The challenge for us as marketers is to tap into and be a part of this conversation.

It takes word-of-mouth to a whole new level.

Twitter  Best Practices for Business

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!

Be transparent. I could probably share more pictures and be a little more transparent from time to time.

Listen. Regularly monitor the comments about your company, brand, and products.

This is something I do everyday, not only on twitter but on the internet and other social media platforms. The key is to respond back too.

Ask. Ask questions of your followers to glean valuable insights and show that you are listening.

Engage your customers and professional contacts. This really shows that you are listening.  I work at this task throughout the day.

Respond. Respond to compliments and feedback in real time

I try to make sure I provide some type of feedback for compliments. If people are taking time to write something nice about a post or myself, I need to respond back to them and acknowledge them.

Reward. Tweet updates about special offers, discounts and time-sensitive deals.

I need to give people a reason for connecting. I try to be careful with this one, but people like to connect with other people for inside information and specials. It’s human nature!

Demonstrate wider leadership and know-how. Reference articles and links about the bigger picture as it relates to your business.

This is critical! I have worked hard through blogs and pertinent content to share to my followers. I always ask myself if I am adding value with the content I share.

Champion your stakeholders. Retweet and reply publicly to great tweets posted by your followers and customers.

Again, this is critical. It builds strong relationships and trust amongst your followers. I always need to work on this more and more.

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. How do you want your business to appear to the Twitter community

Thought needs to occur with respect to each tweet that is posted. I have to be careful that something I tweet does not offend anyone or could damage the company brand in some way. Being overly cautious is vital.

Summary

I think it is always good to revisit these best practices and make sure something isn’t falling through the cracks. I also like this list because it is a way to measure your content with respect to your brand. How do you stand with respect to this criteria. Are there any areas you could be working on a little more.

Picture via Betsy Weber

Connecting search terms together and understanding their relationships. In addition, this new concept also combines information that other people have found helpful and connected and add it to your own search experience.

Watch the video and see this topic come to life!!! – Search continues to evolve and provide opportunities for marketers.

After watching this video, you understand why search is so important and why it is important to be active on platforms like Google Plus and Blogs.

Wouldn’t it be great if people made the connection between your company and

most important:  your products and services

or other important items like: your role in your community

or: the kind of people that work at your company

or: the type of clients you perform business with

or: your connection with the news affecting your business

or:  “you fill in the blank”

There is a lot of potential here!!!

Picture via zapthedingbat

Your faced with the following dilemma – You are in a room with other partners and directors and you as the marketing director need to convince your peers that social media is a worth-while marketing medium.

A number of you may fall into this category. Maybe you have been tasked with getting your company on social media, but you are having a hard time seeing results.

Here is my advice!

Show them your blog and the effort you have put into your blog. Social Media starts with your blog site/page.  If you did not have a blog as part of your social media plan, I am sorry your efforts may possibly fruitless. Do you really want to convince your peers that going from 200 Likes to 500 Likes has increased business some 20% or so. This is very hard to justify. How is this any different than clicks and an ad on Google Adwords.

Show your peers a years worth of effort and I guarantee you that you will see results. For one, you just created pages and pages of key-word searchable content that is not going away.

Show people how you share your blog content with your audience on Facebook Company Pages, Linkedin Company Pages, Google+ Company Pages and Twitter.Show them the actual posts. People understand advertising and communicating. Also, most of these people have never seen your company on one of these sites.

Show people some of the quality people who follow you and  your company.. Oh by the way, if you are using one of those automated follower programs, this could be very embarrassing. How do you explain to your boss and co-horts that you follow everyone.

Finally, have people look at your blog site/page and compare it to your company website using Google Analytics.

Most people get to your company website by searching the name of your company or your industry followed by a location.

Show them how people are finding your company through key word phrases. Show them which social media platforms you are receiving the most for your blog content.

Please only perform the above if you have maintained a blog for over a year.

There is still a lot of education that is needed in this area, but if you have done your homework, the results will speak for themselves. Blogging makes all the difference with social media. If you are not blogging or creating fresh content, you are headed down a long road of frustration and constant justification. If you have not started blogging, begin today its never too late.

