on the number of followers and location.

16. Enter keywords relevant to your product and use the “near this place” option in Twitter’s advanced search to identify tweeple who are interested in your product

17. Search for tweeple near your location using this tool: Tweepz

18. Network with local tweeple by searching for them with hashtags, using this tool: Localtweeps

How to make your tweets effective

19. If you prefer Web tweeting, use this tool: Twitzap for advanced features

20. Download Tweetdeck for more power tweeting from your desktop

21. You can add additional Twitter accounts in Tweetdeck and control them using a single application

22. Schedule important tweets in advance using this tool:Socialoomph

23. Use: Cotweet for collaborative tweeting

What to tweet on – Starting and joining the right conversation(s) will give you more exposure.

24. Post tweets based on the interests of your followers

25. Search for topics relevant to your product(s) and talk to influencers

26. Use hashtags to power the conversation

27. Post tweets about useful links and articles

28. Use: Happin to talk about the trends in your locality.

Twit research – Twitter is a good source for market data as prospective customers are present there.

29. Finalize the sample size of the search.

30. List hashtags relevant to your research objective

31. Get secondary data for your research based on hashtags by using this tool: Twubs

32. Analyze hashtags relevant to your research using this tool: Trendrr

Get feedback –As Twitter is a real-time medium, organizations use Twitter to get direct feedback from customers.

33. Get feedback from customers and other tweeple by replying and directly messaging them

34. Use hashtags to organize the feedback

35. Get feedback from local tweeple using this tool: NearbyTweets

36. Use: Twtpoll to conduct a simple survey in Twitter to get real-time feedback

37. Post new product screenshots in Twitpic and get instant feedback from your followers

Twit hiring – If you are looking to hire people for your organization, Twitter is another source to find the right talent.

38. Search for job seekers near your location using advanced search features in Twitter public search

39. Use hashtags in your tweets to reach active job seekers

40. Post tweets to announce benefits such as perks, allowances, etc. for the job(s) you offer

41. Use: Twitpic to share corporate events to show job seekers your organization’s work culture

42. You can also use Twitter to conduct background checks on employees by using the Twitter advanced public search.

Tweetup – “Is an organized or impromptu gathering of people that use Twitter.” Tweetup is an excellent platform to promote products among local Tweeple.

43. Search for a Tweetup near your location using: NearbyTweets

44. Organize a Tweetup in your locality using this tool: Twtvite

45. Pitch for influencers in your location by attending Tweetups.

46. Give away promo codes to attendees in the Tweetup to spread your product virally.

Follow your competition – This can give you insights on what your competitors are working on.

47. Follow your competitors on Twitter.

48. Use Twitter public search to get more insights on competitors’ activities

49. Analyze their Twitter account and follower patterns using: Tweetstats

50. Compare your network statistics with competitors using: Twitterfriends
Twit coupons

51. Increase sales for your business by giving exclusive coupons to your followers

52. Use Twtqpon to distribute coupons via Twitter

53. Get your tweets indexed in Cheaptweet by using cheaptweet hashtag and increase exposure for your deals

Twitter promotion

54. Now you can run sweepstakes offers via Twitter to create brand awareness, increase sales, etc.

55. Set the objective for Twitter promotion

56. Make sure that there is no bias in your promotion and be transparent in what you offer

57. To participate in the offer, ask users to include hashtags in their tweets

58. Track the performance of your campaign using this trend-tracking tool: Trendrr

59. Make sure that you do not spam your followers and avoid sending too many tweets about your sweepstakes offers

60. Calculate the ROI of the campaign by breaking it down into: Number of new followers gained, products sold, new visitors to the websites, etc.

Blog sync

61. Increase traffic to your blog by using this auto-feed tool, Twitterfeed

62. Tweet the comments in your blog using this wordpress plug-in: Comment Writer

63. Include your Twitter conversations in your blog using this wordpress plug-in: Twitter Conversations

64. Include a retweet button in your blog to spread it virally using Twitter. You can install the retweet button from here: Tweetmeme

Facebook sync

65. A Facebook page is a marketing channel for most brands. A marriage between Facebook and Twitter will initiate greater engagement and conversations

66. Integrate your Facebook page with Twitter using this Facebook application: Facebook Apps.

67. Avoid spamming your fans in your Facebook page with too many Twitter updates

68. Use this application: Facebook App. to post selective Twitter updates

Press Release Optimization

69. Get more exposure for your Press Releases (PR) by sharing them on Twitter

70. Use keywords in the first 30 characters of your PR tweet for SEO

71. Ask your followers to retweet your PRs to spread them virally

72. Use hashtags to track the PRs

73. Deliver your PRs to top journalists on Twitter using this paid service: Press Releases

74. Analyze the number of tweets your PR receives using: Trendrr

Direct messages (DM) for direct marketing – DM’s are new way to market your product via Twitter

