Tag Archive for twitter for business

Miss Kemya | January 16, 2012
4 comments

7 Mistakes Twitter Users Should Avoid

So far, we’ve looked at several tips to build your Twitter strategy. First we used 10 Quick Twitter Tips to get you on the right track to building a Twitter profile and network. Next, we learned a few easy ways to build your Twitter following.

So here’s my thought: Instead of providing more tips of what to do, how about I switch it up and give you a few suggestions of what NOT to do on Twitter? The don’ts of Twitter are just as important as the do’s of Twitter.

7 Mistakes Twitter Users Should Avoid

  1. Don’t include a link with every single tweet. You can say something thought-provoking, ask a question or make a statement without a link. It’s ok. Your followers won’t click all those links anyway.
  2. Don’t go on a personal several-tweet rant. You just might irk me or someone else and get unfollowed. By the same token, don’t get into the habit of having a 30-tweet conversation with one person over Twitter. Call or DM that person.
  3. Don’t send several emails in succession. You’re not helping yourself with exposure at all. Spreading them out increases the likelihood your followers will see your tweets. In other words, if you send out 7 tweets in a row over the course of 3 minutes and I’m not on Twitter at that time, I’ll miss your content. If you spread those 7 tweets out, there’s a better chance you’ll catch me on Twitter and I can see your content.
  4. Don’t be so concerned with the numbers. Spammers will come and go all the time, which will make your numbers change daily. By the way, you can’t always tell a spambot by their profile. People follow and unfollow all the time with no reason whatsoever. Therefore, you should be more concerned with the quality of your followers.
  5. Don’t constantly sales pitch yourself. That’s a quick way to get unfollowed. You will definitely get on people’s nerves. Twitter is not all about you.
  6. Don’t tweet at everyone you follow to follow you back. It’s just tacky. Yup, I said it, T-A-C-K-Y.
  7. Don’t abuse the auto DM. I have received the same auto DM more than once from a person I followed, and you know what that tells me? They’re not paying enough attention to their followers, and they haven’t updated their auto-DM use. This gets on my nerves, and I guarantee I’m not the only one annoyed.

Don’t assume you will become famous on Twitter simply because you’re active every day. The value in Twitter lies not only in frequency, but with content and engagement. I just had to throw that bonus tip in to keep you sane.

If you’re active on Twitter I bet you’ve seen several of these missteps made and they might have made you cringe. So now you know what NOT to do on Twitter. This list should help prevent you from looking like you don’t know what you’re doing. Just keep in mind, we’re here to socially engage AND HAVE FUN.

Do you have any more Twitter don’ts to add to the list? Comment and share your Twitter peeves!

Ciao,
Miss Kemya
Category: Twitter | Tags: , , ,
Miss Kemya | January 10, 2012
No comments

7 Ways to Build Your Twitter Following

Are you trying to figure out how to build your following and find your Twitter voice? Have you been tweeting for a while but you’ve been inconsistent? Are you working with a stagnant network? Have I got a few tips for you!

  1. Post unique content daily, as in not a retweet. Find interesting content on your own and share it with your followers.
  2. Comment and reply to other people’s tweets. And have something to add, more than a “nice post”. Tell them what value you gained from their content.
  3. Recommend people to follow. Recommendations are not just reserved for #FF, you may do this anytime, there are no rules. A perfect example: “You should follow @MissKemya for her marketing brilliance, cool blog posts and small biz advice”. You can tweet that whenever you like!
  4. Participate in tweetchats. This is a surefire way to increase your following. There are so many tweetchats happening on a regular basis, I add the ones I like to my calendar as appointments so I don’t miss them.
  5. Perform searches for people talking about your interests, both professional and personal, and follow those people. Search locally and internationally to build your network.
  6. Even though you’re tweeting as a professional, expose your personality so people can get to know you. Tweeters like getting to know each other, quirks and all.
  7. Tweet every day, as in 7 days a week. If you want to communicate with a variety of people, hop on Twitter several times daily and do all of the above.

If you’re still relatively new to Twitter, I suggest you take a look at my original post “10 Quick Twitter Tips” to make sure you’ve already got the basics covered.

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

I share more details of my personal Twitter strategy with Jason Shoup on Pluggio’s Blog - checkout the interview!

Category: Featured, Twitter | Tags: , , ,
Miss Kemya | September 10, 2011
4 comments

Upcoming Event: Do I Play or Pass?

