How to use this course

Transcription

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2 How to use this course Start with this Section to get a tour of Twitter and familiarise yourself with its layout. As you read through the Tour have your Twitter account open on your computer so you can click on features to see for yourself how they look. Note: This tour has been written from a PC view, if you re browsing Twitter on a smartphone, ipad etc your view may look different. If you have any questions about anything in the course please pop over to any of my social media accounts below and ask! Facebook: Twitter: Linkedin: Page 1

3 Twitter Tour Page 2

4 The Twitter Tour This tour gives you a quick guide to what features are available on Twitter and where they are. More in-depth explanations on how to use them are provided as you work through each section. Page 3

5 The sign up process for Twitter To sign up for a Twitter account go to Enter your name, address, password & the username you would like for your Twitter ID If possible try and get your business name if this unavailable pick something that is relevant to your business. can be changed later but it s easier if you can choose the right one from the start. Page 4

6 This is what your Home page will look like initially. You will be given suggestions of people to follow just click the follow button next to their name. If you want to wait until your account is set up properly then click on Skip this step. Page 5

7 If you click the skip this step button you will arrive at this page. You can then start to set up your account. If you clicked the Follow button for any of the people Twitter suggested then you will arrive at this screen where you will start to see the tweets of those people. I would suggest you set up your account properly before you start following anyone so there is some information about you on your profile if they want to know who you are. Page 6

8 Home Tab Tweets (also known as your Twitter timeline): Tweets by the people you are following. Tweets are made in real-time so as people tweet new things, older tweets move down the timeline. 2. Info Box: Photo thumbnail: this photo will also be visible next to each tweet you make. View your profile: a clickable link to take you to your Me Tab. Tweet count: how many tweets you ve made since opening your Twitter account. Also a clickable link to your Me Tab. Following: the number of people you are following. Also a clickable link to the detailed list of people you are following. Page 7

9 Followers: the number of people who are following you. Also a clickable link to the detailed list of people who are following you. 3. Who to Follow box 3 suggestions of people you may want to follow. Clickable links to a longer list of people to follow (View All), Browse Categories feature and Find Friends feature. 4. Trends Box The top 10 things most talked about on Twitter at that moment (also known as trending topics ). You can tailor trends to see those for your City, Country or Worldwide by clicking on change. Trends can be general keywords (words used in a tweet) t) or Hashtags (explained in a later section). 5. Compose New Tweet This is the box where you will write your tweets. This can also be done from the blue box on the toolbar at the top of the page. Page 8

10 @Connect Tab Interactions Click this and you ll see a stream of tweets with mentions of your people who have recently followed you, your tweets that have recently been favorited or retweeted and by who. 2. Mentions Only includes tweets with mentions of your Page 9

11 #Discover Tab Tweets Tweets happening now tailored for you (by Twitter) from people you may or may not be following. 2. Activity Activity of the people you are following e.g. who they have followed recently and things they have retweeted or favorited. This doesn t include their tweets. 3. Who to follow Twitter s suggestions of people for you to follow based on who you already follow. There is also a search box to find people you know using their full name or their Page 10

12 4. Find friends Connect to your accounts to find your contacts on Twitter. There is also a search box (see number 3 above), and an invite box for you to invite people you know to Twitter, using their address. 5. Browse Categories Look for people to follow based on topics of interest. Page 11

13 Me Tab Your Profile/Tweets This is your Twitter Profile. If you direct anyone to this is the page they will go to. They will be able to see your bio and your most recent tweets. 2. Following This gives a detailed list of the people you are following. 3. Followers This gives a detailed list of the people who are following you. 4. Favorites This gives a list of the most recent tweets you have favorited. Page 12

14 5. Lists This gives a detailed list of the lists you have created and have subscribed to and lists you have been included in. 6. Direct Message This allows you to send a private direct message to someone. You must be following them and they must be following you to allow you to do this. 7. View all photos & videos This gives you a page with all the photos and videos you have attached to tweets. Page 13

15 Search Box Search The place to type keywords to find tweets talking about specific things example below for the keyword marketing Tweets Once you hit enter after typing your keyword into the search box you ll get a list of tweets that include those keywords. You can filter by Top tweets, tweets by All or tweets by People you know 2. People Gives you a list of people who have those keywords in their name or 3. Top Photo Gives you photos that have been en included in tweets with those keywords. Page 14

16 4. Top Videos Gives you videos that have been included in tweets with those keywords. Page 15

17 Search Options Going back to our marketing search example click the cog wheel to open the options box Advanced Search This takes you to an advanced search page with lots of extra search parameters. Page 16

18 2. Save Search If you get some good search results for your keywords and you want to do that search regularly then click Save Search. To find your saved searches click on Home, then click in the Search box and a list of your searches will appear. 3. Embed Search Allows you to create a widget for this search you can then embed on your website. Page 17

