Twitter: From the Basics to Creating a Strategy

Twitter: from the basics to creating a strategyby@KellyRigotti
KR Consulting :: http://kellyrigotti.com

This slideset has been designed to beshared online and is not for presentations. In otherwords, it’sratherwordy!
I createdthispresentation as a resource for my clients and I’mpleased to shareitwithyou. For any questions, please contact me!
Kelly Rigotti
http://kellyrigotti.com
@kellyrigotti
+33 (0)6.67.33.74.91
! Important Information Ahead!

Why Use Twitter
Twitter is an incrediblypowerful networking and communication tool.
With Twitter you are able to access and communicatewith people worldwidewho:
Shareyourinterests
Are potentialcustomers or clients
Creativethinkers
Industry leaders
And more!
I use Twitter daily and, I getresults.

The Basics
Twitter is a one way communication system- youcanfollow people withoutthemfollowingyou back.
Twitter is the opposite of Facebook or LinkedIn, whichrequire the relationshipbetweenyou and the personyoufollow to bebilateral.

The Basics
Twitter allowsyou to shareyour message easilywith a widevariety of people!
By sharing whatyoufindinteresting, in an interestingway, youwillattract a following of people whoalsofinditinteresting.

The Basics: Definitions
Messages are calledtweets.
140 characters in eachtweet, includingspaces, punctuation & links.
Following people meansyoureceivetheirtweets in yourtimeline, or tweetstream.
The people youfollow and the people whofollowyou are displayed on yourprofile page.

The Basics: @somebody
To write a message to somebody, or to talk about somebody, write the symbol @ beforetheir user name- withoutusing a space.
For example, if somebodywants to send a message to me, theywouldwrite@kellyrigotti. This wouldmake the message pop up in mytweetstream.

The Basics: @somebody
Messages sent thisway (@kellyrigotti) are public. They show up both in yourstream and on the profile of the personthey are sent to. You do not need to follow the person in order to sendthem a message, nor do theyneed to followyou.

The Basics: d somebody
To writesomebody a private message, use dbeforetheir user name- with a spacebetween the d and theirname. It looks likethis:
d kellyrigotti
Direct messages canonlybeseen by the people sending & receiving the message. Direct messages onlywork if both people are followingeachother.
Important! Don’t use the @ symbol, or the tweetwill pop up in the public stream.

The Basics: Hashtags
Hashtags are ways of sharing information on a topic or keyword. By using a hashtagyoucreate a link to a word or concept. Anyoneelsewho uses or tracksthathashtagwillbe able to seeyourhashtag(and tweet) simply by clicking on the link.
For example, if I want to share information about an event in Grenoble, I would use #Grenoble in mytweet. This wouldallowanyonetracking the word Grenoble to have my message appear in theirtweetstream.

CreatingYourTwitterAccount
Chooseyour real name, or the real name of yourcompany (or as close as youcanget) for yourusername. This canbechangedlater, but is not recommended.

Your Twitter name is 15 characters at most.
Although Twitter names are not case-sensitive, Twitter will save the name exactly as you enter it when you create your Twitter profile. So although you can create your profile with “JohnSmith” and be listed as @JohnSmith, your Twitter fans will be able to find you by using @johnsmith.

Usingyour real name, or the name of yourcompany or brand is best.
Avoid names with numbers, uncommon abbreviations and names that are difficult to remember. If you have difficulty saying your Twitter handle, or find yourself needing to repeat it in order for others to understand it, it’s probably best to change it.
Keep mobile users in mind and avoid underscores and combinations of letters and numbers, which require extra steps to type in on mobile phones.

Let othersfindyouthroughyour email address. You may change this option later, althoughitis a greatway for other people, especiallythoseyou know, to findyou.

YourTwitter Profile
Makeyour user name as short as possible, sothatitdoesn’t use toomany of the 140 charactersallowedwhenothersreply to you.

YourTwitter Profile
Use the email addressyou contact customerswith, sothat if they look for you on Twitterwithit, theycanfindyou.
You caneasily change itlater if youneed to.

YourTwitter Profile
Chooseyourpreferedlanguage for the Twitter interface. This doesn’t have to be the languageyoutweet in and only affects whatyouseewhenlogged in, not whatotherssee on your profile.

YourTwitter Profile
Setting your time zone allowsyou to seewhentweetswere sent according to your local time.
If location is important to your business, set your location. This canbeturned on/off for eachtweet.

YourTwitter Profile
Don’tprotectyourtweets. This defeats the wholepurpose of building a company, business, marketing or communication profile on Twitter.
Otherwise, go ahead.

YourTwitter Profile
Certain countries allowusers to tweet via text messaging. If yoursdoesn’t, but youstillwant to tweet on your phone, there are a number of appswhichallowyou to do so, including a Twitter approvedapp.

YourTwitter Profile
Check the first two boxes, to bealertedregardingfollowers and messages. The thirdisoptional.

YourTwitter Profile
Fill out your profile as completely as possible.
Use an easily identifiable image for yourpersonal brand- the best is one thatyou use across all social media platforms.

YourTwitter Profile
Use your (or yourcompany’s) real name- or as close as possible.
Say whereyou are based- be as specific or as general as yourtargetmarket.

