6 Surprisingly Simple Tricks to Double Twitter Followers in 2 Months

Two months ago I decided to start using Twitter to get more people reading my blog. I found that marketing my blog posts on my Twitter account (@vginsburg) definitely increases readership, so I needed to figure out how to optimize my Twitter account to drive more readers to my blog. As with a lot of social media marketing, the first thing to do is to focus on a specific goal. 

I made a goal to get from about 230 followers to 500 as soon as possible. I know that doesn't make me a Twitter superstar, but it is more than doubling my followers in less than two months. Also, I have noticed that a lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners hover around the 200 follower range and then give up on Twitter, so I wanted to write about this now, before I get to my next goal of 1,000.

I'm not a fan of digital marketing tricks like buying followers because I don't think they bring true value to my marketing mix. I want real people who actually care about what I'm writing about. So I committed to doing it myself, with no special tricks. The only tools I use are Hootsuite to schedule Tweets and, more recently, JustUnfollow to balance my followers/following ratio.

1. Follow people who Tweet. Twitter is a sharing platform, so unless you are a "Twitter Superstar" who can afford not to follow a lot of people, you need to find people who you want to follow. My suggestion is that you find people who are posting interesting Tweets that you want to retweet, as this will (ahem!) kill two birds with one stone. Also, as people start following you, you should follow them back ... but see No. 6 below for info about unfollowing, also. I add 5-10 new people per week, plus almost everyone who follows me.

2. Retweet other people's stuff. There are two reasons to retweet. First, it's a good way to be a part of the community. By sharing, you show that you aren't just there to toot your own horn, but you actually care about other people's stuff, too. Second, Tweets have a 15-20 second lifespan. That means that you need a lot of content to Tweet. For me, I use retweeting as a way to fill the gaps.

3. Use hashtags in your posts. Hashtags are a great way to participate in conversations. Use 1-3 hashtags in most of your posts to indicate the conversation to which your Tweet belongs. This will allow people who are browsing Twitter for information related to those conversations to find you and hopefully follow you.

4. Post multiple times per day, every day. Did you see the fact that Tweets have a 15-20 second lifespan? That  means that you need to Tweet a lot to get seen. I don't like blasting people - I see some people Tweeting every 5 seconds or so. Since I really don't like that approach, I schedule (using Hootsuite) 4 posts per day and then jump on Twitter 2-4 times per day to retweet. This means I get about 8 total posts per day, which is enough for me right now.

5. Use quotes to fill gaps. Just like retweeting other people's stuff, quotes are a way to make your Twitter feed not all about you. Also, people really like quotes on Twitter. Typically, one of my four daily scheduled posts is a quote, and I find that up to 50% of my retweets are quotes.

6. Unfollow people selectively. As you follow this strategy, you will end up following more people than you have followers. I like to keep a balance - there are some people who I follow for their tweets - including Inc., Entrepreneur and Harvard Business Review. They don't follow me back, but I still get value from their tweets. On the other hand, there are some people who I follow who I discover I either don't like their tweets or they never tweet. I unfollow these people to keep my total ratio of following/followed within a reasonable range. I downloaded an app called JustUnfollow to help me keep track of this.

Those are the six tricks I used to more than double my Twitter following in less than 2 months. Try them yourself and let me know how it works. Here's an idea: start by following me @vginsburg!

How Twitter can Help Your Small Business

Increase your business social marketing reach with Twitter

There are various social marketing tools readily available, each with their own specific perks and benefits. Amongst them is the incredibly popular Twitter network, which is a favorite for businesses of all sizes. For the small business owner, social networks can be an economical and powerful marketing tool, as long as you are able to utilize them effectively. 

Those that follow, share, mention, and re-tweet constantly act as a third-party reference, providing testimonials for your reliability and expertise in your field, functioning as a direct source for word of mouth marketing. 

Perhaps the most beneficial characteristic for businesses is that Twitter is an open network in which anyone can meet anybody else, making it easy to widen your network and make new contacts. But, just because you use Twitter does not necessarily mean that you are using it effectively. There are certain techniques and practices that one must apply to their Twitter experience. 

Using Twitter as a resource

Twitter isn’t just about speaking out; it’s about listening as well. Consider what others are saying- particularly focusing in on your field of expertise. Are there other experts out there that you could network with or follow in order to expand your network? One important thing to remember is that social accounts, especially Twitter, are not there for competition. They are there for networking purposes, specifically so that you can intertwine and discuss with a broader audience. 

Additionally, there is the “favorites” category on your Twitter feed. With all the various feeds and constant updated tweets, old tweets can quickly be forgotten and inevitably disappear into the past. Now consider that the “favorites” actually saves these and accumulates them for future reference whenever. But, it can be utilized in a more influential method. When you get recommendations, positive feedback, or are otherwise held in regard during a discussion, collect them in your “favorites” feed for others to see your third-party references. People like to see what type of feedback their fellow readers are leaving for their future prospects or partners. 

Keep an eye on your @mentions. When others talk about you, it’s important to respond. It helps improve visibility and develop an image of attentiveness that your audience will see.

Being able to research and cover FAQ’s is something that isn’t always done, but should be. It’s a great opportunity to start conversation and express your expertise in your particular business field. You can use Twitter itself as a research source for popular or trending questions and answer them (the use of hashtags and mentions are quite invaluable here to target specific audiences). 

