Twitter Cheat Sheet.

Its 2012 if your business is not on Twitter now is the time to get going.

This simple little cheat sheet will help new Twitter users navigate the seeminlgy complex Twitterverse and help make your tweets more productive.

Sending a Tweet on Twitter

It is this easy set up a profile. See that little box at the top of your Twitter home page which reads
“What are you doing?”
Type in a tweet in this box and then press “Update.”

But, remember, you have to express yourself in only 140 characters! Think of it as a text but it is NOT PRIVATE

Reply to a Tweet

See a tweet you would like to reply to? Hit the reply button under the trash can next to the specific tweet and Twitter will automatically populate the text field with the user’s screenname so you can reply.

Delete a Tweet
Send a tweet before it was done? Visit your profile page on Twitter and click the trash can icon next to the tweet to delete it from the Twittersphere.

Hash Tag # on Twitter
See the “#” on Twitter and wonder what it could mean? The hashtag helps Twitter users designate keywords to conversations that are popular. For example, #McDStories A Twitter campaign by McDonald's, aimed at highlighting good news relating to the fast food chain, completely backfired when people used the hashtag 'McDStories', to highlight their horror stories.

Twitter’s search function.
To designate a keyword, tweet and let folks know about it. For example, I might tell friends and colleagues to use # to discuss an offer #Special Offer #Discount. Dell and Starbucks use this feature very successfully.

RT Retweet on Twitter
Read something funny or noteworthy that you’d just like to ReTweet?
Enter “RT” then “@” and then the Twitter username who authored the original tweet, then the original message. But, remember, the 140 word limit also applies here, so keep it brief, even extracting a portion of the original tweet if necessary.

OH on Twitter
Want to ReTweet something but don’t want to reveal the original author? Enter “OH” then the original message. “OH” stands for “overheard,” and helps us reiterate an earlier message without reveal (or embarrassing) the tweet’s author.

HT on Twitter
Heard something from a Twitter user in real life? Tweet this information using “HT,” (which means “Heard Through”) then the “@” and then their Twitter username.

And of course you can follow me @louiserobertson see how some of my clients are using twitter @primemarketltd, @metricofficeinteriors, @woo, @LiveEnsure

Tweetastic Tips

If you are just starting out on Twitter, it can be pretty confusing. If you have been using it for a little while, it can STILL be confusing. But once you get the hang of the motion in the ocean, Twitter can help you make waves.

Here are my Top Tweet tips:

1. TARGETED Followers count, not NUMBER of Followers porn stars and teenager do not make for good followers: many Twitter accounts is that the administrator either focus on thousands of followers Twitter is definitely a numbers game, but that only plays a percentage into the effectiveness of your Twitter campaign. Finding the right, targeted audience to interact and engage is key.

www.Listorious.com can help you locate the best people a wonderful site that helps you search by subject, keyword and more.
ww.Wefollow.com which offers a similar outlook.
Follow the RIGHT people, not hundreds of faceless people who can be either spammers or extremely infrequent users.

2. Don't Like Twitter, Don't Use It: By Twitter I mean Twitter.com.
If you haven't been on the site for a few months, you might want to check back in. Twitter has really worked hard to make bold strides in design to make it easier to understand and navigate. Free platforms such as HootSuite and TweetDeck allow you to get use Twitter on your own means with interfaces that are much more user-friendly.

3. Lists: What is a Twitter List? Say for example that you wanted to know what your competition is tweeting about. Go to Twitter and start a list called "competition", then add all of the competitors that you want to follow. Then you can simply login, go to the list, and read every tweet that has been said by the members of the list. This is a great monitoring tool and also great for interaction.

4. TEO: TEO is simply Twitter Engine Optimization # Hash tags are a great way to make your post friendly for people searching about your subject matter. Say you are a recruiter looking to fill a secretary position in Geneva. After your tweet about the vacancy, you can add hashtags such as #secretary #officejobs #geneva to make your post easier to find when people search for the key terms. It takes practice...but works!

5. Share: "I don't have time to tweet," find ways of making your life easier. That is where RSS feeds, Google Alerts and more come in. Find content, sites and topics that you enjoy and then get them sent directly to your inbox. When you get the feed or alert, look through to see if there is anything worth sharing on Twitter.

9 times out of 10 there will be, so go on and share the story and link!
Easy as that! Look out for retweet icons and simply click and share add your comment.
It is a great way to stay abreast of the latest news, while helping engage, entertain and educate your audience.

Twitter gets you in front of audiences of thousands while increasing your profile, visibility and brand recognition.

Follow:
LouiseRobertson
LiveEnsure
RossMac2310

Alone Together: A Scarey but true reflection on Social Media

The title of Sherry Turkles book, Alone Together, is chilling.