19 Quick Links Wheel Edit Profile Quick link to your Edit Profile box. 2. Direct Messages Quick link to your Private Direct Message box. 3. Lists Quick link to the lists you have created, subscribed to or been included on. 4. Help Twitter s own help section. 5. Keyboard Shortcuts Shortcuts to make your Twitter experience faster. 6. Settings Quick link to your Settings section. 7. Sign Out Sign out of Twitter. Page 18

20 Summary of a Profile Clicking on someone s name in a tweet or a list brings up a summary of their profile. This allows you to browse their bio, location, number of tweets, following & followers as well as their last two tweets. It also shows the date of their last tweet. TIP: If they haven t tweeted for a while it s probably not worth following them. You ll also notice a Follow button (the example below says Following as I m already following Warren). Page 19

21 If you click the head and shoulders icon next to the follow button you ll see the following options. Page 20

22 Create your Profile Page 21

23 Creating your Twitter profile (& getting your settings right) Your Twitter profile is like your shop window, its purpose is to attract people to you and once they ve found you it should encourage them to come in and find out more. There are several parts to setting up your account and creating your profile. All of these actions are done from your Settings Panel. Page 22

24 Click on Settings and you ll see a screen similar to this Page 23

25 1. Account Username (part of your visible profile) This is also known as or your Twitter ID. Choose something that people will recognise you by such as your name, your company name or something that sums up what you provide Try not to include numbers after it (e.g. karenjames1) unless of course your company name has numbers in it! You have a limit of 15 characters to play with so you might have to be a bit creative! Once you ve set your username it s not set in stone, you can change it at any time without it affecting your twitter account, your followers or your previous tweets. But if you do change it remember to let your followers know what your new username is a few times in tweets over a couple of weeks till they get used to it. Address You can only have one Twitter account attached to an address (so if you wanted multiple Twitter accounts you d need different addresses for them). Your address isn t displayed on your profile but you can tick the box to Let others find me by my address. Language Set Twitter to the language you re most comfortable with. You ll then see your Twitter menus in that language. It doesn t translate other people s tweets for you but Twitter does have a translation feature here Time Zone The time stamps you see on tweets will be the time of the time zone you choose here. So if you choose GMT and you see a tweet from someone in the USA the time stamp on the tweet will have been converted to the GMT time zone. Page 24

26 Tweet Location If you want your location to show up on the Details of your tweet (when someone clicks expand ) then you need to tick the box that says Add a location to my Tweets. This is turned off by default. If you leave it turned off you can choose to add a location as and when you write a tweet by clicking the location icon under the compose new tweet box. Tweet Media You can choose to Display media that may contain sensitive content or Mark my media as containing sensitive content. The Twitter Best Practices section quotes sensitive content as images or videos that contain things such as nudity, violence or medical procedures. Tweet Privacy All tweets are by default public and can be seen by anyone on Twitter or may show up in an internet search. For people who are using Twitter for personal reasons you may want to tick the box that says Protect My Tweets. Anyone wanting to follow you will then have to be approved by you before they see your tweets. A lock icon will show up beside your Twitter ID so people know you have tweet privacy. If you re using Twitter for business then I would advise you leave your tweets public. Personalization This is currently being rolled out and is not available to all Twitter accounts yet (as at 18 May 2013). Turning this on will allow Twitter to give you suggestions of people to follow based on the websites you have visited (ones that have integrated Twitter buttons or widgets). Password Reset If you forget your password and have to ask for a reset, Twitter will by default ask only for If you tick the box here you will also be asked for your address or phone number as an extra verification. Page 25

27 Country Your country setting only affects your browsing ability. Depending on the country you are in some content may be withheld. Your Twitter Archive You can request a file containing your information, starting with your first Tweet. A link will be ed to you when the file is ready to be downloaded. Deactivate your account If you decide you don t want to use your Twitter account anymore, rather than just let it sit there deactivate and delete it! A business account that hasn t tweeted for more than a month may look like the business is no longer around. If you want to delete your Twitter account for any reason you must first deactivate it here. Your account will be held for 30 days and then permanently deleted. 2. Password Choose this tab if you want to change your Twitter password. Page 26

28 3. Mobile From here you can download the Twitter app for your phone. You can also activate Twitter Text Messaging here you will receive tweets and notifications by text which don t have a charge from Twitter but you may be charged by your mobile phone provider depending on your service plan. 4. Notifications Page 27

29 You can opt to receive a notification by when: Your tweets are marked as favourites or retweeted Your tweets get a reply or you re mentioned in a tweet You re followed by someone new (this may be interesting when you first set up your account but as you start to get more followers it could get a little annoying!) You re sent a Direct Message (private message only seen by you) You can choose to receive notifications about top tweets, stories and updates from your network. You can also choose to receive notifications about updates to Twitter. Page 28

