the 7 steps to twitter dominance

The 7 Steps to Twitter DominanceMay 2012

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What Twitter shouldn’t feel like

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First

Identify Your Focus

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Identify your focus

Finish this sentence: I tweet about ________.

It could be your beat – crime, health-care, technology.

It could be your local city or town – Boston, Detroit, Miami.

It could be something you’re passionate about – media, public radio.

The more focus, the better.

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Identify your focus

Brian Stelter, New York TimesTweets about: Media

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Identify your focus

Andy Carvin, NPRTweets about: Middle East Activism

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Identify your focus

Chris Cillizza, The Washington PostTweets about: Politics

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Identify your focus

Damien Cave, The New York TimesTweets about: Mexico

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Identify your focus

Heidi Moore, Market PlaceTweets about: Wall Street

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Identify your focus

Patrick Madden, WAMUTweets about: D.C.

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Identify your focus

Adam Gaffin, Universal HubTweets about: Boston

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Identify your focus

Ed Joyce, KPCCTweets about: Orange County

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Identify your focus

Ed Joyce, KPCCTweets about: Orange County

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Identify your focus

YouTweets about: ?

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Second

Compile your Twitter source and

influencer list

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Compile your source and influencer list

Who are the newsmakers and influencers around your focus?

Think about the people who make up your city, town or beat.

Dig around Twitter to discover sources you might not even know about.

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Compile your source and influencer list

Don’t be afraid to think locally and broadly for this list – especially if you’re a beat reporter.

This is how you find the influencers – experts on the topic who have large regional, national or global followings.

If you’re a beat reporter covering tech in Seattle, New York Times tech columnist Nick Bilton should be on your list.

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Potential sources

Local newspaper reporters. Other member station reporters. City council members. Police/fire department Twitter accounts. Mayor. Local bloggers. School board members. Small business owners. Outspoken resident who attends every meeting. Librarian. City planner.

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What if I was a crime reporter in Boston?

In 10 minutes I found:

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What if I was a GA reporter in Boston?

In 10 minutes I found:

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Cool. But how?

There’s no exact science to finding sources on Twitter, you just have to go find them. But there are tricks.

Compile your list into an actual Twitter List (Twitter.com/lists). As time goes on, add and subtract from it as you see necessary.

If you’re a general assignment reporter, you obviously have to cast a bigger net.

It might help to create several lists for different topics.

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Third

Start tweeting With pace and consistency

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Beyonce: International Celebrity

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Pace and consistency

If you want a bigger following, you need to commit yourself to it.

Tweet at least once but ideally several times everyday.

Majority of your tweets should relate to your focus – your beat or community.

But tweet about things unrelated to your beat, too.

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Patrick Madden, WAMU, May 7

8:31 a.m.

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Patrick Madden, WAMU, May 7

8:34 a.m.

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Patrick Madden, WAMU, May 7

8:35 a.m.

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Patrick Madden, WAMU, May 7

8:36 a.m.

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Patrick Madden, WAMU, May 7

8:36 a.m.

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Patrick Madden, WAMU, May 7

8:38 a.m.

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Patrick Madden, WAMU, May 7

8:40 a.m.

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Patrick Madden, WAMU, May 7

8:41 a.m.

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Patrick Madden, WAMU, May 7

10:56 a.m.

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But what?

It’s a conversation: Use your voice when you tweet.

Watch what your sources are tweeting.

If news of any kind bubbles up – the announcement of a news conference, a car accident at rush hour -- tweet about it, even if you don’t have a story yet.

Give your audience a behind-the-scenes look at the reporting process.

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But what?

Quotes you hear or read – either in your own reporting or others.

Observations about your reporting.

You’re human: Tweet about life outside of news.

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Fourth

Live-Tweet events

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1. It’s the best way to get better at Twitter.

2. It’s a fast track to a bigger following.

3. It’s where the News Junkies of the world gather.

4. It will get you hooked.

4 Reasons Why Twitter + Live = Awesome

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1. Produce story.

