The case for
Who are your followers?
Presenter: Rabiya Jilani
Director, Business Incubation Center
CEO, Lumenica, LLC
Twitter: @bizincubation

Agenda
• What is Social Media?
• Why is it important?
• What is Twitter?
• Getting started with Twitter
• Twitter in Plan English
• Tips
• Understanding the Twitter Lingo
• Twitter tools
• Things to Remember
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Social media is more than just building
relationships on big networks, its about….
Brands having conversations
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Social Media Influences Decisions
• 91% say consumer reviews are the #1 aid to
buying decisions
• 87% trust a friends recommendation over
critics review
• Online social network users were 3 times
more likely to trust their peers decisions over
advertising when making purchase decisions
• 26% of search results link to user-generated
content
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

What is Twitter?
http://www.twitter.com
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

What is Twitter?
• Founded in 2006
• Micro-blogging service that enables
users to send and receive messages
called tweets
• Tweets are text based only
• Limited to 140 characters
• Twitter is ranked as one of the 50
most popular websites worldwide
by Alexa's web traffic analysis.
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Twitter Getting Started
• Video Explaining Twitter:
http://help.twitter.com/portal
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Twitter in plain English
• 140 characters of syndicated consciousness of
what you are thinking or sharing
• Works like an email blast/press release
• Build relationships
• Connect with media
• Great focus groups
• Works with other social media platforms
Twitter is……A 24/7 cocktail party
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Twitter TIPS
• Be a resource
• Offer value
• Understand the lingo
• Promote others
• Quality vs Quantity
• Be thankful
• Post videos, blog updates, pictures
• Share
• Play giveaways/contests
• Include in your email signature/business
card
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Twitter lingo
• Tweet- a message of 140 characters or less
What: Ask a question
Announce blog update
Read an interesting article?
Link to a website update
Announce an upcoming event
Discuss current news
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Twitter lingo
• @ - Direct a message to someone
Reply to someone
Keep in mind these are public
How: @username
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Twitter lingo
• RT – Retweet means repeat/quote someone’s
tweet that you found interesting  your aim
How: RT @username
Want to be RT? Keep YOUR message
shorter than 140 characters
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Twitter lingo
• Follow/Followers: You/Them
• DM-Direct Msg, Private message
How: D username
• # Hash Tags- Tweet that starts with a “#” for
tracking purposes, similar tweets, identify
topic (eg #smallbusiness, #FF, #FollowFriday)
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Twitter tools/websites/cool resources
• www.twitterbackgrounds.com- customize
backgrounds
• www.Twellow.com: Directory of public twitter
accounts. Organizes by categories.
• www.Friendorfollow.com: Who are you following
that's not following you back? Who's following you
that you're not following back? Find out!
• www.Twittercounter.com:
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Twitter tools/websites/cool resources
• www.Tweetdeck.com:Desktop Twitter applicati
on. To allow users to send and receive tweets
and view profiles. It is the most popular
Twitter application
• www.whatthetrend.com: Find out what's
trending on Twitter and why.
• www.Bit.ly: Shorten a URL, Track clicks. Similar
to www.Tinyurl.com
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Twitter tools/websites/cool resources
• www.Tweetchat.com: TweetChat helps put
your blinders on to the Twitter-sphere while
you monitor and chat about one topic.
• www.Search.twitter.com: Search everyone’s
tweets – in realtime
• www.Twittersheep.com: Enter your twitter
username to see a tag cloud from the 'bios' of
your twitter flock.
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Twitter tools/websites/cool resources
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Cross Promote
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Things to Remember
• Learn what people are saying about your
brand
• Covert customers into brand advocates
• Encourage referrals
• Create a buzz
• Increase brand exposure/website traffic
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP

Questions?
Contacting me
Email: rabiya@cbponline.org
http://www.cbponlne.org/bic/facebook
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rabiya
http://www.twitter.com/bizincubation
http://www.slideshare.net/rabiyaj
© 2009 Business Incubation Center at CBP