75. Avoid sending DMs to all of your followers

76. Analyze the interests of your followers before sending them DMs

77. Customize your offering in DM based on followers’ demographics

78. Avoid using automated tools for sending DM’s

79. Always maintain a human touch while sending DMs

Brand monitoring

80. Monitor real-time conversations about your brand in Twitter to understand customers’ linguistics

81. To start with, use a simple tool like Twitter public search

82. Monitor various keywords associated with your brand using this tool: Monitter

83. Manage multiple Twitter accounts and brand monitoring using one single tool: Splitweet

84. Paid tools like Radian6 provide many insights along with real-time brand monitoring

Customer support

85. Sometimes your brand will get punk’d in Twitter and customer support plays a vital role to protect your brand from crisis

86. Monitor your brand in real-time and respond to various customer tweets before a brand crisis occurs

87. Assign different queries to employees in concerned departments using: Cotweet

88. Set up a 24/7 automated response for customers’ tweets by using this tool: Localbunny

89. Analyze the number of issues solved via Twitter to measure ROI

Twitter Insights

90. Measure your Twitter performance using parameters like retweet rank, Click Through Rate (CTR) of your tweets, follower count etc.

91. Find your retweet rank using: RetweetRank

92. Track the CTR of your tweets by using short URL services like: http://bit.ly/

93. Analyze your web traffic from Twitter by adding UTM parameters in each tweet link using this tool: UTM-Google Analytics
94. Analyze your follower count at: TwitterCounter

95. Find which tweets help you gain or lose followers, using: TweetEffect

96. Measure your share of voice by using tools like Radian6

Security tips

97. Never use third party Twitter applications that do not support Oath authentication

98. Use strong passwords to protect your account from hackers. Use this tool: Strong Password Generator to generate strong passwords

99. If any security lapses occur on Twitter, change your password immediately

100. Do not click any links in DMs from strangers.

About Position2 — Position2 is a leading Search & Social Media Marketing firm that delivers continuous growth for its customers through its proprietary “Surround & Intent Marketing” methodology. The company’s adaptive technology solutions are customizable to customers’ evolving marketing needs.

It delivers integrated Search & Social Media Marketing solutions that engages prospects at multiple touch-points in the online environment.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/position2 – Website: http://www.Position2.com

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Howell Marketing, By Amy Howell — Advice I give my clients often is that you have to tell your own story or someone else will tell it for you. There’s been a lot of focus lately on the dynamic, changing role of social media in journalism and PR and I am amazed by the sheer volume of information on Twitter everyday. Last week I successfully demonstrated to a new client how her iPhone and Twitter could help her advance her business.

She’s committed and is appreciating this newfound leverage which we both believe will yield added revenue to her business. Oh how I love the process of conversion! However, the corporate jury of social media is still out and, for a business to use Twitter, it has to have what I call the 3 Business T’s: Telling, Talented and Tangible.

Telling: PR is about storytelling and to quote a fellow Twitter friend (@TrendTracker) “nothing thrives more in social media than a rich character.” I believe smart companies and organizations (especially non-profits) will benefit greatly by telling their own, unique story through the social media channels.

It’s both what you say (content) and how you say it (style, message). Clients I’m helping use Twitter to tell their story include restaurants, non-profits, and even a real estate professional. We’re taking the strongest, most compelling information about their business and posting it strategically on Twitter. And we’re following the people who want to hear those messages.

Blended with traditional PR and marketing, Twitter is like adding a megaphone to your business’ communication plan. There’s no limit to the number of people who can see tweets and can re-tweet them (like compounding interest).

Talented: The talented are thriving on Twitter! You don’t have to look far down your Twitter “stream” to see real talent right there in front of you. I’m getting direct access to some of the best PR folks out there such as @MikeLizun, @TheRealPRMan, @markwschaefer, just to name a few, and businesses can access these folks too!

If you want talent in the social media world, look no further than @jeffbullas, @socialnetdaily, @trendtracker, @mashable (of course), @treypennington, @Twitter_Tips. So much talent, not enough time to learn it all! I am working now with clients to help them identify talent that’s on Twitter and that is relevant to their business. Once identified, we follow, listen, learn and apply complimentary strategies!

