This document provides an overview and guidance on using Twitter for business purposes. It discusses setting up a Twitter account and profile, building a community through following relevant accounts and engaging in conversations, developing high-quality content, using applications to manage Twitter activities, and measuring performance. Exercises are included to help apply the concepts by setting up an account, posting tweets and retweets, direct messaging, and using analytics tools to monitor metrics. The goals are to derive real business benefits from Twitter and align it with other marketing channels through a customer-focused approach.

1. Twitter Training Session North Ayrshire Council Dr. Jim Hamill Alan Stevenson Vincent Hamill www.energise2-0.com March, 2011

2. Channel Development Twitter – An Overview Channel Set-Up and Terminology Integration Options The ‘4Cs’ - Content Plan, Customers (Building the Community), Conversations, Conversions Twitter Tools and Applications Performance Measurement Organisation and People

3. Twitter Overview

4. Twitter – what is is? Twitter www.twitter.com is a social networking service combining elements of blogging and texting (now multimedia as well) It allows users to send updates to their friends (or "followers") via the web or mobile phone Messages (or "tweets") are up to 140 characters each Unlike Facebook, anyone on Twitter can follow your updates

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6. Go to www.twitter.com/stephenfry

7. A Typical Twitter Page

8. How big is it?

9. There are lies, damned lies, statistics and twitter statistics  The most important stat is whether your ‘customers’ use it or can be encouraged/trained to use it and the value add to the relationship

10. What can we use it for? The ‘tweet river’ is becoming polluted – create music not noise Listen, learn, develop ‘actionable insight’ (by ‘following’ the right people). ‘We have two ears and one mouse’ Broadcast/PR – inform, increase awareness Cost effective communications tool, instant/timely updates But it is NOT just about one way broadcasting – its about conversation and engagement – this has time and resource implications

11. What can we use it for? Twitter should be fully aligned with and supportive of your core marcoms objectives and with other marcoms channels Should deliver real business benefits and ROI – information, awareness, engagement, accountability, feedback, listen, actionable insights, key customer/partner/stakeholder relationships Adopt a ‘customer led’ approach

12. Business Benefits Improved marcoms effectiveness and efficiency Performance measurement tools are available

13. Twitter Exercise 1 What do you want to use it for? What business benefits do you hope to derive?

14. Getting Started Twitter Exercise 2 – Channel Set Up

15. Exercise 2 Set up a twitter account for your business? Happy with your profile and page design? Understand the basic layout of your twitter page e.g. Home Page, Profile, Messages, Who to Follow, Account Settings, Search etc

16. Exercise 2 Make sure you understand the following terms: • Tweets • Retweets (RT) • @reply • Direct message • Hashtags # • Follow/unfollow; following/followers • Lists

17. Getting Started Go to Twitter.com. Click on the "Join the Conversation" button in middle of the page Fill out basic information. This will include your full name, preferred user name, password and e-mail address. Remember that the user name is what people will see with an "@" symbol in front of it. For example, @yourname See if your contacts are on Twitter. After you fill out basic info, you'll be prompted to look for contacts in your Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail or AOL accounts so you can begin following them if they're already on the service Look at Twitter's suggestions. Twitter will suggest some people for you to follow as well. Check to see if any of them are relevant

18. Getting Started Set up your profile. Click on "settings" in the upper right corner of your Twitter home page. You'll be brought to a tab-based menu that helps you build your profile and adjust settings Fill in the fields. Of particular importance is the "one line bio" under the "Account" tab. You have 160 characters to present yourself to the Twitter community. Many people choose to state their profession, and then maybe something outside of work that interests them as well Although, direct access to the Twitter Website is still the most popular means of managing your Twitter activity, popular Twitter clients like TweetDeck make managing your Twitter world much easier

19. Features and Functions Design – can be personalised Layout – Home Page, Profile, Messages, Who to Follow, Account Settings, Search Tweets Retweets (RT) @reply Direct message Hashtags # Follow/unfollow; following/followers Lists

20. Features and Functions Native App Username Tweet

21. Custom design Tweet with shortened URL Aramex Tweet @ replies

22. Retweet Boingo Hashtags Subscribe to Tweets

23. Features and Functions Favourited Tweet Suggested Follows

24. Integration Options

25. You can embed/integrate your tweets into other channels e.g. Linkedin, your blog etc

26. Embed

27. Key Success Factors The 4Cs of Building a Successful Twitter Channel

28. The 4Cs Framework Customers engage with the right ‘customers’ and build your community Content be ‘customer led’ and add value Conversations twitter is not a broadcast channel. It is marketing as a ‘conversation’ Conversions the ‘call-to-action’; core business objectives