30 5. Profile Your Twitter profile box will look similar to this but it won t include the two pictures on either side of your photo this is part of the Header which I ll explain shortly) Page 29

31 Photo (part of your visible profile) The recommended size for your Twitter Photo is 81px x 81px. Your photo will show up next to every tweet you make. If you re a one-person businesses it s a good idea to have a professional head and shoulders shot of yourself as people like to put a face to a business (and they ll recognise you if you decide to meet up offline). If you re not a one-person business (i.e. there s more than one of you in your company) your logo may be a better option. Choose one of these options rather than just leaving the generic Twitter egg photo! Header (part of your visible profile) The recommended size for the Twitter header is 1252px x 626px with a maximum file size of 5MB. This header contains your profile photo and your bio so the picture you choose to upload needs to make these stand out. If you d like a header designed but don t have graphic design skills then a website called is useful. You can get a decent header designed for only $5! (Note mind was done in Microsoft PowerPoint and saved as a jpg file) Name (part of your visible profile) If you re a one-person business then your own real name should be added here. If you have several people in your business then your company name would be better. You want people to be able to find you in a search so don t use something obscure! Location (part of your visible profile) If you re a local business and want to show up in a search then adding the town where you re based is a good idea. If it s not essential that people know you re in a specific town then you can be a bit more generic and use the county or even the country where you re based. Page 30

32 Website (part of your visible profile) Twitter allows you to put a link to a webpage in your bio. This will show up in your header box. It doesn t have to be your website s home page you send people to, in fact it s probably better to make the link to a blog page or even a dedicated landing page for Twitter followers that showcases a compelling free offer. Bio (part of your visible profile) You only have 160 characters here so take some time to think about what you want to say. Remember to include some keywords here so your Twitter account shows up in searches for the product or service you provide. (Use the keyword list you created in the free ebook: Generating Leads with Social Media or alternatively see the Keyword exercise at the end of this section). As well as saying what your business does it s a nice touch to add something personal e.g. hobbies, interests we don t always have to talk business! This is also your pitch to encourage people to follow you once they ve found your profile. Can you explain what you do, who you do it for and how it benefits them, all in 160 characters? Facebook Twitter gives you the option to connect your account to your Facebook account and share your tweets to your Facebook personal profile or Facebook business page. I don t recommend you do this as tweets include symbols and terminology that only apply to Twitter and may only confuse your Facebook fans. Page 31

33 6. Design Page 32

34 Twitter gives you a choice of generic backgrounds to use on your account. The default one being the light blue cloud background. The background design is visible to you when you re browsing Twitter and to other people when they click to view your profile. There s also an option on this page to sign up to Themeleon for a bigger choice of free background templates. Try not to choose a colour that s very bright as it can be hard on the eyes. You could also customise your Twitter background to reflect your brand. Upload your own images to make your Twitter account reflect the branding on your website and other social media accounts. Example below of Mari Smith s Twitter background. If you d like a customised Twitter background designed you can try if you don t have graphic design skills. Page 33

35 7. Apps Any application you have used that has requested access to your Twitter account can be found in here. If you no longer want the app to have access to your account then click Revoke Access. 8. Widgets Add a Twitter stream to your website from here. You have the options to add the following streams: User Timeline: This is a live stream of your own tweets let people who view your website get the most up-to-date information from you. Favourites: Show a stream of the tweets you ve added to your Favourites. If you get a lot of people recommending you in tweets, then favourite these and you ve got instant social proof on your website. Lists: Choose to show a stream of tweets from one of your lists. If you ve got an Industry Expert list set up then streaming their tweets on your website would be very beneficial to your viewers. Or maybe you want to stream your clients tweets to help promote their businesses. Page 34

36 Search: If you ve got your own #hashtag tweetchat going then include a stream of tweets from that. Page 35

37 Keyword Exercise Choose FIVE words or short phrases you think most people would type into a search box when they re looking for what you provide Consider: location, benefits, problems, questions, product/service name etc Use to determine popularity for your keywords. (Tick the box exact match when searching) Look at the other keywords ideas are there any that are more popular that you hadn t thought of? Adjust your list of 5 to reflect what you find. You ll need these when filling out your social media profiles, writing posts & searching social media platforms for opportunities Page 36