Above all else, you must be able to speak clearly and use your words effectively. Being able to get your audience’s attention is one thing, holding onto it is another. In today’s fast and furious online marketing world, the average attention span is often no more than seven to ten seconds. When constructing your tweets, you must be sure to remain short, concise, clear, and most of all- to deliver to your audience that which interests them; not just what interests you. 

Locally yours

Twitter provides certain apps and tools available for your use, but it is how you use them that will determine how successful your endeavor is.

Utilize hashtags to promote your event, business expertise, and target a specific field. Remember that hashtags will use up some of your character count, so it’s best to limit your tweet’s content to no more than two hashtags at a time. This is ideal for promoting local events, particularly if your local audience has a specific hashtag (city/region/event center/business). 

Mentioning others to improve visibility is another great move. Now, consider that this is a great way to locally boost your awareness. Take for instance the “Follow Fridays” in which it has become popular to recommend specific accounts, followers, and fellow associates. 

Take the time to regularly mention at least one individual a day. This is a great way to initiate conversation, appreciate a new follower, or add personalization to a tweet (such as an answer to a question or responding to a familiar topic). 

When addressing an article, blog, or even a book, be sure that you mention the author (the Twitter account) as well as the article. This helps to improve visibility for you and is more likely to gain a positive response and future feedback (improving your network).

Twitter can be a powerful marketing tool for your small business, as long as you understand how to effectively utilize all of its benefits. You don’t have to tweet more in order to gain visibility. It’s all about how you tweet that will decide how your audience appreciates what you have to say today.

The next best thing to a guest blog post

Adding new eyes to your blog
shouldn't be this complicated

All of us who spend our time in the depths of social media have been told ad infinitum that writing guest posts is the missing magic that will catapult us to stardom and wealth beyond the realms of Taylor Swift. Taylor secretly wants to write a guest post on my site, but I won't let her. Anyway, there is another way to add significant traffic to your blog that is rarely discussed. Whether you are writing an article that will serve as a guest post or one that is going to be posted directly to your blog, you can use expert quotes in your article to help significantly drive new eyes to your blog.

How does using expert quotes work? 
The idea is so simple, yet so overlooked. When you are crafting your blog article, include a quote from a known expert in the subject area of your article. Once you incorporate expert commentary into your blog article, you'll find that the expert who is being quoted will promote your post in social media to their own networks.

Everyone, including experts, wants to elevate their level of respect (being further viewed as an expert) in their niche. Once your article is published, they will reach out to their Twitter minions, Facebook likers,
their email list, and link to you on their personal  blog. And, if they are separately employed and have enough clout within their own organization, they will convince their employer's social media team to promote it as well.

How do you get an expert to provide a quote?
This is easier than you may think. But you've got to consider your target first, and then do a little work to make the process as seamless as possible.

• Look for an expert who is reachable
• It's easier to reach out to an expert who works for a small software company than it is if you try to reach Seth Godin. Not that he's impossible to reach. In fact, he calls me so frequently to ask my advice I've had to put his mobile number on auto-block so I can get back to my real life. Seth, if you're reading this, sorry, you're going to have to come up with your own brilliant ideas from now on. 
• Reach out to the expert and tell them you are writing an article and would like to include an expert quote from them.
• "Own it"- own it means even if your blog only has two regular readers, one of them being your mom, when you contact the expert you need to be confident and sound more like a journalist than some schlep with no blog readers.

Make it easy for them to provide the quote

• Instead of asking the expert to write a quote, write the quote for them and ask them to review and approve. 
• Send them your full article with their quote already included
• The fact that you have pre-written the quote makes it so much easier to get the quote approved. And since you have sent them the full article, they can understand the context of how their quote will be used. What you are trying to avoid is waiting around for them to write a quote and send it back to you.
• Include links back to their site or blog. That is their payback for providing the quote.

Who are the best experts to target?

• The best experts to target are authors, press contacts, and those who simply participate in answering questions on LinkedIn or Quora (more on that below). 

In order to get an expert quote, what should your article be about?

• Do a review of an ebook (or pull a quote from an ebook). Reach out to the author directly.
• Review a software product (or similar). Reach out to the company's marketing team. Or, look at their press releases area of their website and find the appropriate press contact. Typically, press contacts at companies are very reachable.
  
  Example: "Post to multiple social networks quickly using one simple tool "

Where to find an expert:

• Finding an expert can be as easy as posting a question on a LinkedIn Group and waiting to see who answers. Once a good answer is given, take a look at that person's LinkedIn profile to see their level of expertise. Do they work at a respected company in your niche? Do they author an important blog in your niche?  
• This would also work on Quora or LinkedIn Answers.
• The type of experts that answer questions on these sites are the type of people who are likely to be reachable, and will respond to you.
  
  Examples:
  From a question about why ISPs block images, an expert ended up providing a quote for "Why email marketers should avoid the coming wave of mosaics in email and what to do instead"
  From a question about email deliverability, an expert ended up providing a quote for "Flush your email marketing job down the toilet with this one big mistake" 

Why bother adding an expert quote?

• This elevates the respect level that readers will associate to the article, and thus to you. 
• The expert will promote the article to their social networks, driving new eyeballs to your blog. The effect is similar to having your article posted as a guest blog which will include backlinks to your site which drives great SEO to your site.

If you are interested in a quote from a not-so-humble email marketing expert, let me know.

