Making Twitter work for youpart 1-an introduction!

• With Alex Hartley @alexharteco• @GCDA_UK offices 2013

Aim of the Session

By the end of this session you will be able to:

• describe what Twitter is• be able to set up an account & follow people • know how to use the list function• Know the difference between @ # #ff & RT!And…• know why doing any of the above is worth

doing!

Intro’s please!

• Me

• My experience with marketing, running workshops and social media

• You

• Where are you from, why are you here today, what do you know about twitter and what do you want to get from the session

Agenda

• In this session we will cover:

What is Twitter, why have an account, how is it useful & why it is a bit like riverA point about good practice regards activity & resultsGeneral things you can do with itWhy and how it can work for small organisations

What is Twitter anyway?

Twitter is an information network made up of 140-character messages called Tweets.

It's an easy way to discover the latest news related to subjects you care about.

Why have an account?• You claim your brand “space” on the web

• News breaks first on twitter before anywhere else

• In an emergency/danger it’s the easiest way to stay current with the situation and read what’s going on

• Ability to create a news feed for what’s important to you be it sports, politics, weather, etc

• LET ALONE ANY POTENTIAL BENEFITS FOR YOUR PROJECT/ CAREER/ORGANSIATION/ BUSINESS!

How is it useful?

• Twitter contains information you will find valuable as you choose who to follow

• Messages from users you follow will show up on your home page for you to read

• You can discover news as it’s happening, learn more about topics that are important to you, and get the inside scoop in real time.

Chris Brogan says, “Most people who see Twitter the first time either flat-out ‘get it,’ or they say, ‘why bother?’

Here’s what people miss.

They believe one should read every single update that rolls

across your screen of choice. Don’t. Just let it roll past like a stream.”

Who? You may say but he has 255k + followers-they cannot all be dummy accounts!

http://www.copyblogger.com/grow-business-twitter/

Insight• What do you think?

So, what Are You Going To Get?

“What’s in it for me?” is not the best attitude for Twitter or business, maybe instead think in terms of what do you have

to give, offer or share.

People will remember you for what you know and what you share without charging them.

Draw people into your circle by offering valuable

information about the things they want to know.

“What’s in it for me?”

General stuff you do with TwitterUse Twitter?

• Generating TRAFFIC to your website

• BRANDING your company and products

• LISTENING to what is being said about your company or industry

• PROMOTE & SHARE your blog content, special offers, events & more

• REACH new people daily• Share and get the latest

NEWS• NETWORKING with

others who share your passion

Why Twitter Works For Small Organisations

•Higher customer loyalty/number of visits

•Higher rate of spending

•Frequent customer connection

•A channel for customer service

•Emotional connection to the brand

•Source for new product ideas and stakeholder/ customer polling

•Great way to network & find affiliate businesses

•Brand Monitoring, Competition Monitoring

In the UK Twitter has 15 million users according to Twitter September 2013!!!

How Twitter Works For Small BizLocal angle

Social media’s greatest power is targeted & localMega-brand vrs local in a personal way

Starbucks vrs @SEcoffeelounge…

@LizEarle vrs @BareSknBeauty in Greenwich

Discussion in pairs activity

How do you think being on Twitter could benefit them?

My Local Angle Experience:

While on Twitter after just setting up GCDA_UK I saw a tweet from a local food business that had competed some training at GCDA. The owner seemed pretty friendly and exchanged a few tweets with him- one where he praised the training from us. The next week I wanted to go out to dinner locally. It was a no brainer.

I went to check out @saigonstreat tasty Vietnamese food!

How Twitter Actually Works-theory

• When you follow people on Twitter you see their tweets i.e what they written or they are RT-ing i.e what someone else has written

• When people follow you, they see your tweets• A Tweet containing @youruser is a Mention• RT (ReTweet) someone and everyone following you sees it just

like you tweeted it• When a tweet starts with @anyname only you, @anyname, and

anyone following both of you will see it. • On occasion when the RTer wants everyone to see the mention,

it will look like .@ because the character in front makes it visible to everyone

Tweeting 101• Once you're ready to begin authoring your own messages, consider

mentioning other users by their Twitter username (preceded by the @ sign) in your Tweets. This can help you think of what to write, will draw more eyes to your message, and can even start a new conversation.

