6. What is Twitter?
Twitter is a free social networking and
micro-blogging service that allows its
users to send and read other users‟
updates (otherwise known as
tweets), which are text-based posts of
up to 140 characters in length.
7. Twitter Best Practices
Build your following, reputation, and
customer's trust with these simple practices:
Share, Listen, Ask
Respond
Reward
Demonstrate wider leadership and know-how
Champion your stakeholders - (followers &
customers)
• Establish the right voice
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28. Anatomy of a Tweet
Tweets are the building blocks of your
communications on Twitter.
You‟ll be surprised by how much you can
say with 140 characters or less.
30. SIMPLE TWEET
140 characters including spaces (note no formatting)
“I‟m working on my Twitter skills today, so apologies for
lots of Tweets!”
31. ADD LINKS
Twitter‟s link-shortening feature allows you to paste a link of any
length into the Tweet box and it will automatically be
shortened to 22/23 characters. This makes it easier to fit long
URLs into the 140 character limit.
33. ADD A MENTION
Sometimes you want to bring a Tweet to someone‟s attention, but you still want all
of your followers to see the message. So instead of a reply, use a mention. Include
the @username of whoever you want to mention in your Tweet, and it will appear
in the Connect column. All @username mentions are clickable and link back to
the mentioned individual‟s profile.
38. REPLY
You can respond to a Tweet by hitting the reply button. When you reply, your
response is public, and will show up in your home timeline and the timeline of the
person to whom you are responding. The reply will also be visible in the home
timelines of people who follow both you. Meaning, someone not in the conversation
has to follow both of the people replying to be able to read both sides of the
conversation.
39. RETWEET
You can pass along someone‟s Tweet by retweeting it. Just hit
the retweet button to send the original message to all of your
followers.
You can only include your comments to a Retweet in the
mobile version of the app
40. HASHTAG
A hashtag is any word beginning with the #
sign. People use hashtags to organize
conversations around a specific topic.
Clicking on a hashtag takes you to search
results for that term.
56. Hashtags
Definition: The # symbol, called a
hashtag, is used to mark keywords or
topics in a Tweet. It was created
organically by Twitter users as a way to
categorize messages.
57. Helping you find relevant tweets
• People use the hashtag symbol # before relevant
keywords in their Tweet to categorize those Tweets
to show more easily in Twitter Search
• Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message
shows you all other Tweets in that category
• Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet
• Hashtagged words that become very popular are
often Trending Topics
60. Using hashtags
• Don't #spam #with #hashtags. Don't
over-tag a single Tweet. (Best practices
recommend using no more than 3 hashtags per
Tweet.)
• Use hashtags only on Tweets relevant
to the topic
• See if the hashtag is in use already
61. Examples
• @countrywalking lists #Exmoor as a top
place to get in to #walking
• Mistake to think US could take
unilateral action on #Syria but
"ultimately this dictator will fall" #Obama. More soon
71. Advanced Search Operators
twitter search
“happy hour”
love OR hate
hilarious filter:links
beer -root
nonprofit –rt
#socent
from:cosmic_uk
to:cosmic_uk
@cosmic_uk
containing both “twitter” and “search”. This
is the default operator
containing the exact phrase “happy hour”
containing either “love” or “hate” (or both)
containing “hilarious” and linking to URLs
containing “beer” but not “root”
containing “nonprofit” but not “rt”
containing the hashtag “socent”
sent from person “CosmicUK”
sent to person “CosmicUK”
referencing person “CosmicUK”
78. Your Profile
Design every element of your profile
to best reflect your business. Your
name, bio, website and profile
picture should all work together to
tell your story.
83. I Can Tweet, Now What?
Small Business Twitter Strategy
84. Find People to Follow
• Start building your network
• This can include friends, suppliers, clients, prospects or
strangers
• Use the Who to Follow links on the #Discover page
• Search Twitter for relevant industry related terms
• Search Twitter for local People, Places & related Businesses
• Follow trade bodies and organisations
• Search for hashtags used in your line of business
• See who the people you follow are following
• Follow people who follow you (not all of them)
• With good quality consistent Tweets, followers should grow
organically!
85. Listen first
Read Tweets from people you follow
Follow their links to see what they share
Look at their public Lists
Search for and read Tweets relating to your
business type
• Monitor Saved Searches for Tweets of
interest to your business
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87. What to Tweet?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Link to news stories on your website
Promote news from Blogs
Promote events
Ask questions
Talk to people
Tell people what you are doing
Share a little expertise
88. Plan your posts
• 6 week calendar
• Theme –
inspiration, giveaway, seasonal, annou
nce products
89.
