by Janet Driscoll-Miller
Posted on June 8, 2009
This session featured Michael Gray of Atlas Web Service, Craig Greenfield of Performics, and my buddy, Joanna Lord of TheOnlineBeat. The panel shared many tools and opinions on how to improve your Twitter usage to meet your goals.
Michael started off by covering how search marketers can benefit from Twitter. He emphasized that there is no right or wrong way per se to do Twitter - do what makes sense for you!
How do you grow followers?
> Tweet interesting things - be insightful, humorous, useful.
> Tweet interesting links to other people and other sites - don't just be self-serving.
> Have interaction in your community - be less robotic - be human!
Michael suggests you should be helpful, friendly and aggressive. Answer questions and talk to others in your vertical as well. If you're not the best resource, send someone to another person who is - that helps build your standing in the community. Retweet others - they love you for it!
Dig through other peoples' follower list to find people to follow. Build a master list of A, B and C level people and mine their followers! As Michael says, later, rinse, repeat - do this often to find new people to follow.
How can you interact and still be productive?
> For high volume accounts, focus on the @ messages and answer them.
> Schedule tweets when possible.
> Use surveys, ask questions, have polls. Use contests or giveaways.
> Automate your account where possible.
What about the Retweet?
> Keep tweet direct and to the point.
> Ask for retweets - it's ok!
> eave 20-25 characters free in the tweet.
> Thank retweeters.
> Use your own URL shortener
Michael says that fakers and ghost tweeters can be ill-received.
Some tools include:
> Tweetdeck: Categorize and group tweets.
> Twittermail: Send email to tweet and schedule.
> Twitterhawk: Pay for tweets - you can set up responses automatically and get alerts. Direct it on how to respond.
> Use friend feeders and retweeters.
> Tweet hijacking - replacing the url to your link instead! (Oooh bad!!)
> Automate following - you can get banned for this though. Be careful.
Joanna said that Twitter is very valuable because you can reach all demographics and international audiences.
Joanna recommended these tools for Twitter:
Automation Tools
Find people to follow:
> wefollow.com
> mrtweet.com
> chirpio.com
> #followfriday
Auto-follow/unfollow/DM:
> tweetlater.com
> futuretweets.com
> tweetspinner.com
Monitoring Tools
Researching conversations:
> search.twitter.com
> hash tag trending
> tweetbeep.com
Track and Quantify:
> tweetmeme.com (has a retweet button you can add to your blog)
> backtweets.com
> twitt(url)ly.com
Marketer-Friendly Tools
> Twibs: business directory
> Twitterfeed: link it all up
> Grouptweet: tweet as a team
> CoTweet: group tweets as one user
> Twitterhawk: local marketing tool
> Hootsuite: full service for marketers
Joanna encourages checking out the tools before you commit to them. Use tools to streamline efforts - not to be a spammer or scammer!
Craig covered how the consumer is really in control but how to leverage that with Twitter and such. Consumers can influence brand perception online through Twitter, so marketers should understand that process. Craig encourages everyone to understand how your brand is perceived in the search results (SERPs).
How can brands use Twitter to boost search rankings and improve online reputation? Craig claims that being retweeted can help organic search rank. (Author's Note: Not really true per se. Links retweeted in Twitter are nofollow - therefore they offer little to no direct benefit to improve search rankings. They can, however, encourage others to virally link to you outside of Twitter - perhaps from a blog, website, etc.)
Twitter does however, Craig says, allow you to better control your brand online and to monitor your brand online - what are people saying about you? Twitter also allows you a mechanism to respond to customer concerns and respond to them quickly. He referenced Comcast as an example of a company that is using Twitter to respond on a customer service level.
Tips from Craig:
> repurpose your brand content on Twitter
> use listening tools to hear what customers are saying
> create an outreach strategy
> engage with your supporters
> integrate your search and Twitter strategies
Michael started off by covering how search marketers can benefit from Twitter. He emphasized that there is no right or wrong way per se to do Twitter - do what makes sense for you!
How do you grow followers?
> Tweet interesting things - be insightful, humorous, useful.
> Tweet interesting links to other people and other sites - don't just be self-serving.
> Have interaction in your community - be less robotic - be human!
Michael suggests you should be helpful, friendly and aggressive. Answer questions and talk to others in your vertical as well. If you're not the best resource, send someone to another person who is - that helps build your standing in the community. Retweet others - they love you for it!
Dig through other peoples' follower list to find people to follow. Build a master list of A, B and C level people and mine their followers! As Michael says, later, rinse, repeat - do this often to find new people to follow.
How can you interact and still be productive?
> For high volume accounts, focus on the @ messages and answer them.
> Schedule tweets when possible.
> Use surveys, ask questions, have polls. Use contests or giveaways.
> Automate your account where possible.
What about the Retweet?
> Keep tweet direct and to the point.
> Ask for retweets - it's ok!
> eave 20-25 characters free in the tweet.
> Thank retweeters.
> Use your own URL shortener
Michael says that fakers and ghost tweeters can be ill-received.
