Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

Like Me! Follow Me! Is It Time To Let The Social Ask Die?

Is it time to stop telling people what to do once they get to our social sites?

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Does Your Company Think Social Media Is Just A Fad?

Social media has been around for a few years now and is finally becoming useful for personal, professional, and business reasons.

However, many B2B companies still believe social media is just a fad.  Some companies might see that social media is not a fad but believe that it is not applicable to their industry.  Often, even when a company acknowledges that social media is valuable, their online life does not reflect that understanding.

Has your B2B company fully accepted the power of social media?  If not, perhaps the following satistics will be very convincing:

Original source:  Social Media Today

In what ways has your company embraced (or not embraced) social media?

Generate More Qualified Leads Using Twitter and Tenacity

Now we have come to the meat and potatoes about using Twitter to help you achieve your business communication goals.  I say that you need to have a lot of tenacity to stick to going after building relationships with people that you meet on Twitter.  It is a major mind shift.  No longer are we just networking in person trying to get an introduction to someone important to our publicity strategy.  Now we need to understand how to play well with others on the digital playground or else we may not have many friends.

Use Twitter to connect with anyone you want.

Millions of people have a Twitter profile.  It can seem like a daunting task to really get to know anyone.

How do you connect and build relationships using Twitter?

Use Twitter to earn attention by establishing that you know what you are talking about.  You could:

Be the first to let the media know something is happening in your industry.

Be the first to report any news that you see along the way. It may seem unrelated to establishing your expertise but think about it like this, the squawking bird gets the attention.  The point is to just get used to using Twitter frequently and to get people following you because you are interesting.

Start blogging!  Twitter and blogs make a perfect pair.  Make sure your blog has an RSS feed so that it can be automatically tweeted whenever you create a new post.  Blogging is another way to be seen as the expert and it gives you the forum to put that expertise on display.

Give away information.  Write e-books, conduct surveys and give away the results in the form of a white paper or a PowerPoint presentation.  To get the most traction out of giving away information you should set it up like this: 

Create the content and build a landing page for it on your site,

Tweet the link to that landing page,

On the page, ask the person to fill out a form that ask for simple information (email the most important)

Let them download the content

Use Twitter to gain intelligence about the people with whom you want to connect.

After you follow the person, then go deeper.  You could:

Check their Twitter profile for links to their other places.  Are they on LinkedIn, FaceBook or do they blog?  Use the information to find out other places where you can connect with them a little closer.  For example, are you a 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd connection with them on LinkedIn.  You’d be surprised how many times you’ll find that you are already closer to the person than you know.

Notice what the people you want to connect to tweet about and find ways to involve yourself in the conversation.  Do they have a question you can answer or do you share a real love for dogs.  What can put you on common ground so your conversation will be natural.

Do you remember all those business cards in your desk drawer?  Get them out and try to find the people you’ve met in person on Twitter.  This will extend the conversations you started having in person.

Here’s a few tips that will help you play well with others on Twitter.

It’s about the business of being human, reaching out to people and creating community.

It’s ok to form communities outside of the ones under your own control.  For example, subscribe to someone else’s blog and really participate.

Always be humble. You’re not really the owner of your brand.

Listen and acknowledge.  Participation will help your community grow.

We’re talking about Twitter but building community is not about where. When you met people on Twitter you will find that they may be more visible on other sites and you’ll want to be willing to connect with them where they actually are.

Don’t you hate being at a party or event and end up talking to someone all night who just talks about themselves or who you feel only wants relationships as long as they are making money from you?  Once your basic needs are met, then the pursuit of happiness becomes more important.  In your desire to connect with people (and make money), think more about bringing happiness. Everybody needs that.  Listen to Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.  He explains this much better and his company is one of the best examples of good use of social media and creating company cultures that work (community).  Tony was interviewed on HP’s Input | Output program.

You can’t outsource community building.  Don’t give it to interns or outside workers.  You can outsource some of the administrative work like setting up the profiles or dashboards, training, or research.  However, do use consultants to help you develop the strategy and tools you will use so you don’t waste time figuring it all out.

Should you separate your personal life from your professional life?  The lines are blurring but you need to think about whom your main audience is so can tailor your online message.  Everything about you does not have to be broadcast.

Are you using some unique ways to connect with people on Twitter?  What are you doing?  We all want to know!

Twitter Is The Social Media Platform Of Choice For Fortune Global 500 Companies

Burson-Marsteller recently released the results of a survey they conducted to determine where companies engage the most using social media tools.  The study indicates that 79 percent of the largest 100 companies in the Fortune Global 500 index are using at least one of the most popular social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or corporate blogs.

It’s interesting to find that companies are not just posting and tweeting randomly.   Real conversations are going on.  

For an evidence-based approach to social media, the reports suggest the following 9 tips:

1.  Monitor your own, and your competitors, social media presence.

2.  Get top management “buy-in”. 

3.  Develop a social media strategy.

4.  Define and publish a social media policy.

5.  Develop internal structure.

6.  Contribute to the community.

7.  Participate in good times and in bad.

8.  Be perpared to respond in real time.

9.  Beyond monitoring, measure the impact of social media engagement.

You don’t have to be a big company to harness the power of social media engagement.  The rules are the same for any size business.  In fact, social media has leveled the playing field in such a way that a small company or individual can have the same kind of reach as a bigger company by using social media tools.   But you do have to follow the rules.  If you are the top management then you must agree with yourself that you will be committed to using the social media tools you select.  Do publish your social media policy even if you are the only one who will see it at first.  This will give you a guide to help you remember what you said you would do.  Don’t think that just because your business is local that you don’t have competitors.  You do.  Social media tools provide a great way of finding out what they are doing.

So, what is your social media tool of choice?  How is your engagement through that channel improving your business outcomes?  Have you performed a social media checkup lately?