We all need to network in some form to build our businesses, and there’s nothing like face-to-face events to get the ball rolling. But there’s too many choices, so what should you do? You have an idea of the types of events you’d like to attend. You’ve done a bit of research on each event, and you’ve given consideration to 5 important factors (we discussed these in a previous post). Now it’s time to make a decision: should you attend an event or not? Don’t wing it, make a calculated decision.

Where should I go?

Decide how many events you can reasonably attend on a monthly (or quarterly) basis. Mix in some out-of-the-ordinary mixers, luncheons, breakfast meetings, evening socials, and conferences. Don’t stick with what or who you know, go out on a limb and shake it up! I try to attend at least one event that on the surface has absolutely nothing to do with my business. Do you know how much fun this can be? You’ll be out of your comfort zone, and you’ll meet an entirely different cast of characters. I love getting a fresh perspective on what other professionals are doing. It lends to my creativity and it also keeps me in the loop in the community.

I hope I know someone there…

A major mistake people make when deciding to attend an event is this: will I know anyone there? Then if they don’t know anyone there they won’t give it a try. Why not? Your business depends on your effort, not mingling with your friends. I use this as the very reason to attend an event. You need to meet new people to keep a fresh perspective and increase your network. Don’t rely on following people on social media to build your circle, hit the pavement and build the circle face-to-face with your prospects. And connect, don’t stay on the sidelines and hold up the wall or take a seat in the background. If I make an effort show up, I stand front and center ready to interact.

I can’t make the event, now what?

If you can’t attend an event, that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the fun, networking, and information! Here’s just a few ways I keep up with events I’m unable to attend to still take part and benefit from a networking perspective:

  • Follow live tweeting/hashtags, lookup the event on Facebook to see if there is post-event discussion.
  • Read blog post summaries from the attendees after the event. Post comments, ask the bloggers questions and gather more information.
  • Review the event agenda and speaker bios – contact a speaker you’re interested in and contact them. If you’re intrigued by their expertise, let them know you didn’t get to hear their presentation but you’d like to find out more about the subject.
  • Find event attendees you can reach out. If they’re in your industry or affiliated in a way, maybe you should be connecting with them anyway!

So you see, there are many things to consider as you plan your event calendar for the year. But the key is to PLAN. In summation, here’s my 5 takeaways to managing your time and effort to attend professional events:

  1. Don’t leave your marketing to chance… make a plan and execute it, events included.
  2. Don’t let finances hinder your networking efforts, get creative and get the information you need.
  3. Follow up on new and existing connections. You do yourself and your business no good if you attend every event yet do no follow-up.
  4. Find an interesting mix of events within and outside your comfort zone to keep your self motivated. Networking should be fun!
  5. Use your estimated return on investment of time, money and resources, as your best guide to making the decision to attend an event.

Get out there and engage with the right people to develop your business!

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

Category: Events, Marketing Strategy, Networking, Social Media Platforms | Tags: , , , ,
Miss Kemya | August 6, 2011
4 comments

10 Quick Twitter Tips

Need a little more twitter-savvy? Use these quick tips and have fun!

  1. Save hashtags you like. I save them for offline events and tweetchats so I can go back and review the discussions I like. Think of it as building your own transcript.
  2. Build lists so you can target specific tweeters, and make sure you have lists for local tweeps, tweeps in your industry, and target clients to start. Lists will make a big difference as your following and timeline grow.
  3. You already know to get rid of that egg pic. Use a human picture, not a logo. Logos can’t tweet and we want to know who we’re talking to. Make sure it looks like you. Suppose we cross paths? I want to recognize you.
  4. Use your location in your bio. You’ll be found when people perform searches more often.
  5. Complete your bio – otherwise you’ll look like spam. Make it keyword rich too. Again, people perform searches to find interesting people to follow. Can you make sure your bio somewhat relates to what you tweet about?
  6. Tweet in 120 characters and you’ll increase your chance of being retweeted. You’re leaving room for a person to retweet and/or include a comment.
  7. Some people just tweet sales pitches, and we don’t like it. So don’t do it. Engagement is the name of the game.
  8. Don’t go backwards in your timeline. For the most part it’s a waste of time. Want to know why? Read my previous post on this.
  9. Don’t autofollow people simply because they’re following you. Not a good strategy if you’re on here to engage for business. Find people with whom you would like to engage, be proactive.
  10. Post at different times of the day to increase your visibility. We’re all in different time zones, regions and countries. If this is problematic for you, consider scheduling tweets throughout the day.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know I occasionally tweet #TwitterTips. I figured I’d make it easy on us and compile an ongoing list of these #TwitterTips, and I’m sure this will become an evolving tip sheet. Do you have any #TwitterTips to share? Comment and let me know!