2. Publish story to the web.

3. Tweet link to story.

How reporters often use Twitter

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1. Be a storyteller on Twitter, not a wire service.

2. Open up your notebook and tell the story as it’s happening.

3. Five reporters may be covering the same story, but only you can tell your perspective.

How reporters SHOULD use Twitter

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What you can live-tweet

A press conference.

A protest.

A non-hard news event such as a museum opening or restaurant review.

Breaking news.

A show.

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Fifth

Use hashtags when the time is right

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Best situations to use hashtags

Breaking News

Ongoing news stories.

Live events.

Callouts.

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Breaking news

• If people search on Twitter for a hashtag during a breaking news situation, your tweets will appear in the search results.

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Ongoing news stories

• For people following stories which run over a stretch of time (such as a trial).

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Live events

• This lets you organize your live tweets into one hashtag, makes it easier for people to follow the event.

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Callouts

• If you’re crowdsourcing for information, use a hashtag to curate responses.

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Beware

#Don’t #use #hashtags to #spam.

They’re most effective and less annoying if they’re focused and occasional.

You’re better off using an existing hashtag that’s already in full use than creating your own.

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Sixth

Have conversations with people

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Have conversations with people

If someone on Twitter asks you a question, gives you a news tip or makes a comment, have a conversation with them.

See someone tweet an interesting comment, observation or photo? Re-tweet them or tweet back at them if relevant.

Healthy debate is okay if thoughtful, but don’t get into Twitter arguments. Remember, it’s public!

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Have conversations with people

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Have conversations with people

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Seventh

Get influencers, sources and others to see your work

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Get important people to see your work

Twitter gives you a way to connect with people who matter.

After you publish a story on the web, you have the ability to get more people of influence to read it, listen to it and share it with others.

Rather than just leaving the fate of your story to Google and volunteer visitors, you can spread it to a few key influencers who will then spread it to other influencers.

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The source mention

Who is quoted or mentioned in the story? If they have a Twitter account, mention their Twitter handle in your tweet.

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The station mention

Have your station Twitter account mention you when it tweets your story link.

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The influencer mention

Do you think your story would appeal to one of the influencers you identified?

Mention them in your tweet. This will bring your story to their attention.

Maybe they’ll read it. Maybe they’ll blog about it. Maybe they’ll share it.

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The influencer pitch

If your story is relevant to someone with a large audience and a lot of influence – e-mail them the link.

Bloggers can’t keep track of everything going on with their beat so pointing out valuable content you created is appreciated.

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The influencer pitch

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The influencer pitch

I e-mailed Jim Romenesko, journalism blogger with a huge following in the media world.

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The influencer pitch

A short time later, Romenesko blogs about it.

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The influencer pitch

Then tweets the KPLU.org link to his 50,000 followers

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The influencer pitch

KPLU.org story gets bump in visitors.

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Community sharing

Post your stories in community message boards and social sites for higher visibility.

Reddit.com/r/texas

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Community sharing

Post your stories in community message boards and social sites for higher visibility.

Other places to share:

• Digg

• StumbleUpon

• Buzzfeed

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Get important people to see your work

The source mention: Mention story sources in your tweets.

The station mention: Have your station mention you when tweeting your story.

The influencer mention: Mention influencers with big followings in your tweets.

The influencer pitch: Directly pitching your work to influencers with big followings.

Community sharing: Reddit, StumbleUpon, Digg, BuzzFeed.

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7 Steps to Twitter Dominance

1. Identify your focus2. Compile your Twitter source and influencer

list.3. Start tweeting with pace and consistency.4. Live-tweet events5. Use hashtags when the time is right.6. Have conversations with people.7. Get influencers, sources and others to see

your work.

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What Twitter should feel like

QUESTIONS?

Eric Athaseathas@npr.org

@ericathas617-622-5433