38 Building Your Network Page 37

39 Building your network When you use Twitter you want people to see the things you tweet about so you need people to follow you. If no-one is following you then you re basically talking to yourself. The easiest way to start is for YOU to follow people, they ll notice that you ve followed them (if they check tab) and hopefully your profile is so enticing they ll follow you back! Who to follow If we start with the notion that if we follow someone they ll possibly follow us back then we need to follow the right people. There s not much point in following random folk they need to be those who can help you achieve your business objectives those who can teach you things you need to know, prospective customers, suppliers, your existing network who will be happy to share your tweets, referral partners. Go back and look at the Build a targeted network section in the free ebook: Generating Leads with Social Media (or alternatively see the Exercise at the end of this section). Note: You can follow anyone on Twitter who has their account set at public. They don t have to approve you first, which makes it much easier to connect with people and start to build relationships. People you already know If you already know someone (e.g. offline networking contacts, existing customers etc) they ll be more likely to follow you back, comment on your tweets and retweet what you say. If Contact A comments on your tweet or retweets you this shows up on the timeline of the people who follow Contact A, which gets you in front of even more people and helps you grow your network. How to find the people you already know Click the #Discover tab and then click Find Friends. If you already know their Twitter username then it s a simple process of typing it into the search box and finding the right account. Click the follow button next to their name. Page 38

40 That person will then be added to the list of people you are following and you will start to see their Tweets on your home page in the tweet stream. If you don t know their Twitter username then enter their actual name to see if they have a Twitter account. This is why when filling your own profile out you need to make sure your name or is something easy to find in a search. Your photo or logo is also very important for this reason because if someone you know does a search for you and gets a whole list of results you want them to be able to easily pick out your account. Note: When you type a name into the search box and click enter you ll be presented with the tweet search results, which means you ll see tweets that have that name included rather than Twitter accounts of that name. To see Twitter accounts with that name click on the people option. (see below). Page 39

41 You can also see if any of the people you know have a Twitter account by connecting to your server (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or AOL). Once you grant access you will be presented with a list of your contacts who do have a Twitter account and an option to follow them. You ll also see a list of the ones who don t have a Twitter account with an option to invite them to join Twitter. Page 40

42 Note: Before you run off and start looking for people to follow, please read Creating Lists at the end of this section. Finding other people to follow Look at who other people are following to see if there s anyone interesting you d like to follow. Go to your home page and click on following. This brings up a list of the people you re following with a clip of their Twitter bio. Click on someone s name to bring up their profile summary. Underneath their photo & bio will be Tweets Following and Followers. Click on either Following or Followers to bring up a list. You can then browse these lists to see if there s anyone you d like to follow. Before you click the follow button, click on the person s name to bring up their profile summary you can then check when they last tweeted. Take a look through their last few tweets, does this person tweet the kind of things you would be interested in? (If someone hasn t tweeted for quite a while then it s probably not worth following them as they may have stopped using Twitter). You may also want to take a look at who your competitors are following and who is following them. But remember they can also do the same to you. Twitter s Who to Follow feature Click the #Discover tab, then click Who to Follow. Twitter will give you a list of suggestions based on the type of people you re already following and keywords you ve got in your own bio. Browse Categories You can also click Browse Categories from the #Discover tab. You ll be presented with a selection of categories, each having a number of suggestions for Twitter accounts to follow. Page 41

43 Do you want to follow people in certain professions but don t know any names? The Advanced Search feature is very useful for finding people this way. By typing keywords into the advanced search feature you can find people to follow based on what they re talking about. See Page 14 of the Tour of Twitter Section for how to find the Advanced Search page. Example: If you want to connect with accountants do a search for the type of words they may include in their tweets i.e. self-assessment or tax return. Page 42

44 Hit the search button and you ll get a results page that by default will show you tweets that include those words in the location you specified. You can then browse the tweets, see if any of the people mentioning those words are accountants (remember to click on the name to bring up their profile summary) and then click follow. Note: If you don t type in a specific location you ll get tweets from people anywhere in the world, so if you need local connections you ll need to use this search parameter. Page 43

45 Creating Lists Once you start following lots of people on Twitter your timeline can become a little unmanageable! Unless you re sitting in front of Twitter 24/7 there s no way you can read every tweet from every follower. You ll notice lots of people on Twitter who have thousands of followers and are also following thousands of people back are you thinking to yourself how on earth do they keep up with it all?! The answer is they re probably not. It s up to you whether you follow back everyone who follows you some people think this is a polite thing to do and others will only follow people they have an interest in right now. It s a personal decision, but if you decide you re going to follow everyone back then you ll need to have a way to filter out the noise and only concentrate on the tweets of the people who can help you meet your objectives now. To filter out the noise on Twitter they ve added a fantastic feature called Lists. How to create a list From your Me tab, click Lists Then click the Create a list button. Page 44

