Twitter for
Business
Nick Kellet - Inventor, Indie Board Game publisher,
Entrepreneur, Social Media Explorer
Delivered 1st time on 20th August 2009 at @streamingcafe in Kelowna BC, Canada

Social What?
Web 1.0 - Just be a good listener
 They publish - You consume
 Static Content = Passive Consumer
Web 2.0 - You Participate - You Take Control
 Anyone can publish/create content
 Anyone can comment/recommend/flame
Social Media
 Called “social” because you interact with people
 You converse - It’s a conversation
Photos, Blogs, Video, Wikis, Bookmarking
 Flickr.com, YouTube.com, Blogger.com,
Wikipedia, Boardgamegeek.com, Delicio.us,
Reddit.com, Stumbelupon.com, Digg.com
Social Networks (FB morphing in progress)
= Rock Paper Scissors
 LinkedIn - Business
 Facebook - Individual
 Twitter - Business + Consumer
Slide 2 Nick Kellet

Are You a Social Climber?
Categories Social Media Usage - Varies by Demo
Slide 3 Nick Kellet

Twitter Is What Twitter Does
Let’s you answer 2 Questions
 What Am I doing
• (you can be interesting)
 What Am I thinking
• (possibly more interesting)
A 140 Character Accident: In an ADD world
 Usage and protocol/etiquette driven by users/fans
 Not sure it’s simple, but it is simple
Swiss Army Knife of Web 2.0
 Use 1 tool not many
 Bucked Specialization Trend
• Bookmark/Rating//Photos/Social
Networking/Sharing/Chat/Messaging etc
 Bucked “volume” blogging Trend
• Microblogging - cute but confusing term
Slide 4 Nick Kellet

Buzzword Twingo
You need to learn a few words
 If one doesn’t exist - Twinvent one
Twit = User of Twitter
Tweet = Message
ReTweet = Repeating someone else’s message
Reply (mixed up with ReTweet) = comment on someone message
Followers = People you follow
Following = Other people who follow you
Unfollowing = Stopping following someone
DM = Direct Message = (sent someone a private tweet) - EMERGENCY ONLY
Tweetup = Meetup of Twitterers = Gathering of like minded folk
Hashtag = # = shortcode (to filter conversation) eg #IMU (often for an event)
Thank = For following, For a retweet, For answering questions. For commenting
Slide 5 Nick Kellet

Twitter Off Twitter
Where to put your Twitter handle
 Business Cards/ Stationary
 Website
 Email Signature
 Window/Reception Decals
 On Vehicles, Adverts - Print, Radio + TV
http://bit.ly/twitter-decal
Don’t forget #HashTags Click on link to make your decal
 Where can you use hashtags
• In Adverts, contests, promotions
 This is very new - experiment!
We need a web icon for
Join Twitter Business Day
Slide 6 Nick Kellet

Real-Time, Hyper-Local Democracy
Real Time Search - Twitter takes out the Garbage
 Unlike the Web (Google et al)
• “Old stuff” is suppressed
 Level playing field for Hyper-Local Businesses
Hyper Local - High on Relevance
 Local businesses compete on a level playing field
 Build local following / Promote your Twitter Feed
 Make local offers - Let people Tweet you up
A Democracy (You vote for what you consume)
 Follow your interests/unfollow junk (nothing
personal)
 Unlike Google; Fiefdom based on Page Ranks =
Rich Page Lords get more
 Good content costs same all business
• large and small
Real Time, Hyper Local Democracy
 Good for Business, Good for People
Vs.
Slide 7 Nick Kellet

What do I say?
Do I have anything interesting to say?
 I keep hearing this from non Twitterers
What do you love?
 Coffee, Flowers, Wine, Food, Golf, Goats, Cheese, Meetings,
Cherries
Think About Your Customer
 You may have MANY types of customer
 Think about how you can help them
You may be in Business
 But you are a person
 You know stuff - We’d like to know it too
 Be you - share your knowledge - Share your passion for
your domain
But I’m not in Business….(Not a get out clause)
 Teachers - in the education business
 Charities - in the helping business
 We’re all in the Business of something (even Prison
Wardens)
Slide 8 Nick Kellet