People are totally into email, Facebook thumbs-up/thumbs-down settings, a paradoxical thing happens: even though you're alone, you get into this situation where you're continually looking for your next message, and to have a sense of approval and validation.

You're alone but looking for approval as though you were together--the little red light going off on the BlackBerry to see if you have somebody's validation. Texting is the same thing. (My husband became text obsessed recently and it was part of his disconnection with us his family. He called it a distraction I think it became an addiction.)

Sherry makes a statement in her book, that if you don't learn how to be alone, you'll always be lonely, that loneliness is failed solitude. We're raising a generation that has grown up with constant connection, and only knows how to be lonely when not connected. This capacity for generative solitude is very important for the creative process, but if you grow up thinking it's your right and due to be tweeted and retweeted, to have thumbs up on Facebook...we're losing a capacity for autonomy both intellectual and emotional.

Twitter

Sherry thinks it's an interesting notion that sharing becomes part of actually having the thought. It's not "I think therefore I am," it's, "I share therefore I am." Sharing as you're thinking opens you up to whether the group likes what you're thinking as becoming a very big factor in whether or not you think you're thinking well. Is Twitter fun, is it interesting to hear the aperçus of people? Of course! I certainly don't have an anti-Twitter position. It's just not everything.

So find time to be disconnected, talk to people and keep things real, it is so important we are humans not machines.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1716844/alone-together-an-mit-professors-new-book-urges-us-to-unplug

Are you a Digital Snail?

Are You a Digital Snail?

All the time I get captures by people who have just mastered texting, who barely have a website running, who haven't a clue how to start a blog (or a Facebook page, or a Twitter feed, and so on), and who question of whether they should do any of it.

What advice would you give is a "digital slowcoach?"

Here are five simple things you can do now to catch up.

1. Create a solid Web presence using one of several free website development tools (for non-geeks) like Weebly, Wix, Webs, Yola.com, or Flavors.me. For a stupid proof-easy solution, use blog software from WordPress or Eblogger to set up your main Web page. (Chuck out brochure wear, matching t-shirts, cheesy executives are gone forever.) Socially plumb your site, look at the tool bar on the bottom of http://www.liveensure.com/ a totally connected site.

2. Open the door to interaction by including an obvious way for people to get in touch with you. Some companies rely on contact forms, but I much prefer an actual email address that belongs to an actual person because it signals that you are approachable and willing to engage.

3. Start a database. A customer and prospect list is key to any kind of successful engagement. Even a simple spreadsheet will do.

4. Start publishing. Start a newsletter for your customers or your vendors. Launch a blog and commit to refreshing it two or three times per week.
Use a simple Flip camera to create customer testimonial videos onsite, at tradeshows and events. Upload them to YouTube. http://youtu.be/_5Gpzt6vgIQ this one of mine not great as you will see, but has over 1000 viewing and traffics hits to our partner Mo-Call- low cost international calls site.(I love their catch phrase!)

Use Flickr to catalog fun and interesting photos of your business, staff and customers at work, and feature them on your site. Showcase photos and videos on your main site and facebook, it is very easy http://bit.ly/cQIp27

5. DIY. While getting outside help to kick-start your efforts may be helpful, don't cede your publishing or social media management completely to consultants or (please!) interns. The best way to learn how to master social channels is to first wade in yourself.

Now if you are digital snail, you are probably a bit of a Cloud tortoise too, so to be cucumber cool watch this clip.
Benjamin Cohen, consumerises an explanation of the cloud on Channel 4 News.

http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/display/playlistref/051010/clipid/051010_CLOUD_C4N

POWWOWnow taking a Social Media launch into 3D

POWWOWNOW

This is the fantastic new web conferencing brand, and they have taken their social marketing effort into the face to face dimension today. London is buzzing with Powwowness!

They are engaging:

Face to Face at Waterloo, London Bridge and Victoria.

Taking and publishing threeway photos, if you are in London today go get in the buzz, have your photo taken with them it looked fun. I tried to get in a photo, wearing my new red winter coat, I side stepped over, was shooed away like an irritating pigeon. I am obviously to old or to ugly for a PowWowNow threesome. So see above me in my new red coat and the LiveEnsure Team, we offer threeway authentication security...

Seriously pretty people of London go get in the shot.

http://www.upforathreewaycall.co.uk/photo/


PowWowNow is Causing a storm on Twitter and facebook with a great fanpage.

PowWowNow is the free conference calling service with no booking, no billing, no fuss. Providing an easy, no-fuss relationship without tying you down or burning a hole in your wallet… This is the best three-way you’ll ever have!

I support Powwownow in promoting the benefits of saving money, saving time and saving the planet with conference calling.

