Sure, you may have finally gathered the courage to go out and explore the Twitterverse, but have you armed yourself with the basic tricks to maximize your reach and value? Anytime you’re in the mood to tweet, be sure to incorporate this handful of helpful Twitter tools.
· TweetStats (www.tweetstats.com) – One of the most popular and utilized tools, this site enables people to analyze the tweeting trends for themselves or any username by month, by hour or even over a particular timeframe. Examining reply stats and topic trends can help you gain a better sense of what people are most interested in talking about.
· Retweetist (www.retweetist.com) – This site highlights folks in the Twitterverse who are re-tweeted the most (that is, their updates are forwarded most often by their followers). It can be extremely valuable from a marketing standpoint in helping you identify key thought leaders whom you may wish to reach to spread the word about your own product or company.
· Tweetdeck (www.tweetdeck.com/beta/) – We’ve done cartwheels time and time again for this great time management lifesaver! Weed through the vast amount of tweets for everyone you follow and prioritize the tweeple whose updates you simply can’t afford to miss.
· SocialToo (www.socialtoo.com) – Ever want to reach out to all of your followers with a survey? You can with this powerful tool that also provides daily update summaries of all of the people you follow and auto-follow functionality.
· TwitterCounter (www.twittercounter.com) – Track and chart the growth of your username (or other usernames’) number of followers over any given timeframe – and get this! It’ll even predict future growth based on previous data trends. How cool is that!
· Tweet Later (www.tweetlater.com) – Truly the greatest time management tweet tool of them all… want to make sure that the moment you launch that new product a tweet goes out to everybody? Schedule it ahead of time or heck, how about a countdown series of tweets on the hour?
· TwitterMail (www.twittermail.com) – Have you always thought ‘boy, it would sure be easier if I could tweet via email?’ Well, you can, using this handy dedicated email tool. You can even respond to @replies to your tweets!
There are so many different Twitter applications available to help you save time updating and monitor the people you wish to follow more efficiently. This short list only scratches the surface of what’s out there (more to come in a future blog!)
The key to successful micro-blogging is to find ways to make your update time more productive and the conversation, more meaningful, and spend those minutes saved getting to really know the folks out there in the great, big, wonderful Twitterverse.
Happy tweeting, all!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Facebook Friend Requests: Can You Just Say No?
Here’s a question for you: how many Facebook friends do you have? And how many of them are actually friends?
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
What happens to many of us as we set up our social media profiles is we have every intention of keeping our online circles limited to close friends, family and possibly our immediate co-workers. Instead, we’re approached by people we never would have invited into our little world – classmates hoping to catch up after many years, former co-workers or business contacts looking to reconnect and probably the most confounding of all, people we may meet in our networking travels and possibly do limited business with who now want to be “our friend.”
Many of us are torn over these decisions – do we accept the friend request, limit what the person sees of our updates or simply click on ignore and pray for the best? We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or worst of all, burn any bridges or potential bridges particularly if there’s prospective business in your future. But at the same time, do I really want Johnny Smith, my one-time real estate agent reading my deep personal thoughts about Michael Buble or learning of my bad shopping habits?
One way you can minimize some of the struggles of Facebook friendships is to build more than one profile. Maybe you have one specifically associated with your career or company, another for your family and yet another for your workplace. Or if that gets to confusing, send your friends to your MySpace page, your business contacts to your LinkedIn profile and those in-between folks to a Facebook page. Keep in mind that people searching for you may still send friend requests to join your little personal group, but if you have a separate professional profile available, you can reject with a comment that recommends they follow you elsewhere. It’s not a perfect solution, but at least you can stay in each other’s orbits without these not-quite-close-friends getting a little too close to your personal business.
Then there’s the dilemma about friending your kids. Ask yourself: is this a genuine opportunity to connect and share information or photos or am I snooping on my kids? And do I really want my kids reading all of my own business or drooling observations about hunky Hugh Jackman? Whether or not to friend really comes down to how old are your children and what is the nature of your relationship? Tweens or teenagers? College students? Married with kids of their own? Be honest and put yourself in their shoes. Is this Facebook friendship a good thing or should you really not ‘go there’ for all parties involved?
No matter how many profiles you establish, always keep in mind that relationships evolve, and the person you allow in your circle today may drift away tomorrow so be somewhat cautious of what you share regardless of which profile – personal or professional. When in doubt, if some matter might be just a little too personal to share with the masses, send a private message through the Facebook or MySpace mail feature. You can still send to multiple friends just like a standard email and then you ensure that a message you may not want to be posted or commented on by uninvolved parties stays between those it affects.
So enjoy your budding friendships and unexpected reunions with long lost loves, favorite classmates or teachers, and past bosses and co-workers, but keep those friends in their appropriate circles so you don’t compromise yourself or your work. And as with anything else said online, think before you type.
