Twitter For Customer Engagement

Using Twitter for Customer Engagement
January 2010
Alan Belniak
@abelniak

Agenda
2

Agenda
3
What is Twitter and Why is It Important
What’s Our Company’s Presence with Twitter all About
Who is Involved and What’s the Philosophy
Vocabulary
Typical Steps
Re-tweeting
#hashtags and bit.ly
Frequency: the ol’ Quality vs. Quantity dilemma
Tools
CoTweet
Other Resources

PART I: WAIT… THE WHO AND THE WHAT NOW?
WHAT IS TWITTER
WHAT IS OUR INVOLVEMENT WITH TWITTER
WHO IS INVOLVED? WHAT’S THE PHILOSOPHY?
4

What is Twitter… and why is it important
Micro-blogging
140 characters
It’s not the same as Facebook or LinkedIn where you request to be friends
note the verb… not ‘friend’; instead, ‘follow’ (no permission required)
5

What is Twitter…and why is it important
It started small, and is now growing
Used often by marketers as a way to get real-time reactions and do marketing research
real-time search
brand management
other uses
Thereality is that Twitter is a platform that permits all kinds of things. It isn’t one tool, and it isn’t for everyone.
6

Companies’ customers are using Twitter
Slideshare
Swiffer
Duracell
Dogfish Head
7

What is (and will be) our presence with Twitter?
I created seven Twitter IDs, one each of our major product families.
This allows our messages to be segmented.
We will start to use this to
listen to what customers have to say, and push out messages to customers
together, we will engage our customers
This may seem like it is just another task to add to your list. But this supports your role in…
marketing
product management
tech support
it is really another tool (not another task) to help you do what you are already doing
8

Not all Tweets have to focus on your product or service
Method’s (the cleaning product)Twitter feed – note that not all tweets are related directly to their products
9

Who is involved? What’s the philosophy?
You all reading this (and probably others)
Let’s face it: media 2.0 isn't going away
The meta-lesson of this education applies to all social media, and not just Twitter
Our customers are online, and social media gives them a loud(er) voice.
We can not engage through these channels
we run the risk of alienating some of our customers that are using this and similar channels by not connecting with them there
Or, we can engage with our customers
start to build up brand trust, confidence, and loyalty
10

Has anyone not heard about the Comcast story?
11
Look at the results for a Google search on ‘Comcast Cares’
Look what’s in the first position
Comcast pulled itself out of a deep PR well by engaging

Another reason…
12
Brian is kind of a big deal in the PR and social media space…
Translation: Lots of people listen to what he has to say

PART II: DIGGING IN
VOCABULARY
TYPICAL STEPS
RE-TWEET: IT’S NOT A STUTTERING BIRD
HASHTAGS and BIT.LY
13

Vocabulary
Twitter (n)
tweet (n)
tweet (v) or twitter (v)
follower number and following number
"the ratio"
profile
locked and blocked
@ or @ message or at message or reply or mentions
14
DM or direct message
Re-tweet, or RT (this is very important, as it helps you gain ‘street cred’)
# or hash tags
Fail Whale
FTW, FTL, and other such used acronyms (http://www.acronymfinder.com/)
FF or Follow Friday

Typical steps (1 of 2)
Set up your own account at www.twitter.com(user ID, password, an e-mail address)
This will be useful to help get you acclimated on your own, before tweeting on behalf of the company
Submit a picture or somehow-related avatar, create your profile
Be real. Be human. (more on this in a minute)
Send out a test tweet, dip your toe in thewater
Use @ messages to start generating some interest for your own account
15

Typical steps (2 of 2)
Re-tweet, recommend people, and start engaging - helping and sharing are two huge currencies in social media
You’ll soon realize that using the http://www.twitter.com interface gets tired quickly
consider one of the many tools freely available (like Tweetdeck)
The notes section of this slide has additional detail, and sites to click through to help amass people to follow
16

A Quick Note on Twitter Lists
Your account page - see the lists you created/the lists with which you’re involved
This means the ones you follow, and where you are listed.
Mass-following some of these lists is a good way to start getting your own followers
Consider pasting the URL of a Twitter list into TweepML.org
Also, search TweepML.org for interesting lists
17

