This is Part 9 of an ongoing series of posts featuring Hubspot’s AWESOME eBook

“Using Twitter for Business: An Introductory Guide”   

http://bit.ly/HubSpotTwitter4Business

#Twitter #Tips #SocialMedia #Success bit.ly/HowToGetMore “HOW TO” Get More People To Follow You On Twitter @HubSpot @CarrieWilkerson

— Keith Keller(@KeithKeller) May 3, 2012

Following people and viewing their tweets is great, but in order to have valuable two-way conversations, you want people to follow you back and view your tweets too. This is why it‘s so important to get your profile fully set up before reaching out for new connections. If you follow someone who doesn‘t already know you, you need to display sufficient information about yourself in your profile so he or she can make an informed decision of whether to follow you back.

Attracting a followers is important because they will serve as your network who will view your tweets.

Think of your total number of followers (AKA your following) as your Twitter reach.

Tips for Attracting New Followers & Increasing Twitter Reach

1. Make your company’s Twitter usernames easy to find.

Create a page that lists all the Twitter handles of the people in your company. By giving your customers an easy way to interact with individual people, it helps them get to know the type of people who work at your company.

It also gives them insight into your brand!

HubSpot has a page showing our presence on Twitter

http://HubSpot.com/Twitter

 Zappos is another example of a company with an excellent Twitter page

https://Twitter.com/Zappos

2. Place “Follow” buttons on your blog and various pages of your website.

Make it easy for people to find out if your company has a Twitter account. Visitors to your blog and website might like your content and want to subscribe to your tweets, so add Follow buttons to your site so people can easily find you. Twitter recently came out with an official Follow button generator, or you could create your own and simply link it to your Twitter page.

3. Make your tweets useful resources so people need you. You are what you tweet.

People will want to follow you if they think they will get value from your tweets. Avoid making your Twitter account a purely promotional tool. Would you subscribe to a newsletter if it didn‘t have anything useful to say? What specialty knowledge do you have that you can share?

4. Interact with those people you follow who don’t yet follow you back.

Make sure to monitor your Twitter stream and comment on what other people are saying. Give feedback; compliment people. The key is to engage. This will give them incentive to follow you back.

Great video here from @CarrieWilkerson

For more information about using “Twitter 4 Business” click on the link below

www.HowToTwitter.com.au

This is Part 8 of an ongoing series of posts featuring Hubspot’s AWESOME eBook “Using Twitter for Business: An Introductory Guide”   

http://bit.ly/HubSpotTwitter4Business

 

#Twitter 4 #Business bit.ly/Search4People @Hubspot @EricaBiz @Twellow “HOW TO” Search For People On Twitter (NEW POST)

— Keith Keller(@KeithKeller) March 21, 2012

 

Building your network is the most challenging and time-consuming part of using Twitter. Expanding your network doesn‘t happen immediately, you need to commit the time to use Twitter effectively. By following people, you will be able to view their updates in your Twitter stream. This is your chance to learn more about them: their lives, the blog posts they are reading, the types of links they like to share, the people with whom they interact. Following a decently sized and interesting community can be valuable and fun.

Where can you find people you would like to follow?

1. Use Twitter’s “Who to Follow” Feature

Twitter offers its own “Who to Follow” tool, which you can access by clicking the link in your Twitter toolbar. Choose a few of Twitter‘s highlighted topics or search using your own keywords to find and start following interesting people relevant to your business and industry.

2. Tweet Grader (http://tweet.grader.com)

This is a free resource offered by HubSpot. You can use it to discover the ?Twitter Elite? for your city or search for people with interesting information in their profile. For example, find people who list ?software development,? a specific company, or a location in their Twitter profile.

3. Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com)

This free resource is a search function that helps you find people who are tweeting about specific words. For example, you can find people who have tweeted about “Public relations” Follow people talking about the topics you enjoy. Also, use Twitter Search to see who has tweeted about your company.

4. Follow People Your Followers are Following

Once you begin receiving updates from a handful of people, watch to see whom those people chat with by looking at @replies. Maybe it would make sense to follow that person as well!

5. Follow Thought Leaders and Bloggers

See if any of your favorite bloggers are on Twitter. Many bloggers include a link to their Twitter account in their blog‘s sidebar or personal info section of their website.

6. Collect People’s Twitter Names at Events

Like we said before, many social media-savvy people will include their Twitter handle on their nametag at an event. Write down their usernames and follow them later. You can locate their Twitter account by replacing their username in the following URL

http://Twitter.com/USERNAME

For example, if someone tells you to “Follow HubSpot”  you can type

http://Twitter.com/HubSpot

in your browser‘s navigation bar to find us. If you are not sure if someone you just met is on Twitter, ask!

