New York native Hugh Macken is an internet and virtual assistant analyst with Marshfield, WI-based VMR Communications, LLC. He welcomes your comments at hugh@i.am or on Twitter at @hughmacken.
Twittering your Way to Sales Growth
November 7, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
June 19, 2009
MARSHFIELD, WI – If you’ve heard of Twitter, but haven’t seen a need for your business to take it very seriously, allow me to urge you to give it a second, more careful, look.
But before you dive in blindly, allow me to introduce you to a global technology phenomenon that individuals and small businesses, probably just like yours, are already embracing in surprising numbers.
The reason?
They recognize that marketing and communications, like everything else in business these days, has evolved. Dramatically.
And micro-blogging platforms like Twitter are central to that evolution.
So meet Twitter, not a person, but a free social and professional networking platform that allows individuals and companies (“Tweeters”) to send 140-character messages, (“Tweets”) to anyone who cares to receive them (“Followers”) multiple times a day.
There is good reason why that probably sounds like the most clever waste of valuable time that one could possibly conceive. The reason is that it can be a complete waste of time.
But only if you fail to realize that the twitter.com website itself makes a terrible first impression and is not terribly useful on its own.
However, used with the right third-party applications, like TweetDeck.com (which is free), your Twitter account can be one of the best marketing investments you can make.
But don’t just take my word for it. Leading analysts are beginning to take note.
None other than The Nielsen Company’s Michelle McGiboney recently opined, Twitter “…offers a variety of ways for marketers to reach their customers, and it’s a tool that businesses will have to learn how to utilize to their best advantage.”
Ms. McGiboney is right on target. Sadly, though, some small businesses have already written off Twitter as a transient fad unworthy of their time, thus never learning how to use it to their company’s advantage.
But its rising popularity among all age groups is, I believe, likely to entice skeptics to at least give it a try. Many are already doing exactly that.
Data recently released by internet analytics firm Compete.com, claims unique visitors to Twitter increased a whopping 1043%, year-over-year, from 1,725,977 users in May of 2008 to 19,728,619 in May of 2009.”
That’s a bit of a spike to say the least, and a spike whose source may surprise you. While it is true that the 18-25 year old segment has signed on in large numbers, according to Compete, their usage intensity pales in comparison to Twitters’ most loyal age group of – are you ready? – 35-49 year-olds who, incidentally, also comprised roughly 40% of the site’s audience as of February of this year.
Although not every age group has embraced Twitter with equal enthusiasm, Twitter’s broad penetration within the US has been impressive, with many staking their place on the global stage for conversation that Twitter provides. From President Obama in the White House (whose Twitter username is @barackobama) to Christa’s Bistro & Deli (@christasat126), closer to your house, chances are someone you may least expect is already tweeting away on Twitter.
The prospect of a large and diverse US audience is ideal for big business and government, but for small businesses on Main Street looking to find customers, usually the right audience is every bit as important as a large one. Being a small business itself of only about fifty employees, I suspect Twitter is keenly aware of this. So are savvy small business owners who have already found clever ways to nail the hyper-local dimension of the network.
One well-known example is CoffeeGroundz Café (@coffeegroundz) a small coffee House in Houston Their website, coffeegroundz.net, is worth checking out. They claim to be one of the first companies to have taken a to-go order using Twitter. Now clients not only place orders for pick-up, some customers at the café actually place orders from the comfort of their seat in the café. CoffeeGroundz’s Operations Manager J.R. Cohen, has also successfully hosted charity Tweetups (social gatherings promoted via Twitter) to raise money for worthy causes.
Another case study comes by way of Namecheap (@namecheap), an internet company that claims to rely heavily on word of mouth marketing, a strategy similar, at least in that respect, to many businesses on Main Street. Namecheap marketing specialist, Michelle Greer, has used trivia contests every hour on the hour (she used the free app from TweetLater.com to schedule the tweets) with the first replies winning a one-year domain registration. As a result of a dramatic increase in Twitter followers, Namecheap’s traffic increased by 30% when they ran a promotion in earlier this year. Growing and engaging a solid Twitter following has become so central to their sales growth that they were willing to shell out more than $15,000 worth of prizes during their most recent trivia contest, which ended yesterday.
