Tag Archives: Twitter

Time to view social media differently

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Last night I could not help but pause and think after every sentence of Peter Kim’s most recent blog post. Even more compelling were the comments that followed. I’d suggest you read it.  Because of this and because I had been thinking that it was time to change the way I viewed and written about what I have experienced in marketing and social media marketing, I have decided to turn it upside down.

I want you to start thinking like that now. Instead of repeating everything that you read and just slapping a new title on it and linking to everyone else. Give me your thoughts with perhaps just one or two links. Forget about link juice for a minute and write what you really think about Twitter- Does Twitter piss you off? Are you tired of bullshit tweets? Well tell me. Don’t like what Chris Brogan says? Then say it.  I’m not asking you to completely look for the flaws and problems in everyone and everything, I’m asking you to step outside of that and look at things from 3 feet instead of  30,000 feet, and then give me your real thoughts and your perspective. If I’m full of it? Fine, tell me why, and if it makes sense then I will adjust.

It’s time for our discussions and our thoughts to be elevated. I would think that now might be a really opportune time for fresh thinking, what do you think? And for the record, Peter I may be echoing what you have just written but the more people that can spread that sentiment of less echo and more thought, the better.

10 websites to get you started in 2009

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In the new year its all about doing what we do better, streamlining it and being more effective, here is a list of websites and blog posts that just might help you get that ball rolling.

Lee Odden whom I respect very much has just posted an article about 6 social search engines. The great thing about this, is that I have not heard of any of these before and I love when there are new shiny things out there that might make what we do better. Let me know what you think.

Contrary to how some of you might use Twitter or better yet, the way you add followers, I like to check out who’s following me before I follow them back. With that being said, Taly Weiss started following me the other day, and as I’m wont to do, I checked out her bio and then checked out her  blog site, Trendspotting, This site has so much cool data that it can only help to shape your opinions to make you smarter. I’m glad we found each other.

So staying on the topic of Twitter, if you don’t know what Mr. Tweet is yet, I’d suggest you investigate. Do so at your own risk since it helps you determine who you should follow. You could end up using it all day. But even better, check out Mr. Tweet’s blog too.

And while you’re at it, read this article about the 10 ways that twitter will be changing blog design in 2009. I’m not sure I totally agree with it, but you can definitely see how Twitter is weaving it’sw ay into the fabric of what do online.

I haven’t used this yet but at $139 a year for online  computer and technical support, it isn’t a bad deal. Although iYogi led me to think it was a yoga site.

Here’s a great list of the up and coming companies of  the 2009 Social CRM/CRM 2.0 Space, maybe one of them might help you or your company?

Profilactic is a social media aggregator/lifestreaming service that pulls together just about everything you and your friends create online, it currently supports 190 social sites.

I came across Ennect somehow somewhere, maybe one of its web marketing components  might work for you?

A very good friend of mine Paul Chaney writes a great blog, check out what his 4 goal words are for 2009 and then go check out the company Paul works for Bizzuka

Ok, so now you have 10 sites or blog posts that can jump start 2009. You see if we can’t share the resources that we bookmark, then how else are we going to get better at what we do? I need to rely on you to help me get better. What sites or blogs would you suggest or recommend?

There are too many blog posts about Twitter-a haiku

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For the sake of brevity

and to reduce the amount of noise

about Twitter lets move on

Where are your customers?

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Are you where they are?

I was reading an old post by Drew McLellan in which he basically asks the same thing. He says, “Where do your customers gather?  What are you doing to make sure you’re there too?”

Good point.  Might make sense on Twitter too. If you’re a marketer and your hangin with other marketers, then you might not run into many clients or customers or leads. That’s not actually your fault, it’s the nature of the way we follow and are followed. But maybe it might make sense to find people in a certain vertical and follow them? I’ll give you an example.

When I was in college, I sold concert t-shirts. It paid well, I loved music, and it was a helluva gig. There were a couple of challenges though. First, they were bootlegs, and second, I wasn’t the only one selling them. So whenever there was a big stadium show for example, every t-shirt seller from here to BFE was out selling them. Too much competition. In fact, there was so much competition that we would all end up clustering by the same places hoping to make a sale and ultimately end up talking to each other and selling/yelling at customers. Oh and third?  Some of the shirts were of lesser quality and limited sizes and yet, some of the sellers would sell at a lower price that ultimately disturbed the economic balance of the business. Sound familiar?

bootleg

However the shirt sellers that hustled, broke off from the rest, and found quieter pockets of customers that were tailgating for instance, had a much better chance of talking with the customer and also having an exclusive captive audience, thus resulting in not just one sale, but perhaps selling 4-6 shirts at a premium price.

