Archive for the ‘Twitter’ Category
Insights from The Gravity Summit in NYC
I hear this all the time: “If Twitter doesn’t start making money soon, it won’t be around for very long.” Yes, Twitter is a great tool. I spend hours upon hours using it for my own company and for clients. But I don’t really care if Twitter is here to stay.
What is important is that Twitter represents the most significant shift in the way we communicate since the telephone was introduced. Twitter is short, real-time messaging and is changing the way we will get and share information in the future.
Twitter isn’t for just geeks; it’s being used by businesses to market, by fire departments to get to emergencies faster, and by charities to reach donors. Twitter is a breaking news channel. It’s the Yellow Pages on steroids. It’s a social networking site. It’s a research tool. In fact, it’s so content-rich that Google and Bing are now including Tweets in their search results. But, if Twitter disappeared tomorrow, not much would change.
There are hundreds of other platforms (some just as good, some even better) that are ready to replace Twitter in the blink of an eye.
So if you have been standing on the sidelines hoping Twitter will just “go away” it’s time to dip your toe in. Twitter may not be around forever, but this new form of communication will. Get started!
Tags: Gravity Summit, Social Media, Twitter
Posted in Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »
November 17th, 2009
I was very fortunate last week to attend The Cool Twitter Conference in Brooklyn at The MoCADA (Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts).
I have attended a lot of Social Media Conferences lately, and at this one I spoke about how Social Media is changing the way businesses do business with each other. This conference really stood out as being something uniquely special.
Instead of the attendees being mostly from the business sector as is usually the case, there were people there using Twitter and Social Media in many inventive ways beyond business. Here are some of the speakers and what they are using Twitter for (follow them!):
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Posted in Social Media, Twitter | 2 Comments »
October 27th, 2009
All the marketing data we have points to the reality that most people buy what their friends or acquaintances recommend. That’s why online stores find it so helpful to have consumers write reviews on their products and why sites like Yelp are so popular. The same concept applies for B2B companies, too.
Case in point: today I decided to research some of the companies that provide detailed Social Media Measurement services for companies who are running campaigns using Twitter, Facebook and other Social Media platforms. I did a Google search, and discovered that there aren’t a lot of players out there. I knew that if I inquired directly to any of them, I would get a salesperson who needed to make a sale. I respect that, but I need to know that I am getting the best choice for my clients.
So, after I signed up for a demo with one company, I decided to find out how actual businesses were liking the services they offered. I did what any self respecting Social Media professional does…I tweeted about it! I asked if anyone is using a Social Media Measurement service and if so, how did they like it?
Guess what? I got a lot of responses. I asked a lot of questions, and I was able to identify the one service that seems right for me. Only one of the responses was from a salesperson, the rest were clients. The company’s clients were actually doing the selling for them.
How can you make this happen for your company?
- Treat your customers better than you want to be treated.
- Under-promise and over-deliver.
- Monitor what people are saying about your company.
- Engage your customers whenever you can (this doesn’t mean sending them an email blast every day!)
- Never assume their business, always earn it.
This is a lesson learned…there are conversations going on about your company that you don’t ever know about. Do your best to make sure they are positive!
Posted in Sales, Social Media, Twitter | 1 Comment »
October 19th, 2009
If you are anything like me, you use Twitter as a tool for your business. It’s handy for communicating with people you know, invaluable for meeting people you never would have met otherwise, fantastic for learning and sharing, and much more.
Every Tweeter has a different strategy to build their following. Some people follow everyone they can, and end up with followers/following in the 10’s of thousands. For me, I am most interested in following people who are interesting, funny, intelligent, creative and in general, make my life richer. So, when I am looking for followers, I generally take a moment to see who they are following.
So when I land on a Twitter profile and see porn it’s a real turn-off. Not because I am a prude, but because it is a signal to me of one of the following:
- The Twitter member is using an auto-follow application and doesn’t really care who he/she follows, as long as the numbers are high.
- The Twitter member is not actively engaged and hasn’t been monitoring his/her profile.
Either way, it’s a red flag for me NOT to follow that person.
I have discovered that a Twitter tool called “Social Oomph” has a feature that lets me ignore anyone (person or robot) that includes certain words in their Tweet. Since I have set up this tool, I have seen a 90% reduction in porn spam.
Now, it could just be a coincidence, but from what I read, Twitter is getting a lot better at filtering porn out of the system as well.
What are your thoughts on Twitter porn? How do you handle it?
Posted in Twitter | 6 Comments »
October 11th, 2009
OK, you created an account on Twitter, you (hopefully) completed your profile, added a short but interesting bio, entered your website URL, and are now ready to start Tweeting. But you are still confused about how to use it.
If that describes you, then you’re not alone. The most common question I get from friends and clients when I talk about Twitter, is “How do I manage this constant stream of information?”
Well, we are so lucky that there are many, many tools that have been developed to help us use Twitter better, faster and more efficiently. Every day I discover more and I try to test most of them, but here’s a list of my three favorites. (and they are all FREE).