• Try posting a message mentioning a celebrity or person you admire – they often respond to fans. You’ll see their response on your Mentions tab. Tip: Can’t think of anything to write? You don't have to. The real magic lies in your reading of content on Twitter.

• As you become more engaged on Twitter, others will begin to find and follow you. Once you're familiar with Twitter basics, consider exploring the site’s more advanced features: direct messages, and favourites. Learn how to include images or videos in your Tweets, or consider connecting your Twitter account to your blog, Facebook, or website. Tip: The best way to gain followers on Twitter is to regularly engage and contribute in a meaningful way

Twitter lingo

• Remember only 140 Characters- Less is more

• @ Reply messages• #hashtags- Unique

identifiers Ex: #Tech12• RT- Re-Tweeting

messages• DM- Direct MessagesActivity- have a 5 min read of the handout page 4 & 5

Your turn!

• Pair up with someone• Preferably with 1 person

who has a Twitter account, 1 person who has not

• Go to Twitter.com and follow the instructions for setting up an account

• Ask me for assistance if and when!

Setting Up Your Account• Name – Real name 20 Char, displayed on

profile. User Allowed 15 Characters for @(Handle) but less is better if you can do it without sacrificing brand recognition & that includes your own

• Location – be sure to add where you’re at. more apt to follow people in the local region.

• Add a short bio about you or your business. Give them a reason to be interested in you. Describe the benefits of your business & express your business personality. Allowed 160 characters to get it all in.

http://socialmediadiyworkshop.com/2010/05/write-a-great-twitter-bio/

Good Step By Step Instructions:

To do later...

• Add your own photo/ logo• Change the background/ colour• Tweak your bio to include relevant hashtags so

people can discover you-not just from what you tweet! THIS IS IMPORTANT!!

• One more branding opportunity.• Choose a picture of logo that represents your business• I think people like to know who they’re “talking” to and is better for

engagement.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/create-twitter-background-photoshop/

Pictures & Profile Page

Avatar Size: Must be larger than 48K but less than 700k, a Square picture and 73 x 73 pixels formats the best.

Background: A custom Twitter background is only visible when someone visits yourProfile page. Having a professional looking background lends credibility but won’t be highly Visible so I wouldn’t sweat it too much. Using Photoshop find an image or put one together to upload. Create it with 2560px width x 1600px height

Sidebar Left: Many accounts take advantage of the sidebar real estate, if you want to also,a good size to stick to is 235px (w) and 700px (h)

Avatar or Picture Seen With All of Your Tweets

Editing your profile

• There are a few ways you can edit your profile: From the Profile tab in your Settings

• From your profile page -- just click the Edit profile button underneath your profile information and edit any text directly inline or drag and drop photos into the profile photo and header sections.

Colors

Backgrounds• Profile-> Settings->

Design• Twitter Themes• Colors• Pictures• Sites offering fun

free backgrounds

Walk through of a Twitter home page

Who to follow?

• Lists! • “Who to Follow”• Similar to you• People who follow you• Fun- Celebs, sports stars,

etc...• Professional- experts,

industry colleagues, contacts, coworkers, companies, affiliates who can refer people to you!

Who to follow- Discover Page

Find Friends

Follow trends

Who to Follow

What do they offer you by following them?

No bio, location, low # of tweets or

followersare good signs this may be a “bot” or bad follow

You Don’t Have to Follow Everyone that follows you….

asdfjbakjfkajhfkahfkjaf

asdfjbdsjhfkjadbcjdbcmnbcmzbcxmnzxbcmzbcmzmzbcmzbcmzbcakahfkjaf

sdhfksdfkaksjd

A low number oftweets, low Follow to

follower count are Probably bad follows.

Be sure to include yourlocation and good info &

links in your bio

Tips• IF YOU FOLLOW PEOPLE, SOMETIMES THEY WILL FOLLOW YOU BACK!