I know it’s a stretch for an analogy but the point is that now more than ever, your strategy needs to be more focused, refined, flexible and targeted. Instead of yelling and selling, go find the quiet bunch of tailgaters chillin and grillin and ready to buy. But don’t wait for them.

What has been your “Ah-Ha” moment for 2008?

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As we fall forward and 2009 approaches, I was reading a blog post in which the reader talked about her Ah-Ha moment in twitter and I started thinking about what was my “Ah-Ha” moment for 2008. Was it a connection? Was it one of those seminal moments with a client? A conversation? A conference? An e-mail? A tweet? A blog post that took the conversation to another level?

I’m curious as to what it might have been for you.

Given that 2008 might have been lean for some on certain levels, I’m sure you can still point to some thing or some moment in 2008 that might have either helped make the light bulb above your head brighter or just enriched you on a level that you never thought possible. What was it?

I’ve had many moments that were game changers this year but the one that stands out is the effect that Twitter has had on me professionally. In short, not only has it allowed me to connect with my peers but it has connected me to information and resources quicker than if I would have done the search myself. It has kept me dialed in to what matters in my industry and from a networking standpoint, there is no comparison. So to the 500 or so people that I follow, I want to thank you for providing me with my “Ah-Ha” moment in 2008.

I don’t wanna be..Yes, yet another social media mantra

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Gavin Degrew has a song that I’m sure you have heard before, if you haven’t, then I suggest you go to Youtube and check it out and listen to it. It’s called, “I don’t wanna be”. Not only is it a good song, but it has a  stanza that you should adopt as your social media mantra. Here it is.

I don’t want to be anything other than what I’ve been trying to be lately
All I have to do is think of me and have peace of mind
I’m tired of looking ’round rooms wondering what I gotta do
Or who I’m supposed to be
I don’t want to be anything other than me

Man that’s powerful. Pretty clear too, isn’t it? The reason I’ve been thinking about this lately, is I’ve been noticing Twitter becoming this personal marketing platform of late. The bio’s are becoming more “sales-ey” and the tweets more self serving. It’s not like I’m saying quit sending me the killer blog post you’ve just written, I’m merely saying that social media and twitter is as much about others as it is about you.

So even though I might be generalizing on the one hand when referring to a “social media” mantra, specifically, I’m referring, to a certain degree about Twitter. So let’s keep the personal branding to a minimum or at least on the back channel of Twitter and Gavins Lyrics in mind as you maneuver through your social networks.

Viral Question: 20 Things I can do without

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I just read a post where someone wrote about 100 things you should buy while you still can, and I decided to go the other direction. I’m going to make this a semi-viral tweet as well and see how many I can get from Twitter. 100 would be cool. If I don’t get 100 thats’ ok, its another fun twitter experiment. I’m going to give it the #100 hashtag. Bad idea since it applies to wine. I’ll continue to compile as we go as well. 

  1. How to make money online pitches-the only ones making money are the shills pitching it.
  2. Another report on our failing economy-enough already
  3. Another company laying off workers-when does that end?
  4. Another forclosure-the pain is large.
  5. Another Bailout-Why is it on our dime?
  6. About half the clothes in my closet-They need to go to someone who really needs them
  7. Premium cable channels-you can watch them online.
  8. Snacks, thanks Seth Godin
  9. The social media echo
  10. People that don’t get it-on lots and lots of different levels.
  11. Professional sports teams that continue to dole out money to athletes in times like these.
  12. Bad news
  13. I could do without the motrin echo on Twitter
  14. I can do without somali pirates
  15. I can do without the perceived “giving back” of wall street execs
  16. I can do without retweeting bad news
  17. I could do without watching peoples lives go up in flames in california 
  18. I could do without the economic forecasters and their always pleasant news
  19. I could do without people leaving this earth too soon
  20. I could do without shameless self promotion on Twitter

What could you really do without?

The Long Tail of Twitter

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tweet

Ok Much has been written or much was written yesterday about Twitter. I’m not sure why yesterday, but for whatever reason, yesterday was that day, my post included. So I found myself embroiled both via blog responses and via Twitter, defending in some cases what I see as the best way for me to use Twitter.

Here’s a quick recap of what was written.

Guy Kawasaki’s post just flew totally in the face of my post, but he did mention some things that you should do regardless of your ultimate goal on how you’re going to use Twitter. But his post is more about being the Uber-Twitter user, and I just can’t do #4 Which is follow everyone who follows me- I’m sorry but I would like to get to know “some” of the people I’m following. I think Guy and I have a different perception of definition of what Twitter is or should be used for., Though I do admit, that I follow some of the social media whores-not sure why, but I do.

Alan Wolk has totally nailed his post which speaks to why he thinks Twitter is going to be cluttered with N00bs, more experts, and gaggles of clueless wannabe’s and everything in between. Which means my Twitter post makes even more sense!