Image credit flickr under Creative Commons

The Noob's Zen Guide to Email Marketing and Social Media Speak

Are you new to email marketing and social media? (Oh no, a noobie, a noob!) Sick of all the marketing mumbo jumbo double speak? Not sure what all these terms mean? This article will help clear up some of that. Or possibly make you more confused, I'm not sure which. If you are a seasoned email marketer, however, for God's sake, don't read this article. It will bore you so badly that you'll read to the end and say "that's 6 minutes of my life I'll never get back."


Social stuff:
Klout - This is kind of a cool one. Klout is a company and a score. This score measures your "importance" in terms of how much influence you have across the internet. It refers mainly to people who have a lot of Twitter followers and particularly those people who's Twitter followers follow them on a particular topic. The score is used by companies who want to understand how important a particular customer is to their company/brand. So, if you are Ronco, one of the greatest inventors of all time, and you sell a lot of "Spray-Paint-the-Bald-Away",
a Twitter user with 4 followers (one being their mother) does not have the same influence on Ronco's brand as a Twitter user with 19,086 followers, who writes a blog about products for hair loss. By the way, if you find a good blog on hair loss, send me the link.

Bitly - You know how Twitter only allows you to share 140 characters of text? Well Bitly is a company that will help you take a really long URL that you want to share on Twitter and shorten it. So a link like http://blog.thoughtreach.com/2012/07/why-cant-i-do-email-marketing-with-outlook.html will shorten to something like http://bit.ly/M7ho2q which makes it fit a lot better into the Twitter box. When your Twitter followers click the shortlink, it will auto-forward them to the long link.

Mosaic - Not even all the seasoned email marketers know about this one. A mosaic in email marketing is an HTML table that is full of lots and lots of rows and columns, each having a different background color. If built properly, the mosaic can render a fairly good representation of what an image would actually look like. Read why using mosiacs is impactful and then why you may not want to use them.

Social sharing - this is where you post a link to something on a place like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest etc.


The Big Picture
ISP -  Internet Service Provider. These numbskulls either provide access to the internet or they provide email inboxes (like Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo). Marketers will babble on and on about "don't get blocked at ISPs" so get used to this one.

ESP - Email Service Provider. These companies provide mass email sending software tools for marketers. The greatest of all of them is Thought Reach (a company destined to rule the earth one day). But, in the list too are Eloqua, Marqueto, Constant Contact, and Monkey Mail or Mail Chimpanzee, or whatever they call themselves these days.

SaaS - Software as a Service. This just means that it's a software product that you access by using your browser (instead of having to download and install the software).

Mobile - in the email world, this refers to all the bajillion recipients who open their emails on a mobile device. About 1/3rd of all mass email sent is opened on a mobile device.

Email marketing metrics
Click throughs - this is the number of times that any link inside your email message was clicked. This is an important measure of how engaged your recipients are (more on engagement below). If they are clicking, they must have at least some level of interest and thus want to receive  your emails.

Open rate - This is the rate at which your subscribers open your email. Some open, some don't. Not all mass emails sent will register an open if the recipient opens the email, but a lot will. It's not a perfect metric, but it helps you understand if you are on the right track. Open rate is determined by a one pixel image quietly hidden in the email. Once this image is loaded, the open is registered.

Read rate - The read rate is different than the open rate because it’s not based on the one pixel image pixel. The read rate is based on mailbox providers marking the message as “read” due to subscriber activity in the inbox. This is a type of data that you need a third party provider to obtain, like Return Path.

The Who (minus Roger Daltrey)
Receivers - actually, this doesn't refer to the people who receive your email. Instead, it refers to the ISPs like Gmail that are first receiving your email before putting it in the inbox (or spam box ) of your subscriber.

Senders - senders can either refer to the marketer who is sending the email, or to the ESP that the marketer is using to send the email.

Subscribers - these are the people who have signed up for your email list.

Recipients - these are the same as subscribers.

Double opt in - this is a method of verifying that a new subscriber to your email list really, really wants your email. In this method of subscribing, a visitor comes to your website, fills out a form to get onto your email list, and then your system automagically emails them and asks them to click a link to confirm. Using this type of subscription method will help you avoid spam complaints by ensuring that the person who's email address was entered, is actually the person who signed up for the list in the first place.

Spam with Bacon
Spamtrap (honeypot) - Now we've hit upon the good stuff.  Spam traps are email addresses used by ISPs to trap spammers. These are email addresses that are either completely made up or have been dormant for a long time. The ISP is looking to catch people spamming so that they can block the email being sent by that person. If a completely made up email address is suddenly receiving messages, the email is likely spam. If you "accidentally" email a spamtrap email address, here's what you can do to help fix the mess you're now in.

SenderScore.org - this is a free website that can tell you how well your email sending reputation is with the receiving ISPs. Many ISPs report information to senderscore.org that tells others if they think you behave well as a brand in your email practices. Ask your ESP what your IP address is, and enter it at senderscore. It's a little like high school. A score in the high 90's is great. One in the 30's is not quite so great, and may land you in detention.

IP Address - this is a little like the street address in front of your house. Only in this case it's the internet address from which you are sending your email. Unless you send more than 50-100k emails per month, you are likely sharing an IP address with other senders. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. But it's always a good idea to check the senderscore of your IP address to be sure it is good and that other senders on that same IP address aren't negatively impacting you.

Sender reputation - this is another term used to convey how well your brand behaves with its email sending practices.

Reputation monitoring - this is the practice of a marketer monitoring how well their brand is perceived by ISPs in terms of sender reputation. Software tools can be used to detect email reputation.