Picture via bennylin0724

One Personal ID -representing yourself  with a note about a company – Option 1

One Company ID – representing the company and a specific person who is employed by the company. Option 2

Personal ID and Company ID separate – Two separate accounts. A contact and complete bio is necessary for this to work.

Ultimately, my decision wast to have separate ID’s for personal profile   and company profile

Here are my reasons

1. The Company ID needs to be owned by a senior manager of the company. Someone who will be with the company for a long time.
2. Personal ID – Allows you to connect with people outside of work and follow others with similar interests in addition to your company. It is more personal, but it is also good to learn more about marketing initiatives being enacted in other companies and industries.
3. In addition, it helps you create consistency on other sites like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter which allow people to build company profiles and pages.

Two id’s are plenty. I thought about creating profiles for different types of company services or markets I would like to target but decided against it. The fous needs to be on the company or the face of a company. If you spread that brand over other services and/or products, it might dilute the conversation. (Just my observation)

On your company ID, please put your phone number of email address. This little task will let people know how to connect with you outside of social media sites..

On your personal ID, give people a reason to connect with you. I also think you should put your Work Title somewhere if you are wanting to connect with business people.

Create a strategy for your ID’s. This will help you stay focused with respect to your conversations and postings. It will also be easier to measure success.

Finally, make connections one at a time..Don’t use automated software. I might not recognize you. Remember last weeks post regarding “Quality Twitter People” The same is true on other platforms as well. Personal connections rule, automated connections are nothing more than more numbers.

Picture via sweetonveg

Many people feel pressure to like their friends posts and be in constant contact with their “so-called” friends.

Here is the article, “ Consumers suffer social media “stress”

My advice:

• Take More Breaks if you feel stressed.
• Get Refreshed – It makes all the difference!
• Try Blogging instead of Posting!
• Write fewer comments and they will actually mean more to people. If I comment on every post that someone writes, am I really being a quality friend?

Hey, by the way – celebrate people’s accomplishments in person. Mother’s Day, Graduation, Father’s Day to name a few. Better quality time than social media sites.

Stress from social media – only if you post something reckless and stupid. But day-to-day as defined in the article, I think I can find better things to be stressed about. LOL!

Picture Source: sammonsdmdomoni.tumblr.com via Brent on Pinterest

It sounds crazy! Yes, I have found myself searching twitter almost as much as I have been searching Google. For the longest time, I had this url memorized.

Search.Twitter.com     It allows you a way to search conversations on twitter. (OLD WAY TO SEARCH TWITTER)

Why would someone want to start searching on Twitter? It’s a valid question!

Here are my reasons:

I want the current news! – Most of the news instantly appears on twitter. Anyone can start a news story these days.

Searching on Twitter is not about ranks and first page searches

Searching on Twitter is about finding conversations, people and information. (This is why Google wants in this game too.)

You can find information and know more about the people who are communicating the news.

Am I effectively communicating my product/service information on twitter. (What are my competitors saying?)

Finally, my search has improved immensely since I changed the way I search Twitter. I now use the “Advanced Search on Twitter”

https://twitter.com/#!/search-advanced

The easiest way to use this url is to create a bookmark on your browser. Then with a click of a button an advanced screen appears.

There is a lot of functionality here. You can search words, people places, location-based search, region search, positive search, hashtags, Retweets, word phrases and more.

If you hahaven’t made Twitter a part of your search for information or people, you should start. You will be surprised at what you might find.

 Picture – Screen Shot  Twitter

Short and to the Point on Twitter!

— Brent Pohlman (@BrentPohlman) May 11, 2012

It really makes a lot of sense!

Phrases like the following are easy to remember:

• Just Do it!
• Good Morning!
• You Rock!
• That’s Awesome!