29. Twitter Exercise 3 Start to Build Your Community

30. Building Your Community Use your existing communications channels Use the community building tools provided by twitter Some advice on "Finding Your Tribe"...Start by Following, Engage and Be Followed, the role of Influencers, Directories, Spam and Avoid Get Follower Fast Schemes

31. Exercise 3 Start by ‘following’! Aim to follow 100 ‘relevant’ people – use ‘search’ and ‘directories’ and #topic to find relevant tweets

32. Building Your Community on Twitter 1. Start By Following Aim to follow 100 ‘quality’ profiles initially – to get started and get on the learning curve Some will ‘reciprocate’ but users are becoming more discerning – quality of your tweets and depth of engagement (replies, DM) are critical As your twitter presence develops, your level of conversion should increase Tools are available for showing who followed you back http://friendorfollow.com and http://www.tweepler.com) Network (through Replies or Direct Messages) and otherwise striving to add value with every tweet

33. Building Your Community 1a. Deciding Who to Follow You should aim to follow accounts that add value to both you and your network Identify sources for “value” messages. Only follow those that provide valuable messages on a regular basis Follow those who are ‘influencers’ for your target customers This will help you to keep track of their tweets / conversations. You may be followed back. You will see opportunities for more direct engagement You can easily identify those to follow in a number of ways

34. Building Your Community 1b. Follow through Quality Content The best way to find ‘Who to Follow’ is through the quality of their Tweets and Retweets (and through search and lists). A good focused Tweet can indicate if someone is worthy of a follow. This works both ways. Consider the quality of your Tweets and the impact this is having on you being followed There are good twitter search tools available http://search.twitter.com/searchhttp://www.tweetdeck.com/http://www.bing.com/twitter Social Media Monitoring Tools (www.topsy.com and others)

35. Building Your Community 1c. Use of Twitter Directories A range of directories have emerged which have attempted to categorize people to follow, through their interests and professional background. We Follow http://wefollow.com Twellowhttp://www.twellow.com/ Twibshttp://www.twibs.com Twitteratihttp://twittorati.com/ We would suggest subscribing to some of the more popular directories and getting a profile up there also, makes it easier again for others to find you and understand quickly what you're all about

36. Building Your Community 1d. Use of Spam Avoidance Techniques There are many examples of Spam on Twitter and a mechanism is provided on both the Twitter website and some of the more popular clients to report this Tools are available for validating the 'follow' processes e.g. TrueTwithttp://truetwit.com/truetwit/signUp Best way to avoid spam is through careful selection of profiles to follow. Be aware of ‘get rich quick schemes’ and avoid overtly attractive profile pictures Remember the old adage, if it seems too good to be true it usually is

37. Building Your Community 1e. Do Not Automate the Follow Process Tools are available for automating the follow process We do not recommend these tools. Examples include: http://twitterbatcher.comhttp://followformation.com 1f. Avoid Get Followers Fast Schemes There are a number of 'get followers fast' schemes Don’t use them Your aim should be ‘quality’

38. Twitter Exercise 4 Content and Conversations

39. Twitter Exercise 4 Post 3 or more ‘non-selling’ Tweets Send 3 or more ‘RTs’ or retweets Send 3 or more ‘DMs’ or Direct Messages?

40. Content Quality tweets are the key to success 140 characters but try for less to encourage RTs (140-7) Include shortlinks when appropriate Agree tone, theme, frequency Remember to use @username if you want the individual to see the reply or to respond Balance of Retweets (RTs) and Direct Messages (DM) Organisation and people aspects Content policy and strategy What makes a great Tweeter?

41. Content Be very careful with twitter gaffes The past year has seen a string of slip-ups, from MSPs to cricketers and even Vodafone staff

42. Conversations Social media is ‘marketing as a conversation’ with your network It is not about one way broadcasting This has time and resource implications Some advice......

43. Conversations Tweet Your tweets should add value Number and frequency depends on your customers - frequency is driven by relevance and anticipation from your network Format issues – be concise – less than 140 characters to encourage RT and where relevant use a link and url link shortener e.g. bit.ly.

44. Conversations Reply and Direct Messages These features allow you to engage Twitter in a different way i.e. it becomes as much a 1-1 communication tool as a broadcast tool It can allow a dialogue between Twitter profiles and on specific Tweets.