46 Give your list a name. You could set up different lists for existing customers, hot prospects, journalists, influencers, offline contacts etc. You only need to fill in the description box if you re going to make the list Public. If you leave the list public this means that anyone can browse your list and see who you ve included on it. Other people can also follow your list without following the people on it. If you make a list Private then only you can see that you ve actually created ed the list so only you will see who you ve put on it. If you create a list for existing customers you probably want to make it private, but for other lists it s a personal choice. I d advise that you go ahead and create lists for each of the most important categories of people you intend to follow. Then when you find someone to follow you can add them to the appropriate list straight away. Page 45

47 To add someone to your list, click the head and shoulders icon next to their follow button and choose add or remove from lists. You ll then be presented with a box that says Your lists if you ve created more than one choose the one most appropriate for that person. You can add people to more than one list. Note you don t have to follow someone to add them to your list. Page 46

48 If you do add someone to a public list then that person can see that you ve done so if they check their Members of tab in their own list section. (Find this screen by clicking Me Tab, click Lists) Filtering out the noise Once you ve created your lists and added people to them you can start filtering out the noise by clicking on the list you created (you ll find the lists in the List section on your Me tab). You ll then be able to read just the tweets from the people in that list. Page 47

49 Other Building your network tips Follower/Following Ratio Once you ve followed 2000 people you will have reached a Twitter limit and won t be able to follow anyone else until the number of people who follow you catches us. You can read more about Twitter Limits in their Help Section here: Blocking People Occasionally you may get someone following you who you don t particularly want showing up in your list of followers it wouldn t look very professional if a prospect took a look at your list of followers and half of them were spammers for example! So unless your business is one that actually markets to spammers I d recommend you block them. This means they won t show up in your list of followers and they also won t be able to follow you. You can see more on blocking people on the Twitter Help Section here: Page 48

50 Build Your Network Exercise Which people are in the best position to help you achieve your goals? Person/Role People you know (existing customers, suppliers, networking colleagues etc.) Why this person/role? They will be most likely to share your content and recommend you on social networks Professions/Job Title These people are your target market or are the decision maker (see Target Market Exercise on next page) Referral Partners (you may not have actual names so just dot down the type of business) They have the same target market as you but don t offer the same product or service Location If you re a local retailer then location will be essential Industry/target market publications/magazines Good way of finding relevant people to connect to. You can also get involved in conversations with the publications and as a consequence will reach their followers Connectors People who have a very large network of contacts and will be happy to introduce you Influencers Those in your industry who you look up to, would love to share a stage with or have a conversation with. They ll have the same followers you re looking for so you can browse their network and also if you get into a conversation with them their followers will see it! Take some time to do this exercise and come up with lots of people and types of business you want to connect with. Page 49

51 Target Market Exercise The better you know your ideal customer the easier it s going to be to find them and give them what they want. Think of them as a character in a novel so you ll know exactly who to target and what their characteristics might be. Male/Female Age Location Profession Role Salary Children Married/Single Hobbies What other aspects of their lives are important? What problems/pain does your product or service solve for them? What questions do your current customers frequently ask you about your product or service? Page 50

52 Building Relationships Page 51

53 Building Relationships Now you ve created an enticing, search engine friendly profile and you ve started to build a network the next step is to build relationships with that network. If you don t interact with the people you follow you re not going to show up on their radar and they re not likely to help you in any way. Listening to the people you follow is a good place to start. Read their tweets sounds like common sense but you d be amazed at how many people just broadcast their own tweets and don t bother to read any! A tweet is the 140 character message that you post on your Twitter account for others to read. Let s look at what you can do with a tweet. If you hover your cursor over a tweet you ll see some extra buttons appear within the tweet. To start building relationships with people you re following you need to interact with their tweets. Expand: This shows you the date and time the tweet was posted and will also show the person s location if they have them turned on. Can be useful if you come across the tweet in a search and you want to know how current it is. Reply: Brings up a reply box for you to reply to the tweet. Replying to other people s tweets is a great way to get on their radar. When you click reply it opens up a reply box Page 52

54 which includes that person You can then just type your reply, sticking to the 140 character limit. You ll see the numbers count down as you type. Once you ve checked your reply to make sure there are no spelling mistakes you just need to click the Tweet button and it s automatically posted into the tweet stream. Using the example below, my reply will show up in Pete tab, under Mentions, as has been included in the tweet. tab is where you ll find any tweet that includes and should be the first thing you browse when logging in to Twitter. You can start to build relationships by replying to tweets, having conversations just like you would if you met someone offline (albeit in short 140 character messages!). Some tweets will be easy to reply to, especially if it s a question. With other tweets you might have to explore it if it s a tweet with a link then click it, read the content and then go back and comment on what you ve read. Retweet: Retweeting is a fantastic way to help someone grow their followers and is certainly something you want people to do with your tweets. If you retweet someone s tweet this means you re posting it onto your own Twitter account so you can share it with your followers. Just like the reply the person will notice you ve retweeted them as it will show up on tab under Interactions. Page 53