An example of not being human
Poor ratio, likely due to the content
Same message, over and over and over again
18

Re-Tweeting: what’s the big deal?
Summary of why it is important
Usual syntax
Add a follow-on message if you like
Avoid re-tweeting someone who re-tweets you. This isn’t to say not to do it, but note that it can appear self-serving.
Keep in mind the 140 characters; if you want someone to re-tweet you, give them room!
19

#hashtags
Think of hashtags as bookmarks… or… tags
Emergent – not sanctioned or issued by decree
folksonomy vs. prescriptive vocabulary
Syntax
Useful for linking groups of tweets together
e.g.: FollowFriday, or Red Sox, or Toyota
Popular at conferences and seminars to track the conversation in the backchannel
e.g.: South by Southwest (#sxsw)
Advice…
Don’t use a hashtag that’s too long – remember, the # and hashtag text are factored into the 140-character limit
Do use a hashtag that makes sense and is easy to use
20

#hashtag effective practices
21
http://hashceratops.org/tutorial

bit.ly
URL shortening service (http://bit.ly/)
Reduces the length of long URLs to save room in Twitter’s 140-character limit
http://www.readwriteweb.com/readwritestart/2009/10/6-great-twitter-quiz-and-polli.php - (85 characters long)
http://bit.ly/2yLZFM - (points to the same link, and is only 20 characters long)
Gives some insights into clicks on a link (screen shots on following slides)
Can be linked to a Twitter account for one-stop shopping
example: swipe a URL, go to http://bit.ly, paste the URL, and Tweet out that link directly from the bit.ly page – no need to go back to www.Twitter.com
22

bit.ly data
Number of clicks from when you Tweeted it
Number of total clicks (others can create a short link of the same long URL)
Listing of where conversations are happening
Time of day and date information
Reference source and locations over the world
23

more bit.ly data
24

bit.ly’s link to Twitter account
25

PART III: YOU, TWITTER, and YOUR COMPANY
HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO OUR TWITTER PRESENCE?
HOW OFTEN SHOULD I TWEET TWITTER SEND A TWITTER MESSAGE?
MY OWN ACCOUNT, COMPANY ACCOUNTS – HOW DO I MANAGE IT ALL?
26

How do I manage the flow?
Consider creating e-mail aliases (work w/ IT) to have content automatically distributed
An e-mail address is necessary when creating a Twitter ID, so consider using the ones you create here
Another way to stay on top of the content is through RSS
Learn how to use an RSS reader
Get Twitter searches sent as an RSS: http://search.twitter.com/advanced
Or, use FeedMyInbox – an RSS feed delivered in e-mail form, but only once a day(a digest version)
27

Frequency: quality over quantity, but in the right volume
Our (initial) internal recommendation: a minimum of one quality tweet per day from each account
Set up an internal group (a wiki, a Google doc, etc.) of content you can share so you’re not all always scrambling for this
Set up a recurring reminder in Outlook (tasks or calendar entries)
Pre-create tweets of items (saved in the wiki or some other source, and copy and tweet at will, for you get writer’s block)
Good topics include: product news , company news, link to a press release (with a relevant comment) benchmark data… (cont’d)
28

Frequency (continued)
Conduct an informal poll – ask a question, engage the audience (see notes)
Look at what your other company products are tweeting and perhaps link (RT) from them, if appropriate
Use @replies to others in your stream
This is what it’s all about!
What’s the competition doing? Can you comment on that (being professional and courteous at all times) ?
Don’t simply tweet inane, mundane information. Make it valuable. Don’t follow Twitter’s old advice (“What are you doing?”).
Instead, answer, “what are you reading? What excites you? What is it about the event you are attending that is interesting (and not just what is happening)?”
29

Frequency (continued)
Conduct an informal poll – ask a question, engage the audience (see notes)
Look at what your other company products are tweeting and perhaps link (RT) from them, if appropriate
Use @replies to others in your stream
This is what it’s all about!
What’s the competition doing? Can you comment on that (being professional and courteous at all times) ?
Don’t simply tweet inane, mundane information. Make it valuable. Don’t follow Twitter’s old advice (“What are you doing?”).
Instead, answer, “what are you reading? What excites you? What is it about the event you are attending that is interesting (and not just what is happening)?”
30
Key message: do whatever it is you need to do to make this a regular part of your day, time-boxed so it fits into your schedule, and coordinated with your other team members so it appears (from the outside, at least) as a well-oiled machine.

