Twitter for Business - for MSP

So, you know you need to use Twitter to grow your business's brand online. But, despite signing-up for an account and sending a few tweets, you're a bit stuck. How do you grow your follower numbers on Twitter and utilise it effectively to promote what you do?

In this session, you'll get an introduction to some of the many tips and tricks for using Twitter effectively as a business. Find out how to go beyond just using twitter.com and learn about some of the different tools you can use to maximise your reach. And learn about the anatomy of an 'effective' tweet.

Transcript

1. 13/06/2012   Make Twitter work for you Twitter for Business (with @technicalfault) http://www.flickr.com/photos/eldh/5858249526/
2. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Aims •  Outline brief history + context •  Discuss key principles for effective tweeting •  Explore what Twitter’s doing for business •  How to measure success + useful apps •  Answering your questions
3. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz What is Twitter? •  Short messages, shared with friends and beyond •  Created in March 2006 (6 years old) •  140 million active accounts (smaller than Facebook)
 10 million in the UK (4th largest). Manchester 3rd in EU.
 1.6 billion search queries per day
 •  Invented for small groups to communicate •  Exploded in use after 2007 SxSW festival
4. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Twitter Glossary •  Mention: when you mention an account in your tweet, e.g. “glad your shipment arrived @technicalfault!” •  Retweet: sharing a tweet by another user – using ‘retweet’, you can instantly forward to your followers •  Message: a private message to a particular user that’s already following you. •  Hashtag: #twitter4biz – the ‘theme’ for your tweet. Users can click on these to see other similarly-themed tweets
5. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Modern screenshot of the first tweet
6. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Growing your brand •  It won’t happen overnight – it’s a long-term process. •  First step is to get an account if you don’t already ;-) •  Define your goals and manage expectations •  Every tweet is potentially golden •  Content + Conversation = conversion (hopefully)
7. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Six key principles for being a good Twitter Citizen Adapted from 
 Antony Mayfield, iCrossing What is Social Media?
8. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Participation
9. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Openness “At Twitter, we believe that the open exchange of information can have a positive global impact”
10. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Conversation
11. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Community
12. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Connectedness
13. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Best practices •  Share: Photos and behind the scenes info about your business •  Listen: monitor comments about your brand •  Ask: your followers have valuable insight and shows you’re listening •  Respond: to compliments and feedback •  Reward: special offers + time-sensitive deals •  Demonstrate: wider leadership and know-how •  Champion stakeholders: RT and reply to great tweets •  Establish the right voice: a direct, genuine, likeable tone Twitter for Business guide http://business.twitter.com
14. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Replies and mentions •  Replying to users that mention you is critical •  Every tweet you get sent to you as a message is a piece of feedback •  How you respond can and will be judged •  Important to reply to (almost) everyone •  But don’t feed the trolls!
15. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz How should I tweet? •  Write tweets between 120-130 characters •  Place links ~25% of the way through •  Tweet your links at a slower pace (Buffer) •  Choose the right words and phrases •  Experiment using the paper.li system •  Use action words: more verbs, fewer nouns •  Tweet on the weekends •  Tweet later in the day Dan Zarrella, Hubspot How to: Get more clicks on Twitter http://danzarrella.com/infographic-how- to-get-more-clicks-on-twitter.html
16. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Measurement tools •  Use a link-shortening tool like bit.ly
 
 Long web addresses can be made shorter and the number of clicks and shares can be estimated •  Monitor flow using TweetReach
 
 The crude ‘reach’ of your tweet can be estimated which can provide headline figures for impact
17. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Measurement tools •  Sign-up with Favstar.fm
 
 Track favourites and re-tweets per tweet •  Link to Google Analytics using the URL builder
 
 Building links to your website through the URL builder lets you track clicks in Google Analytics – useful for integrated multi-channel campaigns
18. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Tracking followers •  Twitter Grader: http://twitter.grader.com
 
 Monitor trends in followings + compare to local users. Find top-lists of cities and countries. •  SocialToo.com: http://socialtoo.com
 
 Receive summaries of the impact of your tweets on new followers or unfollows – though imprecise
19. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Searching Twitter •  Enables discovery of relevant content for campaigns or people to follow •  Expand your following by finding influencers •  Official Twitter search: http://search.twitter.com
 Identify ‘top’ tweets for topics
 •  You can search any words, not just a hashtag.
 Hashtags are useful for events + tracking
20. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Useful Twitter apps •  Twitter.com more geared towards consumers – makes using advanced features harder. •  Twitter has released a new suite of advertising tools for small business http://business.twitter.com •  Key apps I find useful include:
 
 TweetBot for iPhone (video)
 Echofon for Mac: http://echofon.com
21. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Useful Twitter apps •  Also recommended apps for other platforms:
 
 Echofon for Windows (and Firefox)
 MetroTwit for Windows: http://metrotwit.com
 •  TweetDeck is an advanced way of monitoring and managing multiple accounts
22. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Useful Twitter apps •  Buffer: http://bufferapp.com
 
 Set your tweets to be sent automatically throughout the day – works on mobile + desktop •  TwitCleaner: http://thetwitcleaner.com
 
 Helps you tidy up who you’re following by analysing their accounts and making suggestions
23. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Twitter lists •  Lists are a way of selecting and organising (‘curating’) Twitter followers •  They can be public or private to a user •  You can subscribe to other people’s public lists – useful way to discover tweeters in particular interest groups, e.g. journalists, experts or for fun
24. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Using Twitter lists •  You can add anyone to a list you create •  Certain apps will allow you to constantly monitor what members of that list are saying •  Useful to monitor influencers, decision-makers, news feeds or competitors! •  I use lists to manage by vast following numbers
25. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Creating Twitter lists •  Twitter lists can be created at Twitter.com or through apps like TweetBot, TweetDeck etc •  Twitilist: http://twitilist.com/
 
 Useful web-based tool to create Twitter lists through ‘drag-and-drop’
26. 13/06/2012   Twitter for Business #twitter4biz Sources •  Anthony Mayfield, iCrossing http://icrossing.com/ebooks •  Content licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 •  Images from Flickr and Stockexchange. See notes view for links and credit. •  Twitter for Business: http://business.twitter.com •  Dan Zarella: http://danzarrella.com/infographic-how-to-get-more-clicks-on- twitter.html