Business week has written about how ubiquitous micro-blogging and Twitter have become, which means a vertical version only makes sense right? And then we have Information weeks article on Twitter tools to turbocharge your microblogging Wow, didn’t know I needed to turbo charge it! Here’s Computer World’s 5 ways to tap the power of the tweet which actually are pretty close to what you should do and not as self serving and indulgent as Guy Kawasaki’s directives. And then we have the Top 10 ways to attract followers on Twitter which is a total link bait link juice article.

If you really want to know all things Twitter, and don’t feel like waiting for the next piece of hyperbole then go to Laura Fitton’s site, she blogs about all things micro-blogging and she actually brings some sanity to it all- Though I can’t stop thinking about what a tweet is worth, knowing full well that that is where this is all heading. Transactional conversations are coming, trust me.

Ok so I’m going to sum up one of the best ways to get the most out of Twitter, do you know how search marketing experts and Chris Anderson talk about the Long Tail? Well why would you want to follow 5000 people who all tweet at once about 5000 different subjects and 5000 different links? When you could follow 1000, or 750 or 500 people, get to know who they are and what they’re all about, and develop a vertical relationship?

I’m going to quote Chris here and splice/blend his words and my thoughts to make my point about Twitter:

The long tail aspect of Twitter does exist, but the data tells us that there may really be no head or body when it comes to following thousands upon thousands of people without any focus or reason. When it comes to Twitter, everyone is hell bent on following as many people as possible, but the fact of the matter is, Twitter traffic has the potential to be long tail and the word “long” doesn’t do the length of the tail justice. The long tail of Twitter is vertical.

Thanks Chris.

Twitter, Stay vertical-Stay relevant

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OK before I go any further you can find the video of what I’m about to write here, on Seesmic and also know that this vlog supported blog post was inspired by Beth Harte, who got the ball rolling with her vlog. Beth has about as fresh a perspective of all things marketing and social media marketing related, as anyone could have right now and I strongly suggest you add her blog to your reader.

With that being said,  I want you to tell me your process for how you utilize Twitter and how you decide who you follow, and who follows you.

Before I jump in, answer me this: Why did you sign up for Twitter? I’ll tweet this. but I’m curious. Ok I digress.

Here’s my Twitter process: I go through the email alerts and click on the persons name.1) I then look at their number of followers,  2) the number of people they are following, and 3) the number of tweets. 4) I then look at their Bio. and the link on the Bio. 5) I need to determine why this person is choosing to follow me. What is the reason? 6) Are they wanting me to look at their website. 7) Are they promoting something 8) Are they just following as many people as possible 9) Do they even care what I have to say? and 10) Do they bring value? 11) Do they offer value? 12) what kind of tweet quality do they have? 13) How often do they tweet? 14) Are they even in my space?  15) Are they vertical enough?

Once I ask myself these questions then it’s fairly easy to decide whether this is a relationship I want to take to the next level. You see, at the end of the day, I want us to be able to share, and learn from each other. I want you to share something with me that I previously did not know. And I want to do the same for you. I want it to be mutually satisfying for both of us. I know this sounds like we’re dating but I want it to make us both better at what we do. As with all other social media tools, it’s a 2 way street of communication. It’s a dialogue not a monologue, and I value as much from what I learn from the people that I follow, as to what I give them in return. Value begets Value.

So… are you using Twitter the right way?

11 thoughts from the last 3 days

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So every once in awhile I have these stream of consciousness moments that I need to share on a larger scale instead of just the Twitter platform. Here are some good ones from the past couple of days, at least I thought they were good:

-How many of you understand that one of the true underlying features or aspects of social media is that it really boils down to reciprocity?

-Raise your hand if social media is transforming the way you do business.

-What level of “digital intimacy” would you say we all share via twitter? We’ve all gotten to at least first base here, right?

-The whole election process is a macro-conversation that in the end, boils down to a micro-interaction between you & the candidate. David Armano your thoughts?

-What has been the effect of social media on this year’s election?

-In the looming age of measuring all things related to social media-how transactional should your conversations be? Or how transactional will they eventually become?

-Sacrifice usability at the altar of sexiness-I have to credit Avanish Kaushik for that one, but I love the meaning of it.

-4 things you will struggle with throughout your life : saying no, saying goodbye… saying I can’t, and saying I don’t know.

-Valeria Maltoni is the definition of class. she cares and she is deeply insightful… and she is a game changer.

-The difference between communities is not people but individuals but social media is about individuals being authentically individual.

-The network based on trust begets value which in turn brings a higher ROE return on engagement

Feel free to blog about these, or use them as topics for discussion. I’d love to see all of them become blog posts one day but alas, that’s up to you! Words of advice, keep the yellow legal pad close by!