Weekly Social Media Quick Tip: Twitter Retweet and Comment

by | Jul 28, 2015 | Social Media Quick Tips, Uncategorized

 

Today we are in Twitter and I want to show you a fairly new feature in Twitter.

We’re going to go to my notifications. When you get a notification, if you want to respond to somebody, you have a couple of options. You can retweet, you can reply, you can just tweet at them, but you can also retweet with a comment.

Check out the video to see more about this feature.

It’s a great way to authentically connect with your Twitter followers and make it easier for people to see the conversation that you’re replying to.

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Weekly Social Media Quick Tip: Twitter Lists

by | Jun 23, 2015 | Social Media Quick Tips

 

Today we’re looking at Twitter lists.

I have lots and lots of Twitter lists. I have Twitter lists for people that are in New Jersey – which is where I live, social media of experts, B-schoolers (I’m a member of Marie Forleo’s B-school), my clients. I have one called potential clients. And they are all private.

You have an option to make them public or private. I choose to make them private because when they’re public those you add will get a notification that they’ve been added to a list. You don’t necessarily want people to know that you’ve added them to a Twitter list that’s called “potential clients” for example. Make your Twitter list private unless you have a reason to create them as public.

What can be powerful about a list is that it helps you engage and support with people more intentionally. For example, I’m a member of Solo-e. So with this list (members of Solo-e), I can create engagement with members and support them.

When I click on the Solo-e Twitter list, it only gives me people that are members of Solo-e. (Here’s how to create a list.) Now I can go in and I can re-tweet and share content from people on this list to show support for them.

Think about how powerful this could be if you have a list of your clients or potential clients, a list of places you want to speak, a list of local people that you just want to support. It makes it so much easier.

When you go to my home Twitter feed, you’ll see there’s so much stuff in there. I can’t possibly make heads or tails of the people I want to engage with. Twitter lists help me do that.

Do it now. Do it while your Twitter list is smaller. It’s never going to be smaller than it is today. Right?

Do it today!

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The Great Debate: Does Size Matter? (On Twitter!)

by | Jun 11, 2015 | Uncategorized

 

Last year I talked about how size matters on LinkedIn and now I want to talk about size on Twitter. Your follower size, that is.

Number of followers and how much it matters is an interesting question that has been argued since the dawn of the first social media platform (officially that might be CompuServe or BBS circa 1980 – the first place online to truly meet and connect).

Many articles will argue that having only 100 followers is fine if they are quality, meaning they are engaged with you, your business, and your posts and services. These 100 will discuss your business with their 100 friends and your reach will be organic and hold strong value for anyone in that circle due to the commitment of those 100 engaged fans.

So the better question is: do numbers still matter if you have engaged fans?

I say yes.

[Tweet “3 reasons your numbers matter even if your followers are engaged.”]

3 reasons your numbers matter even if your followers are engaged

Reason Number One: Level of Influence

There’s a perceived level of influence in the numbers, like it or not. Every time I’m asked to speak or be interviewed, even on a podcast, people want to know how many followers I have. Getting those gigs increases my exposure, which brings me new clients and ultimately brings me new followers as well which starts the cycle all over again. From followers, to prospects, to clients, to more future gigs I now have a lead generating engine that will help me keep my sales pipeline full and always humming.

Reason Number Two: Increase My Pricing

Having a large number of followers gives me great impact, expert status and the most valuable of all – social proof that I know what I am talking about. This social proof of my status allows me to charge more and value my services at a higher price point. So even if I am not getting a direct lead my prices can increase with my number of followers and thus so do my profits. I like knowing that I can keep my revenue stream in the black because of this expert value.

Reason Number Three: Extend My Reach Regardless of Ads and Promotions

Holding webinars to explain what I do, educate when and where I can, and to sell my services is key for my business growth and probably for yours too. Regardless if my fans are engaged or not, the more followers I have the more people my webinar promotion posts (or other launch vehicle) can reach. I don’t need to buy an ad (though I still do at times) to gain some extra views, and the value of number of views is more important than engagement to gain one more webinar sign up. I have often found those that don’t “know” me yet are just as likely to sign up to see what I’m all about as those who already interact and buy.