Tangible: In the corporate world, everything revolves around one thing: revenue. As a small business owner myself, you have to financially benefit from Twitter and social media or you can spin your wheels and end up with a lot of wasted time and the doubters who will love to say “I told you so”.

So, here’s what Twitter HAS to do for your business:

It has to provide tangible results. Can you point to a new client as a result of being on Twitter? Have you found a new employee through Twitter? Have you had more traffic in your restaurant because of Twitter? Can you point to news coverage for your business as a result of being on Twitter? The real strategy with Twitter’s tangibility for results is in what you say (content is king), how you say it (strategic style) and how often you tweet (consistent messaging).

For more helpful insights, tips and ‘Breaking New’ you can reach Amy here:

Amy Howell, President and CEO, Howell Marketing Strategies, LLC

408 S. Front Street, Suite 104 Memphis, TN 38103

(901) 521-1453 office – (901) 351-7186 cell

Web: http://www.Howell-Marketing.com – Twitter: hhttp://twitter.com/HowellMarketing

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Like anything, and this is especially true of working with social media, the more you give, the more you get. In other words, the more often you tweet the more activity you’ll generate. Some suggest that you tweet a few times a day, every day. Not every tweet needs to be profound. But they should all be useful.

It’s important that you don’t abuse Twitter for marketing and promoting your products, services or affiliate links. Most of your tweets ought to be about offering your followers useful and valuable information. Only once in a while should you try to use Twitter to promote something. Otherwise you’ll be perceived as a spammer, and no one wants that tag.

Imagine if you had a large number of people following your tweets? Some people have tens of thousands following them. If you had something to promote and you had a large following, you could quickly and efficiently alert a lot of people of your promo. It acts sort of like a mass emailíng blast to your house email list, but it’s a heck of a lot easier and faster. This is the power of Twitter.

One thing that I’ve noticed with Twitter is that it can seem overwhelming at times. The sheer information on Twitter, the ‘how-to’s’, tutorials and all the other ubiquitous advice on how to use and take advantage of it can seem hard to understand and implement. So here’s an easy-to-understand list of the top ten ways in which you can use Twitter to market yourself, your business and your website.

The Top 10 Ways To Use Twitter for Marketing:

1. Use it to promote new pieces of content you or your company create to drive traffic to your site. From online articles to blog posts or from videos to webinars, each time you add something to the Web that is of value, tweet about it and include a link. (Most people on Twitter usewww.TinyURL.com to take a long URL and make it short.)

2. Use it for learning new marketing ideas, strategies and techniques. If you follow the right people, and you have to be picky about who you follow, you’ll get pointed to a good amount of useful tutorials, videos, e-zines and other things that teach you about marketing.

3. Use it to get new customers. Use Twitter’s search to find people who may be interested in your product or service. There are many ingenious ways to search for people on Twitter. For example, if you sell red widgets you could go to http://search.twitter.com and find people who have tweeted specifically looking for red widgets. To do this, type the following into the search box: red widgets?

• You’ll notice a lot of the results will be of others selling red widgets. These ones will all obviously have links in them to direct people to the site they’re selling red widgets on. To weed these people/tweets out, use the negative sign like this: -http red widgets?

• Since every link has ‘http’ in it, using the negative sign in front of it will cause your search results to not include any tweets with links in them.

4. Use it to build your email list. Use Twitter’s search to find people who may be interested in the monthly newsletter you send out to your house email list. Invite these people to join.

5. Utilize Twitter plugins or add-ons such as TweetMyBlog or The Twitter Updater, which both automatically make tweets of every new blog post you publish. Also check out TwitThis. When visitors to your website click on the TwitThis button or link, it takes the URL of the Web page and creates a shorter URL using TinyURL. Then visitors can send this shortened URL and a description of the web page to all of their followers on Twitter.

Finally, look at TweetLater, a service that allows you to write lots of tweets at once and then schedule them to go out over time.

Get The Full Story and (5) Additional Ways Here, Enjoy

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Howell Marketing, By Amy Howell — I have written often about all the reasons I use Twitter—and the list continues to grow. The most important way I use Twitter is in the strategy of who I follow and what I keep up with. For example, I follow the national and local media on Twitter, other professionals in my industry and most importantly my clients and thought leaders in my clients’ industries. Not a day goes by that I don’t get the “ROI” (return on investment) question.