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How to get People to
Follow you on Twitter
Tweet interesting tweets
Use relevant Hashtags
A well written Biography
Follow Me buttons on your Blog & Website
Twitter Feeds on your Blog and Website
Ask for usernames at Networking events and tweet them later
Publicise your Twitter profile and Twitter name on business
cards, adverts, email signatures, van signs etc
– http://twitter.com/cosmic_uk
– @Cosmic_UK
• When you follow people. Some people may follow back
• Recommend people on #FF
• Try #SBS Theo Paphitis
91. Use your followers to get
more followers
When your followers retweet your content
— or when they tweet about you —
they extend your reach to their followers.
92. Offer an Incentive
People are more likely to retweet an
offer that provides value to their own
followers.
97. Twitter Tips
• Don‟t use a personal Twitter account for
work. Keep them separate!
• Search for & follow interesting business
relevant People
• Search for Tweets of Interest
• Retweet Tweets of Interest
• Start Dialogue
• Find related businesses and see who they
follow
Twitter is an Information NetworkYou don’t have to tweet to get value from Twitter340 Million140 million
It’s very similar to texting and you can actually tweet from a standard mobile phone using text, you don’t need an all singing all dancing smart phone … although they make life easier!
Share. Share photos and behind the scenes info about your business. Even better, give a glimpse of developing projects and events.Users come to Twitter to get and share the latest, so give it to them!Listen. Regularly monitor the comments about your company, brand, and products.Ask. Ask questions of your followers to glean valuable insights and show that you are listening.Respond. Respond to compliments and feedback in real timeReward. Tweet updates about special offers, discounts and time-sensitive deals.Demonstrate wider leadership and know-how. Reference articles and links about the bigger picture as it relates to your business.Champion your stakeholders. Retweet (repeat) and reply publicly to great tweets posted by your followers and customers.Establish the right voice. Twitter users tend to prefer a direct, genuine, and of course, a likable tone from your business, but think about your voice as you Tweet.
The Discover Page has 5 TABSStories, Activity, Who To Follow, Find Friends, Browse Categories,StoriesYour Discover tab displays the top news stories and Trending Topics on Twitter.Stories are personalized for you based on recent popularity and your connections, location, and language.
Activity TabThe Activity tab is where you can discover who the people you Follow are engaging with on Twitter. It shows the latest Favourites, Retweets, and Follows made by the people you follow on Twitter – all in one place.
Who to FollowTwitter can help you find accounts to follow by directly recommending new accounts that may be of interest to you, based on the accounts you're already following.
Find FriendsThe Find Friends tab under Discover allows you to follow friends and colleagues with a simple contact import from your email address book.
Browse CategoriesThe Browse categories tab under the Discover section includes lists of engaging and well-liked accounts on Twitter, organized by common interests.These suggestions represent just a small sample of all of the great users and content you can follow on Twitter.Probably a bit main stream and American to be of use for small business purposes – hunt down local users using search.
FollowingThe Following Tab lists all the people you Follow.You can unfollow by clicking on the Following buttonFollowing someone on Twitter means:You are subscribing to their Tweets as a followerTheir updates will appear in your Tweets timelineThat person has permission to send you direct messages
I’m going to cover Hashtags more in depth later on this morning
Just click the word Favourite and it changes colour and says Favorited and a star appears in the top right cornerThe Tweet then appears in your favourites list. This could be to read later or it can even act like a ‘like’ would on Facebook; you chose.
Does anyone here use lists?Lists are a great way to organise who you are following (and even who you are not following) into groups categorised by you.You can decide whether your list is open or private. If open, anyone can see that list and it will come up in list directoriesYou don't need to follow a user to add them to a list – Great for keeping tabs on the competitionThis example creates a list of North Devon Surf SchoolsOnce I’ve shown you this example I want you to all have a go creating a list.
Click on - Lists (left hand side) – Click On (Create List)-(right hand side)
OK lets try a hands on exercise, I want you to create a list, name it and add in 3 relevant users.e.g.North Devon NewspapersLocal Football TeamsLocal Politicians Whatever you want!
A quick example of subscribing to a listIn my who to follow box I saw NT South West, so being nosey I thought I’d see what public lists they have!Clicked on the their avatar icon
Clicking on the Lists tab got me their lists pageI then clicked on their Trustsites listNote – the other two lists belong to other accounts
Another challenge?Search for @Cosmic_MattyI have one Public List.Find ItSubscribe to itWhat’s it called?
