Do You Tweet? 3 Reasons Why You Should!

If you are not familiar with the Twitter phenomenon, here is a brief overview. Twitter is a privately funded startup located in the San Francisco, CA area. It was created because the founder was interested in knowing what his friends were doing at any given time. Twitter was launched in August of 2006. Twitter's popularity is due to its simplicity. People are eager to connect with other people and Twitter makes that task easy. Twitter asks one question, "What are you doing?" The answers must be no longer than 140 characters in length.

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More Twitter DOs and DON'Ts

Twitter and most social media, for that matter, has experienced phenomenal growth in the past year. Most companies are now realizing the value of Twitter and are starting to make regular tweets to their customers. But, is there proper Twitter etiquette? Here are a few things you should consider when you start tweeting.

• Don't use machinebots to post your tweets. If you do, you're missing the point of social media. It's all about interacting with people. You need to respond to your followers.

• Retweet or RT the people you're following if you find something of interest for the people who are following you.

• When promoting your company, give it a personality. People want to talk to people not to company logos. So, put a photo of a person rather than a corporate image.

• Tweet about interesting topics. This one is a no-brainer. Provide links to your website or blog so people can get more information. After all, you only get 140 characters per tweet.

• Don't use Twitter to SPAM people. This is a given.

• Don't block your updates. If you do, what's the point? It's all about getting new people to follow you. This principal can also be used on LinkedIn. Many people block their contacts list. So, what's the point of networking and finding new people if you're not going to share your network?

• Don't use overly promotional tweets. Yes, you can tell your customers about your products. But, do it in a way that is educational and not self-serving.

• It's not about quantity...but quality followers. It's not about "he who has the most tweets or the most followers wins". Again, it's about building relationships.

• Don't post irrelevant tweets, that is, unrelated to your purpose or your social media goals.

• Don't simply retweet (RT) everything. Be selective in what you retweet.

Social media is an effective tool to market your company's products. Use it responsibly and you will be amazed at the results.

Social Media ... Revealed

I think I've got it! I just attended a Webinar about marketing with Twitter. The speaker was Jamie Turner @60 Second Marketer. He had a great way of explaining the various social media in an easy-to-understand parable. Here's how he explained things (in my own words).

• Facebook is a like a pub or bar. You get to know people on a personal level.

• LinkedIn is like a trade show. You hook up with people for business purposes.

• Twitter is like a cocktail party. There are may conversations going at the same time. It's sort of like Instant Messaging groups of people. You listen to one group and then you take that information and relay it to another group via your retweets.

• YouTube is like Times Square on New Year's Eve. It's difficult to break through the lines of people. But, if you get through to where the cameras are focused you can be seen by a million people.

• MySpace is like Woodstock for the younger generation. It is very cause-oriented marketing of sorts.

Jamie's explanation really opened my eyes to the benefits of social media in marketing B to B. He noted that marketing has changed from a monologue to a dialogue. Marketing used to be pushing out the message to a mass audience. Now, it's more of a two-way dialogue between customer and company and vice versa. He used the word "narrowcasting" to describe today's conversation with customers vs. the traditional "broadcasting" method of the past.

I didn't realize how many other types of social sites existed other than the ones I've mentioned above. You should also consider using the following types of media:

• Blogs
• Bookmarking and Tagging
• Content Aggregation
• Crowdsourcing & Voting
• Discussion Boards & Forums
• Events & Meetings
• Photosharing
• Podcasting
• Presentation Sharing
• Ratings & Reviews
• Widgets
• Wikis

So, next time you're tweeting, posting to your Facebook page, or linking with someone on LinkedIn remember that each social site can be used for a specific purpose. If you're not on the sites, try them personally first, and then start doing some marketing for your business. You'll discover a whole new world of conversation with your customers.

Is Social Media Really All That Social?

I hear from some people that they've "made a lot of friends" using social media. Then, I also find people that haven't gotten one comment on their LinkedIn discussions, one RT (that's retweet) or response on their Twitter tweets, one comment or like on their Facebook posts, or one comment or reaction on their blog posts. So, why do so many people have such diverse attitudes and experiences towards social media?

Well, maybe it's because the word "friends" has a different definition these days. I think the older crowd considers a friend someone that you have for life and someone that you consider to be a very close acquaintance that you can share your most intimate life stories with. But, the younger generation just "hangs out" with all sorts of people, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends, and so on. So, their social mentality is totally different from the traditional social aspects of the 40+ crowd.

So,why are you using social media? To make friends? To promote your business? Because your boss tells you "you have to" to keep up with the youthful customers you want to attract? For whatever reason it is, you've probably missed the point of social media. It's not really about being sociable. For the Internet marketers, it's about making money. For celebrities it's about their status. For someone else it's a contest about getting the most followers or following the most number of people (can you say publicity stunt?). For authors, it's about selling more books, tapes, seminars or whatever.

But don't misunderstand me and think I'm bashing social media. I'm not. All I'm trying to say is that if you are using it for business purposes, use it just as you would any other marketing technique, tool, or tactic. Make it a line item in your marketing plan. Set some objectives and goals to reach using social media. And then track the results, as well.

Social media is not the end all to be all. Use it wisely. Use it as another tool in your arsenal of marketing techniques but also respect its powerful nature to make or break a company in seconds.

On-Line Advertising: Is it Right for My Company?

