Posts filed under 'New Tricks'
Your first reaction to Twitter will probably be to ask, “What the heck is this?” I always like to describe Twitter as a combination of a blog and an instant messenger. Twitter gives you the opportunity to build a community and interact with them like never before.
Sounds daunting, doesn’t it? But have no fear. Here are some easy things you can do to get started:
1. Once again, fill out your profile. Put a picture in there. Enter your hometown. Enter a link to your personal homepage. If anything, you can make this a bit more personal than your Facebook profile.
2. Do some searches on Search.Twitter.com for key words: your hometown, your publication, a big issue in your town — whatever. See who’s talking about them.
3. Post a Tweet or two. Say you’re new to Twitter and are looking for some cool people to follow. To post links, use a URL-shortening service like Plurl.me, Zi.ma, etc. Your Tweets must be fewer than 140 characters in length, so URL-shorteners are your friend.
Also, As Martha Stewart would say, self-editing is a good thing. Twitter’s not the place to be long winded.
4. Remember those people you saw in your Twitter searches? Find a couple to “follow.” Just click the little “follow” box under the person’s profile.
5. If someone who is obviously NOT a spammer follows you, send them a private message thanking them for the follow. This builds Twitter goodwill. (NOTE: Send someone a private message by going to their profile and clicking “message.” Send a public message to someone by typing in your Tweet, “@NAME Your message.”)
Bonus points: Be sure to follow @ColonelTribune and @Statesman for some Twitter best practices.
November 6th, 2008
So, you’re rolling along with Twitter.
Your organization has several hundred (or maybe even more than 1,000) followers. People love what you’re doing with Twitter and seem to look forward to what your paper has to say.
Your boss comes up to you and asks THE question: “Are we ever going to make any money off of this?”
The answer is, of course: “Yes and no. Maybe. Someday. We’re just planting our flag right now. We’re … I don’t know.”
At some point, you’ll have to be able to answer that question forcefully. Although the vast majority of people on Twitter aren’t out to make a buck, you likely will have to at some point. Not only will you be alone in your quest to try to make money, everyone could easily get annoyed by your efforts.
So, it has to be done right. Just as you should not just open the RSS spigot on Twitter without putting thought into it, you also should not put ads on Twitter without careful consideration.
During the Austin City Limits Music Festival, Austin360.com, which was live-tweeting the event, sold an ad to a local ticket vendor. It was done more as a test than anything else.
Here's an actual Tweet sent out as an advertisement by @austin360
Austin360 received only one complaint – someone who basically said, “For shame!” The Twitter account didn’t noticeably lose any followers.
I think there are some reasons it didn’t get hammered.
Here are my 5 rules for advertising on Twitter:
1. Sell it ONLY to someone who will provide relevant information to your followers. The ACL Fest after-party tickets are a good example. If they put a car dealer ad out there, they might have lost all of their followers.
2. Don’t insert the ad too much. I asked the followers of the @statesman account what they would think of advertising. Of those who said they wouldn’t mind ads, they almost all said, “Once or twice a day only.” I think you might be able to get away with an ad every 15-20 Tweets. The ACL advertisement was inserted (manually) 5 times a day over the three-day event. The account sent out 407 total Tweets, so that’s one advertisement every 27 Tweets.
3. Look for advertisers that would not only be relevant, but also fun and useful. Advertising on Twitter sounds horrible to most heavy users, but if you send out an ad that says, “Show this tweet at Jo’s Coffee shop for 1/2 price coffee today” then I don’t think they’ll complain quite as loudly.
4. Do not use a random third-party service. I’ve noticed a few of these pop up, most noticeably Magpie. This just looks like a recipe for disaster. Set this up, and watch your followers drop like a rock. If you rely on someone else to do this for you, they aren’t going to follow my other rules. Expect too-frequent ad Tweets, irrelevant information and more.
5. When in doubt, be conservative. Let’s say you’re going to live Tweet a political convention and you want to sell your stream to an advertiser. Negotiate with them to give you control over the wording. Tell them you can’t send it out 10 times an hour. Stand your ground. Don’t advertise if they won’t go with you. Give up the money before you give up your community.
This is a tricky subject, and I know there are many who say they’ll NEVER follow an account that advertises. In the @statesman survey, I learned that most of your community will stay with you – if you don’t abuse them.
What do you think?
November 5th, 2008
Let’s face it: You’ve all heard of Facebook. But is it helping you actually connect with other people in a meaningful way? Are your co-workers using Facebook to its full potential?
Perhaps so, but probably not. Here are some tips for creating a good Facebook profile:
1. Fill out your profile. Period. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen profiles without photos or job titles.
2. Spice up your profile a bit. Join a group or two. Post on your wall. Become a fan of something. Download a Facebook application. Update your status once in a while.
3. Now you can start adding some friends, but don’t stay within your circle. Once you join groups, I’m sure there will be people there you want to add. If not, open up your Rolodex or Outlook e-mail list and start adding some contacts. This is also a good way to strengthen your personal networks.
4. Create photo albums, and tag the photos with your friends. This way, they’ll see that you care about them enough to name them in your pictures. Great for professional gatherings, family photos, etc.
5. Keep your profile up to date. If you happen to get promoted or — heaven forbid — change jobs, it’s important for you to update people in your network.
Lastly — and this doesn’t warrant a number — if it’s someone’s birthday, wish them a happy birthday. (You’ll be able to see this information on your Facebook home page.) It’ll help you strengthen your connections.
Anyway, these are some basic, basic tips. I’ll be adding some more tactics every once in a while!
November 3rd, 2008
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