To recap: One of the best ways to grow your business is to gain the trust of your prospects and one of the best ways to do that is through the proof of numbers.

To be deemed an ‘expert’ and ‘thought leader’ the prevailing statistic on Twitter is 5k-10,000 followers.

I know that sounds like a lot when you feel stuck at maybe 50 or even 200. Check out my post on building your social media system to start gaining followers who are not just friends. It IS possible! I did it and I know you can too.

Do you have a specific question about where to start on your march toward ten thousand? Join me in my LinkedIn Group and I will be glad to answer any questions you have!

5 Ways to Use Twitter to Build Your Personal Brand

by | Apr 23, 2015 | Uncategorized

 

Twitter and LinkedIn are two of my favorite places to build your personal brand.

I’ve talked about what your personal brand is and why it’s important so in this post I want to focus specifically on what you can do on Twitter to make that brand shine!

[Tweet “Here’s how to use Twitter to make your personal brand shine!”]

1. Claim your handle

In Twitter land with 284 million active users, your name may very well be taken. And that’s ok. You don’t have to tout the brand of you in every which way especially if you are a service or product based business. Be clear and simple. If your personal brand is about having fun, then have fun with it! And leave @JoeSmith1998 for the other guy.

Some examples of how to adapt and overcome when your name is taken:

  • @j_canfield not @jackcanfield (chicken soup for the soul book author/creator)
  • @sitepointdotcom not @sitepoint
  • @soc_media not @socialmedia

2. Build the foundation

I know I’ve talked about these specific tips a lot but it is that important and deserves to be repeated.

  • Make sure you have a professional headshot as your photo or a clean logo design if you are showcasing your business.
  • Fill your short bio section with a few keywords, a call to action and a link to your website or opt-in form.
  • Finally add your location. This helps make you more visible in targeted searches, and frankly people like to know where you are from.
  • Bing, bang, boom! Your soon-to-be followers and prospects just got a nice shot of who you are and what you do.

3. Become known as an expert

I am a huge fan of using social media to showcase your expertise. This is a big piece of your brand and one that Twitter can help you with immensely. A few simple strategies as you start is really all you need.

First, if you blog regularly you should make sure those blog posts show up in your Twitter feed, linking back to the post and ultimately to your website. Second, anytime you write an article or post an update on LinkedIn you should set it up to also auto-tweet to Twitter. This literally takes 30 seconds. Third, watch for trends or topics that are in your niche to come up in the media/social media sphere and then comment on them! One easy way to do this is to set a google alert to give you a heads up when that topic, name, or company has been mentioned online. You can then read what’s happening and comment on it with your best professional expertise and advice!

Remember:

  • Type up tweets (3-5) for each blog post you write, upload them to a scheduler and link to the blogs
  • Make sure your LinkedIn updates auto-post to Twitter
  • Set up a Google Alert on a specific topic or person who is in your business niche, wait for the action, and then talk about it

4. Set up a Twitter list

Create public Twitter lists that will become a resource for those who need the information you provide. For example if you are building a business helping writers, set up a Twitter list of agents for them to follow in each genre. If you are a life coach create a Twitter list of other Twitter feeds that you find smart, inspirational, and full of good advice. If you are a financial planner make sure to have a list of the best financial tools, news sites, and resources that are on Twitter. And everyone should have a Twitter list of those in their field that they listen to, admire, and learn from. Your prospective clients will appreciate learning from them too.

5. Share and engage like you would in person, it’s social selling!

A fair portion of your tweets should actually be re-tweets, which is sharing in the Twitter world. This sharing and then engaging after the sharing is just like social networking, only in the online world. Be sure to ask questions of businesses and people who are at the top of your arena. Engaging influencers (those who have a lot of followers) in your niche gets you noticed and ultimately increases your standing in the Twitter follower field.

