This document provides an overview of Twitter and how to use it effectively for marketing purposes. It discusses key Twitter concepts like hashtags, retweets and lists. It also recommends strategies for finding followers, engaging with your audience and monitoring brand mentions. The document concludes by highlighting Hootsuite as a tool for managing Twitter accounts and provides examples of both good and bad Twitter case studies.

1. BA (Hons) Advertising Introducing Twitter

2. First, a little bit about the concept of the Social Graph

3. Consider the Social Graph http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/social_graph_concepts_and_issues.php http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/what-your-business-needs-to-know-about-social-graphs/ First coined by Mark Zuckerberg Your social graph is a digital map of your personal identity, your primary friends and everything you share with them.

4. This concept should inform all your strategic thinking and shape your campaigns How will your message spread through a person’s social graph?

5. Content may be king… … .But context means more

6. And this is exactly why social media is all about connections…

7. How are you as marketers going to leverage those connections?

8. And ensure people share your content?

9. Back onto… Twitter

10. Introducing Twitter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&feature=relmfu

11. What is Twitter?? Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting Often described as a ‘micro-blogging’ platform Twitter enables users to send ‘tweets’ – these are 140 character bursts of information which can include links, pictures and other media content Your Twitter feed is made up of ‘tweets’ from the users that you follow

12. The Language of Twitter @reply – reply to other users or tag them in your tweets by using @username DM – send private direct messages to other users by using DM username Hashtags – used to tag or catagorise tweets Link Shorteners – services like bi.tly or ow.ly that shorten URLs to conserve tweet space

13. Using the @reply By using the @reply, you are ‘tagging’ another user in your tweet – this is then flagged up to them The @reply can be used in a number of ways: To reply to another tweet e.g. @clemihardie thanks for the tip! To flag up a tweet to a certain user e.g. Love this article about cheese – http://www.cheese.com (cc @clemihardie) To credit another user for a link or something else e.g. A guide to zorbing – http://www.zorb.com (via @clemihardie)

14. Hashtags Hashtags are used to tag and categorise tweets – you can also search for other tweets containing certain hashtags to see other conversations happening around that hashtag ( http://hashtag.org ) Different types of hashtag include: Topic (#fashion) Location (#london) Events (#olympics) TV Shows (#xfactor) Internet Memes (#followfriday) Just For Fun (#justsaying)

15. Trending Topics A trending topic is a word, phrase or topic that is posted (tweeted) multiple times on the social networking and microblogging service Twitter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trending_topic

16. Retweets Retweets are a simple way of sharing other peoples tweets If your content is retweeted, it will reach a wider audience as the followers of the people that retweet your content will also have your tweet in their feed

17. Twitter Search http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGbLWQYJ6iM

18. Advanced Twitter Search For refining your query past simple keyphrases to reduce ‘noise’ in search results Keyphrases Hashtags People Sentiment Location

19. Finding Followers You can use the various Twitter user directories to find followers based on: Location (Twellow) Interests (Follower Wonk) Job Title (Follower Wonk) You can also find followers using Twitter search by using: Keyphrases Hashtags Location But don’t forget the simple Google Search… Or looking at who other people follow…

20. Twitter Lists You can use Twitter lists to organise your followers into different groups - this makes it easier to follow certain groups of people Twitter Lists can group people by: Friends Colleagues Potential Employers Journalists Bloggers You can make lists private or public

21. Tweeting at Events Most industry events now have predefined hashtags: e.g. Social Media Week London #smwldn You can easily connect with other event attendees by tagging your tweets with an event hashtag and setting up a specific search column for that event hashtag This is an excellent networking and listening strategy There also means that you can ‘liveblog’ from an event giving your followers access to these events too

22. Promoting Your Twitter Account Add Twitter details to email footer and website Add Twitter feed to blog or website sidebar Ensure easy sharing of website content using Tweet Button Add Twitter account to Twitter directories Follow relevant users and start a conversation ! Remember, it’s not about numbers! A small, targeted following is better than a million, unengaged followers

23. Other Twitter Tools

24. Other Twitter Tools

25. Other Twitter Tools

26. Other Twitter Tools

27. But… Do your own research – find out what tools work best in terms of achieving your aims and objectives

28. Promoted Tweets, Accounts and Trends How Twitter has monetised it’s service by giving advertisers to promote their tweets, accounts or trending topic https://support.twitter.com/articles/142101-what-are-promoted-tweets

29. Introducing HootSuite Hootsuite is an external Twitter client that enables you to manage most of your social media accounts from one desktop application

30. Managing Twitter on Hootsuite Quickly follow and source information about other Twitter users Shorten links using ow.ly link shortener Assign tasks between team members and schedule messages Gain valuable statistics and analytics data on your tweets and content shared Set up columns for following streams: Home Feed Mentions Direct Messages Twitter Lists Twitter Searches Sent Tweets

31. Posting Content To Twitter You can post short updates of up to 140 characters using the update bar and you can select which social network you wish to update: You can also post other media content such as: Links (shortened using ow.ly) Documents (uploaded via HootSuite) Photos (uploaded via HootSuite) Videos (link to YouTube)

32. Assigning Tasks in Hootsuite You can easily assign tasks to other team members using Hootsuite – this flags up the tweet or Facebook post to them and sends an email notification

33. Scheduling in Hootsuite Gives you the ability to schedule and plan your updates then automatically publishes Useful for weekends and holiday periods – as well as scheduling regular features and updates Can use either List view or Calendar view Over automation should be avoided!

34. Social Media Monitoring in Hootsuite It is easy to use Hootsuite for basic social media monitoring – we will be monitoring the following using Hootsuite: Relevant Hashtags Brand Mentions Other Keywords You can set these searches up in a separate tab on Hootsuite and then monitor these streams – assigning relevant tweets to team members

35. HootSuite Analytics

36. Twitter Aims and Objectives Raise brand awareness and reach of messages Drive targeted traffic to website Provide additional customer service channels Build relationships with key bloggers and journalists Engage with potential customers Identify sales leads and opportunities Monitor brand conversations and mentions Listening and Research tool

37. Example Twitter Strategies Connect with potential customers, influencers and partners Share links to your website and other brand related content Encourage followers to RT your content Run Twitter specific promotions and special offers Create your own #hashtag and promote this Answer customer service queries in real time Monitor and respond to brand mentions Engage with your followers by asking them questions and responding to their tweets

38. Twitter Case Study http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjT3z_qlq7g&feature=player_embedded

39. Twitter for TV shows and broadcasters http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Jc8TQppzORE

40. BAD Twitter Case Study – Habitat UK

41. And the inevitable backlash…

42. Yet some people never learn, take fashion brand Kenneth Cole…

43. #UCFad

44. And if you haven't already noticed, I’ve been tweeting this lecture using this hashtag

45. Social Media Module on SlideShare http://www.slideshare.net/UCFadvertising

46. Clemi Hardie [email_address] @clemihardie