Now take this a step further and apply the words to your posts/tweets. Here are some examples:

• (Just Posted)
• #hashtag keyword
• A Must Read
• Great Stuff Here
• Check this out!
• Great Post!
• Thank You

If you need some more reasons to use short phrases on Twitter, here are some more reasons:

• Retweet real estate – Your readers will add comments and retweet your content if there is room left after your message and link. Give your readers space.
• You need to stand out from the crowd – Today, most people use every possible character to communicate their message. In today’s mobile world and people with high follower counts, shorter phrases are easier to pick up and they actually stand out more.
• Give people a reason to take more action – Don’t repeat the title of the article!  Action sells on Twitter.
• You are a traffic cop on Twitter – Where do you want people to go. Get their attention and let them know what to do next.

I am sure for many of you this is not new information. However, it is always good to mix things up a bit and see if you can be more effective and less boring.

Enjoy!

Have Fun! and

Rock Your Twitter World!

Picture via Jonassink 

Because of this, I am introducing my own” based on my experiences

“Very Unscientific Social Media Study- 2012 

…Why you might ask?

…Because its actual results from my experience!

Linkedin Findings

• For the best return on investment, take advantage of the Questions and Answers functionality. Get fast results to your business questions.
• Groups are great for adding new, quality connections. Conversations on Groups take a lot of time.
• Updated your profile periodically and your status daily for connecting with people on Linkedin.

Twitter Findings

• Make sure you are active everyday.
• The Activity Button on Tweetdeck can really help you see if the people you are following are quality people.
• If you post great content, people will respond in a big way.

Pinterest Findings

• Ladies are the audience here and they are great at leaving comments and repinning your pictures
• Type in your blog post url and Pinterest will find your pictures.

Facebook Findings

• No one actively seeks out company pages on Facebook, your challenge is to make sure your company posts show up on their walls.
• Resharing company posts occasionally can help you attract more Likes
• Facebook mobile is where I see the most links to my sites

Google+

• I wish it would catch on more…
• The Personal Profile Picture connected to your content is huge for better search results.
• Adding quality people is challenging.
• Stay active, but don’t go overboard.

Blogging

• Blogging is where it begins with me for social media.
• Create great content and share it through these channels
• Keyword and Search are still alive. People still use Google, Bing and Yahoo to search for information.

Social Media Results

• Average time on Social Media sites per business day.
• Blogs – 1 hour – - mostly at night
• Twitter/Linkedin/Google+ – 30 minutes
• Average number of tweets per day  – 10

Other Marketing Channels (Social Media is one piece of a great strategy)

• Trade shows  – Booths at 50-60 shows per year
• Personal Letters – Sending out more in 2012 with above average success
• Brochures – Educational and promotional – People like concise information
• Answering Phone – Live Voices help people connect better and increase chance of new account ocurring

What is the ROI  of social media and other marketing channels?

• Adding new clients everyday at our company (The numbers don’t lie)
• Average 5- 10 inquiries on our company website
• 500 – 700 phone calls received each week
• Increased Revenues
• More brand awareness
• More Advocates for our company – articles in newspapers, retweets, links to blog articles.

 Picture via Ralph Unden

Let me tell you why I think it should be a part of your mix.

Obtaining and reporting interesting news

Everyday, I learn something new and I have to get creative. I am a news reporter. I look for articles and information that I believe my clients want to hear. I also want to take the opportunity to educate our readers on some new tips and ideas. If you check out my company blog, you will see a wide range of topics.

Keeping your brand in front of people

People want to associate your brand with activities going on around us. Its up to companies to keep their brand fresh and associated with news that will keep their clients engaged

Search Traffic

Obviously, niche topics will help companies stay on top with respect to search. People want to find companies with respect to current topics

Another way to link to your content

It is great to link information from past posts and to your current posts and corporate website.

Starts the Social Media Conversation

If you are trying to get a message communicated using Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin, start with your blog and use these channels to broadcast your message and start a conversation.

Summary

I can tell you that by blogging, I have been able to take my online marketing initiatives to new levels and the best thing about it is the content stays out there forever. You cannot say that about paid advertisements. In addition, I keep myself and my readers up to date with specific information related to their interests and our company. Finally, all of these actions help keep you in touch with your current clients and provide you opportunities to reach new clients. It is well worth the effort to keep blogging, despite what you might read.

Picture via jmoneyyyyyy