There are countless other examples like these where small businesses needing to find new ways connect with their customers in an ailing economy discovered Twitter was just what the doctor ordered.
To be sure, Twitter is not a panacea to cure all that ails Main Street, but for the price it is definitely worth giving a fair shot.
Before you do, though, recall what I alluded to above and what Time magazine writer Steven Johnson wryly observes as well: Twitter “makes a terrible first impression…[but] it turns out to have unsuspected depth.”
Copyright © 2009 VMR Communications, LLC
Double Your Income Using Twitter in Just Minutes a Day
November 6, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
You are reading this because you have likely just come across Twitter, or you’ve heard of it but are not really sure what it is or how to use it.
In this article you will learn:
• What is Twitter?
• What is micro-blogging?
• Why is it so successful?
• How to use Twitter to double your income in minutes a day
• The really important DO’s of Twitter
• The even more important DON’Ts of Twitter.
What is Twitter?
Twitter is the world’s preeminent “micro-blogging” social networking website. It was launched in March 2006. Even though it is so new, it has skyrocketed to dominance and is considered by many to be equal in importance to Facebook!
It is a social networking platform in which people invite you to follow them. Here’s an example. Let’s say a friend of yours, Albert, invites you, Bill, to follow him on Twitter. You may accept him (by clicking on the ACCEPT button) or you may reject that offer (by clicking on the BLOCK button).
You might block:
• People you do not know
• People you do not like
• People whose culture or morals do not fit with yours (like blocking porn stars)
Even if you accept someone, you could later block that person if, for example, you realize that they just want to sell and are not on Twitter for the true social networking ideals.
In this example, let’s say that Bill accepts Albert’s invitation. Now, Albert has one Follower (or one more Follower) and Bill now is Following Albert. Bill is now in the Twitter system and can invite Carol to follow him. You get onto Twitter by invitation because you must follow someone. In this way, a community is built. Albert has his community of those he follows and those who follow him. And, it is the same for Bill, and for Carol, and for the millions who are on this platform.
Twitter Popularized The “Micro-Blog”
Emails can be as long as you wish, with attachments as huge as you wish. Blog posts can be as long as you wish. Articles are limited to a maximum of about 1,500 words. But, comments posted on Twitter are limited to 140 characters – even including spaces!
In this era of speed in which no one seems to have any time, Twitter popularized updating your friends and sending text-based Direct Messages (called DMs) using only 140 characters. Here’s one I just posted today:
“I’m sitting in my hotel room in Gold Coast Australia writing an ezine article on Twitter.”
That’s 89 characters including spaces and punctuation. I could stop there, or add more. How do I know it’s 89? Because Twitter automatically counts down for me and displays that I had 51 characters to go. So, I kept going.
Now I am at 167 characters. But, I’m allowed only 140. Twitter’s counter (now red) shows me at -27. That means I need to eliminate at least 27 characters. I realize that the comment “Though I live in Canada” is not too important because my Twitter followers likely know that. So here is my next attempt:
“I’m sitting in my hotel room in Gold Coast Australia writing an ezine article on Twitter. I’m here giving a speech for World Internet Summit.”
That brings me down to -3. I’m almost there. So, I delete one of the spaces between my two sentences. I’m at -2. Then, I delete the entire word “sitting” and I’m done. I hit the UPDATE button and my dozens or thousands of Twitter Followers know what’s up in my life. It’s easy. It’s fun. It’s free.
Why Is Twitter So Successful?
Twitter’s success is based on two principles important to social networking:
• Firstly, it is really easy to use and understand.
• Secondly, it takes only seconds to post or to read a micro-blog.
How You Can Double Your Income Using Twitter
You simply increase your number of Twitter Followers, build a relationship with them, then offer them something that they may well like.
Tweets (that is, messages sent to Followers on Twitter) are more eagerly read than mass-emails. So, there is a greater connection and a greater opportunity to monetize your list of Twitter Followers.
The Number One Key then is to dramatically increase your Twitter Followership.