Until we tweet again…

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

For more Twitter Tips, checkout my follow up posts:

7 Ways to Build Your Twitter Following

7 Mistakes Twitter Users Should Avoid

Automated Tweets Can Stunt Your Growth

 

 

Category: Social Media Platforms, Twitter | Tags: , , , , , ,
Miss Kemya | July 28, 2011
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Got Klout? Use It For Marketing

So by now you’re familiar with Klout. If not, take one step back and read my previous post on getting started with Klout, and this post will make more sense.

Whether you like it or not, Klout is being used to develop your online profile, so stay ahead of the curve and use it to your advantage! But do you know to incorporate Klout into your marketing strategy! Here’s 4 quick tips to get you started:

  1. If you’ve already registered at Klout, you know you have a Klout Style. You can use this to get a pretty good idea of what you’re chatting about online. Suppose you don’t have Klout in a category that’s your specialty/niche – checking your Klout influence can help you determine what you need to be chatting/sharing on the social networks to develop your overall Klout profile. Even though it’s relatively new, I’ve already heard talk of people checking Klout scores as part of their hiring process. So don’t go calling yourself an expert these days if you don’t have some easily found stats to back up your claim – someone just might do a social background check on you and give preference to someone with more Klout!
  2. Much like many social media platforms, you can use the search usernames to find people who share similar interests or prospective clients. With Klout you can get a summary of topics they post about. Suppose you follow someone on Twitter but not Facebook (or vice versa), you may want to connect with them on other platforms as well, thus expanding your reach and exposure. You can also use this for competitor analysis couldn’t you? For example, I could check the Klout score of my competitor and see how our profiles compare. As I stated in the first tip, people are already comparing Klout scores for hiring purposes whether you agree with it or not.
  3. #Kloutchat is an interesting tweetchat centered around using Klout. This as excellent marketing research tool to use to learn how other companies are leveraging Klout. You can learn new ideas and adapt them to your own company. I’ve learned quiet a bit just lurking around #Kloutchat.
  4. Learn how you influence your followers. Use your Klout Score Analysis to find out why you’re influential. Are your followers retweeting your posts? Are you starting discussions? Are you creating calls to action? Understanding the reasons and methods you’re using to gain influence can help you refine your social media strategy to build your brand. You can figure out what’s working for you and what you need to improve upon.

Klout has other tools you can incorporate into your strategy, and since it’s relatively new there are constant improvements. I can’t say whether Klout is right or wrong. But as a marketer I must learn to navigate social media platforms and figure out how to best utilize them for myself and my clients. If you want to maintain control of your brand, you must learn the tools people are using to make decisions about your brand, and Klout happens to be one of those tools. Any platform that gives a quantifiable measure of your online profile will certainly cause a stir. Whether you think Klout is good, bad, or you’re indifferent, understand Klout and make it work for you!

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

Category: Klout, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tools, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy, Twitter | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Miss Kemya | July 20, 2011
2 comments

3 Quick Tips for Marketing With Paper.li

We’ve introduced paper.li and what it’s useful for. Now I want to dig a bit deeper and suggest 3 simple ways you can use your paper.li newspaper as a marketing tool.   

1. Promote people you follow. I’ve notice people will often retweet my paper.li tweets when they’re mentioned in the “today’s top stories via” tweet, and I do the same. It’s a nice way to give a mention, and it lets people know you’re paying attention to their tweets. Who wouldn’t like that?

2. Provide a content source that directly relates to your industry, thereby demonstrating your understanding of the power players in your industry. For example, I’m in marketing – a rather extensive industry. So instead of creating a “Marketing Daily”, I created a niche paper called Social Media Minds that’s a compilation of the social media managers and marketers I follow. I follow them, they get to see me, and we build an online rapport. It’s that simple. Next I just might create a paper.li entitled “Brand Builders” or something along those lines, based on a list of branding experts, yet another niche within the marketing industry. Be creative and apply this concept to your own industry!

3. Show your personality. Who says it has to be all business? If the whole point of our revolutionized marketing industry is predicated on building relationships, why not show off your personality a bit? You can do this by creating specific lists that interest you  on a personal level (think cars, sports, music, etc.) or by simply giving your paper.li a funky name. There are millions of Twitter users, you can certainly find people who tweet about things you like. Your image/personality/uniqueness can shine through your paper.li, putting you one step closer to your goal of unique branding.