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
What happens to many of us as we set up our social media profiles is we have every intention of keeping our online circles limited to close friends, family and possibly our immediate co-workers. Instead, we’re approached by people we never would have invited into our little world – classmates hoping to catch up after many years, former co-workers or business contacts looking to reconnect and probably the most confounding of all, people we may meet in our networking travels and possibly do limited business with who now want to be “our friend.”
Many of us are torn over these decisions – do we accept the friend request, limit what the person sees of our updates or simply click on ignore and pray for the best? We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or worst of all, burn any bridges or potential bridges particularly if there’s prospective business in your future. But at the same time, do I really want Johnny Smith, my one-time real estate agent reading my deep personal thoughts about Michael Buble or learning of my bad shopping habits?
One way you can minimize some of the struggles of Facebook friendships is to build more than one profile. Maybe you have one specifically associated with your career or company, another for your family and yet another for your workplace. Or if that gets to confusing, send your friends to your MySpace page, your business contacts to your LinkedIn profile and those in-between folks to a Facebook page. Keep in mind that people searching for you may still send friend requests to join your little personal group, but if you have a separate professional profile available, you can reject with a comment that recommends they follow you elsewhere. It’s not a perfect solution, but at least you can stay in each other’s orbits without these not-quite-close-friends getting a little too close to your personal business.
Then there’s the dilemma about friending your kids. Ask yourself: is this a genuine opportunity to connect and share information or photos or am I snooping on my kids? And do I really want my kids reading all of my own business or drooling observations about hunky Hugh Jackman? Whether or not to friend really comes down to how old are your children and what is the nature of your relationship? Tweens or teenagers? College students? Married with kids of their own? Be honest and put yourself in their shoes. Is this Facebook friendship a good thing or should you really not ‘go there’ for all parties involved?
No matter how many profiles you establish, always keep in mind that relationships evolve, and the person you allow in your circle today may drift away tomorrow so be somewhat cautious of what you share regardless of which profile – personal or professional. When in doubt, if some matter might be just a little too personal to share with the masses, send a private message through the Facebook or MySpace mail feature. You can still send to multiple friends just like a standard email and then you ensure that a message you may not want to be posted or commented on by uninvolved parties stays between those it affects.
So enjoy your budding friendships and unexpected reunions with long lost loves, favorite classmates or teachers, and past bosses and co-workers, but keep those friends in their appropriate circles so you don’t compromise yourself or your work. And as with anything else said online, think before you type.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Tweeting by the Sidelines? You Make the Call!
The sports world’s been rocked again. No, not about an illegal dog fighting ring or alleged abuse this time…it’s much more scandalous than any of that. It’s about – gasp! – athlete tweeting! Cue the infamous Psycho film score here.
Yes, it’s true. College athletes and pro athletes alike are being talked to about their extracurricular activities and this time, it involves their social media dalliance. Teams are slapping wrists and setting a new set of rules for social media: no tweeting so many hours before the game, no giving away any secret game plan info and for Pete’s sake, no tweeting in the huddle!
Okay, we added this last one, but that’s probably next.
Recently, Jim Leavitt, football coach for Tampa’s University of South Florida, announced his own decision to stop tweeting after a few players’ Twitter updates just minutes before a game were brought to his attention (http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/09/09/usfs-leavitt-signs-off-twitter/). While the coach didn’t formally implement a new tweeting policy for the players themselves, he said he certainly didn’t condone their actions.
The NFL did take a stand and formally issued its own social media policy (http://www.tsn.ca/nfl/story/?id=286848), that players, coaches and team operational personnel were allowed to use sites like Twitter and Facebook 90 minutes before games and after regular post-game press conferences but not during the games. The league still does not allow league officials and officiating department personnel to take part in social media and continues to ban play-by-play reporting on social media platforms.
It’s an interesting twist with social media and the role it can play in professional and collegiate sports. After all, Twitter has become a tremendous recruiting tool for talent scouts across sports (http://www.coloradoavalanchecares.com/columns/recruiting/how-twitter-is-changing-the-face-of-recruiting/) and many teams have latched on to social media especially as a way to grow and nurture faltering fan bases, given the struggle to fill stadiums and avoid mandatory TV blackouts (http://www.buffalonews.com/494/story/771980.html). The debate continues, because while it pays to let the fans in, how far do you crack open the door – this wide or THIIIIISSSS wide?
What do you think about professional sports and social media? Should it be a case of church and state or is there room for some co-mingling in this highly interactive, highly lucrative international industry?
Yes, it’s true. College athletes and pro athletes alike are being talked to about their extracurricular activities and this time, it involves their social media dalliance. Teams are slapping wrists and setting a new set of rules for social media: no tweeting so many hours before the game, no giving away any secret game plan info and for Pete’s sake, no tweeting in the huddle!
Okay, we added this last one, but that’s probably next.
Recently, Jim Leavitt, football coach for Tampa’s University of South Florida, announced his own decision to stop tweeting after a few players’ Twitter updates just minutes before a game were brought to his attention (http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/09/09/usfs-leavitt-signs-off-twitter/). While the coach didn’t formally implement a new tweeting policy for the players themselves, he said he certainly didn’t condone their actions.