55 To Retweet just click the Retweet button within the tweet, a box will pop up asking if you want to retweet it to your followers. To add you own comment to a retweet you will need to copy and paste the tweet into your own compose tweet box and then add your bit on the end. (See example below) This is what it would look like in my tweet stream if I just hit the Retweet button This is what it looks like if I copy, paste and add my own comment at the end (in brackets). I ve also included the at the beginning of the tweet to credit the tweet back to them. Page 54

56 Favorite: Clicking the favourite button means you re saving the tweet into your Favorites list of tweets. You can find your Favorites list by clicking on Favorites on your Me tab. Clicking favorite on someone s tweet is a compliment. It means you re saving it because it includes a link you want to look at later or it s a tip you think is useful or it s something you want to retweet at a later date. (See another way to use Favorites in the section Establishing Expert Status ) Again if you favourite someone s tweet they ll see that in tab (as below). More: Click the more button and you get the option to the tweet to someone or embed the tweet on your website. ing a tweet can be a great way of introducing two people to each other or helping someone out by sending them some valuable information more great ways to build relationships. If you click embed it gives you a piece of code to copy and paste into your website so you can display the tweet for your website visitors to see. Embedding someone s tweet on your own website would be a fantastic way of showing them you value their content. View Conversation Sometimes you ll see a tweet that is obviously a reply to something and you might want to see what the whole conversation was. In these tweets you ll see a View conversation button appear. This allows you to see the string of replies and trace it back to the original tweet. (see example below). Page 55

57 Using Search to build relationships Browsing your tweet stream can be time-consuming and as I already mentioned in the Building your Network section, creating lists of people can help filter out the noise so you can concentrate on building relationships with those most important to you. But if you only listen to people you re following you could miss out on some great opportunities. Twitter s Search or Advanced Search feature helps you find conversations to get involved in. Have your keyword list to hand to help you search for tweets you can respond to. Page 56

58 Here s an example of something my good friend Chris found when he did a search on public speaking. He gave some more details on the topic (of which he s an expert) and widened his network. Remember this is an opportunity to start building relationships with new people, so be helpful. If you find relevant tweets in a search try the following: Give a brief answer if you can Give a link to a blog, article or video that explains what they re looking for in more detail (either your own or someone else s) If you don t know the answer, but know someone who does then mention them in the tweet Don t try and sell them something at this point, unless they re actually asking for someone who can sell to them! Page 57

59 Which brings me on to a search I do regularly. I ve got a Saved Search for the phrase can anyone recommend. I do this search on a local basis so I can recommend people I network with offline, but you could search further afield if you or your contacts don t rely on local customers. It s a great search for introducing yourself as someone who sells what they want, but it s also great for recommending others. Remember social networking is about helping others as well as marketing your own business. Using Hashtags to build relationships First let me explain what a #hashtag is. Placing the hashtag symbol # in front of a word or words (no spaces in between) turns the word or words into a clickable link within the tweet. When you click on it you ll see a stream of tweets which all include that #hashtag. Anyone who watches television or listens to radio will have heard presenters say join the conversation on Twitter using this hashtag... e.g. #BGT (Britain s Got Talent), #Watchdog (BBC s Watchdog programme). The hashtag is used to make it easier to follow a Twitter discussion around the same topic. Page 58

60 In business Hashtags are used for themed discussions: Conferences & exhibitions: the hashtag is used to connect conversations to do with these events so exhibitors and attendees can find out what s happening. e.g. #OIVA2013 hashtag for the Online Virtual Assistant Convention 2013 Local networking: the hashtag is used to find local people to network with. e.g. #merseybiz hashtag for Merseyside networking Industry discussions: the hashtag is used to showcase expertise, talk about industry developments and news (see more on this in the section on Establishing Expert Status). Here are a couple of lists that give details of numerous Hashtags that businesses can get involved in. (mainly American based chats) (mainly UK based chats) All of these Hashtags are commonly known as tweetchats they re used on specific days at specific times so it becomes an event where you can chat to people, via tweets, in real time. Page 59

61 Tune in to a few of them till you find some that look useful. As well as introducing you and your business remember to get involved in the conversations, reply, retweet and generally make yourself known. If you re a business that relies on local customers and suppliers the local networking Hashtags can be a great way to build a wider network. Hashtags are also used to categorise tweets, to make it easier for people to see what they re about This type of hashtag doesn t have a set time and date to join a conversation, you can use them in a tweet at any time. Clicking one of the Hashtags will generate a stream of tweets that are to do with these topics. It s a bit like going to a library and looking for an autobiography. If the library didn t have a specific labelled section for autobiographies we d have trouble finding them. This hashtag is giving the tweet a label to make it easier to find. My advice is to use no more than two Hashtags in a tweet. You ll occasionally see tweets #where every #other word #is hashtagged! It really makes no sense to do this as you wouldn t hold a conversation around random words. Also, make sure the hashtag you use is relevant to what you re tweeting eting about. If you re including a hashtag that s trending (one that s being talked about most at that particular time), just to get your tweet in front of more people but has no relevant to what you re saying, that s abusing the hashtag, and actually spamming so don t do it! Page 60