Engaged / Engagement Rate - These don't mean the same thing that your girlfriend says they do. When you email your recipients, the number of times that they open the email and click a link within it is called the engagement rate. ISPs use this rate as a determining factor in whether or not they deliver your email to the inbox or not. It's a long story, but trust me, if a subscriber hasn't opened or clicked in a long, long time, you need to remove them from your list to protect your engagement rate.

Authentication - only true email marketing geeks get excited about this one. But any marketer sending mass email needs to have their emails "authenticated." Authentication technologies are things that tell the receiving ISP exactly where the email is coming from and that you are who you say you are. Unless your email is authenticated properly, it may not make it to the inbox because it is not trusted. Authentication technologies include DKIM, DomainKeys, Sender ID, SPF, and DMARC. Not that you care what those stand for, but you want to make sure your ESP sets these up for you.

Segments / segmentation - this is a term that relates to dividing your email list into different groupings. A reporting / analytics tool within your email marketing tool will help you create these groups. For example, if you sell a lot of Ronco "Spray-Paint-the-Bald-Away", you'll want to segment on people who are male, are over 50, and are predisposed to using spray paint on their bald heads. These are the same people who would buy a Chia pet too. Just some free advice.

Search:
SERP - Search Engine Results Page. This term is used to describe the placement of where your webpage sits in the rankings of the search engines. Is your webpage on page one of the search engine results page or on page 39,599?

SEO- Search Engine Optimization. SEO is a set of skills and techniques used to help rank the pages of your website higher in the Google (and other) search engine rankings.

Panda - the name of a software update to Google's search algorithm. Google's algorithm is what calculates where your webpage shows up in the SERP. This particular update routed out a lot of low quality websites from the Google search results. If you aren't doing anything black hat on your website, you have nothing to worry about.

Black hat - these are nefarious techniques that unscrupulous webmasters use to get their web pages to rank higher in the search engine rankings. Use black hat techniques and you might just end up back in detention again.

White hat - these are the good ways to do SEO. Having really good content (unlike this article : ), having really important sites link to yours, and writing in natural language by not stuffing keywords all over the place are examples of white hat techniques.

Twitter:
Tweet - a short message you send out to your followers.

Followers - these are your minions. Those people who, for some reason, unbeknownst to the rest of mankind, want to hear what you are tweeting. Try not to accidentally lose all your followers by being spoofed into giving up your Twitter password.

Followers are your minions.
People dumb enough, I mean
smart enough to listen to what
you have to say.

Following - these are the people you want to hear what they are blabbing about. To become a follower, you may have clicked the little "follow" link like this one.
Follow @ThoughtReach

@ThoughtReach - any time you see an @ symbol, that is someone or some company's username on Twitter.

#something - a # symbol on Twitter is like a keyword or phrase. It might be something like "#emailmarketing" which is a way for Twitter followers to search for people talking specifically about the topic of email marketing. The # symbol just helps identify all the caterwauling going on about that topic.

Nonsensical
Fair Trade coffee - a black liquid substance consumed by marketers nearly as much as it is consumed by software developers and typically packed full of caffeine (a God-given substance that I'm sure is an unrecognized fulfillment of scripture somewhere). The "Fair Trade" part means that the coffee (or chocolate or whatever) is sourced in a manner that certifies that the grower was paid in a fair manner. It also typically is associated to good-earth practices like organic farming.  If you are a marketer and your coffee isn't Fair Trade, and you are hearing this for the first time, that's ok. Just make the switch. A hilarious look at coffee facts.

Ficus tree- a thing thrown at me by Loraine, who sits in the cube next to me. Loraine's forays with flying ficus trees appear notoriously throughout the Thought Reach blog. You'll just have to bear with us on that topic.

Lose All Your Twitter Followers with One Mistake

Despicable Me Minion at work
stealing your Twitter login

This article was originally published on Business2Community

Some of you readers have made it clear that you are small business owners and don't have time for all that "security" balderdash where some guy like me is telling you to watch out for this scam or that scam. Well too bad, pal.

If you have a Twitter following, you might want to read this. Otherwise you could lose all your followers. Tweet

Scammers want access to your Twitter account
There are scammers out there looking to gain access to your Twitter account so they can spam your followers by schlepping products like timeshare condos or Ronco Automatic Glass Frosters or used copies of Richard Simmons' Deal-a-meal videos or even tickets to that upcoming Neil Diamond concert you've been dying to attend yourself (admit it). This is probably a reaction from all the Nigerian spammers who no longer can get anyone to transfer them money anymore. Anyway, not only is this not what you want for your followers, but

Most of your followers won't know it's not you sending this garbage and they'll un-follow you. 

If they un-follow you, that will reverse all the hard work you put in to gain them as followers in the first place. Some of you who follow me at @ThoughtReach have huge numbers of your own followers, so you should pay attention.
Follow @ThoughtReach

Here's how the scam works
You get a curious tweet directed at you from one of your followers. It might look like this one that arrived in my inbox while I was minding my own business and innocently grinding some Fair Trade espresso beans in my $19 Boden grinder.