The NFL did take a stand and formally issued its own social media policy (http://www.tsn.ca/nfl/story/?id=286848), that players, coaches and team operational personnel were allowed to use sites like Twitter and Facebook 90 minutes before games and after regular post-game press conferences but not during the games. The league still does not allow league officials and officiating department personnel to take part in social media and continues to ban play-by-play reporting on social media platforms.
It’s an interesting twist with social media and the role it can play in professional and collegiate sports. After all, Twitter has become a tremendous recruiting tool for talent scouts across sports (http://www.coloradoavalanchecares.com/columns/recruiting/how-twitter-is-changing-the-face-of-recruiting/) and many teams have latched on to social media especially as a way to grow and nurture faltering fan bases, given the struggle to fill stadiums and avoid mandatory TV blackouts (http://www.buffalonews.com/494/story/771980.html). The debate continues, because while it pays to let the fans in, how far do you crack open the door – this wide or THIIIIISSSS wide?
What do you think about professional sports and social media? Should it be a case of church and state or is there room for some co-mingling in this highly interactive, highly lucrative international industry?
Friday, October 9, 2009
Everybody Thinks They’re an Expert
We’re starting to see a new trend emerging. Here at Ballywho we get really concerned for businesses when we see stuff like this floating up to the surface. Consider this blog a public service announcement and warning. As Social Media continues to be the buzz phrase being bantered around in business and social circles, a new breed of so-called experts are lining up to teach you everything you’d ever want to know about social media. You’ve probably noticed these folks out there hawking their know-how. Some have legitimate marketing backgrounds and solid branding experience. Others appear to be part of this frightening new line of thinking that if you can send a tweet, than surely you must be able to teach others how to brand and market their businesses with social media.
Um, no, we beg to differ with that argument. After all, we know plenty of teenagers who can out-text us in a duel and leave us surrendering on our knees with serious carpal tunnel pain. But we wouldn’t want any of them necessarily planning our marketing program or ad campaigns. Just because someone is familiar with a medium, does not make them an expert, and just because someone knows how to use a tool skillfully does not mean they have a strategy.
It’s one thing to teach others how to enter the world of social media and navigate it. It’s quite another to claim that you can guide business leaders and entrepreneurs to super-size their business using Facebook or MySpace. Heck, should their business even be relying on either of these sites? After all, and we know we’re repeating ourselves here, but we can’t stress this enough: not every social media site is appropriate for every kind of business. An experienced marketing strategist is not only going to provide business owners with the knowledge and resources to build meaningful, relevant content, she’ll have a custom plan and metrics in place to back it up and measure its success for the client.
So before you embark on any new social media 101 learning adventure, particularly one that requires a serious investment beyond a book purchase on Amazon.com, be sure to ask four very important questions before committing yourself:
What is the professional background and experience of the social media “expert?”
How extensive is that person’s own use of social media marketing to promote his/her own business or other businesses and organizations?
What is your purpose for attending? Do you simply want to introduce yourself to basic concepts or are you looking for a specific plan or content services to launch your company’s social media profile?
And if you are seeking social media strategy and information about social media site strengths by business category, do you have evidence that this source can deliver it?
Social media can be an unbelievable tool to support your efforts to grow your business’s marketing program and especially to expand your reach in the marketplace. But be sure you know more about the experts who promise to lead the social media way, before you pack an apple for the teacher.
Um, no, we beg to differ with that argument. After all, we know plenty of teenagers who can out-text us in a duel and leave us surrendering on our knees with serious carpal tunnel pain. But we wouldn’t want any of them necessarily planning our marketing program or ad campaigns. Just because someone is familiar with a medium, does not make them an expert, and just because someone knows how to use a tool skillfully does not mean they have a strategy.
It’s one thing to teach others how to enter the world of social media and navigate it. It’s quite another to claim that you can guide business leaders and entrepreneurs to super-size their business using Facebook or MySpace. Heck, should their business even be relying on either of these sites? After all, and we know we’re repeating ourselves here, but we can’t stress this enough: not every social media site is appropriate for every kind of business. An experienced marketing strategist is not only going to provide business owners with the knowledge and resources to build meaningful, relevant content, she’ll have a custom plan and metrics in place to back it up and measure its success for the client.
So before you embark on any new social media 101 learning adventure, particularly one that requires a serious investment beyond a book purchase on Amazon.com, be sure to ask four very important questions before committing yourself:
What is the professional background and experience of the social media “expert?”
How extensive is that person’s own use of social media marketing to promote his/her own business or other businesses and organizations?
What is your purpose for attending? Do you simply want to introduce yourself to basic concepts or are you looking for a specific plan or content services to launch your company’s social media profile?
And if you are seeking social media strategy and information about social media site strengths by business category, do you have evidence that this source can deliver it?
Social media can be an unbelievable tool to support your efforts to grow your business’s marketing program and especially to expand your reach in the marketplace. But be sure you know more about the experts who promise to lead the social media way, before you pack an apple for the teacher.
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