62 When you re using Search to find tweets with your keywords in, try them with a # in front to see if there s a stream of conversation around them. One of the most popular Hashtags you ll see on Twitter, which is neither a tweetchat or a topic, is #FF or #FollowFriday. You would use this hashtag in a tweet on a Friday to recommend someone to your followers. Another good way of building relationships. I recommend you only #ff one person per tweet and give a reason why you think people should follow them. If you want to include multiple people in your #ff then it s a good idea to theme it @xxxxx because they tweet great stuff about social media. Up till now we ve been interacting with other people s tweets which is fantastic, but we also need to tweet in our own right, start discussions, share information and become known as an expert in our field. So on to the next section! Page 61

63 Establishing Expert Status Page 62

64 Establishing Expert Status It s great to build relationships with others on Twitter, but you re building relationships with a purpose you want people to know you are an expert in your field so when they need what you offer or they know someone who needs what you offer, you re going to be the one they think of. You need to build that know, like and trust factor. What you tweet helps build expert status and trust. Expert by association: Tweetchats In the last section I mentioned Industry tweetchats. These are an excellent way of showcasing your expertise. If you haven t found a relevant tweetchat in the lists (links I gave you in the Building your Relationships section), try browsing the tweets of industry leaders to see if they mention any. People who join industry tweetchats will include other experts but also people who want to learn more about these topics. By contributing to an industry tweetchat you ll raise your profile with industry leaders (always a good thing), and with people who need your product or service. It also means you ll be tweeting more and probably using relevant keywords which is good for search engine optimisation and will attract new followers. To follow the thread of the tweetchat type the hashtag into your search box and the conversation will update in the search result stream. If you use a Twitter application such as Hootsuite you can add the tweetchat stream to your dashboard and follow it directly from there. (See Bonus Section on Hootsuite for details). Page 63

65 Curating Content Answering questions and getting involved in industry tweetchats are a good way of establishing expert status but you re relying on others to ask the questions. Tweeting links to content on the internet, that helps your followers, is adding more value. (I m talking about other people s content here more about your own content shortly). If you point your followers in the direction of valuable blogs, articles, videos, infographics etc. that you ve found on the internet, connected to your area of expertise, then you start to become associated with that topic, even though it s not your own content. Followers will begin to rely on you as a good source of helpful information. You ll also get noticed by the people whose content you re sharing, who will appreciate it and possibly reciprocate. There are various places to find good content to share. alltop.com: An excellent site that collects the headlines of the latest stories from the best sites and blogs that cover a topic and then groups them together in collections. google.com/alerts: A great way to find news, blogs and discussions around your topics. Enter a keyword or phrase related to your topic into the Search box. Don t forget to put quotation marks around two words to search for them together. (Google Alerts has an excellent Help Section for more hints and tips Page 64

66 In the Type box, choose to search for those keywords across Everything or just in News, Discussions, Blogs, Videos or Books. In the How Often box, choose to receive updates of your search query As It Happens, Once a Day, or Once a Week. In the How Many box, choose to receive Only the best results or All results. It s worth choosing All results first then checking with the sample that comes up on the right hand side of the page to see what you get. If it s too varied then select Only the best results. In the Deliver To box enter your address and then click Create Alert. You ll then get your search results delivered to your box to browse for content. Blogs: : If you come cross blogs you find useful bookmark them or subscribe to their RSS feed to get updates to your . If you re tweeting a link to someone else s content I recommend you credit the link to the person who created the content (see below) Page 65

67 Your own content Everything I ve talked about so far in this section helps to showcase you as an expert in your field but the strongest way to establish expert status and trust is to produce your own content. For example I could just tell you I m a social media expert but by showing you that I m knowledgeable, it makes it easier for you to trust me. Start discussions Create a list of topics around what you do and write a 120 character discussion tweet for each one. Leave the extra 20 characters so if someone retweets it there s room for Give Tips Write a series of tweets that give a brief tip. Page 66

68 Add Photos/Videos/Slides If you have a visual product (like cupcakes) add a photo of them to a tweet... there s nothing says expert like visual proof! To add a photo to a tweet click the camera icon in the compose tweet box and select one from your computer files. Alternatively if you re using an iphone to tweet you get the option to take a photo to add to it. Page 67

69 Do you have a product or service that needs some explaining? Record a short video and add a link to it in your tweet. You could also use video to record your tip and or short message for your followers. Do you give presentations? Upload your slides to Slideshare and link to them from your tweet. Page 68