Do you sometimes feel like you're on the road to nowhere trying to decipher online advertising opportunities? Well, you're not alone. With all of the social media marketing, banner ads, rich media ads, article sites, ad words, blogs, podcasts, gaming, etc. etc. etc., it can be a daunting task to sort through the maze of available online advertising opportunities.

• What exactly is online advertising? According to Wikipedia, "online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web for the express purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract customers". Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, rich media ads, social network ads, online classified advertising, advertising networks, and e-mail marketing such as e-newsletters, just to name a few. And who knows what the future holds.

• What are the advantages of online advertising vs. print advertising? Your prospects have to wait until the journal is printed and "hits the street" for a print ad to be viewed. You usually have to provide the publisher your artwork files at least 30 days in advance. Whereas an online ad may take only a few days or hours to produce and it is up and running immediately and available for prospects to click on and view your offering.

• What about social media marketing? Does it work? Well the jury is still out on that regarding how it can be used to make money for a company. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal (Monday, August 3, 2009, Theory & Practice by Sarah E. Needleman, For Companies, a Tweet in Time Can Avert PR Mess) recently, many of the larger companies are using it for crisis management from a public relations standpoint. They can more easily detect if there are any negative comments floating around about their companies. Twitter, for example, has been used by Coke and PepsiCo to handle public relations issues, according to the article. This media helps them to become aware of an issue quickly and to address it immediately, thereby preventing an actual crisis.

My advice to my clients is to take the plunge and dive into online advertising. You can start slowly by initiating an e-newsletter. Also open a Twitter account. You can easily hire a marketing and advertising firm to help you with your online advertising if you're not yet comfortable with this technology. The more you use it the more comfortable you'll get.

Enhance Your Website with a Few Good Marketing Tips

Almost every company today has a Website no matter how large or small they are. I think most people understand the value of a Website in today's market. However, do you use your Website as an electronic brochure? That was okay yesteryear but in today's social media and eMarketing environment you need to upgrade your Website to include some rich media. Here are a few tips to help you upgrade the usefulness of your Website.

• Have you started sending out an e-newsletter? If so, create a sign-up box and place it prominently on your Website. Some of the e-newsletter companies now offer an e-mail archiving feature so that visitors can view past e-newsletters to determine if they want to sign up for your e-mail list.

• Do you have any Webinars that you recently hosted? Don't forget to subscribe to the Record and Playback option from your Webinar service provider. That way you can place your On-Demand Webinar on your Website which will, in turn, increase visibility.

• Have you made any podcasts or videos? You can also add these to your Website enabling your visitors to subscribe to your podcast series.

Remember ... a Website is not a static marketing tool. It should be updated often. Re-purpose your other marketing tools by adding them to your Website. You will reflect a positive corporate image by letting your visitors know more about your company's products and services.

Tapping the Social Media Opportunity

If you are new to social media marketing, take it slowly and take a few steps at a time. You don't have to become an expert on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other social media network. Good marketing is good marketing whether you're doing print advertising or online advertising. So, all the basic fundamentals of good marketing still apply to social media. The technology may have changed but the basics haven't. Here are a few tips that may help you jump into the pool of social media.

• Make your website a destination for your target audience. Your page rank is mostly determined by how many pages you have on your site and also how many inbound links you have; not necessarily by how many websites you link to. Google and other search engines look at your site as being trusted if other reputable sites are linking to your site. So offer items of interest on your site that other sites might want to link.

• Advertise on the blogs of interest to your customers. Do you know what they are reading and why? Start your own blog and advertise it. Place banner ads on sites and blogs of interest to your customer base. Add rich media such as gaming, videos, surveys, etc. to your online ads.

• Use social media yourself. If you're not familiar with social media, open a Twitter account, start your own blog, or sign up for one of the social media sites such as LinkedIn. Try it first. Then start using it to promote your company. But, be careful. No one likes a spam artist/scam artist. So, only provide information of value to your target audience. You can show that you are an expert in your field but you shouldn't blatantly solicit sales in a discussion forum.

Remember .. technology is with us to stay and we must adopt it; but, also use the new technology wisely. Good old-fashioned marketing strategies still work but you just have to modernize them with new tactics.

Social Media Marketing 101 Educational MIB Offered by KIWI Communications, Inc.

Orange County, CA marketing and advertising firm offers a series of Marketing Information Bulletins (MIBs) on social media marketing and other related topics to help companies market their products more effectively.

See the complete news release on PR Web.

Sign up for Marketing Information Bulletins at the KIWI Website.

Good Old-Fashioned Marketing Skills Should Still be Learned

How many of you feel your marketing efforts have become so complicated especially with social media, eMarketing, and other online advertising efforts? Well, why don't you get back to basics. Use the KISS method (or keep it simple, for short). Good marketing should be good marketing no matter what the delivery method is. So, go back to the basics.

• Know your target audience. Who are they? Can you write a one sentence description of who you are targeting? What are the demographics of your group? What is the average age? How much education have they had? Or add other demographics important to your particular product or service.

• Know your market's likes and dislikes. Do you know your target market's preferences? What do they like? What do they dislike? What problems do your products or services solve?

• Have a good marketing plan in place. Do you have a formalized marketing plan? If not, you should write one. It will help you strategize which direction you should take insofar as marketing your products.

Most marketers seems to skip putting a marketing plan together; but, it will be one of the most valuable tools of all. You can't steer a ship without a rudder. So, don't try to market your products without a plan.