The Steps to Increasing your Twitter Followership
Here are the steps to getting your list started…
• Open a Twitter account and post a photo as that is part of the fun of Twitter.
• Ask someone, by email or phone, to invite you or accept a Twitter invitation that arrives.
• Using Twitter’s search function, find friends of yours and invite them.
• Next, decide the type of Twitter Followers you would like to attract. Let me use an example. If you love scented candles (or wish to sell scented candles online through Twitter), then search for “candle” or “candles” or “scented candles” or “fragrance” or “relax” or whatever other key words you feel would find you the type of friend (or customer) you want.
• Each search will return to you a list of Twitter members. Read down the list and click the FOLLOW button for those whom you feel resonate with you. It’s totally your choice.
• Keep doing this and two things will happen.
o Firstly, you will be following lots of people.
o Secondly, some of them will eagerly follow you back.
o Thirdly, you will begin getting Tweets which you need to answer.
You are now beginning to have fun on Twitter. Congratulations. People will send you Tweets or DMs (Direct Messages). You need to reply. And, you need to initiate micro-blogs like the one I constructed earlier in this article.
Soon you will follow 2,000 other Twitterers. At this point, you may well have several hundred Followers. The difference is too large and Twitter will prevent you from following any more. With each day, more people will find and follow you so your ratio will improve. To follow more than 2,000 others on Twitter, you must keep your number of followers within about 10% of the number you follow. When you follow 2,000, you will need to wait till 1,800 follow you. But, there is a short-cut. Read on to the Second DO below.
Here Are the All-Important Twitter DO’s
The very first DO is: use your real name “Mary McGregor” so that others can find you. You may also use a nickname. I don’t.
The second DO has to do with speeding the process of getting more followers. Simply wait for several days after following someone and then delete them if they do not follow you back. How do you know? Just look at the list of those you follow. If you see a “DM” or “Direct Message” button, then they are following you. If it is blank, then they have not followed you. You may wish to go through that entire list and purge (or delete) anyone who has not followed you. Now, your ratio is in balance and you can go out inviting more and getting more followers.
The third DO is about keeping in touch. Each day, send a micro-blog of anything that is on your mind, a fun website you’ve found, etc.
The fourth DO is to reply to DMs sent to you.
The fifth DO (and you must wait till you have earned a relationship) is to offer something for sale, but in a conversational way. Here’s an example…
“WOW, I just found the world’s funniest video. I laughed like crazy. Check it out on my blog http://www.MyBlog.com.”
That just fits within the 140-character ceiling. If you’ve built good relationships and if the video is really funny and if the video is about scented candles in some way and if there is a compelling offer to buy scented candles on your blog website, then you will begin getting sales!
And the final DO is about publicizing your Twitter membership. Put on your business card and in your email signature and everywhere: “Follow me on Twitter.com/yourname”
And, Now For the Even More Important DON’Ts
Firstly, DON’T begin selling too soon.
Secondly, DON’T make your sell obvious. Make it conversational.
Thirdly, DON’T ignore DMs. They are what creates the social networking.
DON’T lose interest. Once you have created this network, you need to mother it to nurture it.
And, The Final Point …
Have fun. It’s easy. It’s fast. It really works.
Raymond Aaron,New York Times Top Ten Bestselling Author, “Double Your Income Doing What You Love” published by John Wiley and Sons, New York City.
Claim your Gifts From Raymond“to double your income”. It’s free.
Join Raymond Aaron on Twitter @RaymondAaron.
Join “Raymond Aaron Double Your Income” Facebook Fan Page at http://www.FacebookRaymond.com .
Twitter Marketing: 6 Steps to Creating a Viral Marketing Campaign with Twitter Hashtags
November 1, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Copyright (c) 2009 OnlineBizU.com
Twitter, as a popular social networking platform, is a viral marketing strategy all on its own, especially if your followers like your tweets and retweet them to their followers. However, I’ve recently noticed another trend in Twitter usage that increases its viral marketing capabilities through the use of hashtags.