70 When you add links to photos, videos or Slideshare presentations to a tweet it gives viewers the option to display the media directly in Twitter. Blog Posts Set up a blog page on your website and write a weekly blog post link back to it in your tweet. Here s a few ideas of things you could blog about: How to posts Opinion pieces Book reviews A compilation of tips Your own content is a fantastic way to establish yourself as an expert and create trust. Note: To add a url link to a tweet just copy it from your web browser and paste it in. Alternatively you can use link shortener software to create a trackable link (see section on Tracking & Analysing). Page 69

71 Embed Favorites Over time you ll start to see tweets where your followers are recommending you or praising a blog post you ve written. Remember I mentioned the Favorite button in the Building Relationships section? Here s a great way of using it to help establish your expert status. Favorite each tweet that recommends you in some way, then use the embed facility to showcase that tweet stream on your website. Lots of websites have a testimonial page with a recommendation and a name next to it but by embedding your tweet recommendations it adds social proof to them. Page 70

72 Create your own tweetchats Why not start your own regular tweetchat. It could be a Q&A session or a general discussion around your area of expertise. To check if the words you want to use for your #tweetchat are already in place just do a search on it. If it s already associated with someone else then alter your wording so it can become associated with you. Promote your tweetchat to your existing customers, through other social networks or at your offline networking events. Pick a time and day to hold it and be consistent, you ll soon have regular listeners! Page 71

73 Get people into your sales funnel Page 72

74 Get Prospects into your sales funnel While it s great to chat to people and create awareness of your business, one of the main objectives of using any social media site is to get more customers. As long as you re tweeting lots of other useful info then adding promotional tweets in amongst them is fine. Remember Kipp Bodnar s rule (The B2B Social Media Book) I mentioned in my free ebook Generating Leads with Social Media? He stated that for every 15 posts, 10 should be links to other people s content, 4 should be links to your own content and only 1 should be a promotional tweet. If you ve built that know, like, trust factor, your followers will take more notice of your promotional tweets and getting them into your sales funnel should be easier. What do I mean by a sales funnel? I mean when someone raises their hand and says they re interested in your product or service and they can do this in several different ways. Meet up or Tweetup Unless you re a large well known company like Dell you probably won t make many direct sales from your Twitter account. A simple way to move prospects into your sales funnel is to have an offline meeting with them. If you ve started to build a relationship with people on Twitter then arrange to meet up offline for a one-to-one chat. If you don t feel ready for a one-to-one chat then see if you can find a group meet up in your area. These are generally called Tweetups (a meeting of people who follow each other on Twitter) just do a search for tweetup in your local area and see what comes up. Or if you can t find one then why not arrange your own. Page 73

75 Use a landing page on your website that has an opt-in form for something A great way to get people into your sales funnel is to capture the address of those people who have an interest in your product or service. You ll notice many websites featuring a form which asks you to enter your name and address to receive their free newsletter. If your box is anything like mine it s already chock-a-block and takes some good time management to keep it under control. So unless it s a company I already know really well I m highly unlikely to enter my details in the hope of getting an interesting newsletter every week or month. However, if I come across a website that asks me to enter my details in return for a compelling free offer like a report, video or ebook that has some information that will solve a problem for me or will be extremely helpful to me, then I wouldn t hesitate in handing my details over. It s a no-brainer. I m happy and the company has my address enabling them to keep in touch and build a relationship with me and ultimately sell to me. If you want to build a targeted list of prospects then think about what you could give away as your compelling free offer. If you ve spent some time researching your target market you should know what things interest them in regard to your product or service. Set up an optin form on your website, feature your compelling free offer and see if you get more people giving you their details. Page 74

76 Discount vouchers If you sell a product or you re a restaurant, cafe or beauty salon owner then a good compelling offer is a discount voucher or a coupon for something free (like a starter, a coffee or a free cut when you have your hair coloured). But rather than just say mention this Twitter code when you book or order, send them to a page on your website where they need to give you their name and address in return for the discount voucher. This means you can start building a marketing database (or list as they re commonly known) of people you can contact again to develop your relationships further. Contests Offering a prize is a great way of getting people into your sales funnel especially if you ask for their name and address in their entry form. Page 75

77 If you want to run a contest but don t have the technical know-how to set it up on your website, then a social media contest app like binkd.com can help. Twitter contests are free to run on binkd at the moment and if you combine it with mailchimp.com you ll be able to build your list of addresses. Contest using binkd.com Free Reports & Ebooks For products and services that have a higher price tag or require a more in-depth relationship, a discount voucher probably won t work as well. Most businesses can come up with a really valuable free report or ebook they can give away in return for a name and address. Page 76