What is Twitter and what has it got to do with my business? This question was on many peoples lips as I prepared to talk to Institute of Directors (IOD) members in Maidstone, Kent. Twitter along with its social media buddies is a game changer for the way businesses talk to each other and to consumers. It's no longer enough to preach your marketing messages, people are not interested. You need to be part of the conversation, sharing your knowledge, your network and your services. Companies that choose to stay outside of the conversation and think their website is enough will get left behind. This presentation puts into context what Twitter is and whay it is important for your business. Some top level tips to get started using it are also included. A audio track will be added.

1. For a copy of this presentation twitter.com/jonniejensen http://www.slideshare.net/jonniejensen JonnieJensen@tmandi.co.uk Twitter For Business Success

2. In case you hadn’t noticed the internet has changed.....

3. Old Internet Image thanks: http://seomraranga.wordpress.com

4. King & Queen of Social Media CONTENT CONVERSATION

5. The Internet TODAY Image thanks: PA @ www.telegraph.co.uk

6. What is social media? “The Ants have megaphones!” - Malcolm Gladwell “The Longtail” It’s people talking to each other It’s being social on the internet Sharing Referring Raving Bitching Fun Image thanks: http://www.chronicle.pitt.edu

7. The genesis of Ideas “I believe that these days, the rapid communication that is enabled by wikis, blogs, Twitter, YouTube and you name it ensures that no matter what kind of company you are, your customers are having a conversation about your products and practices. The question that every company has to ask is: ‘Do I want to be part of this conversation? Do I want to learn from it? Am I willing to innovate on the basis of it?’ If you harness the power of this community, you will benefit. If you turn your back on it, you get further and further out of touch while competitors flourish. So yes, I think this is a new kind of communication for a new age of customer engagement.” Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com MyStarbucksIdea Dells IdeaStorm

8. 30 social media statistics Click to view video

9. Why is social media good for business? Improve your search results Build your online profile and reputation Targeted visitor traffic to your company website The ability to interact with customers and potential customers Networking increases your reach Directly through your contacts Indirectly through your contacts contacts Increased sales through increased brand awareness

10. Using social media for business ...loves social media

11. 140 character messaging tool Mass communication One to one communication Real time search engine What is Twitter?

12. OMG WTF its Twitter.....LOL Click to view video

13. 1 First Tweet Sent 12:50 PM (PST)March 21, 2006 Twi’History 18,000,000 Estimated users by 2010 11:59 PM (PST) Dec 31, 2009

14. WHY?

15. Reasons for using Twitter Endless reasons to use Twitter What challenges does your business face? Here are ten general reasons: #1 Gain Exposure #2 Build Trust #3 Generate Leads #4 Drive Traffic #5 Provide Excellent Customer Service #6 Expand Your Network #7 Get Feedback #8 Market Research #9 Testimonial Tool #10 Build Authority 3,000,000 message sent on Twitter every day 4 million UK Twitter users 23,579,044 unique visitors to Twitter.com in Aug 2009 18 million users by end of 2009

16. Who Tweets? Starbucks Coffee (Starbucks) 296,045 Best Buy (BestBuy) 8,944 Dell Outlet (DellOutlet) 1,208,168 Zappos.com CEO -Tony (zappos) 1,331,274 Oprah Winfrey (Oprah) 2,220,746 Chris Brogan (chrisbrogan) 99,197 Lance Armstrong (lancearmstrong) 1,995,845 Guardian Tech (guardiantech) 1,245,391 Hammer (MCHammer) 1,469,410 lilyroseallen (lilyroseallen) 1,481,838 Whole Foods Market (WholeFoods) 1,390,635 Threadless (threadless) 1,187,416 James McBrearty (taxhelpukcom) 8,155 Cobham, Surrey, UK. Vegware Packaging (Vegware) 454 UK, Ireland Sally Asling (SurreyLets) 2,004 Guildford, Surrey, UK Your competitors Your customers Your target audience People who share your passions

17. Case study #1 - @DellOutlet Challenge: Dell Outlet carries refurbished inventory that it needs to sell quickly Fast turn around Limited advertising budget Reliance on email marketing, paid search results, search-engine optimization and affiliate links to raise awareness and drive sales. Objective: Find new, cost-effective ways to reach people. Twitter benefits: Raising awareness Increasing sales $3million in revenue Connecting with customers

18. Case study #2 – @NakedPizza Challenges: Over reliance on direct mail Decreasing open rates of email newsletter Rising marketing costs No stand out from competitors Objectives: create a community around healthy eating save on marketing costs drive sales Twitter benefits: No cost Mass communication Twitter promotions driving up to 68% of sales during promotion

19. Case studies – Naked Pizza Reported 20% of revenue coming directly from twitter with spikes as high as 69% on days where they hit twitter with a serious campaign. Notice a few things: One, it’s a person, not a robot. Two, that person is ENGAGING in conversations nonstop. Three, they’re not just pimping pizza. Four, they have a personality. Five, every once in a while, they sneak in a playful promo that revolved around the community.

20. The Twitter Basics Define your objectives Register Name Twitter name Bio Web link Location Product USP Choose as short a username as possible Think hard about your thumbnail Use your background to share more info

21. @jonniejensen is on Twitter

22. Twitter Etiquette Twanker - An egocentric individual, celebrity or organization who uses Twitter only for one-way broadcasting about their own greatness. Twidiot - An individual or organization that uses Twitter only to talk about insignificant things no one cares about, like what they had for breakfast or their latest press release.

23. Lets Get Started Follow other people (judiciously) Reply to @ messages RT often and strategically RT @jonniejensen the copied message goes here... Leave room for retweets – 120 characters Refer to people by their Twitter names on Twitter Allow and respond to DMs Real time – so favourite your messages So lets do it....

24. Twitter Tools TweetDeck.com Tweetadder.com TweepSearch.com Klout.com Tweetmeme.com Listorious.com TwitterGrader.com Twitter Counter