The bait: "Hey, this person is writing offensive posts that are about you"

Now to be fair, for all I know, this guy's Twitter account could have been hacked and was used to try to hack into mine, so if that's the case, sorry. Don't go off yelling at me in the comment section below. Anyway, if you were to click on the shortlink in that tweet, you'd be forwarded to this webpage:

Take a look at the URL. If you can't read it, it says "tvivtter.com" which looks suspiciously like "twitter.com"

Looks like a real Twitter login page, doesn't it
But, take a close look at the URL. It looks like it says twitter.com, but instead it says tvivtter.com. We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Had I entered my login credentials to Twitter on this webpage, which is owned by the scammer, he would have acquired my Twitter login and shortly thereafter, my followers would be wondering why I was tweeting them ads for "Ronco Spray-paint-the-bald-away". So just watch out. As a business owner, you may not have time to watch for every security loophole, but you really don't have time to clean up this smashed-Hostess-Twinkie-of-a-mess.

Have you been a victim yourself? Let us know in the comments.

Image credit: Best and Worst Ever

Make Twitter Work Even Harder Bringing Good Word of Mouth

Improve your social marketing and word of mouth with Twitter

Social networks have proven themselves to be a very powerful asset to the business world. Through them, we have the convenience of sharing, discussing, and networking with others who have similar interests. A large majority of small businesses apply these social networks as their primary marketing strategy because they can reach so many people easily and inexpensively. 

Twitter has proven itself as a powerful networking resource that is dependable and extensive in its ability to reach a large audience effectively- as long as you know how to use the tools provided. Like most social networks, Twitter is perfect for utilizing word of mouth marketing. People share with each other, as long as you share with them. This is the primary principle to keep in mind whenever using a social network, because you must first talk to people in order to start a conversation. 

What you say matters

Because twitter has a character limit, there is only so much that can be said at one time. But, you don’t need to say a lot to make a point or start a conversation. In fact, keeping it short and to the point often stimulates the best responses. 

One thing to refrain from is tweeting one part of a statement and completing it in second tweet. If it’s too long to put in a single tweet, find a different way to say it or link back to a reference that will say it for you (other social networks or blogs). Therefore, anyone tweeting must be able to use words effectively. 

Find a different way

New tweets are good to keep fresh material flowing and improve visibility, but it’s important that any one speaking should take the time to talk back to their responses. The more times you tag participants’ names into your conversation, the more visibility you can achieve. Serious Twitter users will regularly check out who and where their names were mentioned on a regular basis, so this is a great way to meet new networks and interact with your audience. 

One technique to apply is the art of asking questions. A short statement would work to start, but finish by questioning the value of the subject at hand, such as how it applies to the reader’s life. This is a very effective way to stimulate a reaction and is applied to various marketing strategies because it tends to create a recall in the mind of the reader. They familiarize with the issue and are apt to respond far more effectively. 

Be a good investigative reporter

A great source of new material is to respond to popular questions- even those not posted directly to Twitter. Consider a FAQ that you seem to encounter or topics that are related to your business, and then offer a solution to them. Highly asked questions are often the prime meat of search results anywhere on the internet. “How to” and “Why is” questions litter the minds of readers and it’s great to bring up in conversation to draw attention. One technique would be to bring up the topic in a question form as well. Then, offer a solution during the conversation when you know you have attention. This will help to demonstrate that you are an expert in your field. 

Twitter is a gateway

Then there are the outside applications that Twitter dawns with appeal. Twitter is a window through which readers can get a taste of material and explore its source. This brings up the importance of titles in your tweet. When tweeting content from one of yours or an outside article or blog, choose select valuable information to share. Quote yourself or share the purpose of the project, rather than simply using the title of the content. The trick is to offer valuable information to the reader; so don’t just list a source and tag it with a link. Give the reader a taste so they will want to search for more. 

Of course, this also brings up the importance of watching where you place your links. The end can sometimes get cut off or hidden on Twitter feeds, meaning you will have to reformat it and tweet again (time). However, this can often become an eyesore on your feeds. You want them right up there in plain view- preferably in the middle or near the beginning where you can explain the relevance. 

Twitter can be a powerful marketing and networking tool for any business, as long as it’s used effectively. Make the most of the space you have and keep your content applicable to your audience in order to generate interest, so that you can develop a quality network in your social outlet. 

Twitter Metrics that Maximize Word of Mouth Marketing

Tools to improve your Twitter influence 

Twitter is a really great tool for your business. But how do you know how effective your business Twitter account is? There are programs called metrics that you can use in order to know how your word of mouth marketing is doing on Twitter. Below you will find some of the most effective metrics that you can use.

Your influence on Twitter

Even though you may have a large number of followers on Twitter, what is more important is how influential you are. Services such as PeerIndex and Klout can tell you the amount of influence you have over your Twitter followers. 

These kinds of services will generally provide you with a number out of either 10 or even 100. This is going to indicate the level of your influence. Something else that will be more interesting though is the statistics. If you never thought of your Twitter influence before, you should think about it now.

Time Zones of Your Followers

Being informed about when your followers are awake is going to help you time your tweets so that they can be seen by the most number of people. Tweriod is a service that can pull all of the time zones of your followers from their bios on Twitter, and then tell you when it's going to be best for you to tweet based on that information. They are going to provide you with time zone graphs and these are good for calculating tweet times as well.

A second good tool for you to use is Timely. This app is really simple and it can tell you which of the last 200 tweets you wrote didn't reach their highest potential. It will also suggest different daily time zones when you can try tweeting.

Tweets Which Receive the Highest Number of Retweets

You can track the links that you put in Twitter using something called bit.ly or another service, and you will start to quickly learn what is getting retweeted and what isn’t. This can be really valuable information when you want to maximize your Twitter presence, since it can help with refining the content and style of your Tweets.