Tweet Block?
Brainstorm Relevant Stuff for Your Business
 Coffee Shop
• Coffee Duh!
• Meetings, Wifi, Networking, Gossip, Meetups
 Hair Salon
• Hair, Celebs, Local Public News, Weddings, Photos of Haircuts
 Book Stores
• Authors, Reviews, Genres, TV Coverage of Books, Book Clubs,
Personal insights on books - 140 Character book reviews,
Sit down and figure out your Domain List
 Write down your key terms
 Use Google Alerts to find content
 Review Content. Tweet the best with shortened URL
 Follow people who Tweet in your domain
When you have thought
 Write it down
 Can you share it in 140 characters?
When you see something interesting/funny
 Twitpic + Tweet it
Slide 9 Nick Kellet

1st Rule of Twitter - Don’t Use Twitter
This blew my mind: Completely counter intuitive
 It’s good advice not to use Twitter.com
 Instead use the many 3rd party tools
Many Many Twitter Apps
 Many highly specialized
• For tweeting, following, unfollowing
 Most $0 / Some $$$
• Can avoid unless want to be pro
Market Leaders (on PC/Mac).
 TweetDeck - http://tweetdeck.com/beta/
 Twhirl - http://www.twhirl.org/
 Seesmic - http://seesmic.com
You can use you Mobile
 Apps vary for iPhone/Blackberry etc
Slide 10 Nick Kellet

Get Yourself Going on Social Media
Profile Photo
 Add a photo
 Recognizable as YOU
 Same photo - Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook etc
• Change one - Change all
 Use a consistent Profile copy
• (pithy - whatever that means)
Twitter Profile
 Make profile public (on Twitter)
 Link to your blog
 Add a background graphic
 Reflect your personality
Tweet as Business Or Person?
 Probably BOTH
• Own your name
• Own your Business Name
Slide 11 Nick Kellet

Give Way to Twitter Conventions
General Tip + Kelowna / Twitter Business Day
 Follow back people who
• Have a photo + Have posted Tweets + Name that makes sense
• Don’t think too hard - you can always unfollow
• Especially follow everyone in Kelowna as part of #TWBIZ
Universal Good Etiquette
 Do not send auto DMs to welcome followers
 Do not spam “@prospect - Hi you can buy my widget.”
 Do not sell/advertise (add value) - Which is better?
• New book on sale Chris Anderson - “Free” $29.95
• Great review of Chris Andersons’s book free http://tinyurl.com/ab2ke
Now back in stock”
 Mention your products etc less than 10% of time
 Focus on sharing your knowledge, being you
• Link people to useful, fun interesting stuff
 Comment on other people’s Tweets and retweet
Slide 12 Nick Kellet

The Twitter “Ah Ha” Moment
Have you had Yours Yet?
 Can’t tell you when
 You will know when it happens
Watch a TV show by yourself
 Just add PC + Twitter + Hashtag eg #IDOL
Attend remote learning / Webinar/ Web
conference
 Follow/converse on Twitter with other students
 Filter on a hashtag
Be involved in Citizen Journalism
 Like the Kelowna Fire or an Award Ceremony
 Take photos/ provide insight based on location
Explore a foreign city
 Change Twitter location on or before arrival
 Ask questions / ask for recommendations
before you arrive
Slide 13 Nick Kellet

Follow Me
How to get followed: Think Fllrting
 Retweet - its like a tip - RT = “Thanks for the info”
 Don’t just RT add something complimentary
• “You saved my bacon RT @jimjones”
Practical TIps
 Follow “good” people to learn
 Probably good to follow back if they look like real people
 Un-follow if unimpressed with content (it’s not personal)
 You may get unfollowed unless you are a rockstar
 People will stick around for good content (become a rockstar)
Automation Tools
 Don’t use until you know you get it (they will confuse)
 Like driving a car too fast - Get skills before you pick up a Ferrari
 If you have 2k real followers you get it (only you know how you get them)
Limits - You can follow
 1k people/day
 Upto 2k people
 More than 2k if you follow less than your followers+10%
 Any number of people can follow you
Slide 14 Nick Kellet

