for Business: 101

Twitter for Business: 101
• What is Twitter?
• Why is it valuable?
• How does it work?
• How should a business get started?
• What does it make possible?
• Some examples
• Your fears and concerns
• Learning more…

What is Twitter?

What Are You Doing?

~20 million monthly uniques
(x5.7 since Nov 08)
125 million monthly visits
(x4.3 since Nov 08)

20% of online adults 25-34
23% of social network users
27% of bloggers
December 2008

Why is it valuable?

http://twitpic.com/135xa

How does it work?

What Are You Doing?

“Use it Where You
Think Best”
-IBM ThinkPad

The User Multiface
Browser • SMS • IM • RSS
reader • FriendFeed •
Facebook • blogs • widgets •
desktop, iPhone, Blackberry,
and SMS clients

The User Multiface
Browser • SMS • IM • RSS reader
Clients: iPhone • Blackberry • desktop • SMS
Lifestream aggregator, Facebook, blogs
…

The User Multiface
Browser • SMS • IM • RSS reader
Clients: iPhone • Blackberry • desktop • SMS
Lifestream aggregator, Facebook, blogs
…

The User Multiface
Browser • SMS • IM • RSS reader
Clients: iPhone • Blackberry • desktop • SMS
Lifestream aggregator, Facebook, blogs
…

The User Multiface
Browser • SMS • IM • RSS reader
Clients: iPhone • Blackberry • desktop • SMS
Lifestream aggregator, Facebook, blogs
…

The User Multiface
Browser • SMS • IM • RSS reader
Clients: iPhone • Blackberry • desktop • SMS
Lifestream aggregator, Facebook, blogs
…

The User Multiface
Browser • SMS • IM • RSS reader
Clients: iPhone • Blackberry • desktop • SMS
Lifestream aggregator, Facebook, blogs
…

The User Multiface
Browser • SMS • IM • RSS
reader • FriendFeed •
Facebook • blogs • widgets •
desktop, iPhone, Blackberry,
and SMS clients

Anyone
• Develop dynamic and engaging “behind
the scenes” personalities, content,
sneak-previews and other genuinely
engaging content

Individuals
• Build your network, access better
professional relationships, faster
knowledge-sharing and leveraged
problem-solving
• Particularly valuable for Executives,
sales and marketing professionals,
consultants, freelancers and celebrities.

Companies and Brands
• Engage more deeply with consumers
and markets in strategic and powerful
ways
• Drive productivity, value, innovation and
human capital growth through better
networking and idea-exchange

Externally
Customer service Relationships
Market awareness Branding
News Direct sales
Innovation SEO
Understanding
Driving traffic
Extending reach
Networking

Internally
Sales Teams Decentralized teams
Event Planning Employee Support
Project Status Mentoring
News Problem-solving
Coordination
Purely Social
Interface

research
VALUE. marketing
visibility networking
relevance customer
relationships service
social capital traffic
community news
ideas
sales
trust
SEO

Influence (was)
Attracting attention to
yourself

Influence (is)
Providing attention and
value to others

Social Media is Nothing New

Photo Credit: (cc) jerryfletcher on flickr.com

Social Media is Knowledge

Knowledge is Socially Mediated

Knowledge is Socially Mediated
Photo Credit: (cc) fredoalvarez on flickr.com

Knowledge is Socially Mediated

Knowledge is Socially Mediated

Markets are Socially Mediated

Photo Credit: (cc) gregor_y on flickr.com

Markets are Socially Mediated

Markets are Socially Mediated

Photo Credit: (cc) matrianklw on flickr.com

How should a business get
started?

Manners 101
• Dress nicely
– Background graphic, avatar
• Introduce yourself
– Fill out profile completely
– Mention your Twitter on your site
• Be a good conversationalist
– Listen, respond
– Contribute relevant, useful material

How Best to Approach?
Cultivate standards of
• Excellence
• Authenticity
• Engagement
What will work for your organization?

Twitter Campaigns?
not so much.
Twitter literacy

Business Objectives
Measured by the most appropriate
standards for the objective

Bearing in Mind…
• Twitter can be a great vehicle for a brand extension
– if you are willing to produce feeds of cool, useful things
• Publish & subscribe environment
– The self-serving will flounder. The useful will flourish.
• Brands need to work to not be rejected as spam

Advanced Twitter for Business
• Twitter as a serious B-to-B Tool?
• What if my customers are NOT
there yet?
• How do I prevent wasted time?
• Best branding lessons
• Big picture trends

“Off-Platform” Benefits

Off-Platform Benefits
• SEO
• Research
• Content Generation Engine
• Word of Mouth
• PR Gravity

SEO
• Google the word “pistachio” or “dough”
• Common words, but the Twitter IDs
DOMINATE
• What Google Adsense word would you
spend your last dollar on?
• Incorporate your Name too for
additional words

Research
• Passive - free and paid listening tools
• Active - ask questions, use #tags,
“recruit” groups
• Live - create real-time focus groups,
polls, surveys

Word of Mouth
• @DellOutlet -- $500,000 of computers
to HOW many followers?
• Disproportionately influencers, still
• Journalists and bloggers, especially
• “Passs-along” ethic

Content Generation Engine
• Let’s say you’re Madonna…
• ABC News during Obama’s speech
• Many ways to slice this

“PR Gravity”
• Forbes, NYT Magazine, Newsweek,
BusinessWeek, Inc.com, Entrepreneur
Magazine
• Publish, become known, be helpful

How…
• BE USEFUL
Turn the message inside-out!
• Offer things
• Talk about what you do

Applicability
• Listening
• Innovation
• Research
• Measurement

Measurement
Most of all:
Measure the desired business objective
the way you always measure that
desired business objective

Measurement
• Follower numbers -- yes, but.
• Follower engagement
• Measurable links
– Clickthroughs
– Conversations
– Context
• Ripples in the water
– Retweets, reposting your links
– Others pointing towards what you do

Preventing “Time Suck”

Efficiency
• Tools
• Objectives
• Discipline

Branding Lessons

Outlook

Outlook
• Landscape for business use of Twitter and
microsharing generally
• How to think about brand opportunities in
microsharing
• What’s on the horizon? What trends should
we watch for next?

“We see an ecosystem of developers
swarming around the Twitter API like
moths around a flame”
-TechCrunch.com

Learning more…