If you find that your quality content is not being retweeted frequently, use a quote or ask a relevant question.

The Interests of Followers

Knowing whether or not you're targeting the best followers is crucial for seeing high conversion and engagement rates from a Twitter account. You are able to get a fast snapshot of the interests of followers by performing a keyword analysis of their bios. This is going to show their niches. One of the best things that you can use is Foller.me . It gives you your influencers keywords that are repeated the most in a text cloud plus a whole host of other helpful information!

How you're using Twitter

You may think you know everything about the way that you're using Twitter, but this is probably not true, even if you're managing your own account. However, there is some information available about the way that you use Twitter that you may not know. What day are you tweeting the most? What time of day are you tweeting the most?

Among the best tools for graphing your use of Twitter is called TweetStats. You are able to view in chart and graph form what days, months, and hours you're tweeting the most. It also displays to you who you have replied to the most, which Tweets are retweeted more, and which interface you're using to access Twitter.

These are just a few valuable metrics that you can use when it comes to using Twitter, especially when you're pairing it with a bit of that information that is found above. You are able to use the tweet patterns to get to your audience much better based on their time zone, the people who are retweeting you, and a whole lot more. Through tweaking your habits on Twitter to much better suit your audience, you will be able to reach more people, convert a lot more clicks, and get more overall success on Twitter. Use the information above to increase the effectiveness of Twitter for your business.

Post to multiple social networks quickly using one simple tool

Are you overwhelmed with the notion of all these social networks that you are supposed to share your blog articles on? Your boss says "our new corporate mission statement indicates we need to post to multiple social networks in order to stay competitive in the current business landscape". Whatever. It can be daunting. Especially if you are just getting started which means you don't really know which social networks are going to be the important ones for you to post. Some experts advise that you just focus on the top couple of really big social networks such as Facebook business pages, Twitter, and LinkedIn. However, if you are not willing to take that schtick for an answer, and you want to post your blog articles on multiple social networks, there is a free application that can help you manage all of this, Shareaholic.
Tweet

Shareaholic is a plugin that is available for several different browsers. Once you publish your article on your blog, you'll be able to click on the Shareaholic icon in your browser and individually post a link to the article on all the different social networks you choose. This is a one-at-a-time exercise, but Shareholic will still speed things up for you. See the screenshot below that shows the Sharaholic icon and a list of social properties displayed within a browser window.

• Go to shareaholic.com and download the proper browser plugin
• You can configure which social channels you want to use at  shareaholic.com/account/services (image below)
• Visit the url of the blog article that you want to share
• Click the Sharaholic icon on your browser
• In the dropdown, click the first social network (for example, Facebook)
• A separate popup window will open. It might ask you to allow Shareaholic to access your social account.
• Fill in the fields on the popup window and submit
• Your update will be posted to your social network
• Click the Shareaholic icon again and move on to the next social network in your list

Quirks, general mayhem, and the good stuff

Facebook
Note that a few of the social networks behave in a quirky manner, particularly if you are trying to post to your business account, instead of to your personal account. For example, with Facebook, it makes you first connect Shareaholic to Facebook using your personal account, but you can then post to your Facebook business page IF you use the little selector thingey shown below. After you click "Post to Profile", you'll be able to select a Facebook business page to post to.

To post to a Facebook business page, click "Post to Profile"

LinkedIn
With LinkedIn, don't just post to your updates, instead, also post to your LinkedIn Groups as well. Shareaholic makes this easy by clicking the "Post to Groups" box, and then typing in the names of your groups.

For LinkedIn, click "Post to Groups"

Short Links made easy
When I'm using Shareaholic to post our blog articles to multiple social networks, I prefer to be able to track all the links that people click on across all of those networks. The way I do that is by always using bitly as the creator for all my short-links. Shareaholic makes that easy too. Once you click the Shareaholic icon, the dropdown will display your bitly shortlink. In the screenshot below, see the bitly url at the bottom of the list of social channels? I click the Copy icon and I now have the bitly short link that I am after. I use that as the url for every social network post I make.

Social sharing chicklet links onto your blog
One extra-happy-bonus feature of Shareaholic is that you can get a set of those social share chicklet button thingamajiggers to go on your blog posts. They look like the below. Shareaholic even has an integration to Blogger, Wordpress, and Tumblr blogs so you can easily add them to those platforms. Or you can add them to your regular website. Choose from three designs and different sizes. Once installed, they simply "work." You don't have to do anything else to them. You'll see them at the bottom of all our blog articles.

Highlight more of your site's content with Shareaholic Recommendations!
Shareaholic's head of marketing, Janet Aronica, points out that "adding Shareaholic Recommendations to your blog increases pageviews and time on site by recommending your site's own content at the bottom of each article you publish." Shareaholic's recommendation engine will create a display of a few images (plus text) that encourage readers to click through and read other articles around your site. Shareaholic will crawl your site and find all the pages, and recommend which ones the visitor should read next. This requires a bit of fancy-pants html work on your part, unless you use a Wordpress blog, which means you can use the Shareaholic Wordpress plugin. You Wordpress people are so special. We bow to your mightiness. Post these recommendations at the bottom of each blog article.

