twitter: from the basics to creating a strategy

TWITTER: FROM THE BASICS TO CREATING A STRATEGY

by @KellyRigotti

KR Consulting :: http://kellyrigotti.com

This slideset has been designed to be shared online and is not for presentations. In other words, it’s rather wordy!

I created this presentation as a resource for my clients and I’m pleased to share it with you. For any questions, please contact me!

Kelly Rigottihttp://kellyrigotti.com@kellyrigotti+33 (0)6.67.33.74.91

! Important Information Ahead !

http://kellyrigotti.com/

http://twitter.com/kellyrigotti


Why Use Twitter

Twitter is an incredibly powerful networking and communication tool.

With Twitter you are able to access and communicate with people worldwide who: Share your interests Are potential customers or clients Creative thinkers Industry leaders And more!

I use Twitter daily and, I get results.

The Basics

Twitter is a one way communication system- you can follow people without them following you back.

Twitter is the opposite of Facebook or LinkedIn, which require the relationship between you and the person you follow to be bilateral.

The Basics

Twitter allows you to share your message easily with a wide variety of people!

By sharing what you find interesting, in an interesting way, you will attract a following of people who also find it interesting.

The Basics: Definitions

Messages are called tweets. 140 characters in each tweet, including spaces,

punctuation & links. Following people means you receive their tweets

in your timeline, or tweetstream. The people you follow and the people who follow

you are displayed on your profile page.

The Basics: @somebody

To write a message to somebody, or to talk about somebody, write the symbol @ before their user name- without using a space.

For example, if somebody wants to send a message to me, they would write @kellyrigotti. This would make the message pop up in my tweetstream.

The Basics: @somebody

Messages sent this way (@kellyrigotti) are public. They show up both in your stream and on the profile of the person they are sent to. You do not need to follow the person in order to send them a message, nor do they need to follow you.

The Basics: d somebody

To write somebody a private message, use d before their user name- with a space between the d and their name. It looks like this:

d kellyrigotti Direct messages can only be seen by the people

sending & receiving the message. Direct messages only work if both people are following each other.

Important! Don’t use the @ symbol, or the tweet will pop up in the public stream.

The Basics: Hashtags

Hashtags are ways of sharing information on a topic or keyword. By using a hashtag you create a link to a word or concept. Anyone else who uses or tracks that hashtag will be able to see your hashtag (and tweet) simply by clicking on the link.

For example, if I want to share information about an event in Grenoble, I would use #Grenoble in my tweet. This would allow anyone tracking the word Grenoble to have my message appear in their tweetstream.

Creating Your Twitter Account

Choose your real name, or the real name of your company (or as close as you can get) for your username. This can be changed later, but is not recommended.


Your Twitter name is 15 characters at most. Although Twitter names are not case-sensitive,

Twitter will save the name exactly as you enter it when you create your Twitter profile. So although you can create your profile with “JohnSmith” and be listed as @JohnSmith, your Twitter fans will be able to find you by using @johnsmith.


Using your real name, or the name of your company or brand is best.

Avoid names with numbers, uncommon abbreviations and names that are difficult to remember. If you have difficulty saying your Twitter handle, or find yourself needing to repeat it in order for others to understand it, it’s probably best to change it.

Keep mobile users in mind and avoid underscores and combinations of letters and numbers, which require extra steps to type in on mobile phones.


Let others find you through your email address. You may change this option later, although it is a great way for other people, especially those you know, to find you.

Your Twitter Profile

Make your user name as short as possible, so that it doesn’t use too many of the 140 characters allowed when others reply to you.


Use the email address you contact customers with, so that if they look for you on Twitter with it, they can find you.

You can easily change it later if you need to.


Choose your prefered language for the Twitter interface. This doesn’t have to be the language you tweet in and only affects what you see when logged in, not what others see on your profile.


Setting your time zone allows you to see when tweets were sent according to your local time.

If location is important to your business, set your location. This can be turned on/off for each tweet.


Don’t protect your tweets. This defeats the whole purpose of building a company, business, marketing or communication profile on Twitter.

Otherwise, go ahead.


Certain countries allow users to tweet via text messaging. If yours doesn’t, but you still want to tweet on your phone, there are a number of apps which allow you to do so, including a Twitter approved app.


Check the first two boxes, to be alerted regarding followers and messages. The third is optional.


Fill out your profile as completely as possible.

Use an easily identifiable image for your personal brand- the best is one that you use across all social media platforms.


Use your (or your company’s) real name- or as close as possible.

Say where you are based- be as specific or as general as your target market.


