Posts Tagged ‘business’
Why You Should Have A Twitter Account For Your Business
I mentioned that I would address why you should have a twitter account for your business and it comes as sort of a gift in time for Christmas, especially for those who are first timers to TwitterWatchDog.com. Just to give you a little background on where I live – I live in Centralia, Illinois, which is in southern Illinois, barely within the St. Louis metro east. Centralia is a very small place. It is a city that has a annual Balloon fest that attracts a lot of people from over the region, and a large yearly Halloween parade, much larger than some of the city parades I have seen growing up.
I have the privilege to talk to a lot of small business owners. Centralia is a place where people are still a bit hesitant about the internet, but those in business are contemplating if they need a website. The problem is, a lot of them do not have that much money to fork out for a shiny website made by a big kahuna web design company. I offer my services. I often talk to them about Twitter as I believe any business should plug into the social network.
This is helpful on several levels. If you use Twitter to connect with others, and they find you trustworthy, you build a reputation that is easily searchable. You help your business virtually get on the map, and furthermore, you get your town/city on the map. A lot of smaller cities do have a website, and for places like Centralia, it is great to see business coming in from anywhere. The brilliant part about Twitter is – IT IS FREE! 
There are many tools to find people in your general area or even in your niche. You do not necessarily have to have an e-commerce site, but if you have products you like to feature that are unique to your business versus others in your niche, Twitter would be one of the great places to share that information. You never know, you might either make a good transaction over the phone, or actually set up an e-ecommerce site.
Another thing is that you can use Twitter to provide Live Support too. There are several places already that do, like Best Buy’s Twelp Force. Even though they are a larger business, small business can use that as an example to help others.
Going further, Twitter is great for freelancers. Freelancers are small business owners in their own right too. Using Twitter allows them to connect with others in their niche. The number of projects I have paired up with other freelancers who needed my skills are more than I can count, and a lot of them came from connecting with them on Twitter.
There are more reasons, but I thought I would allow some room for conversation. If you are a small business owner, what are your reasons? How have you used Twitter so far for your business?
Follow Nile Flores of Blondish.net on Twitter – @blondishnet.
10 Easy Steps with training videos, live calls and a complete support system to help you succeed faster with Twitter.
14 Insane Twitter Tips For Business
-by Kim Redd
Recently, I have found myself passionately sharing Twitter advice with not only clients, but with friends, colleagues, neighbors, and even strangers. Some think I am iNSaNe over this “twitter thing”. What better reason to write a post!
As a business, you have three main goals when it comes to Social Media: Monitor your brand, build your brand, and increase sales of your brand. Twitter is just one facet of Social Media. Here is what I share with my clients…and strangers…and now you!
14 Insane Twitter Tips For Business: What I Tell My Clients
1. Follow everyone back…yes even the porn stars! Unless someone offends you, spams you, or uses foul language, follow them back. It’s courteous and will win you more followers (i.e. customers/prospects) organically. Do you care about what your customers are saying? Then show it by following them back.
2. Change the avatar to your head shot. Yes, YOU! Choose a picture where you have a big smile. People buy from people they like, not companies. Humanize your business. It’s the only way to succeed on Twitter. IMPORTANT: Once you select your avatar, do not change it. It becomes your personal brand.
3. Put YOUR name in the Profile. It’s okay to keep the Company or Brand name as the name that shows up next to the Avatar. This will help you build your personal brand as well as your company brand. If you are worried about stalkers, don’t use your last name.
4. Engage your followers. Talk to them. Cultivate them. First rule of Social Media is “be interested, not interesting”. Have you reached out directly to any of them yet? This is a huge opportunity to interact with your customers/prospects. Don’t blow it.
5. Find more followers. A following of 28 is not going to increase traffic in your stores or on your website. Run searches to see who is chatting about your brand and your industry. Start following them. Begin following the competition, other marketers, and Twitter superstars. As you interact with each of these segments you will see your following grow naturally.
6. Listen. Have ongoing searches running for your brand, company, industry, and pertinent topics. Stay on the pulse. Nip issues in the bud. Offer advice when questions are asked. Great opportunity to make a good impression.
7. Be Active. Tweet at least once a day but not more than 10/day (unless you are having a conversation: then it’s okay to go over the threshold of 10). You need to commit time each day to actively listen and tweet.
8. Be thankful. Thank those that Retweet (RT) your tweets. Always give RT credit if you RT another tweep. Thank those that recommend you on #FollowFriday.
9. DO NOT USE AUTO DIRECT MESSAGES. Nothing bothers tweeps more than auto DM’s filling up their inbox. It’s okay to auto-follow for complete coverage, but please don’t send impersonal automated messages. You will be unfollowed and/or blocked. That won’t help your brand.
10. DO NOT use DMs for pitching products or special offers! Do I really need to expand on this concept?
11. Tweet conservatively. The internet is permanent. Don’t say anything you wouldn’t want posted on a billboard in front of your home and/or office.
