Enriching Your Work and Life
with Two-Way Twitter Communications
Presented to North Scarborough Rotary, February 12, 2014 Leslie Hetherington, MBA, APR, Communications Director
The Big Difference?
Two-Way, One to Many Communications and Relationships
(versus the pre-social media one-way ‘megaphone’)
What Can Twitter Do For You?
Personally Professionally
Agenda
1. Create Your Profile (Build your Nest)
2. Meet & Follow (Increase Your Flock)
3. Effective Tweeting & #Hashtags (Talk to the Flock)
4. Cultivate Influencers (Bring Your Flock into the Fold)
Twitter Screens
“handle”
Full
name
Profile page Home page
Your
Tweets
Tweet
Window
Twitter Feed
(others’ tweets)
First: Risk-proof Your Foundation
Get “buy-in”
Allocate resources & back-up
Set procedures & policies:
Who will tweet?
How often will you tweet?
What topics are taboo?
Determine detractor/ troll management
Build Your Nest: Create Your Twitter Profile
1. User Name - @___ - Account
2. Icon Photo (128 x128) – Profile
3. Header Photo (520 x 260 px) - Profile
4. Biography (160 characters) – Profile
5. Deselect “Protect my Tweets” – Security and Privacy
6. Select “Let others find me by my email address” – Security
and Privacy
7. Set-up mobile access - Mobile
Free Tool to help size images:
http://www.internetmarketingninjas.com/seo-tools/favicon-generator-crop-images/
Who do I follow and why?
Meet
Find & Follow
Cultivate
Converse, Share & Flatter
Retain Followers,
Hone Influencers... Ambassadors
Find and Follow…. Who to Follow….
1. Your clients/customers & partners
2. Your competitor’s clients/customers
3. Anyone who might talk about/ be interested in
your product/service
How to Find (basic)
1. Twitter’s Who to Follow ideas (left column)
Twitter’s Find Friends & Popular Accounts
2. Google ‘Name + Twitter’
3. Other users’ Followers
More Advanced Ways to Find Followers
1. Searching via ‘We Follow’ free tool (http://wefollow.com)
2. Free ‘listening’ tools: Google Alerts or
Talk to Your Flock: Tweeting Tips
1. Tweet short (120 characters or less)
2. Original comments
3. Numbers & positive words: You, Help,
How to, Check out
4. Repeat critical tweets up to 4x but vary with others
5. Tweet when your audience is online Often 8 – 9 am (morning commute), noon – 2 pm, 3 pm, 5 pm – 7 pm
6. Use up to 2 #Hashtags
What’s a #Hashtag? Putting the # symbol in front of a word or term
pertinent to the tweet
Increases engagement by 35%
Search hashtag before using
If creating: 6 – 12 characters, lowercase with caps to break words
Cultivate Your Followers
Meet
Find & Follow
Cultivate:
Converse, Share & Flatter
Retain Followers,
Hone Influencers... Ambassadors
Cultivate: Converse
(It’s Not All About You - 80:20 Rule)
Mention . or >@Twithandle
Reply
@Twithandle
Direct Message (DM)
D Twithandle
Private Public
Cultivate: Sharing
(and boost engagement)
Share Photos/Images
Share Links (Use Twitter tool or www.bit.ly)
Hint: Use Twitter ‘Lists’ to Group
Good Content Sources
Cultivate: Flatter with Re-Tweets
Re-Tweet (RT) their tweets
or a modified Tweet (MT) and credit them
Two Ways:
1. Auto RT -
1. Manual RT/MT*: Comment RT via @Twitterhandle, link or
Comment MT via @Twitterhandle, link
Thank Followers for RTs –
@Twitterhandle Thanks for RT
Cultivate: Flatter
2. Follow Friday (#FF):
3. Favourite a Tweet:
4. Thank new followers:
5. Listen & Provide to what they need/want
Converse
Share
Flatter
Cultivate:
Then….. Seek Support
1. Use Reply (@) to connect
2. Provide message
3. Ask for Re-Tweet or RT
@joesmith Learn the meaning
of life on March 4 at the Lightbox.
Bit.ly.ers7st0 Please RT
4. Thank supporters:
@joesmith Thanks for the RT
But don’t over use requests + wear out goodwill
23X When followers are
specifically asked to
“Retweet,” the Retweet
rate is 23X higher
than average.
1. Build a full profile
2. Follow others (brands & people)
3. Use up to 2 #hashtags per tweet
4. Keep tweets short & positive
5. Use photos & URL links
6. Cultivate Supporters with 80:20 Rule (Converse, Share, Flatter)
7. Use @reply to ask for Re-tweets & support prudently
Top Tweeting Tips:
What’s your goal?
What #hashtags will you use?
Who will you follow?
What content can you offer?
What content is taboo?
Who will you monitor for content?
How Will You Tweet?
Questions?
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @lhetherington or @hardystevenson
Blog: hardystevensoninsights.com