What’s a hashtag, anyway? Also called the pound sign, the hashtag (#) is added to a tweet as a way of creating trackable categories, groups, or topics that others can use to search for info using the Twitter Search feature. One of the most common uses of the hashtag is to tweet what’s happening at an event or conference. The event organizer will request all attendees use a specific hashtag, i.e. #yourevent, when tweeting about the event to your followers. So, then, someone who isn’t present at the event but wants to follow what’s happening there can simply search for #yourevent and see what’s going on and what participants are saying and sharing about the event.
Anyone can create a hashtag by putting hashtag (#) in front of anything. If you log into Twitter and look in the right-hand column, you’ll see the Trending Topics, many of which can be tracked with a hashtag. How can you use this strategy to create more viral marketing for your business on Twitter? By creating a hashtag Twitter tips campaign.
Here are 6 steps to help you create your own Twitter hashtag campaign:
1. Research. What kinds of tips would be appreciated by your target market? On what topics do you frequently receive questions from your clients? My target market is always asking questions about getting more traffic, so I decided to focus on traffic generation strategies.
2. Choose your name. Choose a short, simple name that reflects your brand and what you’re offering. Before making your final decision, you need to check your proposed name on Twitter Search (search by including the #) to ensure that no one else is using that name. Otherwise, your tweeted tips will intermingle with the other hashtag group using that name. I quickly checked and discovered that no one was using #OBUTrafficTip, so that’s what I chose.
3. Create your tips. You can easily pick your tips out of an article or blog post you’ve created. In my case, I had purchased a PLR ebook that I used as a basis for my tips. Remember that your tips need to be less than 140 characters, including the hashtag name you’ve chosen and any links you include.
4. Link to relevant info. You get the most mileage out of these tips if you link the tips to something relevant to that tip. For example, if you have a bank of articles, each tip might link to an article you’ve written that has more details about the tip. For maximum exposure, you’ll want to link to info on your site or your blog rather than to the posting of an article in an article directory.
5. Upload the tips into TweetLater.com. This type of campaign is easily managed using TweetLater.com. Simply upload your completed tips and set them to distribute once a day or (several times a week) over the upcoming weeks by postdating them into the future. In this way you put these tips on autopilot and they post themselves.
6. Let them begin to work their magic. It may take awhile for them to catch on, but eventually others will begin to retweet your tips as useful information they want their followers to access. As with most marketing strategies, consistence is the key here to your success.
It’s pretty easy to begin your own viral marketing tips campaign using the Twitter hashtag. Simply follow the steps as outlined above, and watch as your number of Twitter follows grows each day!
Online Business Coach and Internet Marketing Strategist Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online businesses that they love. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com
Benefits of using Twitter
October 29, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the followers. That’s why information on Twitter is short, to the point and effective. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. You can access Twitter via Web, Desktop Applications and even SMS. While the service costs nothing to use, accessing it through SMS may incur phone service provider fees.
I started using tweeter some time ago. Surprisingly after few days of posting some tweets it started getting indexed in Google. While Google continues to dominate the world of “search”, it has a long way to go in offering real-time search capabilities.
Twitter is a powerful communication platform providing social networkers the opportunity to post updates in real-real time. The growth of twitter has been so phenomenal that Google also started paying attention and it is indexing Tweets. Many Twitter pages and individual tweets can be seen on the first page of Google.
Then I started learning more about it. Rather than using it just as a social networking platform, if used properly, it can benifit you in so many ways including by boosting your personal brand and enhancing website traffic.
I want to list down some of the methods by which Twitter can benefit us:
- A Powerful Tool for Obtaining Information / news. Twitter users often link to useful sites or articles and can be a source of scoops and alternative news. This is very useful for active social news participants as they can subscribe to Twitter feeds for specific websites/conferences, which allows them to receive and view content quickly.Twitter can be quite an effective search tool for researching any kind of information. The results can complement other methods or sources of information. Twitter has a wide range of users, who constantly update Twitter with new information on different niches.
- To reinforce Personal Brand and awareness. Twitter is a social media platform which has the primary advantage of developing a social brand that is well-connected and accessible. Due its vast usage, Twitter can be a used for promoting your products and services and establish your brand. If you have established business you can use Twitter to enhance your brand image. On the other hand if you have a smaller business with limited brand awareness then Twitter can be excellent for promoting and establishing your brand among enormous audience.