7. Follow Hashtags (#) at Events

At many events, the organizer will establish and publicize a hashtag (e.g. we‘re using #HUGS2011 for this year‘s HubSpot User Group Summit), so anyone tweeting at the event can tag their tweets with the hashtag.

Use Search.Twitter.com to follow tweets using the hashtag, and follow those people who are attending the same event as you who you may not have met in person. (Hashtags will be explained in more detail later in this ebook.)

Following Don’ts

Don’t follow too many people at once

Best practice is to follow no more than 25-50 people a day, because there will be a time gap between following people and when they follow you back. If your profile says you are following 2,000 people and only 30 followers have followed you back so far, it appears that 1,970 of the people you followed chose not to follow you back. This unfavorable ratio won‘t help boost your credibility and may negatively affect people‘s decisions to follow you.

Therefore, give your followers some time to follow you back before finding a new batch of people to add to your network.?

Don’t follow hundreds of people at once & remove all who don’t follow you

Although many people do this in order to have a “Valuable Ratio” (or more followers than people you‘re following), it is artificial network building and not a best practice. 

For more information about using “Twitter 4 Business” click on the link below

www.HowToTwitter.com.au

How to Find People on Twitter (Great guide to Twellow by Erica Douglass)

This is Part 7 of an ongoing series of posts featuring Hubspot’s AWESOME eBook “Using Twitter for Business: An Introductory Guide”   

http://bit.ly/HubSpotTwitter4Business  

 

#Twitter #Business #Basics bit.ly/Tweeting4Biz @HubSpot @Keri_Mellott SO, WHAT DO I TWEET ABOUT? (Using Twitter For Business)

— Keith Keller(@KeithKeller) May 3, 2012

 

 

Even before you start finding people to follow, we recommend tweeting a few times to give potential new followers an idea of the type of content you will be sharing. Your most valuable asset is the information you provide, and it will often be the deciding factor for whether another user decides to follow you back.

Types of Tweets:

 1. An Observation:

Tweet about what you‘re doing, thinking or feeling.

2. What You’re Reading:

Post a link to an interesting blog post or news article.

3. What You’re Watching:

Post a link to a cool video from Hulu or YouTube.

4. What Events You’re Attending:

Share a link to the next conference you plan to attend.

5. Your Content:

Post a link to your most recent company or personal blog article.

6. Someone Else’s Content:

Post a link to someone else‘s blog article as a helpful resource.

7. Chat With Someone:

Direct messages to other Twitter users using an @ sign. (We‘ll cover this in more detail in Step 6.)

8. Retweet What Someone Else Has Tweeted:

Retweet (using “RT” or “Retweet” at the beginning of the message or clicking Twitter‘s Retweet button) to repeat to your followers what another user has tweeted

Remember that everything you say is public! Don‘t say anything you wouldn‘t say at a networking event. Even if you delete a tweet, it might still be archived on the internet with the potential to get found.

How To Use Twitter - Basics For New Users

Kerianne Mellott (@Keri_Mellott)

Twitter For The Music Business

An interview with Kerianne Mellott

#Twitter 4 #Music bit.ly/zwg1YS (Recent US Interviews) #MusicBiz “TWITTER 4 THE MUSIC BUSINESS” @Keri_Mellott @Melbadelphia

— Keith Keller(@KeithKeller) May 3, 2012

 

For more information about using “Twitter 4 Business” click on the link below

www.HowToTwitter.com.au

Your profile is the place where you can reference your company, your blog, your location, and interests. Let‘s get started!

Click the “Edit Your Profile” on your profile page, which can be found at http://twitter.com/USERNAME (insert your Twitter handle in place of USERNAME).

The first order of business is your picture, also commonly referred to as your avatar. It‘s very important to put a face to your name. For this step, click on the ?Browse? button and select a nice, smiley photo from your files to represent you. (If you‘re creating a company Twitter account, use your logo.)

Next up on your profile is your name. Always list your real name when using Twitter for business. You wouldn‘t introduce yourself with a fake name at a tradeshow. Why should you do it here?

Then, add your location so people know where you‘re based!