Guidelines
Does your company have any guidelines? You might want to make some. Go here to get started.
Essentially an extension of an employee handbook. Don’t over-think them. Ours are summarized below.
DO
Be authentic – disclose who you are and for whom you work
Be positive – this is a chance to engage with people; pretend it’s like meeting them for the first time at a party
Be respectful
DON’T
Lie or pretend to be someone else – authenticity matters
Be negative with respect to the competition
Disclose sensitive information, especially with respect to earnings, acquisitions, or recent deals (unless pre-approved)
REMEMBER
Whether you think you are or you aren’t, you are always representing the brand
31

CoTweet
www.CoTweet.com
the site
support
Lets multiple people tweet through one account
Lets one person tweet through multiple accounts
32

PART IV: REFERENCE
SITES TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND MORE
MISCELLANEOUS
33

Sites to help you understand more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&fs=1 – Twitter in plain English (CommonCraft video)
http://mashable.com/2009/06/24/twitter-brand-best-practices/ - Twitter best practices for brands
http://thesocialmediaguide.com.au/2009/05/30/the-ultimate-list-of-twitter-tools/ - Desktop and Web Clients
www.twitter.com/ and then a user name
http://search.twitter.com/advanced –? :) :( {sentiment}
http://www.bit.ly –URL shortener
http://www.hashtags.org/ - good to see what’s been said around a hashtag
http://pelfusion.com/tools/30-twitter-tools-for-managing-followers/ - tools to manage followers
34

Still more
http://www.gradontripp.com/2009/08/27/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover-umm-maybe/ - notes on why your bio and profile matter
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/ - a Twitter 101 Guide
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/best_practices - best practices
http://danzarrella.com/retweet-etiquette.html - tips to increase your chances of getting re-tweeted
http://mashable.com/2009/10/06/retweetable-tweets/ - more tips to increase your chances of getting re-tweeted
http://tweetbeep.com/ - tweets sent by e-mail on the hour
http://mashable.com/2009/05/23/video-for-twitter/ - sharing video via Twitter
http://mashable.com/2009/05/19/twitter-share-images/ - sharing pictures (also see www.yfrog.com)
35

… it never stops
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-business/ - great list of ideas
http://www.OneRiot.com, http://www.Collecta.com, and http://search.twitter.com/advanced - social pulse aggregators
http://translate.google.com/translate_t#
http://www.subjectivelyspeaking.net/?p=201 – how not to use Twitter
http://delicious.com/abelniak/twitter+howto?detail=2 – a curated list of Twitter tools
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_dell - case studies
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/resources - other Twitter resources
http://mashable.com/2009/01/21/best-twitter-brands/ - 40 brands on Twitter (you’ve heard of these brands)
http://mashable.com/2009/07/03/twitter-filter/ - filter your Twitter stream
http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/ - The Twitter Guidebook by Mashable! (the closest thing to the definitive source on Twitter; some of the links in this list are repeated here)
36

Call To Action
Create your own account and test the waters
Start generating some of your own followers
Look for a meeting request from me to talk about CoTweet, and to get the company accounts log-in information
Work with your teammates to set up a cadence and schedule that might work for you
Think of questions for each other, and for me
Ask me questions
Share content and experiences
37

Summary
You can say a lot with 140 characters
Connecting to customers on Twitter aligns with our corporate social media strategy
This is a shared challenge and responsibility, across many organizations and functions – let’s make the most of it!
Use this deck as a reference; share what you learn with the others
Focus on quality, and create a cadence of communication that’s right for you
Use the tools available to ease any perceived burden and optimize your time
Start!
38

Parting thought
You want this…
But you’ve got to go through this…
39
*minus the boots

Thank You
Alan Belniak
@abelniak // http://www.twitter.com/abelniak
http://www.SubjectivelySpeaking.net

Twitter For Customer Engagement

by Alan Belniak on Jan 06, 2010

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

2 Embeds 59

Statistics

Twitter For Customer Engagement — Presentation Transcript

http://www.subjectivelyspeaking.net	58
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	1