It would even better if they use LiveEnsure to protect you while you access their service...we already protect global users of MoCall http://www.mo-call.com/en/ low cost international calls and Paytoo users when they top up their mobile payments.


http://www.upforathreewaycall.co.uk/join/

Lucy Payne their social strategist is doing an awesome job, social marketers could watch this promotion closely!

Dilbert-Gets Social

Dilbert is known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office featuring the engineer Dilbert as the title character.


Had to smile today when I saw this Dibert comic strip in Nick Pearts Blog! Nick is so right it encapsulates perfectly the way that a huge number of businesses today view social media. My role encompasses as you know social, and I encounter daily re-buffs like this.

Most businesses today know that they need to be incorporating Social Media into the way they communicate with customers and employees but are effectively paralysed from doing so due to perceived risks. The attitude of shutting out this communication channel combined with a lack of trust of employees is only going to be detrimental to an organisation’s success and corporate reputation. If you can't find a company active on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook or Youtube as a consumer you question it very existence.

There are a huge range of progressive companies, Dell, BestBuy, Sophos, who are embracing social media to great benefit. Clearswift recently conducted some global research into the use of Web 2.0 tools in the workplace and almost two-thirds of companies were actively embracing them.

Confidence to use them has been bolstered by the fact that these organisations know that they need to have a security policy in place to be able to deal with them . To embrace these powerful communication mediums, companies simply need to implement simple policies, motivate their people to jump on social media, then authenticate their users and monitor content, LiveEnsure handles the authentication. (An empty facebook page, a dead twitter feed won't help any business)

Companies can in the words of the author Susan Jeffers... feel the fear and do it anyway.

Is Social Media Valuable

What is the Value of Facebook and LinkedIn?

When someone asks me this question, internally I tend to sigh deeply and externally smile, you do have to wonder if they are in business whether they deliberately buried their heads against the social media explosion that we are in the midst of. Many people understand the fact that they NEED to be on social networking sites, but are not sure exactly WHY they need to.


SIMPLY GET SOCIAL - these sites are an excellent marketing tool for business, individuals and students. If you are asking this question you are behind the curve so do it now.

Think about the meetings and exhibitions attended globally every day. These networking opportunities are held by associations, professional groups, local chambers of commerce, etc. While sometimes they can be niche and packed with members of your target market, many times they can be sporadic and unfruitful. But you go all the same and come away with new contacts.

Facebook and Linkedin are electronic networking events. The differences is astounding they are running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
The Social Advantage

*Free CRM System for your contacts
*You to choose the EXACT target market you want to engage and connect to
*No costs just time
*Fantastic Free Tools- Events, Announcements.
*Allows you to be flexible!
*Set up, Communicate get started in less than half an hour.

Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to connect with large masses of people including your old friends and professional colleagues, but more importantly they allow you the opportunity to meet and connect with new quality professionals who are willing and able to build your business, purchase your products, learn from your expertise and spread that all too valuable word-of-mouth.

Get Connected
By connecting with people on social networking sites you are enabling a wide group of people to benefit from your area of expertise while engaging them in conversation, asking/answering questions and gathering valuable information to help you market more effectively to your target audience. To be honest, the opportunities, at times, can be endless.

I will talk in detail about Linkedin and Facebook in my next posts, for now get your name, your business website details up there and do some ‘lurking’. (Join us on Linkedin or Facebook)

Linkedin
http://bit.ly/c5F4jq

Facebook
http://bit.ly/cQIp27

And then I get an email for people who get it, with tools that help manage it how can half the business world be in tune and half so not. An email yesterday was from people who get it...
SPROUT Better Manage Your Small Business’s Social Media Presence: http://bit.ly/dfCxQz

Be Authentic http://www.liveensure.com/

SoSoSocial Get Started

Passionate about Social Media or not its here to stay...Neilson result suggest its pushing email into second place for communications. Email is set to be a utility.


Social media has rocketed into business. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter provide platforms for businesses to connect with their customers on a more personal level. Users can chat to the real people behind the businesses, as well as with each other, sharing their own opinions and experiences.
No longer are these places for teenagers and celebrities, but brands, governments and journalists are all twittereing away.

(Someone told be tweeting was for geeks the other day, I bit my tongue I also had facebook described as a total fad... hrmph thanks to a good upbringing and my females genes I remain placid- so many people and businesses do not get the biggest thing since email)

Social media is a cheap and easy way for companies on a tight budget to market their business. It can be very challenging, however, to figure out which social media tools best meet your needs, how to use them in an effective way, and how to prove they're a good investment for your business.

Here starts my blog... hopefully it will help people get so so social for whatever they need to say!