what is twitter
TRANSCRIPT
What is Twitter?
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What is Twitter?
Twitter is a tool for "micro-blogging" or posting very short
updates, comments or thoughts. In fact, since Twitter was
designed to be very compatible with mobile phones through
text messages, each update is limited to 140
characters. Truly, a micro-blog.
Another way to think of Twitter is like a cross between
instant messaging (IM) and a chat room, because it is an
open forum; but you restrict it to the people with which you
connect.
Who Uses Twitter?
• Twitter’s largest demographic is 35-44 year olds making up 25% of users.
• Over 14% of users are “Stable Career types”, young and ethnically diverse singles living in big cities like Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Miami.
• Another 12% are “Young Cosmopolitans” (40-ish) with household incomes over $250,000 per year.
• The site has a large following of older, professional audiences, and 25% or users are considered “high earners”.
(Source: Twitter Power, Joel Comm, 2009)
Why do they use it?
• People buy from those you know, even
virtually know
• People like the virtual water cooler that
Twitter is
• People want to create communities, even if
it’s online
Marketing and PR via Twitter:
• Engage your CEO in Social Media: Twitter is actually
perfect for a CEO or founder who is always on the road
meeting with people and who has some interesting
opinions on your market.
• Keep in touch with media: This can be a much easier
way to connect with the media rather than calling or
emailing them.
Marketing and PR via Twitter:
• Monitor your company brand
• Live updates on events or conferences: if you are
participating in a large trade show or corporate event you
can use Twitter to announce last minute changes or
interesting events that are happening. It is a great last
minute marketing tool.
Step by Step Guide for beginners:
• Sign up and post a profile at www.twitter.com
• Write some updates. The beauty of Twitter is that the 140 character limit is the great equalizer.. Post a link to a news article you liked with a one line comment, mention an interesting thought you had, just write something.
• How to post URLs. Twitter is based on 140 character updates. If you have a really long URL, that doesn't leave much room for Most people on Twitter use www.TinyURL.com to take a long URL and make it short. Give it a shot if you have a long URL that you want to market on Twitter.
Step by Step Guide (cont.):
• Monitor conversations about your company. Even if
you don't join Twitter yourself you can monitor what
people are saying about any person, company or
brand. This is quite useful from a marketing and PR
standpoint. Twitter has a search engine that lets you do
just this. You can subscribe to these searches by RSS
to keep yourself updated. Another tip is that you can
"follow" all the people you find talking about your
company (just click on their username to go to their
profile). If they are talking about your company, they
would probably be pretty happy that someone from the
company wants to follow them.
Step by Step Guide (cont.):
• How to "chat". Using the @ symbol before someone's
Twitter username is how people have "conversations" in
Twitter. This makes their username a link to their profile
so other people can follow the conversation (sort
of). For example if you wrote "@chellemurph thanks for
the cool blog article about Twitter today" that would be a
way of telling me you liked this article. Try it out. It's not
IM (instant messaging), but it is sort of like a publicly
broadcast IM service.
Step by Step Guide (cont.):
• Just like you wouldn’t attend networking events every day, all day. Don’t plan to network on Twitter that much. Some do, I don’t know how they manage it. Set aside time often to catch up on what is being said. Try to make that hour at different times of the day so you catch a variety of people.
• Tweet about what you are reading, i.e.: in the newspaper, books, magazines. If there is an online version, include a reference to it. If you purchased the book online, provide a reference to that too. Get people interested, and find people interested in what you gravitate towards.
• Respond to what others are saying, “Thanks for the article”, “great point”.
• Spend some time making idle chit chat (people on twitter seem to like it).
Step by Step Guide (cont.):
• Ask probing questions, but stay online to catch if anyone responds, then engage with them. Further, make interesting statements without a question.
• Retweet (RT) what others are saying. If someone is asking for help (“I’m looking for a great Restaurant in Carlsbad”) RT that to your network. It’s a nice thing to do.
• Network just as you would face to face, make introductions between like minded people.
• Create a custom profile page, keep with the same branding as your website.
• Think Organic and Authentic – Organically grow your followers, don’t use any of the get followers quick tools; and, authentically communicate.
Some base concepts…
• Tweet - When you post or write your 140 characters on
twitter and hit send it’s called a tweet or tweeting.
• Handle – that’s your twitter name @chellemurph–
balance short with descriptive and no matter what your
business handle is get your personal name if you can
even if you don’t plan to use it right now. – it’s like your
URL and will have value some day.
• Follow – this is simply the act of adding someone to
your list of people you are following – this makes their
tweets show up on your homepage.
Some base concepts…
• Replies – this is what it is called when someone writes a
tweet directly at your handle - @chellemurph cool post
today blah blah – this is often an invite to engage with a
follower.
• Retweet – this is a tactic of republishing someone else’s
tweet – the original tweet along with author stays in tact,
but you are basically showing someone’s tweet to your
followers – many people find this a great way to add
content and acknowledge good stuff from the folks they
follow.
Some base concepts…
• DM – This is a message that is sent directly to another
user. They must be following you for you to DM them, but
this is a very useful tool for private messages and
generally a good choice when you start going back and
forth with someone on something your entire base of
followers might not find interesting.
• Hashtag – This is a way people categorize tweets so
that others might use the same tag and effectively create
a way for people to view related tweets – it will look
something like #marketing – more on this in search.
Should I use it?
Now that is the real question isn’t it? Many people look
at twitter on the surface and conclude that it’s just one
big waste of time. I can’t say I disagree completely, but
like all social media and marketing tactics, before you
can determine if something makes sense you need to
analyze your objectives. So, instead of asking why you
would use it, ask how it might help you achieve some
other already stated objectives.
Achievable Objectives:
1. Would you like a way to connect and network with others in your industry or others who share you views? It’s a good a tool for that.
2. Would you like a way to get instant access to what’s being said, this minute, about your organization, people, products, or brand? It’s a good tool for that.
Achievable Objectives (cont.):
3. Would you like a steady stream of ideas, content, links, resources, and tips focused on your area of expertise or interest? It’s a good tool for that.
4. Would you like to monitor what’s being said about you or your brand
Achievable Objectives (cont.):
5. Would you like to extend the reach of your thought leadership – blog posts and other content? It can be a good tool for that.
6. Would you like to promote your products and services directly to a target audience? Not such a good tool for that?
Managing your Twitter activity
• Once you start using twitter you’ll want to explore ways
to make it easier to follow what’s going on and respond
to @replies and searches you’ve set-up. There are
number of 3rd party desktop and mobile applications that
make this a snap.
• TweetDeck – http://www.tweetdeck.com - This is a piece
of software that you run on your desktop. You can post
tweets from it, respond to replies from others and, this is
what I really like, set up various searches and get
updates in real time when someone tweets on a subject
of phrase you are following.
Q&A
Michelle Murphy
President
Murphy Assistants
1-888-257-5702 x 81