Twitter Tutorial

What is Twitter? Twitter is a social networking or microblogging platform that enables people to send and read short messages via their computers or mobile devices. Each message, or “tweet”, is a maximum of 140 characters in length. These messages are public, and individuals decide what kinds of messages they would like to receive by “following” others who create them. Each Twitter account is connected to a unique web page that displays the tweets of that individual and all those she follows. Twitter is a rich source of information and allows people to update and stay updated in real time. Further, Twitter has proven to be a reliable and highly adopted business utility. Personal Uses Primary use among individuals is to share news and information and communicate with friends and acquaintances. Studies have found that people are most interested in news items followed by tech info and entertainment/celebrity gossip. What People Tweet What People Want Random Messages News Conversations Tech Repeat Messages Entertainment News Movies Spam How To / DIY Self Promotion Other Sources: Mashable & Chitika Advertising, March 2010 Additionally, Twitter users frequently exchange information about products & services. Product/Service Information Exchange on Twitter 50% 42% 41% 40% 31% 28% 30% 21% 19% 20% 10% 0% Learn about Provide Ask for Look for Purchase Seek customer opinions opinions discounts products service Sources: Arbitron & Edison Research, February 2010 © 2010 Teach to Fish Digital, LLC 1

Business Uses The following companies currently manage accounts on Twitter and provide customer service around the clock. A survey of over 200 businesses on Twitter in August 2009 found that over two thirds of businesses utilize Twitter for three primary objectives: 1) generate traffic, 2) stay up to date on industry news, and 3) communicate with existing customers. A significant percentage also uses Twitter to perform real-‐time market research. Business Objectives Trafdic 79% Industry News 72% Customer Communication 70% Market Research 41% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Source: TrafficHug.com, August 2009 Twitter also has an impact on other measurable results for several businesses. Given a company’s ability to pitch followers, reward loyalty, perform market research and target niche audiences, a recent study shows that small and medium-‐sized B2C companies are generating new leads as a result of their commitment to Twitter. © 2010 Teach to Fish Digital, LLC 2

Median Number of Monthly Leads (Q4 '09) 100 86 80 60 43 40 31 10 15 20 5 0 1-‐10 11-‐50 51+ With Twitter Without Twitter Source: Hubspot, March 2010 Setting Up an Account 1. Go to http://twitter.com and select the “Let me in” button. 2. Think about what your identity on Twitter should be. Choose a username that is relevant, descriptive and easy to understand. Try to avoid using special symbols or underscores that might confuse someone who is trying to view or follow your account. 3. Enter your name (for personal accounts) or business name (for corporate accounts) in the Full Name box. Type in a username or “handle” by which you will be known on Twitter. Twitter will tell you instantly if that handle is available or not. Choose a secure password, possibly with special characters and numbers for security, and enter your email address. 4. Click the “Create my account” button and you are on your way. Twitter will send an email to the address submitted to confirm your identity. Meanwhile you will be able to find others currently on Twitter by viewing popular accounts by category, by importing your contacts from Gmail, Yahoo or AOL or by simply searching for someone specifically. © 2010 Teach to Fish Digital, LLC 3

Other Twitter Account Attributes 1. Backgrounds – Select a background for your page that will appear behind your Twitter stream and account information. This can be updated in the Settings tab under “Design” along with font and column colors. 2. Avatar – Choose a photo for your account. Either a personal headshot or company logo will suffice. This can be updated in the settings tab. 3. Following – Here you can see the number of accounts your account is following. When these people post to Twitter, it will appear in your stream. 4. Followers – The number of people who are following you. When you tweet, these people are listening. 5. Mentions – Select this link and see who has mentioned your handle and when. 6. Direct Messages – Not everything in Twitter is public. Send a direct message to those who follow you similar to a text message on your mobile phone. Only the person to whom you sent the message will be able to access it. 7. Favorites – Collect your favorite tweets and save them in your “Favorites” to reference later. 8. ReTweets – A listing of tweets reposted by those you follow. Also, find out who has ReTweeted your messages and have access to a full list of items you have reposted. 9. Lists – Create lists of specific Twitter handles based on categories. This allows account holders to better manage information from specific groups of people. © 2010 Teach to Fish Digital, LLC 4

How to Follow When you choose to Follow another account on Twitter that account’s messages will appear on your Twitter Home page as they are posted. There are two primary ways to follow another Twitter account: 1. Go to a specific account’s page and hit the “Follow” button. 2. While on your page, hover your mouse arrow over an account name from any tweet. Twitter will display more detail about that account and allow you to follow directly from your own page. Deciding Whom to Follow Follow People You Know – Twitter is a great way to keep up with your existing contacts. There are three ways to find out if those you know are on Twitter very quickly. 1. Upload Your Contacts – Visit Twitter.com/invitations to import existing contacts from your Gmail, Yahoo! or AOL email account. 2. Find People – In the upper right hand corner of any Twitter page, click the “Find People” link. From here you will be able to search for a person’s or company’s name and be given a list of results. Click to follow directly from the search results page. 3. Just Ask – Many people place their Twitter handle on business cards, email signatures and letterhead. Simply follow those you meet in everyday life. © 2010 Teach to Fish Digital, LLC 5