My perspective on this as it relates to Twitter is based on the understanding that for me, Twitter is all about getting real time, great information as well as communicating with those that can add value to your life and business. So often I come back with this question: How can you measure the ROI of conversation? Isn’t that what’s at the “heart” of social media? Don’t we all use conversation to generate revenue in most businesses?

As I work with clients in the traditional space of PR and marketing we are increasingly applying social media strategies mainly to their communications and PR efforts. Through this dynamic and rapidly changing process, I often find myself doubting, questioning my own opinions and challenging my brain to think differently—as a skeptic of social media. That is a difficult thing for someone who loves “conversation.”

More important, as a communicator and advocate of using social media for business, I am committed to think seriously about the other side of the coin and—by doing so—I am becoming better at my pitch and persuasion tactics. One thing I will tell you for sure is that the internet is not going away and as social media will continue to evolve, but today I read that 42 million women use social media and they are the consumers most corporations need to reach!

So here are the ‘Top’ skeptical comments brought straight to you by real life experience:

Skeptic 1: “Twitter is a Time Waster”

My Common Response: It certainly can be, but it can also be a time saver as it will help you organize information and easily sort out what you want to see, find what you need and monitor what your customers are doing. (Ah-ha! That will start the questions)

Skeptic 2: “I mean, who cares what you are drinking, eating, going to…I mean I don’t even care what other people do! Who wants to know that stuff?”

My Common Response: Absolutely true! You should only follow those that give you information you want. (Huh? This usually results in raising of eyebrows, scratching of head, more spamming of questions) People who say this obviously are not on Twitter and have no idea how much information (information + communication = profit) that can be derived from being on Twitter.

Skeptic 3: “I don’t even have time to answer all my e-mail much less Twitter!”

My Common Response: You can answer 10,000 people at one time. Can’t pay for that kind of word of mouth advertising, huh?

Skeptic 4: “That chatter out there is too noisy and I have no idea what I’d say”

My Common Response: How about finding 500 of your best clients, friends and prospects and saying what you know is great about your business? (hmmm…they are thinking about all the money they spent on print advertising maybe)

Skeptic 5: “Nobody can measure the ROI of social media”

My Common Response: Do you value communication and efficiency in mass spreading of information for your business?

Skeptic 6: “Most companies aren’t using social media and many are opting out of it”

My Common Response: Thanks to Twitter, I can show you many examples of those that are using social media successfully and I can get you real time stats on what corporations are doing right now in the social media space (Did I mention Twitter is my CIO—Chief Information Officer)

Skeptic 7: “It’s a fad like all other technology”

My Common Response: The internet is not a fad. Then I whip out the latest article in the NYTimes about growing trends in social media (amazing how quoting the NYTimes can help with persuasion: Oh and I just saw on Twitter that they now have over 2 million followers!)

Skeptic 8: “I don’t have time”

My Common Response: Neither do I

Skeptic 9: “I don’t like people knowing so much about me”

My Common Response: Control your message (As I say all the time, be careful what you post on the internet. Comments are 3 things: Global, Permanent, and Discoverable—as in a court of law).

Skeptic 10: “I don’t get it and I don’t want to”

My Common Response: OK, let’s find you somebody who does (often times if we can find a social media champion, we can at least get businesses to monitor what’s going on).

If Twitter is anything to me and my clients, it’s easily a monitoring tool and, for me, it’s information that I use daily: news, trends, best practices, great blogs by smart people, statistics, great resources, etc. It’s like having your own Chief Information Officer!

For more helpful insights, tips and ‘Breaking New’ you can reach Amy here:

Amy Howell, President and CEO, Howell Marketing Strategies, LLC

408 S. Front Street, Suite 104 Memphis, TN 38103

(901) 521-1453 office – (901) 351-7186 cell

Web: http://www.Howell-Marketing.com – Twitter: hhttp://twitter.com/HowellMarketing

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With the huge outbreak in the online media and platforms like, blogs, forums, microblogs and different types of social networking sites people have an effective place to express their opinions and influence others. In the online world people own the brand. Social Media Monitoring is to keep track of all the conversations happening in the online world.

Social Media Monitoring is all about figuring on what the objectives are, listening, refining the talks, analyzing and taking action. Social Media Monitoring and analysis can be used by a brand to improve a product, get feedbacks, customer service, market research or any marketing and communication.

Listen: It is very important to “listen” to what people are talking about your brand, your competitors and the industry as a whole. People and their opinions influence your customers. Watch out for any complaints against you or your competitors, as it is the best opportunity to showcase your customer service to them and show that you care and value customers.

Potential customers also look for others opinions before they make the purchase decision.