- Get Feedback. Twitter provides you with an opportunity to join a group of interest by following others who are influential within your niche. Twitter also allows businesses to communicate with customers and receive feedback in a casual and cost effective manner. It can prove useful in understanding and obtaining consumer opinion about new products or services or new ideas. You can also use Twitter to communicate new ideas with people and test public opinion. Bloggers sometimes use Twitter to discuss ideas for new posts.
- Use it as HR tool to Recruit People. Want to hire a good web analyst, web designer, or programmer? Send out a tweet asking for recommendations. This is a very quick and easy way to hire freelancers or even companies based on familiar recommendations.
- Marketing Opportunities. Twitter can be used in promoting your products and services. It is a cost effective method to increase awareness about your products or services. You can use it to inform customers about any new announcement or special offers. Twitter offers all the advantages of traditional text message marketing and more. It can prove to be a useful tool for conducting market research by better understanding of potential or existing customers.
- Boost your website traffic. Twitter can be used to direct traffic to your websites. If you tweet about your website, the message will spread faster and further as other active users pick it up and re-tweet it. Bloggers often use Twitter to inform their audience of any new posts on their blog by posting links on Twitter. Thus Twitter can be seen as a traffic generation tool. The placement of links within profiles and conversations can direct visitors to a specific website and is especially powerful if you pitch to early adopters and influencers.
- Make new friends. Twitter has a built-in function for you to befriend and track the messages of other users. This is a simple way for you connect with like minded people outside of your usual circle. A Twitter association can be developed into a long term acquaintance.
- Spreading Social Network. Twitter is an excellent tool to help bloggers share links to content which is of mutual interest to like minded people. On a personal level Twitter allows one to communicate with friends and family or close network of connections. On an organizational level Twitter allows colleagues who are not co-located to communicate with each other or businesses to communicate with their customers. With Twitter it is also possible to target a specific niche or audience by following others from your industry. It can thus allow a business to build contacts within the industry. Communities have developed around many of Twitter groups or niches. Twitter can be used to establish reliable and long term relationships for future benefits such as testimonials or peer recommendations.
- Get Votes. Send a link to your stories you’ve submitted in other social news sites like Digg. Your followers might vote up the stories if they agree with it. This allows you to acquire more support for your efforts on other social media websites
- Event Updates. Twitter can be used as a means to inform event participants and latest event happenings/changes by entrepreneurs. This is a stress-free way to broadcast information. Businesses have also used Twitter effectively to measure the performance of campaigns.
- Promotion. Twitter can be used as a promotional tool to announce offline endeavors or upcoming online events (webinars, virtual tradeshows etc). If you are an e-commerce site, perhaps you have a deal of the day or seasonal offers where you can promote these deals. The fact is you do not want to be too promotional, but Twitter does present the opportunity to promote your products or service and brand to your friends.
- SEO Boost. If you have good content on your website and you want to drive additional traffic to this content on your website, you can use Twitter to do so. A quick tweet with the URL can help drive additional traffic to a preferred landing page on your site to help persuade the conversion on your site.
- Find future Prospects online. Twitter allows you to interact with potential prospects and your target audience. While you do not want to be in direct touch all of the time, Twitter does allow you to engage with your prospects by re-tweeting their posts or responding to something that they may have tweeted about. Discretion and tact is needed in this area.
- Twitter and Mobile. Since Twitter is very simple to use and is limited to 140 characters, mobile use with Twitter is also easy. You can both send and receive updates what you and your friends are doing on the go using a simple SMS. Twitter can be a great mobile communication tool. As we know in business, this can be a pretty powerful thing.
- Offer live exposure. Twitter’s message size limit prevents detailed coverage of events but it can allow you to provide real-time commentary which may help to spark further discussion or interest on the event as other Twitter users spread the message. Very useful for citizen journalism.
In short, Twitter allows you to monitor how influencers think or feel, you can also get into their attention zone via active networking. For businesses, Twitter is another channel which connects current and potential customers with your product or brand. It allows deeply infiltration into the lifestyles of interested participants, which helps to build brand persistence/loyalty. So twitter can be used a tool to achieve simple aim of tracking and directing attention from various groups of your interest and in turn drive business.