Add your website. Describe what you

do. You have 160 characters- go wild! You need to give people a compelling reason to follow you.

The description also helps people find you in Twitter searches.


Don’t use a default background- create your own, or use your brand’s colors.

Many users take advantage of the background image to add additional information about themselves.


Many applications interface with Twitter. LinkedIn and HootSuite are two of the best.

Finding People to Follow

First: Find your friends.

Link your accounts to Twitter, and follow the people you already know.


Then, click on the ‘Who to Follow’ link at the top of the Twitter page. This will show you Twitter’s suggestions of people you may be interested in following.


Next: Search for appropriate keywords.

Example: CRM See who’s talking about those keywords and follow

those that interest you. Track those keywords (in HootSuite, for example, as a

hashtag or as a saved search in Twitter), to follow future people talking about those keywords.

See who else those people follow and follow their followers.


After: Search for your company name and the name of your

partner companies, customers and competitors. Follow any Twitter accounts that you find.

See who’s talking about those names and/or brands and follow them. See who else they follow and follow them.

Track those names (in HootSuite, for example), to follow future people talking about those keywords.


Finally: Find opinion leaders in your field (websites,

magazines, talking heads). Search for them on Twitter or visit their websites, find

their Twitter link (they’ll almost certainly have one) and follow them.

See who’s also following these people and follow them.

Follow the people that the opinion leaders themselves are following.


Some tips: Try to avoid following many more people than the

number of people who follow you, otherwise you might look like a spammer. 2:1 would be the max.

Finding people to follow is an ongoing task- you will find a great many people to follow at first, but you should try to find a few new people to follow every month.

You don’t have to follow everyone who follows you- only those you find interesting.

Don’t be afraid to unfollow people.

Managing Your Followers

Here are several tools that help you manage your followers: TwitCleaner: http://thetwitcleaner.com/: helps you

find people who may be spammers, who are no longer active, etc

Fllwrs: see who follows/unfollows you every day TwitBlock: http://twitblock.org/ Finds spammers

amongst your followers so that you can block them

http://thetwitcleaner.com/

http://thetwitcleaner.com/

http://twitblock.org/

http://twitblock.org/

Starting to Tweet

So what should you tweet about? In the beginning, introduce yourself:

Who you are Your expertise Where you live What you do What you like Who you want to meet Why you’re on Twitter…all in separate tweets.

Starting to Tweet

As people begin to follow you: Send them thank you’s for following. At first,

personalize the messages. If you get in the 1000s of followers, you can set up an automatic response.

Begin a conversation: ask them about themselves, where they live…

As you begin to follow people Send them an introductory tweet- who you are, why

you’re following them. Not many people do this, so you’ll stand out!

Starting to Tweet

Some tips: Don’t just talk about yourself. The best Social Media

platforms are about creating a conversation and Twitter is no exception. Strive to hit 70% of conversation about the Other and 30% about Yourself.

Repeating your own tweets is OK (not everybody is in the same time zone), but try to reword them or space them out with other tweets in between. Don’t do it too much though, or you’ll look like a spammer! Services like HootSuite allow you to schedule tweets in advance.

Starting to Tweet

Some tips: Use a link shortening service like bit.ly or the tools

integrated into HootSuite or TweetDeck. Otherwise your links will eat up the majority of characters in your tweets!

The 8 Do’s & Don’ts of Twitter

1. Do be easy to find2. Don’t shout3. Do provide timely info4. Don’t repeat yourself5. Do ask advice6. Don’t be aggressive7. Do engage with your community8. Don’t auto-tweet or auto-DM

Via Maggie Hoffman at Open Forum

http://www.openforum.com/articles/the-8-dos-and-donts-of-twitter



Twitter Management System

In order to best use Twitter, you need a system to manage it. I use HootSuite, which allows you to: Manage your tweetstreams across several columns

(up to 10), Add other users, Manage multiple Twitter accounts Manage other Social Media accounts (Facebook,

LinkedIn, WordPress, etc).

Getting Started with HootSuite

If you use HootSuite, here’s how to get started:1. Create your HootSuite account2. Add your Twitter account3. Add columns:

Tweetstream Direct Messages: inbox & outbox @ responses Mentions of your brand Keywords: up to 3 per column

Leave HootSuite up and running so that you can pop in throughout the day

I teach people and organizations how to use social media to meet their marketing & communication needs. For a personalized tutorial or other questions, please contact me:

Kelly Rigottihttp://kellyrigotti.com@kellyrigotti (on Twitter, of course!)+33 (0)6.67.33.74.91

Thank you!

http://kellyrigotti.com/



twitter: from the basics to creating a strategy

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