Make it a point to:

  • Re-tweet and share on a regular basis
  • Ask questions to your followers as well as influencers in your field
  • Engage, talk back, share more

One way I like to remind my clients about building their brand is by telling them to,  “Ask yourself: Who would you be at a networking event? How would you act? Then be that, but online.” It’s you, only better and that’s brilliant.

Need some more advice on building your brand on Twitter? Come join me in my LinkedIn group where we ask any questions, we share and we care about helping entrepreneurs like yourself.

Twitter and Google: 5 Best Reasons to be Tweeting

by | Apr 16, 2015 | Uncategorized

 

You know I’m a Twitter lover! Now I have even more reason to love this platform after the recent announcement of the Twitter and Google partnership has become public.

This deal gives Google access to the almost 9,000 tweets per second (yes that is a real stat) streaming through Twitter’s feed and Google is prepared to add these tweets to their search engine in real time. Meaning: you click ‘tweet’ AND boom it’s searchable outside of Twitter-land in a matter of seconds.

What this really means is your social media content will start to play a much bigger role in your SEO. Having a Twitter feed that is fresh, updated often (click here to read my post on how often I recommend), and foundational in regards to your brand, will go a long way toward extending your reach and moving you up in the ever-present battle for search engine list recognition.

[Tweet “What you need to know and understand about the Twitter and Google partnership.”]

5 Things to Think About, Know and Understand When Google and Twitter Comes to Fruition

Here are the 5 items you need to think about, know, and understand when this collaboration comes to fruition, some say in as little as a few months time:

  1. Your Tweets will now be accessible, always and forever. All of them. Now is more important than ever to really think about how your business needs to be perceived, what your focus is and your brand message. The danger of confusing your customer or downright alienating them is even higher. This is due to the fact that a simple creative tweet that used to pass into the 9,000 tweets/second oblivion, now can be found via Google. So that tweet that you really thought had just the right tone to bring you thousands of new followers, but in reality fell flat and failed? Is still there…just waiting to be found.
  1. It’s not all about your Twitter followers anymore. The really nice feature of this Google + Twitter partnership is the fact that you will reach your customers more easily who don’t have a Twitter feed. They will get access to your real time marketing, promotions, events and more. And finding ways to get in front of those prospects who are not adept at navigating social media platforms, but love to use the Google, is very much a win in my book.
  1. Using Twitter for real-time marketing is more important than ever. Twitter is run by the users. It has launched revolutions, created global trends, and given us access to celebs (of any field) in a way that most of us never would have before. People we wouldn’t have the ability to see in real life, let alone DM via a Twitter chat. Use this to your advantage. Make sure your tweets are current, promotional, and conversational. Join the Twitter party, make an effort to “work the crowd”, and see who else you get to tag along via Google.
  1. Using Twitter for foundational branding is more important than ever. Yup this slightly contradicts my above statement, but in reality it is very important that you do both. Because of the fact that your tweets will be accessible via Google, as a business owner you must now be very clear on: your business why, who you serve, and how you help them, now and in the future. Get clarity on that now because what brands your business today may not be how you want to brand it in the future unless you stick with your foundation. Stay focused on those 3 questions and what you tweet about today will still be relevant when someone pulls it up in a search engine list far into the future.
  1. Start thinking strategically about your hashtags and word choice. If you don’t already, that is. Hashtags are already a great searchable twitter tool so you should already have a list of best keywords for your business and be using them. But if not, now’s the time to get on it. Hard to say exactly how hashtags will play in the Google SEO, but we know the 140 characters will have much more bang for your buck, so make an effort to choose those words wisely, thoughtfully and with some marketing research to back it up.

You know I love Twitter: it’s fast, it’s democratic, its content is not to be underestimated, but only 23% of adults actively use Twitter, so as a platform it has a ways to go to reach Facebook (71%) and still falls short of LinkedIn (28%).

The Twitter and Google partnership, changes all that.

So what should you do first? Get on Twitter and get ready, today!

Need some inspiration on how to best create your tweets? Want to know what your foundational content might actually be? Interested in finding out the best way to use Twitter for your biz?

Join my LinkedIn group, (click here!) we can help you with all these questions and more.