Shareaholic Recommendations - set these to appear at the bottom of your blog articles

Kerphlooey
Sometimes the Shareaholic service is just down! (or it's that something goes wrong with your browser). "Down", taken from the ancient Greek, meaning it's kerplunkt, kerphlooey, dead, "not working in an optimal manner", and the like. So, you might click on the Shareaholic icon in your browser and nothing happens. Or, you click on it, select the social network, and no pop up happens. Nice. But, it's not like you're paying for the service so no sense crying over spilled social beans. Spilled coffee beans, yes. Spilled social beans, no. Although, Loraine in the cube next to me accidentally inhaled a coffee bean once.....


Although Shareaholic isn't perfect, and doesn't offer any auto-scheduling or other fancy hoo-ha, it's still an effective time saver when posting to multiple social networks.

Read next: Your email open rate may not mean what you think

Your Twitter feed is too full. How to calm it down with one easy app.

Do you find yourself overwhelmed with a Twitter stream full of people you followed-back just to be nice because they followed you (and not because they were so awesome)? If so, that might mean you aren't getting anything of value out of Twitter because there's just too much noise in your Twitter stream. If you read this blog you have interest in the topic of "email marketing" but your Twitter stream is packed with so many links to cat videos, that you can't find the posts about email marketing.

If this sounds like you, there's an easy way to regain control of Twitter so it can be the really useful tool that it was when you first started using it. If done properly, you can easily get a lot of value out of the important people on Twitter that you want to actually hear what they are saying.

Enter the iPhone app "Slices". Slices is a simple way to segment your Twitter stream into subject areas. For example, I am interested in hearing what the important thought leaders in social media, e-marketing, entrepreneurship, and search engine optimization are saying. But since I follow hundreds of Twitter users, it's impossible to see anything in all that noise. So, I have segmented the people I follow into these subject areas (the subject areas are what the app Slices calls, well, "slices"):

• Social Media
• eMarketing
• SEO-deliverability
• Entrepreneurship

I've created segments of just the Twitter topics I want to read about

I next went through my list of people I follow and indicated which category (if any) that they were in. Now, when I want to read about social media topics, I open the Social Media slice and I see only those Twitter feeds that talk about social media. When I want to read about "fantastic kitchen recipes that use rutabagas," I open the "Awesome Rutabaga Recipes" slice. So far, I don't have a single feed in that slice, but I'll keep looking. And, if a Twitter user that I follow doesn't fall into any of my slices, I don't worry about it. I simply don't add them to a slice. That way, whatever they are posting about the latest shenanigans that their cat "Sprelunkers" is doing, doesn't occupy my day.

Slices will help you regain what you lost from Twitter feeds that got too busy

Have you found any great iPhone apps that help email and social media marketers? Let us know in the comments. And please, no links to cat videos : ).

Read more social media marketing: Aunt Bea says to not post to a Facebook business page more than once a day

How retailers can use social to drive customer loyalty and make more money

Brick and mortar retailers (and online retailers) do a rather poor job in using social to help grow their own businesses. Several years ago, when you first started your retail store selling dried lima-beans, or used lawn-mower blades, or defunct Suzanne Summers flab-o-blaster-cisers or whatever it is that you sell, none of this social-schmocial stuff mattered.  Times have changed!  And so should your approach to building customer relationships.  Here are some quick ideas that you should incorporate into the retail experience you are providing for your customers.

For Brick and Mortar stores - ideas to grow your social

• Use in-store signage to promote your email newsletter, SMS messages, Facebook community, Twitter feed, and Pinterest page.  And while you're at it, promote your website.
• At the point of sale, ask your customers for their email address.  "If you give us your email, we'll send you special discounts on volume lima bean purchases!"
• Offer to send the customers their purchase receipt via email. This means you'll get their email address.  This isn't permission for you to start sending them your newsletter, but when you email their receipt to them, you can promote your email list signup form, SMS program, Facebook community, Twitter feed, and Pinterest boards.
• On your paper receipts, promote all these channels.  Print it right there on the receipt.  Offer a special incentive if they join or sign up for one.
• Monitor your social channels and answer questions / comments from customers early and often.  And, thank those that commented or tweeted.

For Online stores - ideas to grow your social

• Send shopping cart abandonment emails.  Today, only 22% of online retailers are doing this.  These can be very effective.
• Send a personalized email after purchase to thank the customer and invite them to your social channels.  Too many retailers send a thank you email, but it's not personalized.
• Monitor your social channels and answer questions early and often

ExactTarget did a great study on these topics

And since you have a retail store, check out how a tiny tavern sold thousands of tshirts bearing their logo.  The greatest free advertising your store will ever get.

Be glad Twitter broke up with LinkedIn

You date a girl for all that time, you give her all that great stuff, take her on dates to see those sappy girl movies, and then she dumps you for Steve McStud-o-bicepts because he has the really cool hair that has the swooshie thing at the front.  Well that's the situation with Twitter giving the old heave-ho to LinkedIn this week.  What does this mean to you as a small business owner?  In the past, if you created a Twitter post thingey (called a tweet), you could add "#li" in your tweet and that little code gizmo told Twitter to also post your tweet as an update to your LinkedIn profile.  This was looked at as a time saving measure whereby you could update both Twitter and LinkedIn at the same time (oh, and by the way, on your LinkedIn profile, there's also a place to post updates, for those of you that don't know).

Twitter has decided to bite the hand that feeds it by canceling this ability.  Not a smart move in my opinion, but it's no dumber than those nimnods at Netflix who decided it would be a good idea to separate their DVD vs streaming services.