For your URL, or web address, it‘s always best practice to include a link. Put a link to one of the following:

• Company website
• Blog
• Personal website
• LinkedIn Profile
• Dedicated Twitter landing page (more on this in Section 3 on using Twitter for lead generation)

In the “BIO” section, be as descriptive as possible. This is your elevator pitch—your opportunity to convince people to follow you back. You‘re only allowed room for 160 characters, so consider it a snapshot of your background. You can include:

• Your company
• Your position
• Your hobbies/interests
• Your specializations
• Your recent projects

The last option under the ?ccount?tab within your profile settings is the ?rotect my tweets?box. By clicking this, your Twitter stream will be private, and no one will be able to see your updates without following you. We do not recommend checking off this box to protect your updates. Many people judge whether to follow someone back by evaluating that user‘s tweets. You are as valuable as your updates, so don‘t keep people from getting a peek!

If you‘re worried about strangers seeing your updates, remember that you are in complete control over everything you tweet. At the same time, you should feel comfortable being yourself.

How to Customize Your Twitter Background

One of the great things about social media is that many of the tools are free. This also happens to be one of the worst things about social media. Free tools mean the barrier to entry to use a platform like Twitter is low. This low barrier attracts spammers and other less than reputable people. As a business that wants to use Twitter to drive revenue, you have to take your presence to the next level. While anyone can quickly set up a free account, few take the time to customize that account.

Customizing the actual background of your Twitter profile is a significant step in bolstering your credibility and educating new and potential followers to the content and products your business provides. In 2010, Twitter launched a redesign of its website, which caused some changes for folks who had done a custom profile previously. However, if you are just now starting on Twitter, you can follow these simple steps to customize your Twitter profile page. When customizing your Twitter background, you will need to have a tiny bit of design skills and access to Adobe Photoshop or be willing to pay a designer to help with the project.

Step 1: Understand Your Brand on Twitter 

Before you can create a custom profile, you first must decide what you are trying to communicate to people on Twitter. While you understand your prospects and customers, it is important to note that Twitter might be the first place that many new prospects discover your business. In your background, make sure to communicate information that appeals to prospects who are extremely new in the buying cycle.

Step 2: Beware of the top tool bar 

As is evident in the above example, Twitter has a toolbar at the top of the page that is 40 pixels tall. Be aware of this element when creating a design for your Twitter background, and be sure to leave head-room for the toolbar.

Step 3: Design for Minimum Monitor Sizes 

The left-hand side of the Twitter profile is prime real estate for a company logo, company description, or important links. However, it‘s important to note that the dimensions of the left- and right-hand columns are fluid and change with the size of the user‘s browser window. Design for smaller monitor sizes in an effort to keep all of your design elements in full view. Designing for larger size monitors might result in elements being partially cut off on some users‘ screen.

Step 4: Don’t Tile Backgrounds 

Due to the columns layout, background images should be one image instead of tiled. One core image is better at handling the transitions from the columns on the page.

Use the advice from these steps to create an awesome custom background image for your Twitter profile. When you have the image, you can visit your Twitter account settings and, under the ?esign?tab, click the ?hange background image?button to upload your new image to your account. If you are looking to stay clear of Photoshop, Themeleon has some great Twitter themes for customization.

 How To Make or Customize Your Twitter Background @AmazingVidTours

For more information about using “Twitter 4 Business” click on the link below

www.HowToTwitter.com.au

A Beginners Guide to Twitter (@AdamHoltby @SteveCavell)

For more information about using “Twitter 4 Business” click on the link below

www.HowToTwitter.com.au

This is Part 4 of an ongoing series of posts featuring Hubspot’s AWESOME eBook

“Using Twitter for Business: An Introductory Guide”  

http://bit.ly/HubSpotTwitter4Business

#Twitter 4 #Business bit.ly/TwitterBizVid @SmallBizTrends Video “TWITTER FROM A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE” @HubSpot eBook

— Keith Keller(@KeithKeller) February 17, 2012

In short, Twitter is a relationship-building and relationship maintenance tool; the most obvious business use of Twitter is to meet potential customers and leads the same way you would at networking event or tradeshow.

However, You Can Also Use it To:

1. Develop and promote your brand

2. Interact with your customer base

3. Track what people are saying about your company and brand

4. Create buzz around upcoming events

5. Help individual employees act as liaisons to the public

6. Promote other content you‘ve created, including webinars, blog posts or podcasts

7. Develop direct relationships with bloggers and journalists for potential PR placement

8. Generate sales leads for your business

Twitter for Small Businesses: How & Why To Use It @SmallBizTrends

For more information about using “Twitter 4 Business” click on the link below

www.HowToTwitter.com.au

This is Part 3 of an ongoing series of posts featuring Hubspot’s AWESOME eBook “Using Twitter for Business: An Introductory Guide”    

http://bit.ly/HubSpotTwitter4Business   

#Twitter 4 #Business bit.ly/TwitterVocab @Hubspot @HowCast “TWITTER VOCABULARY” (Using Twitter 4 Business – Part 3)

— Keith Keller(@KeithKeller) February 15, 2012

For people who are just getting started, it‘s useful to first grasp and familiarize yourself with some of the common terminology associated with Twitter.