Who uses hash tags, has anyone created their own?
The more you search and follow people within your area of business the more you will see what hashtags are being used.You can then start to use them where applicable and your tweets will get found easier#socent#fairtrade
You can type your hash tags into hashtag.org and get a timeline of there usage…X factor
HANDS ONEven without an account you can search Twitter and it’s a great starting point to learn and explore Searching is one of the most powerful parts of Twitter as you can find useful contacts to follow and engage with, sales leads and information about what is happening locally and globally.
Go to the URL above orIf you were logged in you’d search in the small box top right.Next slide lets try some searches
HANDS ONEnter your search query into the search box. (Press the return key to perform your search.) No results – explain that the Timeline is liveClick ALL on results list If you find a conversation relevant to your business, jump in and see what value you can add or what needs you can address.Swap between Tweets & People
Saved searches allow you to access them easily without having to type any words.If you have a regular search you often do for business reasons, say Hotel North Devon, save it on your saved searches list.If you start doing this a lot, you may find it’s time to move onto Hootsuite or Tweetdeck!!
Link to Twitter Search Operators on hand-out sheetsExplain themWe can actually let twitter write these advanced search's for us
Talk through each one and change name and add profileSave any tab you change.
This screen allows you to Control when and how often Twitter sends emails to you
Pick a theme or make a custom background and included contact info and extra company info as part of the graphic.See www.twitter.com/CosmicStuWhttp://www.twitip.com/custom-twitter-backgrounds/Link on handout sheet
Hootsuite.comLink multiple social media accounts, search columns for hashtags, search terms etcScheduled tweets and Facebook posts.
After you type your Message, click the button with the calendar icon. A calendar will then pop down, enabling you to set the date and time. Next choose whatever social network profile you would like to send the message to. When finished, click the Schedule button to confirm.
Start building your network. Listen first before you start the conversation! You can find people to follow by using the ‘Who to follow’ link on the main Twitter #Discover menu at the top of your home page, which will open a left menu with a selection of tabs where you can search for people already using Twitter by real name or user name, or choose from ‘Who to follow’.#Discover Page > Who to Follow –Or www.twitter.com/searchSearch for the name of your townSelect People instead of Tweets
Many of you will be past this stage, but Listening is a good way to find communities and discussions to get involved withBy listening we really mean searching, reading and following interesting relevant people
Network, communicate, inform and be informed, update, be updated – that’s what Twitter is about!
– Content with key wordsUse the hashtag symbol # before relevant keywords in yourTweet Use Follow Me buttons and widgets on your website and BlogYou may recommend your friends by using “#Followfriday” Tag. Then you may write their user id one after the other with @username separated by “commas” . You may also use #FF as well, The abbreviation of Followfriday#sbs Theo Paphitis to retweet your business to his 225,817 followers
In this example, when @shopcalico reach 2,000 followers they can simply search Twitter for the Hashtag #followshopcalico and pick a random winnerHas anyone tried this sort of thing to gain followers?You can do a similar sort of thing on Facebook for Likes!
If someone Mentions you Thank Them. Try and personalise it a bit though…If someone RT’s you Thank them too.There is a link to “10 tips to master Twitter etiquette“ on your sheets
If you Tweet with location turned on, your tweet will have a map pin icon on the bottom left corner.Portable devices such as iPhones with GPS will actually pin point the exact location from where the tweet was sentYou can zoom in on the mini map and it will show the location.But what's quite scary is this…… when you click on “from Exeter” Google maps opens in it’s own window.
Dropping into Street view mode, the location of the tweet is still marked!! (security)I don’t advise you Tweet “I’m at home alone”“Off on holiday…”With a GPS enabled device!
There is a link to a document called “137 Twitter Tips” on your Hand-out sheet.Here are a few to start..
There are many ways to promote your Twitter @username online and offline: business cards, signage, advertising, price labels, receipts, menus, delivery vehicles, product packaging, storefronts, email signature, your website, etc. Anywhere your customers interact with your brand is an opportunity to encourage them to follow you on Twitter. (and your facebook address!)
They are also using Social Media as a promotion tool within fliers and newspaper ads to draw people onto their Facebook page.10% off if you like us on Facebook!Also puts signs up in gardens where he’s working so people can see he’s on Facebook and go and look at his work.Early days, but a good start!
“Like Us on Facebook” stickers on their van
Costa
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