• It is really quick There is lots of information out there, so you really need to be useful, or be very funny.

• Don’t spam or oversell, as that’s the first thing to turn people away.

• And I would be careful tweeting too much about your kids, cats and personal issues. And, you probably shouldn’t tweet when drunk either ;-s Yes, twitter can seriously damage your carefully build reputation in one tweet …

• I spend about 30 – 60 minutes per day on twitter: a quick scan during breakfast and lunch time, and after 4.30pm. I have to confess that I tweet often in the evening, even in queues or waiting for a bus or even watching the TV! with a smartphone it’s easy to continue to tweet and stay in contact.

How to Make Twitter Useful• Take the accounts you follow and create a list

Click Follow

Click Here

Click Add to List

Twitter Lists

Your Lists

If you don’t have existing lists, click “Create a List” and add your new follow otherwise click on an existing one to add

Followers can fit into more than one of your lists so add them to multiple ones if it applies.

Time to do something again- 1st tweet!

• Time to start to converse with the Twitterspere!• What do you want to say-something about how you are feeling, where you

are or what you hope to be tweeting and talking about?• How to start tweeting:

• People who are interested in what you have to say may follow you and they’ll see all the Tweets you share with them.

• BUILD A VOICE: Retweet, reply, react• Use existing information (other people's Tweets) on Twitter to find your

own voice and show others what you care about. Retweet messages you've found and love, or @reply with your reaction to a Tweet you find interesting.

• Tip: If you're a new user, others are more likely to find your messages if they are Retweets or @replies.

Keywords and search-human fueled Google!

For any part of your business it is important to know what keywords or words related to your business drive people that are searching to your website and other business connections. Ask your webmaster for a list of keywords associated with your website

Keywords are “Key” for a reason. Give yours some thought from a whole web perspective not just Twitter.

Take those Keywords and think of Twitter as your “Conversation Search Engine”.Use search.twitter.com

Hashtags #Think of hashtags as the theme of your Tweet. Users can then click on a hashtag to see other similarly-themed tweets and find yours in search. {business.twitter.com/basics/glossary}

Use them to follow an event or trending topics

Gives a reason to follow what you’re doing

Also can be used to invoke #sarcasm

It’s Another Way to Get People To Your Other Social Sites… Examples Being

Announce You Posted a Photo

Album on Facebook

Respond to Check-ins on Foursquare

Promote Your Latest

Blog Post

Tweet out links to

good reviews or ask for more

Find a Great Site or Article you

+1’d? Share it

Ask others to Connect with

you on Linked In

Follower battle

• Divide in to 2 teams• Choose an account that does currently have

any followers• First one closest to 5 in 10 mins wins!

• GO!!

Posting Pictures

• People love to comment on pictures so it’s a great way to increase engagement.

• Fun way to share info on your business be it your employees, something new you’ve added or a sunset. Pictures are fun!

Picture Apps-not just directly from your device

• Twitpic, Lockerz or Yfrog• Twitter: Share photos on Twitter by including a photo in your

text message. It’s simple: just enter the text of your Tweet as you normally would, attach a photo to the message and send to Twitter with AT&T, Verizon Wireless and C Spire Wireless in the US

• Instagram: A fun app for SmartPhone users to add funky textures and tones to pictures. Create a business account & link to your Twitter account. Banana Republic does a fantastic job (IMHO)

Twitter Tools-maybe in part 2…

• Tweetdeck/Hootsuite• CoTweet or Hootsuite Pro for multiple admins• Bit.ly (tracking links)• Advanced Twitter search• Buffer- to schedule your tweets• Strategy and marketing

See you there?!

Remember to Rock it!• DID WE COVER EVERYTHING QUIZ-5 mins

• Be creative, attention-grabbing bio• Post consistent and quality content (is King!)• Promote other’s work and mean it• Make a custom twitter background• Have a personality- be you!

Thanks for your time today-let’s chat on Twitter!@alexharteco @GCDA_UK

Credits