Twitter as a business tool What it is and why your business should not get left behind A presentation (of sorts) by Ellis Pratt

What it is and why your business should not get left behind

A presentation (of sorts) by Ellis Pratt

Twitter..? What's that?

It's.... a web site a service a piece of software a data feed …rolled into one

Twitter is free to use

So how will it help my business?

Introduction

I'm Ellis

I co-own a technical authoring company near London called Cherryleaf

We've no connection with Twitter I'm just a Twitter user

So let me tell you how you can use Twitter in your business

Let's explain what it is

You use it to send messages to people & You use it to receive messages from people

Type your message here

Here are my list of messages received

It's a bit like blogging and it's a bit like text messaging

You're limited to 140 characters You can also send and receive Twitter messages on your mobile - via SMS text messages

You only receive messages from the people you choose to follow

Likewise, people must choose to follow you (i.e. receive your messages)‏

So where's the business use?

Researching People, Trends and Markets

You can follow people you admire, and discover...

...what they are doing You can follow people you admire, and discover...

...what they are looking at today You can follow people you admire, and discover...

You can follow people you admire, and discover... ...who they're following

...to learn about new “stuff” before others do You can follow people...

...to become an expert in your field You can follow people...

click “follow”

and..

You can get an alert each time someone posts using a particular word or phrase (e.g. track “small business")‏

For example Here are messages where people have used the words “guide” or “manual”

I receive these alerts in GoogleTalk For example Here are messages where people have used the words “guide” or “manual”

They could be useful people for me to contact For example Here are messages where people have used the words “guide” or “manual”

You can use it to source suppliers

There are other sites and software that let you get more out of Twitter

Twist allows you to compare the popularity of words used in Twitter messages....

...which could be useful for Search Engine Optimisation Twist allows you to compare the popularity of words used in Twitter messages...

Floort.com allows you to carry out surveys and opinion polls

Communicating with people

You can tell people all the things you are doing quickly and easily

You can use desktop applications to send and receive your messages

You can use your mobile phone too

For example Our contractors can receive details of new opportunities on their mobile phone via Twitter generated text messages It's free!

There are even Web sites where you can send audio, video and data files to your Twitter contacts

You can set up Twitter so your blogs on your web site get reposted to Twitter and sent to all the people following you on Twitter

You can set up Twitter so your blogs on your web site get reposted to Twitter and sent to all the people following you on Twitter My blog… ..gets republished as a Twitter message

You can make your Twitter posts appear in lots of different places

Here is my Twitter feed on the Cherryleaf Web site

It means there's always new content on our site.. ...which visitors (including Google) like Here is my Twitter feed on the Cherryleaf Web site

Here are my Twitter posts on our Web site You can present an image of a busy, active site (and business)‏

Here are my Twitter posts on my Ecademy social network profile You can do the same thing on Facebook

You can send and receive Twitter messages using Skype

Twemes.com can used for reporting on a live event - such as a conference

Twemes.com can used for reporting on a live event - such as a conference Delegates and speakers post Twitter messages during the conference

& Twemes aggregates them onto a Web page Twemes.com can used for reporting on a live event - such as a conference Delegates and speakers post Twitter messages during the conference

Twitter could be useful for internal business communication

Telling people where you are As an alternative to email Telling people what you are doing

You can load your messages into your calender, and...

You can load your messages into your calender, and... Archive your messages Review a sequence of events Track your time

Review

That's some of the business related things you can do with Twitter

1. It's great for research 2. It's a quick and easy way to communicate, even on the move 3. It could be useful for internal communication too

Links www.twitter.com www.twistory.net www.google.com/talk twist.flaptor.com www.twittown.com/twitter4skype

Links www.chrisfinke.com/twitslikeme twiddeo.com twitpic.com www.tweet-r.com www.twhirl.org

Feedback? www.cherryleaf.com [email_address] www.twitter.com/ellispratt