ReTweet - The Tipping of Social Media
ReTweeting =
RT
 Passing on someone else’s Tweet to your followers
 Typically you add “rt” as a prefix
 This is a style thing - you can add comment or insight (rt is optional)
Crediting - It’s polite to leave source in place (via @xyz works too)
 Add the person’s @name to their Tweet
 Fred Smith “Kelowna fire Terrace Mountain gains new momentum -
http://twitpic.com/af12d”
 rt @FredSmith Kelowna fire Terrace Mountain gains new momentum -
http://twitpic.com/af12d
 Kelowna fire Terrace Mountain gains new momentum - http://twitpic.com/af12d (via
@FredSmith)
 Wind heading south rt @FredSmith Kelowna fire Terrace Mountain gains new
momentum - http://twitpic.com/af12d
Write Short Tweets
 Allows space for retweeting without abbreviation (varies depending on @handle)
 If someone has to shorten - It takes effort - less likely to happen
Double Credit
 Retweeting a Retweet gets tight on space. Go figure
Slide 15 Nick Kellet

Does My Tweet Look Big …
We all need FEEDBACK
 How am I doing?
 What should I do next?
 There are many apps that can help
 Here’s two that are fun
Twitter Grader
 http://twitter.grader.com/
 Great metric. Top Twitterers get a score of 100
Twanalyst
 http://twanalyst.com
 Does not hold back!
How’s Kelowna doing
 http://twitter.grader.com/location/?Location=
KELOWNA
 Compare us to Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto,
San Francisco
Slide 16 Nick Kellet

Spice Up Your Tweets
Links (URL Shorteners)
 Takes long URLs (web addresses) and
turns them into 25 character short URLS
 Leaves you more room for your Tweet
 http://tinyurl.com/ - Quick and easy
 http://bit.ly/ - Provides tracking metrics
Photos
 Attach photos to your tweets
 Works on mobiles + web
 http://twitpic.com - Provides tracking
metrics of views
Leave Spaces
 Before @ and #
 Hyperlinks won’t work without it on
Twitter.com
Slide 17 Nick Kellet

Is this a conversation I see before me
It’s not conversation as you know it
 Don’t DM unless it’s really personal (stops conversation)
• Plus sharing thoughts might help you find an answer
 Don’t expect immediate answers
 Having more followers will increases likelihood of response
 Answering other people’s questions will garner you more answers
 This is how you build relationships/establish your brand
Be Chatty
http://arunrajagopal.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/conversations.jpg
 If you don’t give out “chat” don’t expect “chat” back
Do use the right names (only if they exist)
 Eg “I met with @nickkellet” not “I met with Nick Kellet”
 Latter is valid if Nick Kellet is not on Twitter
Ask Questions to one an all
 One Person - “@KelownaCycle is my bike ready?”
 Open - “Anyone know any good summer camps for kids age 12?”
 Hash Based - “What response rates do PPC campaigns get? #IMU”
 Easy Open Question - “What is #IMU ?”
Slide 18 Nick Kellet

Connect Your City
Starting in Kelowna - Reached Penticton, Vernon, West Kelowna
 Broad support
• Kelowna Chamber, Ostec, Oric, Downtown Association, City
 1st Step is Twitter Business Day
 Deadline = Get on Twitter by 9th Sept 2009
 Hashtag #TWBIZ #090909
 Join Initiative, Learn Twitter+ Help others do the same
 Open Feedback - Fast-track to good Twitter Citizenship
Project Blog
 http://www.connectingkelowna.com/
 Watch this space for more info
Follow/Join us Twitter, Facebook + LinkedIn
 http://twitter.com/twitbizday
 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=124341464904
 http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2164838
 Tweet this (or something like it)
 @twitbizday I’m in Business in Kelowna and I support
Twitter Business Day #twbiz
Slide 19 Nick Kellet

About GiftTRAP / About Me
http://gifttrap.com/
 20+ international awards
 Printed 8 languages (rules in 11+)
 50k units globally
 Party Game of the Year in Germany,
Canada, USA + France
 Brand built with Social Media
 Christmas Day as a board game
without lying to Grandma
 Indie Game Stores Globally
 Loadz A Toys in Kelowna = Gaming Oscar
http://twitter.com/nickkellet
 Nick@gifttrap.com
 http://www.linkedin.com/in/nickkellet
 http://www.facebook.com/nickkellet
 Trend Watcher
 Serial Entrepreneur
 Software Startup Advisor/Ideas Guy
 Social Media Marketing Strategist
Slide 20 Nick Kellet