Bonus: You just might look like you’re on the ball with social media when you incorporate different platforms and apps into your profile. Definitely a professional win-win wouldn’t you say?

Is paper.li for everyone? I don’t think so – I’ve read various articles about people who dislike paper.li, who think users are too lazy to create original content blah blah blah… However, as with any new concept, you can think about your industry, your interests, and decide if paper.li works for you. I’ve learned to mix personal and professional interests on Twitter and paper.li is an easy way to catch the highlights in my Twitter stream. Quite frankly, it doesn’t have to be that deep, but it should be fun. Hence the term “social” media.

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

Category: Marketing Tools, Social Media Platforms, Twitter | Tags: , , , ,
Miss Kemya | July 18, 2011
3 comments

Quick Tip: Stay In The Know With Paper.li

Do you publish a paper.li newspaper? If not, do you subscribe to someone else’s paper.li? If you’re scratching your head wondering what I’m talking about, a paper.li is a free service that basically takes links from the people you follow on Twitter and organizes the links into a virtual newspaper.  You can create your own paper.li based on a list, hashtag, a user, or a custom setting with advanced features.  Once you choose your source, you can name your paper and set it to generate daily or weekly and receive the latest editions via email. Just like a newspaper, there are sections for Headlines, Business, Arts & Entertainment, etc. and popular hashtags.

So go ahead and create your own paper.li newspaper or subscribe to one you like. I’m sure you follow someone who has a paper.li you’ll find interesting (hint hint). I particularly like paper.li because it keeps me in the know when I don’t have time to “check in” with Twitter often. I can read a newspaper and stay up-to-date on the day’s topics. I currently publish 3 newspapers, feel free to read and/or subscribe to stay in the know!

  1. The Miss Kemya Daily is a myriad of interesting tweets from people I follow
  2. The Social Media Minds Daily is a collection of tweets from great social media guru’s I follow
  3. The Cool Atlantans Daily has all kinds of goodies from my Atlanta and surrounding-area tweeps. Of course I have to stay in touch locally!

Just another quick tip to manage your social media activities. Stay tuned, I’ll be exploring ways to use paper.li as a marketing tool…

Ciao,
Miss Kemya
Category: Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tools, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy, Twitter | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Miss Kemya | June 14, 2011
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Twitter Is For Right Now – Not Yesterday!

There are many articles that tell you how little time it takes to use social media. Yet, if you’re a relatively new user, this will sound like hogwash! It can take several hours to understand how to use just one social media platform. However, once you’re up and running,  your time spent can be drastically reduced. You’d be amazed at how the pros manage their time using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs, etc. There really is a method to the “spend 20 minutes a day” advice you hear out there. Today’s quick tip is an invaluable lesson I learned several months ago from Warriorpreneur Ann Evanston:

When using Twitter, don’t go backwards in your timeline to get caught up. 

When you open Twitter, depending on which platform you’re using (Hootsuite, iPhone, etc.), it usually opens to the exact time period you last viewed. The problem is that this could be several hours (or days) ago. When I was a newbie, I’d scroll through old tweets to get caught up and it was a complete waste of time! It takes too long, and Twitter is about as live and “real time” as it gets with social media. You are essentially catching up on old news, and if you start reading and retweeting from too many hours (or days) back, you’ll never catch up to the most recent tweets! You’ll miss all the current news, or worse, the conversation will have already ended and you’ll show up loud and late! For the most part, if I’m “behind” in my timeline I scroll forward to tweets within the past 60 minutes or so, UNLESS I’m performing a specific search. This one little tip made a HUGE difference in my understanding and use of Twitter, so I thought I’d share the advice.

Ciao,
Miss Kemya 

Category: Marketing Tools, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy, Twitter | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Miss Kemya | June 11, 2011
5 comments

Seize the Tweet Chat Opportunity

I’m writing this post as though you are familiar with Twitter. If you aren’t, take a look my previous blog post “Why Aren’t You Tweeting Yet?” Then come back here and finish reading…

I recently participated in an awesome tweetchat with THE CEO Mamma Network via #theceomamma. Let me tell you, these are some energetic ladies that are wonderful at sharing tips, info, and insight with each other! During the chat I learned several of the participants had never participated in a tweet chat, it was their first time! I’m so used to tweeting that I took the “tweet chat” concept for granted. In keeping with this month’s topic – social media - I thought I’d give a brief overview of a tweet chat.

A tweet chat is a Twitter conversation with a group of people, it might be 10, it could be 300. I like to think of it as a group meeting. Using a designated #hashtag, a person(s) sends out a tweet as an invitation to join the chat, and he/she will include the #hashtag to follow, along with the designated date, time and topic for the chat.