YourTwitter Profile
Addyourwebsite.
Describewhatyou do. You have 160 characters- go wild! You need to give people a compellingreason to followyou.
The description alsohelps people findyou in Twitter searches.

YourTwitter Profile
Don’t use a default background- createyourown, or use yourbrand’scolors.
Manyuserstakeadvantage of the background image to addadditional information about themselves.

YourTwitter Profile
Many applications interface withTwitter. LinkedIn and HootSuite are two of the best.

Finding People to Follow
First: Findyourfriends.
Link youraccounts to Twitter, and follow the people youalready know.

Then, click on the ‘Who to Follow’ linkat the top of the Twitter page. This will show youTwitter’s suggestions of people youmaybeinterested in following.

Next:
Search for appropriate keywords.
Example: CRM
Seewho’stalking about those keywords and followthosethatinterestyou.
Trackthose keywords (in HootSuite, for example, as a hashtag or as a savedsearch in Twitter), to follow future people talking about those keywords.
Seewhoelsethose people follow and followtheirfollowers.

After:
Search for yourcompanyname and the name of yourpartnercompanies, customers and competitors. Followany Twitter accountsthatyoufind.
Seewho’stalking about thosenames and/or brands and followthem. Seewhoelsetheyfollow and followthem.
Trackthosenames (in HootSuite, for example), to follow future people talking about those keywords.

Finally:
Find opinion leaders in yourfield (websites, magazines, talkingheads).
Search for them on Twitter or visittheirwebsites, findtheir Twitter link (they’llalmostcertainly have one) and followthem.
Seewho’salsofollowingthese people and followthem.
Follow the people that the opinion leaders themselves are following.

Sometips:
Try to avoidfollowingmany more people than the number of people whofollowyou, otherwiseyoumight look like a spammer. 2:1 wouldbe the max.
Finding people to followis an ongoingtask- youwillfind a greatmany people to followat first, but youshouldtry to find a few new people to followeverymonth.
You don’t have to followeveryonewhofollowsyou- onlythoseyoufindinteresting.
Don’tbeafraid to unfollow people.

ManagingYourFollowers
Here are severaltoolsthat help you manage yourfollowers:
TwitCleaner: http://thetwitcleaner.com/: helps you find people who may be spammers, who are no longer active, etc
Fllwrs: seewhofollows/unfollowsyoueveryday
TwitBlock: http://twitblock.org/Findsspammersamongstyourfollowerssothatyoucan block them

Starting to Tweet
So whatshouldyoutweet about?
In the beginning, introduceyourself:
Whoyou are
Your expertise
Whereyou live
Whatyou do
Whatyoulike
Whoyouwant to meet
Whyyou’re on Twitter…all in separatetweets.

Starting to Tweet
As people begin to followyou:
Sendthemthankyou’s for following. At first, personalize the messages. If youget in the 1000s of followers, youcan set up an automaticresponse.
Begin a conversation: askthem about themselves, wherethey live…
As youbegin to follow people
Sendthem an introductorytweet- whoyou are, whyyou’refollowingthem. Not many people do this, soyou’ll stand out!

Starting to Tweet
Sometips:
Don’tjust talk about yourself. The best Social Media platforms are about creating a conversation and Twitter is no exception. Strive to hit 70% of conversation about the Other and 30% about Yourself.
Repeatingyourowntweetsis OK (not everybodyis in the same time zone), but try to rewordthem or spacethem out withothertweets in between. Don’t do ittoomuchthough, or you’ll look like a spammer! Services likeHootSuiteallowyou to scheduletweets in advance.

Starting to Tweet
Sometips:
Use a linkshortening service like bit.ly or the toolsintegratedintoHootSuite or TweetDeck. Otherwiseyour links willeat up the majority of characters in yourtweets!

The 8 Do’s & Don’ts of Twitter
Do be easy to find
Don’t shout
Do provide timely info
Don’t repeat yourself
Do ask advice
Don’t be aggressive
Do engage with your community
Don’t auto-tweet or auto-DM
Via Maggie Hoffman at Open Forum

Twitter Management System
In order to best use Twitter, youneed a system to manage it. I use HootSuite, whichallowsyou to:
Manage yourtweetstreamsacrossseveralcolumns (up to 10),
Addotherusers,
Manage multiple Twitter accounts
Manage other Social Media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn, WordPress, etc).

GettingStartedwithHootSuite
If you use HootSuite, here’s how to getstarted:
CreateyourHootSuiteaccount
AddyourTwitteraccount
Addcolumns:
Tweetstream
Direct Messages: inbox & outbox
@ responses
Mentions of your brand
Keywords: up to 3 per column
LeaveHootSuite up and running sothatyoucan pop in throughout the day

I teach people and organizations how to use social media to meettheir marketing & communication needs.
For a personalized tutorial or other questions, please contact me:
Kelly Rigotti
http://kellyrigotti.com
@kellyrigotti (on Twitter, of course!)
+33 (0)6.67.33.74.91
Thankyou!

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Twitter: From the Basics to Creating a Strategy

by Kelly Rigotti Consulting on Mar 13, 2011

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Twitter: From the Basics to Creating a Strategy — Presentation Transcript