Some tools include:
> Tweetdeck: Categorize and group tweets.
> Twittermail: Send email to tweet and schedule.
> Twitterhawk: Pay for tweets - you can set up responses automatically and get alerts. Direct it on how to respond.
> Use friend feeders and retweeters.
> Tweet hijacking - replacing the url to your link instead! (Oooh bad!!)
> Automate following - you can get banned for this though. Be careful.
Joanna said that Twitter is very valuable because you can reach all demographics and international audiences.
Joanna recommended these tools for Twitter:
Automation Tools
Find people to follow:
> wefollow.com
> mrtweet.com
> chirpio.com
> #followfriday
Auto-follow/unfollow/DM:
> tweetlater.com
> futuretweets.com
> tweetspinner.com
Monitoring Tools
Researching conversations:
> search.twitter.com
> hash tag trending
> tweetbeep.com
Track and Quantify:
> tweetmeme.com (has a retweet button you can add to your blog)
> backtweets.com
> twitt(url)ly.com
Marketer-Friendly Tools
> Twibs: business directory
> Twitterfeed: link it all up
> Grouptweet: tweet as a team
> CoTweet: group tweets as one user
> Twitterhawk: local marketing tool
> Hootsuite: full service for marketers
Joanna encourages checking out the tools before you commit to them. Use tools to streamline efforts - not to be a spammer or scammer!
Craig covered how the consumer is really in control but how to leverage that with Twitter and such. Consumers can influence brand perception online through Twitter, so marketers should understand that process. Craig encourages everyone to understand how your brand is perceived in the search results (SERPs).
How can brands use Twitter to boost search rankings and improve online reputation? Craig claims that being retweeted can help organic search rank. (Author's Note: Not really true per se. Links retweeted in Twitter are nofollow - therefore they offer little to no direct benefit to improve search rankings. They can, however, encourage others to virally link to you outside of Twitter - perhaps from a blog, website, etc.)
Twitter does however, Craig says, allow you to better control your brand online and to monitor your brand online - what are people saying about you? Twitter also allows you a mechanism to respond to customer concerns and respond to them quickly. He referenced Comcast as an example of a company that is using Twitter to respond on a customer service level.
Tips from Craig:
> repurpose your brand content on Twitter
> use listening tools to hear what customers are saying
> create an outreach strategy
> engage with your supporters
> integrate your search and Twitter strategies
Janet Driscoll Miller is the CEO and Lead Search Strategist of Search Mojo a full service search engine marketing firm. Her company offers both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services and Pay Per Click (PPC) Management services to help clients improve search engine rankings.
Print This Article|
Send To A Friend|
RSS Feeds|Read More Related ArticlesCOMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE...
Post them now in our forums for quick, helpful advice from thousands of members!
Should You Be Copyrighting Your Copywriting?
Add Twitter Followers by Conducting a Survey on Twitter
Rebel Against Twitter Rules - Do What Works For You!
Add Twitter Followers by Conducting a Survey on Twitter
Rebel Against Twitter Rules - Do What Works For You!
SEO Articles
Internet Marketing Articles
Development Articles
General Articles
And also in our Archives
Internet Marketing Articles
Development Articles
General Articles
And also in our Archives
Drive traffic to your business and get recognized as an industry leader by sharing your knowledge on Site-Reference. Authors are given a wide range of exclusive benefits here at SR; so checkout what we can offer to those that…
We’re always on the lookout for new writing talent so even if haven’t written for the web yet, feel free to contact us anytime
We’re always on the lookout for new writing talent so even if haven’t written for the web yet, feel free to contact us anytime
Betty writes: Sage advice, and helpful tools ... I can't wait to check them all out!
Thanks for this informative post,
Betty
8:36:26 Thu Jun 25 2009 CDT
Website Designer writes: This is a great reference tool for Twittering. Thanks Janet
1:50:11 Mon Jun 15 2009 CDT
bandb writes: Thanks for the tips Janet. There is so much new Twitter information out there that it's somewhat overwhelming and needs some clarification. I also don't care so much for the automation. It takes the original personal concept away.
12:34:12 Thu Jun 11 2009 CDT
Lawrence writes: It is a wonderful article.I am already using different twitter tools like Twitterfeed.Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
4:17:47 Tue Jun 9 2009 CDT
Thom writes: Hi!
Thanks for sharing! I appreciate you helping out folks like myself who use Tweeter. I am not sure I am approaching it in the right way. I have a BBQ blog and have been following other BBQ and/or food sites. They are trying to sell BBQ supplies and I am trying to sell BBQ supplies. They visit my blog and I visit their blog. We are not going to buy each other's stuff. Is it obvious I should be following other niches and hope they visit me? What's a good strategy? Thank you!
19:18:43 Mon Jun 8 2009 CDT
Jay writes: Great post but I don't agree on using tools to automatically follow & unfollow. People should check out the profiles & previous tweets before following people. It's NOT about the number of followers you have it's about the quality.
18:15:16 Mon Jun 8 2009 CDT
Pages: 1