When the tweet chat ”meeting” begins, you can follow along using the basic Twitter platform, a social media dashboard like HootSuite or TweetDeck, or by using Tweetchat, which is probably the most popular way to follow and join the discussion. If you’re not familiar with the different platforms, post a question as a comment and I’ll give you some pointers.

Tweet chats are a goldmine! Think about it: a tweet chat provides an opportunity for exposure to a group of people who are interested in a particular topic. Can you say “target market“, “demographic profile“, “networking opportunity“?

You can participate in a number of ways:

  • lurk and observe the discussion
  • tweet a “hello I’m here” to the participants
  • ask questions and provide answers
  • learn more on a new subject
  • get to know the people interested in certain topics
  • find new people to follow

…the list goes on and on. Your objectives for participating will vary; sometimes I lurk, other times I’m in the q&a, but I always find new people to follow. Often times the twitter stream is so rich in content I save the stream so I can go over the info I learned and make notes (which I did for the #theceomamma tweet chat).

So be on the lookout for tweet chats in your field, and when you arrive at the meeting announce yourself, and if you’re ready, join the conversation! Seize the tweet chat opportunity!

Ciao,
Miss Kemya

Category: Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tools, Networking, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Miss Kemya | June 7, 2011
4 comments

Why Aren’t You Tweeting Yet?

Many professionals are still apprehensive regarding social media outlets.  I run into so many business owners that simply don’t know how to join the social media conversation, so they stay behind, falling further and further into the abyss with the dinosaurs. For those of you that don’t know how to join the conversation, I’m here to get rid of all the excuses you’ve been using as to why you can’t “get on” social media.  Read on to learn how I joined one of the major social networks: Twitter.

How To Get Started on Twitter For Business Purposes 

Learn the Basics. Go to http://business.twitter.com/ and learn Twitter basics. Just because you don’t know what you’re doing doesn’t mean you have to look like a novice late to the party  - that’s the beauty of the internet isn’t it?

Complete your profile. When choosing a username, make it something easy to understand, and related to your name or company name. Use a real picture as your avatar (aka the picture that shows up next to your username). People want to converse with humans on Twitter; we know logos and robots don’t tweet! Complete your bio as well, otherwise, we (business people) won’t take you seriously.

What to Tweet? You don’t have to “rush” to join the convo. I started by “lurking” – aka reading other people’s tweets and not commenting or retweeting. Then, once I understood the lay of the land – aka “twitterverse” – I started retweeting others’ professional posts. Then, when I got comfortable, I would add a brief comment to the retweet. Then, again while getting more comfortable, I would find original articles and topics to tweet. Over time, I became confident enough to add my personality and personal tweets in the mix. This is my rebuttal to the “I don’t know what to say” excuse!

Who to follow? Since you’ve already learned about hashtags via the Twitter basics, think of a few keywords that relate to your business and search for them as hashtags.  You can also seek out fellow business owners, prospects, and clients that are already using Twitter and follow them.

Consistency Counts. You have to tweet to be seen and build a following. I always recommend starting out with 5 tweets daily for a few weeks, then 10 daily for a few weeks. I tweet Mon-Fri, and rarely during the weekend. Mon-Fri is pretty acceptable for business purposes. This allows you to get the hang of it.  I  know you can spare 20 minutes 3 times a day to read tweets and find interesting posts to retweet or comment on. This is my rebuttal to the “I don’t have time” excuse!

BONUS: Perform searches at http://search.twitter.com/advanced to find tweets based on a myriad of criteria. This method is still elusive for many, so if you’re reading this post you’re ahead of the game! Thank me by commenting!

This is exactly what I did when I got serious about using Twitter, so I know it works.  This formula is simple enough to prevent any excuses. I understand how overwhelming social media can be, and when you hear tips from “experts” with a huge fan base their advice doesn’t seem practical. Been there, done that, moved on, and so should you! Building your following and your level of comfort will take time, but you will get there if you follow my tips. The longer you wait, the more you sink into the abyss. If you get lost or need help, find me on Twitter @MissKemya, leave a comment, or send me an email at kemya [at] phiscomarketing.com. I’m glad to help.

**For those of you already deep in twitterverse, please send this post to your reluctant colleagues and let me know how it works for them. I’ve had this same conversation numerous times to get people started on Twitter.**

Ciao,
Miss Kemya 

Category: Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tools, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Strategy | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
 
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