Participate: It not about just listening, you need to get engaged and converse with people. If you respond timely to any of the questions it reassures the faith in your brand among the people. Even if your brand is not talked about its essential to know the key influencers and what are they talking about. Make a plan and start conversation at relevant places and establish your footprint so that you are equipped for any future talks of your brand.

Respond: When you are monitoring the conversations you know the happenings and can implement relevant responses. A proper response goes a long way in spreading the good about your brand in these times of the ripple effect like Twitter.

Tools: There are many paid and free tools to keep a tab on the conversations. It could be as simple as setting an alert through Google, Yahoo etc, searching for your brand name or the relevant keywords on Twitter, Social Media aggregators like Social Mention, Same Point, Backtype.

There are paid tools, which help in monitoring and analyzing the brand such as radian6, Collective intellect, TechrigySM2 to name a few.

About Position2 — Position2 is a leading Search & Social Media Marketing firm that delivers continuous growth for its customers through its proprietary “Surround & Intent Marketing” methodology. The company’s adaptive technology solutions are customizable to customers’ evolving marketing needs.

It delivers integrated Search & Social Media Marketing solutions that engages prospects at multiple touch-points in the online environment.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/position2 – Website: http://www.Position2.com

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1. Authorize your API connections. It seems like every other week a new Twitter scam pops up sending DMs on behalf of many unsuspecting users. Of course you can change your password to protect yourself, but many apps require an authorization for your account. Be sure to check http://twitter.com/account/connections to make sure everything there is legitimate.

2. Twitter provides their own widgets. There are apps galore out there, but did you know Twitter has developed their own series of widgets for you to use on websites, blogs and elsewhere? Check out http://twitter.com/goodies/widgets to find widgets to show search results, your recent tweets, or your favorite tweets. Here’s a quick sample of a search widget, showing scrolling chatter ahead of the 2nd TWTRCON conference coming up on October 22 in DC (want to attend? I have a 20% discount code: TWTRAC – I think the agenda is shaping up to beat the first one in SF earlier this year…) [Reading via feed? Please click through to the post to see the widget.]

Get The Full Story Here, Enjoy

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Ten Ways To Increase Your Twitter Followers:

1. Explain to your followers what retweeting is and encourage them to retweet your links. Retweeting pushes your @username into foreign social graphs, resulting in clicks back to your profile. Track your retweets using retweetist.

2. Fill out your bio. Your latest tweets and @replies don’t mean much to someone that doesn’t know you. Your bio is the only place you have to tell people who you are. Also, your bio is displayed on Twitter’s Suggested Users page. Leaving it blank or non-descriptive doesn’t encourage people to add you.

3. As @garyvee says, “link it up.” Put links to your Twitter profile everywhere. Link it on your Digg, LinkedIn, Facebook, blog, email signature, and everywhere else you live online. Also, check out the great feedburner-like badges from TwitterCounter for your blog.

4. Tweet about your passions in life and #hash tag them. Quality content coupled with an easy way to find it never fails. If others enjoy your content, they’ll add you. Learn more about #hash tagging here.

5. Bring your twitter account into the physical world. Every time I give a talk, speak on a panel, shoot a podcast, present slides, or hand out business cards, I figure out a way to broadcast or display my twitter account.

6. Take pictures. Pictures are heavily retweeted/spread around. This one from US Airways Flight 1549 has been viewed 350,000+ times. For mobile pics use iPhone apps such as Tweetie or Twitterific, both which support on the go uploading.

7. Start a contest. @jasoncalacanis offered a free macbook air if he reached the #1 most followed spot. That never happened, but Jason added thousands of followers…brilliant.

8. Follow the top twitter users and watch what they tweet. Pay attention to the type of content they sent out and how they address their audiences.

9. Reply to/get involved in #hash tag memes. search.twitter.com lists the hot ‘trending topics. Look for the #hash topics and jump in on the conversation (see #4 for links to #hash instructions).

10. Track your results. TwitterCounter will show you how many new users you’re adding per day and Qwitter will email you when someone unfollows you after a tweet.

If you enjoy this content, add me at twitter.com/kevinrose, thank you.

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Twitter has two main components. Just like other social networking sites, you can add “followers” and follow other people as well. They’ll receive your updates and you’ll receive theirs. However, your messages are limited to 140 characters, which is why some people call it a “micro-blogging” tool. You have to keep your messages brief and to the point.

I would like to share with you some practical ways to create an instant flow of new traffic to your blog or website as well as how to add brand new subscribers to your mailing list.