Follow Those Who Follow You – It is definitely not required, but you can opt to follow those that follow you. This is often considered best practice for corporate accounts when it is clear that new follower is a real customer. Exercise caution when clicking on links from unknown sources as they may lead you to a site or web page you do not want to visit. To receive an email alert everytime your account garners a new follower, go to the “Settings” tab and select “Notices”. There you will be able to control email notifications for new follower updates. Follow Those Followed by Those You Follow – This sounds complicated, but if you enjoy a particular person’s messages or respect an influential Twitter account holder, consider following some of the accounts that person follows. Using this “any friend of yours is a friend of mine” logic, you may discover new contacts that tweet about interesting and relevant topics. Use a Directory – There are several Twitter Directories that can be utilized to find accounts that consistently post messages about certain topics. A few examples of reliable Twitter directories include Twellow, WeFollow and TwitDir. Follow Based on Conversations – The best way to determine what people are tweeting about in real time is to use Twitter Search. This tool allows you to enter a keyword similar to Google’s search engine. The results show the most recent posts that include the keyword. Utilize search terms relevant to your interests, your business and your customer’s vernacular to find conversations. Based on the content and context of the tweets and conversations you find, you may choose to interact with or follow those taking part. Choosing to interact works best when answering questions or when providing customer service. © 2010 Teach to Fish Digital, LLC 6

Anatomy of a Tweet 140 Characters – Each post on twitter is a maximum of 140 characters including spaces. ReTweets – If a certain post is relevant to you or your business and you would like to share it with those that follow your account, you can repost it or “Retweet” it. Replies – Send messages to anyone on Twitter in public by hitting “Reply” or simply by including that account’s handle in a tweet. Businesses do this often when conducting customer service. © 2010 Teach to Fish Digital, LLC 7

URL Shorteners – Since the 140 character max gives you limited space with which to work, Twitter users often use URL shorteners which redirect to your chosen link destination but simply use less characters. Some URL shorteners offer methods for tracking clicks. Hashtags – People often use hashtags in their tweets to add context to a particular post. Similar to tags on blogs or other social networking sites, hashtags act as metadata for Twitter that help people follow and contribute to a conversation about a particular topic. Twitter Best Practices Bios & Backgrounds – Provide insightful and valuable information in backgrounds and account bio areas to give followers a good indication of what you share on Twitter. What to Post – Not every tweet is created equal. Avoid annoying your followers or providing meaningless babble. Before posting to twitter, ask this series of questions: • Is this valuable? • Is this relevant? • Is this actionable? © 2010 Teach to Fish Digital, LLC 8

Frequency Considerations – Those who follow your account have to sift through dozens of tweets constantly. Tweet throughout the day and determine what times have the most impact on readership and click behavior. Determine a flexible method for tweeting that ensures you are noticed in the stream of tweets throughout the day and week. Utilities like URL Shorteners and tools such as Twitter Counter and TweetStats (below) help individuals and organizations make educated decisions on when to tweet. Source: TweetStats Real-Time Responses & Customer Service – If one of your objectives with Twitter is to use it as a customer service tool, create a system for providing responses to questions, complaints and praise in a timely manner. Waiting an hour to respond on Twitter could seem like days to the customer. Use RSS feeds, Twitter Search, listening tools and Tweet aggregators like TweetDeck to manage customer queries. One-to-One vs. One-to-Many Discussions – Be mindful of conversations that you have with one person versus an entire group. Customer service responses should be done in public for all to see, but there may be some situations that warrant a private, direct message. Use hashtags to participate in group conversations about a topic or while attending an event. Asking Questions & Soliciting Feedback – Don’t ignore Twitter as a method for garnering timely information from your online community. Ask questions, seek feedback, and invite followers to give input. In time, you will find that some people are very apt to respond. Tools Due to Twitter’s open framework, hundreds of programmers and application developers have built helpful utilities that allow individuals and businesses to manage their Twitter accounts more effectively. Here are just a few of those tools. Aggregation – The standard Twitter account page offers links to several account attributes such as mentions, direct messages and previous tweets. There are also several tools that aggregate all this data onto one screen for ease of viewing and management. Two sample tools for managing Twitter messages and contacts are TweetDeck & Seesmic: © 2010 Teach to Fish Digital, LLC 9

Efficiency – Managing a corporate Twitter account can be very time consuming. There are several tools that allow you to automate the process of Twitter account management. Hootsuite and Social Oomph offer the ability to deliver messages with scheduled tweets and control multiple Twitter accounts from a single interface. Popular Mobile Applications - The following is a list of Twitter clients for iPhone, Blackberry and Android mobile operating systems. Each of these tools allows you to manage your Twitter presence from your personal mobile device. • Tweetie • Blackbird • Twitter for • Echofon • Twitterberry Android • Twitter for • Twidroid • Twitterific Blackberry • Seesmic • Twizzle • UberTwitter • Twidget © 2010 Teach to Fish Digital, LLC 10

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Twitter Tutorial

by Chris Sietsema

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