Shilpa Singh, Director Himshilp- Internet Marketing Consultants handling SEO, SEM, website designing and website promotional stratagises.
Improve Every Aspect Of Your Business With Twitter!
October 24, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
You’ve seen countless articles and e-books written about it, but do you know how to market online with Twitter?
If you don’t, you’re not alone. Most marketers are still boggled when it comes to using Twitter in their promotion efforts. The main reason is because marketers don’t realize the sheer ingenuity of our favorite microblog’s 140-character limit communication.
The reality is that the internet is information overload for most people. The genius of Twitter is that communication is forced into small chunks of information which most people can willingly digest. Presented with the option, people are more inclined to read a sentence or two as opposed to a long, involved blog entry or email!
In this article, I will demonstrate how Twitter can not only be used by your business for marketing purposes, but also for customer service, product development, free publicity, and valuable access to experts!
Twitter for Marketing
If marketing entails everything you do to place your product or service in the hands of potential customers, including all communication, relationship building, and brand recognition-Twitter makes it instant.
For this reason, it is the perfect social networking platform for announcing sales, specials, and promotions. Many larger companies, such as Dell, have a Twitter to announce sales as soon as they become available. As a small business owner, you can harness the power of Twitter this way too!
If you can get hundreds, or even thousands of people interested in your niche to follow your company’s tweets, you have a targeted list of prospects at your fingertips. Simply tweet a brief detail or two about the special, and include your link. It’s that simple!
A list of businesses on Twitter:
http://www.twibs.com
As a marketer, you know that the speed at which you can get your message out to your potential clients before your competition can reach them essentially determines your success. Twitter affords marketers the advantage of communicating with thousands of new prospects at the speed of light, and allows them to see your offer in real time.
Twitter for Customer Service
Many companies are designating human resources and time exclusively to enhance their customer service via social networking. Companies can find out the challenges, questions, and troubles that their clients are facing by reading their tweets to others.
Customer service representatives or public relations liaisons can immediately resolve any problems by engaging themselves in the conversation. Customer service representatives who engage their clientele via Twitter increase their company’s transparency, and show that they not only concerned about their customers, but they also care about their brand.
Twitter for Product Development
Twitter can be used as an instant survey tool for product development. You can simply ask the likes and dislikes of others with a simple tweet and can incorporate or improve your current products or services.
It’s catching on. In fact, software development corporation Eclipse is working on a Twitter plug-in called Twitterclipse, which will tweet announcements, findings and questions within their development team. It is faster and more convenient than email, and also avails an RSS feed for posting their development updates within the Eclipse website.
Twitter for Free Publicity and Brand Awareness
As you know, free publicity is priceless-and it can be difficult for a small business to get access to the media. Companies regularly pay millions of dollars to imprint their brand in the minds of prospective clients.
With Twitter’s personalization features you can place your brand or company logo on your Twitter page. Because of the viral nature of Twitter, traffic and publicity comes for free.
People will associate your Twitter with your company, and increase their trust in your products and services.
Twitter Gives You Access to Important People
No other media gives you direct access to leaders in your market like the internet does. Twitter gives you personal access to leaders and mentors that you have only ever dreamt of connecting with.
I bet you never thought you would ever get the chance to be 1-on-1 with Brian Tracy on Twitter, right?
http://twitter.com/BrianTracy_
Simply follow them, and open up the channels of communication with your tweets! The leaders of your field impart valuable knowledge that you can apply to your online business, and can be a great source of free marketing tips.
Improve Every Aspect Of Your Business With Twitter!
Twitter is extremely simple, but this fact also adds to its versatility. You may not realize the effect of Twitter on your business when your followers are at a single digit-but just imagine the scope of your business reaching tens of thousands of followers! Many online businesses are using Twitter now…what are you waiting for?
About The Author: Abe Cherian is the founder and CEO of AdClickMedia.com, an online advertising network and a subsidiary of Multiple Stream Media. http://www.adclickmedia.com
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