12. Compliment others, generously. If you see a great tweet with interesting articles about your industry, marketing, etc give the tweep kudos by retweeting their tweet. This will help build your following and your credibility. Great way to make new Twitter friends and build your brand.
13. Schedule a Tweet Up in your area or attend one. By meeting other tweeps, marketers, prospects you can gain insight, advice, and/or possibly new drinking buddies. Look for local folks to follow. Same applies when you are traveling for business.
14. INSTALL TWEETDECK! If you haven’t already done so download it now. http://tweetdeck.com It’s a fantastic way to organize your followers and conversations. Use it in addition to twitter.com
WARNING: These tips are MY opinions and there are other schools of thought out there.
FEEDBACK: Let me know which tips are your favorites, how many you found helpful, and which ones suck. It’s okay to disagree with me too… just tell my why. Send me an @reply or leave a comment here.
Watching out for you, one tweet at a time -TwitterWatchDog
Get instant Twitter Watchdog Secrets, Tips and Tools that will help maximize both your personal and professional Twitter experience. Just enter your name and email address now.
Twitterology: A Business Strategy
Twitterology: A Business Strategy
I am honored to post for Twitter Watch Dog! I have subscribed to this blog for a while now, and Al is one of my favorite peeps to follow!
Some call me a “Twitterologist” – which I like! I am actually a Social Psychologist that is committed to small business owners building strategy that takes less time to get better results.
Each of you can be a Twitterologist for your business! How:
- Be strategic first
- Build a measurable plan
- Understand the balance of business and engagement
- Realize you can get results in as little as an hour a day
- Think about going viral – then it’s even less time to get results!
My goal on watchdog is all about the concept of Twitterology. I want to:
- To teach you to be a Twitterologist
- To share strategies you can implement and measure for success.
- To show tools and effectiveness.
- To open your mind as a business owner to what Twitter can do for you.
- To share that social media and social networking are two different things.
- I love to do video training, and have been doing technology training since 1998, so on occasion I hope to add those too!
Thanks Al and Skeeter!
Please do follow me Ann Evanston on Twitter!
Twitter to Stardom
by Skeeter Hansen and Your Pal Al Ferretti
Twitter may be your ticket to Internet Stardom
It’s funny because we know many of you have heard of those so called “once in a lifetime
opportunities”. Unless you have been living under a rock, you see those opportunities everywhere.
Truthfully, and if we were betting men (and sometimes we are), we would say that Twitter is a once in a lifetime opportunity for virtually anybody.
Here’s 7 reasons to ignite your light to internet stardom
1. Twitter is growing at an amazing rate and its been said that twitter users, are on twitter for longer periods of time, compared to users on other social media networks.
2. Twitter easily integrates with blogs and/or websites.
3. The amount of available twitter clients, tools and apps (more and more are being released every single day) allow for almost unheard of customization and flexibility.
4. You can spread the news about your brand, product or service at the speed of lightning.
(even faster than traditional media like CNN, ESPN, etc) That’s why they use Twitter.
5. There’s no limit on how to use Twitter (be it personally and/or professionally) with even
more ways being created all the time. Some top brand companies use twitter for special offers, customer service and more.
6. Twitter’s climate is the perfect breeding ground from the high profile celebrity to joe the plumber and every business marketing owner in between.
7. Twitter is now the default for spreading news and information and it is a preferred way by many to connect with people all across planet earth.
Our future with communication has officially changed for the good.
This is your official (no hype) “Once in a Lifetime Opportunity” to Stardom
If you know of a better way, please let us know ASAP, better yet leave us your comments and follow us..
Get instant Twitter Watchdog Secrets, Tips and Tools that will help maximize both your personal and professional Twitter experience. Just enter your name and email address now.
Special Guest
TwitterWatchDog Features Tammy Redmon
UPDATE: A recording of the call with Tammy Redmon is now available. Click the gray arrow below to listen in.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Sunday July 12, 2009 TwitterWatchDog.com is featuring Tammy Redmon on the TwitterWatchDog Secrets, Tips and Tools Conference Call.
Tammy is a Certified Executive, Business and Leadership Team Coach, Speaker, Business Growth Strategist, Encourager passionate about exposing the power of possibility in individuals, organizations, and communities.
Tammy is also the author of The CoachesCoachBlog, an action focused speaker and the creator of the Exquisite Self-Care Toolkit for the professional woman and so much more.
Come follow us. Discover how Tammy Redmon and the Twitter WatchDog team can help you and your business be successful on Twitter.
WHEN: recorded on Sunday July 12, 2009
WHERE:
Right here, simply click on the play button..
Get instant Twitter Watchdog Secrets, Tips and Tools that will help maximize both your personal and professional Twitter experience. Just enter your name and email address now.
