Intro to Using Twitter for Business

Using Twitter For Business An Introduction & Workshop The Disney Entrepreneur Center Orlando, Florida June 24, 2009 Presented by:

This workshop draws inspirations, ideas, knowledge from: pistachio

The Social Media Sphere Source: The Conversation, Brian Solis and JESS3

What is Twitter?
Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other user's updates (known as "tweets"), text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

Anatomy of a Twitter Page

Anatomy of a Twitter Page Your Brand Visuals (also company status) The most popular Topics & meetings On Twitter Public time line Twitter stats Where you “tweet” Who you are

Why YOUR business will benefit from Twitter and Social Media
You don’t need to be a Techno-Geek to Use it…

Not Just for Kids….
Average age is 30-55 years old
Average person using only using a few months

Engage Directly with Customer/Prospects…Anywhere

Social Media Tools are FREE
No middleman marketing fees
No advertising search (PPC) costs
No email fees (mail lists, mail send fees)

Twitter Survey (May 2009) Twitter Perception Survey, May 2009 by @warrenss & @researchguy

Serious Brands Taking Twitter Seriously
Over 100 CEOs including those from large F500 companies are On Twitter regularly. (Source: ExecTweets.com)

Twitter’s “Wow!” Factor Examples courtesy of @msrogue’s 5/26 blogpost & Exectweets.com

What is Twitter’s appeal?
A digital water cooler
A stream you dip into
A (32 million person) cocktail party
A virtual office
What knowledge management
always wanted to be
Networking for Agoraphobics
(List courtesy of Martin Weller)

Just a Few Twitter tools

The Big Picture: The Way It Was Source: David//Armano davidarmano.com

The Big Picture: 1994-1995 Source: David//Armano davidarmano.com

The Big Picture: Web 2.0 Source: David//Armano davidarmano.com

Business Case Studies Image_Source: Danny Brown Return on Investment? Interaction !

Dell Computer
Uses:
Exclusive Coupon offers
Fast-paced contests
Reported over $3 million in Twitter-related sales in June 2009.
 Dell now has 12 “Twitter channels”

Zappos.com shoes online +
Best Practice Twitter-Using Company:
CEO and half of company using
Company is twittering with over 7 M customers

Zappos.com
Financial Performance
$1 Bn sales
85% Repeat Customers
Best Known for
Best Practice Use of Twitter
“ Powered by Twitter”

But what about small companies?

Kogi Taco Truck mobile lunch Los Angeles The Kogi Taco Truck in L.A. uses Twitter to broadcast locations… hundreds show up.

52Teas Wichita, Kansas
Offers a different blend of tea each week. In addition, they post alerts to store specials.
Before Twitter : Typically typically shipping 1-2 packages every 2-3 weeks
After Joining Twitter: Now they are shipping 40 to 50 packages.

CPA for Small Business Nashville
75% of Leads from Twitter & SM
Great example of building a Twitter lead generation engine, leveraging an existing strong blog.
Conventional advertising (Yellow Pages) now only accounts for 25% of his leads.

Coffee Grounds Houston, TX
First to have a to-go order placed through Twitter.
Twitter doubled this coffee shop’s clientele

Charity:Water fund raising
Asking for $2 donation from each of her followers, Pistachio Consulting raised $25,000 in 3 weeks.
3-day Twestival (200+ city participation) raised $250,000 .
Simply by re-tweeting, one Twitterer friend of Pistachio raised $2500 in 5 minutes!

BakerTweet
More at http://www.del.ic.ious/lisathorell

Business Applications of Twitter
Marketing/ Public Relations
Virtual Office
Customer Service

Marketing Uses for Twitter
Track your Brand
Advertising
Market Research
Instant Focus Groups
Promotional Contests/Coupons
Product Research (CrowdSourcing)

Brand Tracking demo

Twendz: Following public sentiment real-time

Twitter Contest Promotion

Coupon Marketing

CrowdSourcing

Virtual Office Uses for Twitter
Knowledge Sharing
Group Meetings

What’s Going on in a Meeting or Online Conference? (demo here)

Customer Service

Twitter Etiquette 101
Listen. Respond. Be personal.
Contribute relevant information (not just product/service info)
ReTweet…
Show your business personality; humanize your company

Finding Followers List o resources
Put your twitter name in your
email signature
Put a link to your twitter account
on your company’s home page
“Find People”

Listening Tools
Search.twitter.com
Twist
Twitturly
Monitter

Monitter

Measuring Tools
TwitterAnalyzer
Grader
Twinfluence
Tweetstats

Warning: Some things are not cool to do on Twitter …

Don’t make your messages private

Don’t broadcast product messages only.

Don’t use auto direct messages ( generally)

An exception (maybe)…

Don’t put Twitter exclusively in the hands of your Summer Intern… …“Twitter is only as good as the person typing those 140 characters.”…. From @aerocles Blog: “ Is it really a good idea to hire a college intern to manage A major international brand?

Just like the Internet in 1994, Social Media is changing the game…

Forget Page Rank, Improve your Company’s Social Rank Where you want to be!

The Way it Was (Web 1.0) Your website/blog Google Adwords Banner Ads in E-Zines Email fees Directory Listings

Web 2.0: Turning your Brand Inside-Out Your website/blog Twitter is a bridge to being Everywhere.

“ Your brand is now the sum of the conversations about it.“
Marcel LeBrun in Business Week. http://bit.ly/19AqBz
Bozell.com’s quasi tag-cloud of 200 random conversations.

Best Practices Checklist
Designate who near at the TOP of your company is participating.
Listen to what your audience is telling you about your company. (Priceless!)
Be Authentic. (NOT 80’s “Dressed for Success”).
Reach out to followers in your niche
(eg. Twitter directories)
Change/embrace social media tools in your day-to-day operations.
Be flexible. There is no “plug and play” formula for Twitter success
Be inventive!

Best Practice: “A Really Goode Job”

Best Practice: Seaworld

Best Practice: Health 2.0 Hello Health, a paperless “concierge” practice based in Brooklyn that utilizes e-mail, instant messaging, IPhone and video chat for coordinating patient care. A la WebMD, info from doctor and medical Researchers but also patient testimonials that have had medical conditions .

But Before Your Company Starts Tweeting….

Think about your Marketing Strategy
What is your brand about today?
Price? Quality? Customer Service?
What do you want to accomplish?
Who is your audience?
What is your social media inventory today?
How will you measure progress toward your goal while using social media?

What’s Next?

How do you know a technology is game-changing?
Open.
Accessible from many platforms (phone, web, Blackberry, software platforms).
Easy to use.
Adds value over the way you currently do business at a much lower cost.

Additional Resources
http:// www.delicious.com/lthorell
Intro Twitter tips and articles
Case studies of Social Media and Twitter use
List of Social Media & Twitter books
Since this presentation was given, Twitter launched Twitter 101, a guide
chock full of business uses, case studies and how-to-dos.
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/

Questions?
Direct message:
Lisa Thorell @lisat2
Penney Fox @foxinteractive
Mary Recchia @MRBorl

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Intro to Using Twitter for Business

by Lisa Thorell on Sep 02, 2009

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Intro to Using Twitter for Business — Presentation Transcript