Here are some tips to begin receiving active traffic from Twitter…..

1. Establish your Twitter brand: Even though you want to be personable on Twitter, you still want to portray your status as an “authority” in your area of expertise. So, don’t use Twitter as an hourly diary of your life as some do. Mix your posts or “tweets” up with industry-relevant links in addition to your personal activities and opinions. And by all means get a custom graphic background designed that is nice looking and includes the web address of your website and blog.

2. Begin to follow people: All this means is that you sign up to receive their messages. If you follow them, they will most likely follow you. This is the most prevalent strategy being used to acquire followers. Be sure to thank people when they follow you either by @ reply or direct message.

You can use the search feature in Twitter (search.twitter.com) or you can search Google.com (keywords site:twitter.com) and find the people you want to follow – just put in the search terms you are looking for. If you want to find authors in Australia, go for it. If you want to find local people to network with, that’s fine, too. Just search.

Important note: When filling out your bio in your Twitter profile, be sure to include several relevant keywords so you can be found when people search for folks to follow.

3. Be interactive and social with replies. Make sure you ask and answer questions and give value to the community. You don’t have to say anything profound – just relevant. Post a reply. When you type in a regular message, people may reply to your post. You’ll see your user name with the symbol @ before it when someone replies to your message. You can respond to other people the same way. You simply type @ and then their user name directly after that (no spaces) and then your reply.

4. Ask questions and surveys: You can increase your relationship with your followers by asking questions. Ask people for advice, what they think of the latest news story or their opinion on a topic. Survey your followers regarding a hot topic or if they think your latest blog post is accurate.

5. Utilize direct messages: If you want to send a private message to someone that no one else can see, you can send a direct message. You’ll also receive messages from others and be notified via e-mail when someone direct messages you. Use a service like Tweetlater.com or Socialtoo.com to automatically thank new followers with a direct message. Don’t forget to include a link to your website or blog in the note.

6. Take advantage of retweets: A retweet is when a Twitter user copies a twitter message from another Twitter user in their network and shares it with their network, thereby mentioning the author of the original Twitter message (example – Retweet: @originalposter The 15 Best Tips http://tinyurl.com/56f – great tips). Retweets that contain value can impress your followers, help establish your brand, and build a relationship with the original poster.

7. Start “tweeting” right away. The best way to get followers is to say something – your tweets will come up in searches, so make sure you say things that reflect you well. Say things that are relevant and not just sending out sales pitches. Don’t be afraid to give a word of encouragement or a suggestion to someone. Remember to place keywords in your messages.

8. Build your list. When you place a link in a message, make sure your websites and blogs feature free offers. Obviously, you’ll make them subscribe to your mailing list in order to receive the offer. However, don’t send them to a squeeze page designed only to harvest email addresses. Send them to pages that contain valuable, interesting content.

9. Send links as a natural part of the conversation. If you chat with people, eventually they will ask what you do (or you can drop subtle hints) – then you can mention it. Again, only send them content links.

Use links properly. Don’t send a direct link to your product. Send a link to your blog or a general informational website. Don’t be so blatant about trying to get a sale.

For example, if a Twitter entrepreneur complains about not doing well with social networking, don’t send her a link to your ebook on Facebook; instead, send a link to your blog post that discusses social networking ideas (that can include your link to the ebook). You will get a much more favorable reception.

10. Getting traffic to your blog posts: With a simple post to Twitter, you can have lots of readers come to your blog. Even though blog feeds do the same thing, you can often find new readers on Twitter or remind current readers to re-visit your blog or a specific article.

11. Be useful and helpful. Not every tweet has to be about “you”. Take time to tweet about others and be a helpful part of the community.

12. Listen to your followers. Try to help them out. You can get great feedback using tweets. You can get ideas for info products and affiliate products from the feedback you receive from your followers.

13. Don’t send message spam: Let me repeat: Do NOT send spammy messages! If all you do is send out tweets that scream, “Buy from me! Buy from me!” you will quickly lose followers. Just don’t do it!

14. Final tips: Don’t post the same link more than once. If people are really interested in your blog and your links, they’ll visit it the first time you post it. You don’t need to post your link multiple times. Don’t tweet about every single thing you do. (Like “going to the store” – do people really care?) Don’t send direct affiliate links. Don’t toot your own horn all of the time. Let people hear from you, but don’t be too chatty.

Please don’t get discouraged. Learning Twitter is just like anything else – it takes time. Soon you will be twittering and tweeting with the best of them. Just jump in, take action and enjoy the traffic.

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