Twitter Handle: 

Also known as a username. This is the name you select to represent yourself on Twitter.

To Follow: 

To subscribe to someone‘s updates on Twitter. You do this by clicking the “Follow” button on that specific person‘s Twitter page, which can be found at http://twitter.com/USERNAME. (Insert the specific person‘s username into the URL (i.e) http://twitter.com/HubSpot

When you follow someone, their updates will be displayed on your Twitter homepage so you know what they are doing.

To Follow Back: 

To subscribe to the updates of someone who has recently started following you. In Twitter‘s notifications settings, you can indicate whether you‘d like to receive an email alert whenever a new person follows you receive. In the email, there will be a link to that person‘s profile. By clicking the link, you can check out who they are and decide to follow them back or not. It is not required to follow everyone back, but many people like to.

Follower: 

A person who has subscribed to receive your updates. You can view your total number of followers on your Twitter profile page.

Update: 

Also known as a tweet. Each update can be no longer than 140-characters. (Later we will talk about different types of updates.) You can post an update in the white text box under “What‘s Happening?”

@Reply: 

A public message sent from one Twitter user to another by putting @USERNAME anywhere within the body of the tweet.

Direct Message (or DM): 

A private message sent from one Twitter user to another by either clicking the “message” link on their profile… Think of it as Twitter‘s version of an email/inbox.

Twitter Stream: 

A list of a person‘s real-time updates. Every time you post an update, it goes into your Twitter stream, which is found on your account page also (i.e) http://twitter.com/KeithKeller

Tweet-Up: 

An event specifically organized for Twitter users to meet up and network, usually informally.

Hashtag (#): 

A Twitter tagging system used to aggregate the conversation surrounding an event, topic, or theme. Hashtags can easily be created by combining a # with a word, acronym, or phrase (#WORD) and used as a tag within tweets.

Retweet (or RT): 

To repeat what someone else has already tweeted. People do this if someone has said something especially valuable and they want their own network to see the information too.

Here’s an example:

RT @KeithKeller bit.ly/TwitterVocab @HubSpot @Howcast “TWITTER VOCABULARY” (Using Twitter 4 Business – Part 3) #Twitter 4 #Business

Twitter Lists: 

Public lists that any Twitter user can create. Twitter Lists generate Twitter streams that include specific Twitter users.

Example: One list HubSpot has created displays tweets from HubSpot employees who tweet: https://twitter.com/#!/list/HubSpot/hubspotters

Trending Topics: 

Displayed on the right-hand side of your Twitter homepage, trending topics are words, phrases, or hashtags that are popular (trending) on Twitter at a given time. These can be organized by location and are updated in real time.

Promoted Tweets: 

Tweets that have been supported and promoted by paid marketing efforts. Think of them as the pay-per-click of Twitter 

How To Use Twitter @Howcast

For more information about using “Twitter 4 Business” click on the link below

www.HowToTwitter.com.au

Twitter 101 – So, what is Twitter?

This is Part 2 of an ongoing series of posts featuring Hubspot’s AWESOME eBook “Using Twitter for Business: An Introductory Guide” 

http://bit.ly/HubSpotTwitter4Business

#Twitter 4 #Business bit.ly/Twitter101Video “TWITTER 101″ (Please RT) What is Twitter? @Hubspot eBook & @Explania Video

— Keith Keller(@KeithKeller) February 14, 2012

Quite often, people‘s gut reaction to Twitter is, “No one needs to know what I‘m doing,” or “I don‘t care what other people are doing.”

These views are common among those who just don‘t understand the value that Twitter can provide for business. In the words of marketing expert Chris Brogan, Twitter is a useful communication tool that allows you to interact with people around the world in three different ways:

1. Send a short message to a bunch of people publicly

2. Send a short message to a specific person publicly

3. Send a short message to a specific person privately

Twitter is also referred to as a “micro-blogging” service, meaning you can post short updates limited to 140 characters or fewer. Why? Originally, this character limitation was implemented to make Twitter compatible with mobile phones and text messaging. Now, it‘s a useful characteristic that allows users to receive rapid-fire, concise information from many, many people!