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Tags: Social Media, SocialOomph, TweetDeck, TweetLater, Twitter, Twitter tools, Twollo
Posted in Social Media, Twitter | 2 Comments »
August 31st, 2009
I attended the Cool Twitter Conference in NYC today. It was a really great group of people in a small venue that allowed a lot of sharing of ideas and getting to know each other. The speakers included a writer, a music exec, a mobile cupcake shop entrepreneur, the social media director of a popcorn manufacturer, and more (see link below for list of speakers). Each one of the speakers had a great story about how Twitter is an integral part of their growth.
Here are 15 “take-aways” that I think are worth sharing especially for any of you “newbies” who are just getting started.
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Posted in Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »
August 27th, 2009
As promised, here are more definitions of Twitter supplied by my friends, my network, and my followers. It seems as if the fastest growing social media phenomenon of our day is incredibly hard for people to describe. Possibly because Twitter serves so many different kinds of purposes to so many different people.
What surprised me most about this survey is that I received some really negative definitions of Twitter…from marketing people! I didn’t reprint them fearing that out of context it would seem as if they came from me (plus there were some four letter words in many of them!) I certainly can understand people who, because they don’t understand Twitter, are skeptical about it. But marketing people…get real!
That being said, I would love to hear YOUR definition. Here are some more definitions that people sent to me. Any of them ring true to you?
What is Twitter (Again)?
- An extremely powerful Internet marketing tool when you have an effective Twitter strategy consistent with your overall brand.
- A filtered real-time human thought custom RSS feed.
- Both a megaphone and microscope. Just don’t put an avatar with a beautiful bikini model, don’t sell Amway and don’t talk about yourself all damn day.
- A micro-blogging platform primarily used to provide status updates as to our whereabouts and activities of interest
- The laziest method of blogging possible.
- Centralized live news feed, offering followers snippets of information of current information, news, trends, topics, etc.
- A short-form messaging platform that allows you to publish messages in less than 140 characters through different mediums like desktop applications, cell-phones, and the web.
- A broadcast medium that is like reading and writing headlines. It is a great way to get to know people and people get to know you – as in all the social communities. I like how fast paced Twitter is and it works with my attention span – getting snippets of news and choosing what you would like to read into more as many people give you links to more detailed information.
- A micro-blog that has enabled the formation of a new breed of online communities to grow and exchange information at a faster than ever pace, approaching real time.
- Twitter transmits twaddle.
- Broadcasting to the world.
- The vain of our existence.
- Electronic stalking for the hyperactive individual.
- The question should be, how do you, personally, use Twitter?
- A great line of communication between companies & clients.
- A way to learn what’s happening and who’s talking right now worldwide. It’s a way to search for and join conversations.
- A little green ego machine.
Tags: Social Media, Twitter, Twitter Definition
Posted in Local Business, Social Media, Twitter | 1 Comment »
August 20th, 2009
I was honored to be part of a panel discussion about Social Media for the event planning industry yesterday at the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel. So many people want to know more about how to use Blogs, LinkedIn, and Twitter for business. My close friend Elizabeth Beskin and I were the presenters. Here are slides from the presentation. Video will also be available soon!
Tags: Blogging, Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter
Posted in Blogging, Social Media, Twitter | No Comments »
August 13th, 2009
The funniest thing about Twitter is that so many people have a hard time describing it. Last week, in preparation for a talk I am doing today on Social Media, I used Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook and asked my connections: What is Twitter?
I got a ton of responses, which range from humorous to downright angry. I will be posting them as they come through…but here’s a few of my fav’s:
1. Letting your network know information important to you in 140 characters in a real time
2. A powerful outlet for instantaneous communication that is very relevant for all businesses
3. A way to share information or learn about a subject from people who are experts or who are talking about what I’m interested in around the world
4. World’s Biggest Chatroom
5. Both a megaphone and microscope
6. Twitter: Fast facts, opinions and news feed if you follow the right people. Be picky.
7. A readily reliable revolution reporter (Iran)
8. The pursuit of the unmeetable by the ‘140-max’ Tweetable.“
9. Potential thumb wrecker
10. Twitter hits the nail on the head… a bunch of birds on a powerline, twittering away. Are others listening? Sometimes! But we’re all on the line together – Ric Dragon
Tags: Twitter
Posted in Twitter | No Comments »
August 12th, 2009
I performed a Twitter search this morning for “SEO.”
Here is the list of results I got:
I clicked on this one:
Clicked on the URL, and got this:
So, being of a suspicious nature, I clicked on “about” and got this:
Of course, that’s where I bailed out…but if I hadn’t, who knows? Perhaps I would just be helping an Internet Marketing person drive traffic to their site, but in reality, I suspect there could be more to it (virus, twitter hi-jacking, etc.)
Then I went back to the list and realized that most of the Tweets were from members with
1. a female name
2. a photo of a young woman
3. no bio
4. very few followers
5. a following list of 0
and when I investigated further, I kept getting the same “Congratulations!” page.
How lame! Using Twitter to spread your message the way it was intended is so easy: create a profile, search for people of “like mind”, start sharing info, learn and grow your following. Spammers spend a whole lot of time trying to figure out how to beat the system, but the system is set-up for success already! What a waste of time and energy!
How to report Twitter spam? Click here: http://tinyurl.com/ljacz5<-->
Tags: Twitter, Twitter Spam
Posted in Twitter | 2 Comments »
August 2nd, 2009
Just Ask Betsy....The Be Visible Blog
