the ins and outs of twitter
DESCRIPTION
Stuart Crawford, VP of Business Development with Bulletproof InfoTech shared strategies with entrepreneurs and small business owners in Calgary on how to get started with Twitter and use it more effectively in their business.TRANSCRIPT
The Ins and Outs of TwitterHow you can use Twitter for business successfully!
Stuart R. CrawfordVice President, Business Development
Bulletproof InfoTech403.206.2233
Questions before you start
What are your business objectives?Are you open to hearing what your community has to say - for better or worse?Do you have a regular source of content (copy, links, photos, podcasts, video etc)Do you have the time to invest in building your community?Are you prepared to maintain your Twitter community on a regular basis?
How I view Twitter
“Twitter is a great tool to build a community. It is not about getting the most followers,
but about connecting with people who find you interesting and who you can
serve, online!”
Stuart CrawfordBulletproof InfoTech
Calgary, Alberta
Why Twitter for Business?
Twitter reaches over 18 million people worldwide
How many of these are active?How many are in Calgary?How many of your peers are on Twitter?How do you reach these people?
Is Twitter right for your business?Your customers expect to find you on Twitter
There is no right or wrong way to use Twitter!
The key is to just use it!
The platinum rules of Twitter
Share information of valueYou wouldn’t like getting sold to constantly
Never, Ever, EVER…useTwitter.com to follow conversations
IT WILL DRIVE YOU CRAZY!You will miss what is being said
Be a THOUGHT LEADER and show you are a leader, start trends and offer insight on existing trends
What can Twitter be used for?
Lead generationClient serviceTrend spottingUp-to-the-second newsKeep in touch with vendors, sponsors and clientsWhat else can Twitter be used for?
How about promoting events?What about sharing happenings with your clients?Can you use Twitter to share information?
How to get started?
You need to get started in order to use TwitterGo to http://www.twitter.comClick on SIGN UP NOWCreate your account
Tip: Keep your business account, personal account, SIGs separate
What else you need to do?
After you have created your accountUpload a logo or pictureCustomize colours to match your brandSetup Twitter wallpaper
What you must haveLogoWhat you doContact informationCall to action
How do you build followers
Start following others in Calgary and areaFollow industry leaders in your industryOffer advice and reply to those looking for helpPost to communities, special interest groups and re-tweet valuable informationHow do you find communities or topics?
Introducing the “HASH TAG”Makes sense of the noise on twitterAllows you to search for information or communitiesExamples
#YYC #CDNWIN7 #FLAMES
Use Twitter search to find people talking
What do you have to say?
What do you say?
Something happening in CalgaryBulletproof InfoTech – The Ins and Outs of Twitter, register now http://ol.wy/5tf4f #YYC
Client does something greatA great client of Bulletproof, XYZ Gas just went public, check them out http://www.xyw.ca, XYZ.TO on #TSX
General informationAre you concerned about H1N1, read this report http://www.h1n1.ca #YYC #H1N1
How do this turn into revenue?
Directly, it doesn’t What you are doing is…
Becoming an information sourceThe more people who know youBecoming “Agent Zero”Building a trusted following
This is the new way of doing businessAll things being equal
Know, like and trustIs Twitter part of your marketing plan
Connect with Clients and Customers
Share valuable information
From your blog or RSS feedAny blog or RSS feed can automatically be configured to connect with Twitterhttp://www.twitterfeed.com
Create multiple Twitter accountsHelps focus your posts on areas of interest
Share items of interest from your communityShare what impacts you or your communityShare items of interest from your clientsShare events in your community
Twitterviews
Use a Twitter Aggegator
My recommendation is hootsuite.comWeb basedMultiple accountsCreate columns to help you follow what is happening
People you want to watchMentionsSearch subjects or keywords
More you can do now
Add your Twitter posts to your website or blogAdd social media contact information to:
Your websiteYour business cards (@stuartrcrawford)Your email signatureAnything else you can think of!
Think about how to leverage video, pictures and audio into your tweets
Questions and Answers
Contact
Stuart R. CrawfordBulletproof InfoTech
@stuartrcrawford@bulletproofIT
@calgarybusiness
Additional Stuff
Not presented
DO’S & DON’TS
Do: Use your blog as a way to deepen the Twitter conversationDo: Ask questionsDo: Think “cocktail party”Do use ! :o) LOL to indicate sarcasmDo: break your blog into sections or bullet points and tweet about each of them separatelyDon’t: Be afraid to repeat yourself
Content
DO’S & DON’TS
Do: shorten your tweet to 110/120 characters to allow for retweet attributionDo: use a link shortener to track what gets clickedDo: quote closely to verbatim, but don’t be afraid to editDo: add your own opinion using [brackets]Do: Use “via” when crediting your content source
The
Retweet
MISCELLANEOUS DO’S
Tweet most things in publicAdd period for tweets you want seen by everyone ( .@freerangemom )Set up a separate email account for all of your social media mailUse Internet Explorer as your browserAdd @address to your email signature, business cardPlay with #. Not just for conversations or events, it also tags an idea like #fail.Use ^ to denote who is tweeting on a shared account
Do….
MISCELLANEOUS DON’TS
Send DM “thanks for following me”Give out passwords to 3rd party apps unless you are absolutely positive they are above boardAssume DMs (or anything else) is confidentialThink deleting tweets gets rid of them (unless you are the President)
Don’t….
TOOLS
http://www.bubbletweet.com/ – embed video in your tweetshttp://favotter.matope.com/en/ – see who likes what you have to sayhttp://www.twazzup.com/ – monitoring, trending, thought leaders and morehttp://twittermass.com/ – paid service that does the same thing as Monitter.com does for freehttp://twtpoll.com/ – one of several twitter poll appshttp://www.twtapps.com/ – twitter event invites and morehttp://ping.fm/ – one stop broadcasting toolhttp://hootsuite.com/ – link tracking, delayed tweets and morehttp://www.retweetrank.com/ – how you rank on RTs
TOOLS
http://budurl.com – best statshttp://bit.ly – most used, twitter supportedhttp://snip.url – link testingwww.tweetburner.com – most socialwww.twitturly.com/ – tracking www.tweetmeme.com/ –blog RTs
Link
Shorteners
TOOLS
www.twollow.comwww.twello.comwww.wefollow.comwww.socialoomph.comwww.localtweeps.comwww.monitter.comwww.tweepsearch.com
Following