Excellent Animated Video from Explainia

What is Twitter?  @Explania

For more information about using “Twitter 4 Business” click on the link below

www.HowToTwitter.com.au

“HOW TO” (eBook) Twitter for Business: An Introductory Guide 

This is Part 1 of an ongoing series of posts featuring Hubspot’s AWESOME eBook “Using Twitter for Business: An Introductory Guide” 

Inbound Marketing & the New Rules  

http://bit.ly/HubSpotTwitter4Business 

#Twitter 4 #Business @HubSpot bit.ly/NewRulesHubSpot (eBook) “INBOUND MARKETING & THE NEW RULES” Using Twitter For Business

— Keith Keller(@KeithKeller) February 13, 2012

The majority of today‘s “traditional” marketers use outbound marketing to reach their audiences. For message distribution, they use print media, radio, and TV advertisements. For lead generation, they use direct mail, cold calls, and email blasts. While these methods may have worked in the past, by using tools like TIVO/DVR, email spam-blockers, and caller ID, now consumers can easily block messages they don‘t want. People are in more control over how they consume media and what messages they care to hear. 

But don‘t worry — all is not lost! Consumers still want to learn about the best products and services for their needs. It‘s just that these days, they want to find this information on their own, most often by using the internet to conduct research and make better educated decisions about their purchases. For example, someone might peruse the blogosphere to find out about others‘ first-hand experiences with a particular product or service. Maybe that person will also search for reviews online or engage with others in social media to learn about other views and opinions. 

This changing nature of consumers‘ shopping habits means that instead of continuing to push marketing messages out, effective marketers must adapt to consumers‘ new behavior by creating marketing campaigns that pull people in to their business. This strategy is called inbound marketing. Inbound marketers offer useful information, tools, and resources to attract people to their business and its website, while also interacting and developing relationships with consumers on the web. The three key inbound marketing tools are blogging and content creation, search engine optimization, and social media marketing. 

Twitter is one of the most powerful social networks for your business. For the purposes of this ebook, we‘ll discuss in more-depth how you can get started using Twitter to achieve your business goals.

For more information about using “Twitter 4 Business” click on the link below

For more information about using “Twitter 4 Business” click on the link below

www.HowToTwitter.com.au

Is it time for your company to “EMBRACE TWITTER” this year? 

Would you like to harness the power of Social Media to

“GROW YOUR BUSINESS” in 2012?  

Are you ready to “MASTER ONLINE MARKETING”

to develop more cost effective PR campaigns? 

KICKSTART & GROW YOUR BUSINESS IN 2012  (Halfday Event) 

#Twitter #Business #Melbourne bit.ly/TwitterCode2012 (Event) “CRACK THE TWITTER CODE IN 2012″ Wednesday March 21st

— Keith Keller(@KeithKeller) February 8, 2012 

http://bit.ly/GrowYourBusinessIn2012  

(Download PDF) 

http://bit.ly/GrowYourBusiness2012OnlinePayment  

(Pay Online) 

Wednesday 21 March 2012, 9.00am to 1.30 pm (Light lunch served) 

Monash Enterprise Centre – 5a Hartnett Close, Mulgrave 

Half-day Program – $198 (incl. GST) 

Early Bird 15% discount if you register and pay before 2 March 2012 

Register early as places are limited (20 places only)  

THE SPEAKERS

Rabi Gunaratnam (Business Coach & Mentor)

Bizpower Business Consultants

Darryn Thomas (Business Owner & Marketing Expert)

Click Creative Online Solutions

Keith Keller (Twitter 4 Business Specialist)

Global Social Media Coaching

CRACK THE TWITTER CODE (In 5 Easy Steps)  

1. SHARING IS BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE

2. THE 80/20 RULE (It’s not all about you) 

3. SOCIAL MEDIA IS FOR MEETING PEOPLE THAT YOU “DONT YET KNOW” 

4. BE AUTHENTIC & FIND YOUR NICHE 

5. AUTOMATION TOOLS TO SAVE YOU TIME  

 ”CRACK THE CODE”  (An interview with Keith Keller by Annemarie Cross)  

 For enquiries & registration please contact BizPower:   

 Phone: 9545 1455   

Email: rabi@bizpower.biz   

(Pay Online)

http://bit.ly/GrowYourBusiness2012OnlinePayment 

(Download PDF)

http://bit.ly/GrowYourBusinessIn2012  

As a result of this dynamic and hands-on program, you will have:

 1. A clear vision for growth and profit increase quantified in $’s 

2. Uncovered hidden challenges that may be sabotaging the growth of your business and keeping you working too many hours. You will have a plan to overcome these

3. Renewed confidence and be equipped with essential information and inspired to turn your business into a highly profitable, revenue-generating machine that practically runs itself    

 City of Monash – First for Business