45. Conversations Retweet Retweeting can add significant value to your network but don’t overdo it. Also – you should be aiming to get your own tweets retweeted….viral effect and you become an ‘influencer’ Encourage an RT if its really important

46. Conversations Using Hashtags Words or phrases pre-fixed with # e.g. #topic Conversations clustered around a theme. Helps you find where relevant conversations are taking place and join in Hashtags give your tweets (and you) more prominence on certain issues Don’t spam or misrepresent the # e.g. Habitat

47. Conversations Twitter Chat Chatting can be conducted through Twitter. Usually this involves a chat event at a certain time e.g. chat on the Climate Change Conference at Copenhagen at xpm EST. You tweet and add a hashtag to each tweet #climate

48. Conversations Create an Interdependent Presence Networks thrive on interconnectedness and cross fertilization Ensure multi channel coordination You can integrate Twitter with Facebook (#fb) and your Blog Consider Automating Your Tweets If you regularly post your own articles, use of an application like Twitterfeedhttp://twitterfeed.com or Posteroushttp://posterous.com/ can make sense But consider carefully your use of these tools and don’t spam Manual tweets are more personal - there is a balance to be struck here

49. Conversations Using Lists A good way to organize your information flow Group Twitter profiles under topics/quality You can subscribe to others’ lists The number of lists which you become part of illustrates the power of your tweets...another measure of your influence You are more likely to be found and followed through lists

50. Conversion It is critical to measure the performance of your Twitter activities This can be done in two ways – ‘lag’ and ‘lead’ measures ‘Lag’ measures are your ultimate ‘business’ objectives e.g. feedback, insights, service awareness, accountability, marcoms effectiveness and efficiency, ROI etc ‘Lead’ measures are the main ‘drivers’ that help to achieve your core objectives This could include....

51. Performance Measurement Number of followers / that you follow Growth in followers over time Total number of Tweets Average number of Tweets over time Number of Retweets Number of Lists you are in Who's Following You vs. Who You Are Following And more….. See Exercise 6

52. Twitter Tools and Applications

53. Make Use of Relevant Applications Desktop, Browser and Mobile Clients Tweet Feeds Twitter Search Analytics Directories and Follow Services Others See most recent post on www.energise2-0.com

54. Exercise 5 Twitter Applications can make managing your Twitter Account easy. Choose one of the following applications and become familiar with it, using it to carry out some of the common actions – Tweet, Retweet, Direct Message, @Reply and so on. Try the same application on your desktop and your mobile phone TweetDeckhttp://www.tweetdeck.com/ Seesmichttp://www.seesmic.com/ Hootsuitehttp://hootsuite.com/

55. Seesmic

56. TweetDeck

57. TweetDeck

58. Performance Measurement

59. Performance Measurement It is critical to measure the performance of your Twitter activities This can be done in two ways – ‘lag’ and ‘lead’ measures ‘Lag’ measures are your ultimate ‘business’ objectives e.g. feedback, insights, service awareness, accountability, marcoms effectiveness and efficiency, ROI etc ‘Lead’ measures are the main ‘drivers’ that help to achieve your core objectives These could include....

60. Performance Measurement Number of followers / that you follow Growth in followers over time Total number of Tweets Average number of Tweets over time Number of Retweets Number of Lists you are in Who's Following You vs. Who You Are Following There are a number of tools available for monitoring your twitter performance, including:

61. Analytics Klout: http://klout.com/ TweetStats: Trending stats for your twitter profile http://tweetstats.com Topsy: http://analytics.topsy.com Export.ly: http://export.ly Twitalyzer: http://twitalyzer.com/ Twittercounter: http://twittercounter.com/ Twitturly: http://twitturly.com/ Retweetist: http://retweetist.com Twitterfall: http://twitterfall.com/

62. Exercise 6 Use one or more of the following tools to monitor the performance of a twitter account of your own choice Klouthttp://klout.com/ Topsyhttp://analytics.topsy.com Export.lyhttp://export.ly TweetStatshttp://tweetstats.com

63. Do’s and Dont’s

64. Do’s and Don’t’s Don’t Be a Showoff Your tweets should add value to the ‘customer’ – it’s not about ‘me,me,me’ Don’t Use Poor Grammar or Spelling Don’t try to be too cool Don’t Get Too Personal (business users) Keep the conversations warm but professional; it’s what business users expect and anything else comes off as creepy

65. Do’s and Don’t’s Don’t Auto-Tweet It’s OK to schedule tweets for specific times but don’t automate your entire feed. Users can smell a bot a mile away. Twitter is about personal/brand engagement not blatant promotion. Don’t automatically DM new followers; it’s seen as spam. Don’t Leave Air in the Conversation Respond as quickly as possible – within hours not days. Don’t Overtweet Don’t flood your followers’ timelines

66. Do’s and Don’t’s Do Shout Out to Users Who Mention You Thank those making favourable comments; be very careful how you respond to any negative comments Do Monitor Keywords and Sector Trends And respond when appropriate Do Make an Informative Profile Use your brand logo as your avatar, and state the purpose of the account clearly in your description. Your profile’s main link should direct Twitter followers to the most informative, engaging and user-friendly part of your website Do Fish Where the Fish Are Where your customers hang out

67. Thank You Questions