Anyway, I'm really not that upset with this Twitter/LinkedIn spat.  Why?  Because you shouldn't be using the same text to post on Twitter as you post on LinkedIn (or any other social network) in the first place.  The reason I say that is because the viewers of  your different social networks have different expectations of what they want to see from you on each social platform (click the link and look for "The Social Breakup").  Twitter followers expect one type of post, Facebook fans expect another, and LinkedIn users a third.  The short of this is that you need to customize each post you place on each different social platform.  So, loosing this functionality isn't really much of a loss.

If you want to help streamline your control over posting to each different social network, try installing the Shareaholic plugin  in the Google Chrome browser.  It will at least help make the process somewhat easier and faster.

How Small Businesses Can Win at Social Media

by Debbie Schaeffer

I find that Social Media for LOCAL businesses is still in its infancy. Many businesses feel that it is too much work and do not see the benefits. Those of us that are in it - yes it does take work - but the field is constantly changing and growing and becoming more techno-savvy so by participating and constantly learning, we will be way ahead of those that join in later.

Here are some tips from my experience with social media:

Social Media Presence
I belong to Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp and YouTube and I have a blog on my business site. On your blog or website you should have all the icons to these sites linking back to them. They should be positioned where they can be easily seen. I see many sites with the buttons on the bottom of the page and you don't even notice them.

Facebook
Not only should you have a personal page but you must have a business page. There are approximately 120 people on my business page that do not follow me personally. Most of the people are customers and not necessarily personal contacts. It's important to share news and events, announce sales, show customers' before and after photos, talk about expert solutions, and more.  This gives you another opportunity to turn up in search engine results. 

The common question is how to get people to "like" your business page.  You need to be proactive to ask people especially if you are a local business. Always ask! If you don't, then they won't know your page exists.  Then, you can add the Facebook button on any online communication you have whether it's a website or email newsletter.

Linkedin
This is a great example of using social networking for making B2B connections. Many people who are on Linkedin are not on Facebook so you don't have to worry about repeating your message in multiple places.  Linkedin allows you to describe your business as well as explain your position.  You only have so many words you can post an update but its a great way to keep people up to date with sales, events and great info. I get more feedback from Linkedin post than any other site. It's a good idea to join groups, but be prepared to spend time joining in the conversation.

Twitter
I have two accounts. One for me and the store (@DebbieSchaeffer @Mrs_Gs)

Yes it is very cool to have a ton of followers but if you are a local business and your customers are local, having a follower from California or the UK doesn't help if you are looking to gain more customers. However, the beauty of Twitter is that you can follow experts in your field, I follow the CMO of Best Buy. I also follow all my brands who have Twitter accounts. I love to "retweet" and be the first on my block to announce something big. For example, JD Power & Associates recently announced that Wolf is the #1 range, but I was the first to tell my Wolf rep. It felt good!

Foursquare
This sight is getting more popular everyday. People leave tips about a business or restaurant, offering great feedback to potential customers and the business managers as well.  As a business owner, you can place special deals and coupons for people who "check in" to your location.  I have also created a Foursquare profile and venue for my upcoming 75th anniversary gala. When guests arrive, they can "check in" and leave tips for an opportunity to win fun prizes.  There are many ways to entice customers to interact with you or your business with Foursquare.  However, like Facebook Pages, you need to encourage people to "check in" through your various communication channels both online and in person.

YouTube
For a year I knew I needed to do more video but I just didn't know how to get started. As cameras have become more sophisticated and smaller, creating a video is easier than ever. But it wasn't until I went to a local Social Marketing Seminar on YouTube that I said now is the time to just do it!  I'm far from a natural in front of the camera, but I keep trying. I created a mrsgs.tv page which will contain all my videos and it will link to the main page of my business site. Consumers prefer to watch a video than read - look how great Old Spice is doing with their video campaign.


Debbie Schaeffer is the 3rd generation female business owner of Mrs. G TV & Appliances in Lawrenceville, NJ.  She is a nationally recognized leader among women in consumer electronics and has become known among colleagues and vendors as a social media maven. Visit her store, read her blog, and watch some video at www.mrsgs.com.

Is Social Media Getting the Attention It Deserves?

by Shannon Suetos

Social media, new media, whatever you want to call it, has been gaining popularity for the past few years. More and more marketers are seeing a need to have a presence in these different mediums. The problem is tying revenue from these efforts. At the end of the day, small business owners are concerned with the bottom line.

“A September 2010 survey by Econsultancy, sponsored by digital marketing agency bigmouthmedia, found nearly half of companies worldwide still said “the jury is out” on the value of social media for their firm. This group still felt they were not able to measure the return on their social media investment—even to put a value on it relative to their other marketing activities,” reports eMarketer.

eMarketer also found in a different report that, “The biggest obstacle for social strategies was not having enough data to come up with a measure of return on investment.” Because social media is becoming a viable marketing tactic for many companies, the question now becomes how do we tie revenue to our social media efforts?

Have a Plan

What is it exactly that you want to see from your social media efforts? Are you engaging your target audience to get brand awareness? Do you want to drive more traffic to your blog and website? Do you want to conduct a contest? The first step for any marketing tactic is to have a plan with goals. You don’t go into a PPC campaign blindly, so you don’t want to do the same with social media.

Write up a clear plan on exactly what you want to see happen with your social media strategy, and from there you can figure out how you are going to measure your efforts. Many marketers set up a Twitter account or Facebook page and then ignore their profiles. You have to commit to these profiles and spend time on them just like you would for any other marketing tactic. When you are writing up your marketing plan, decide how many hours (even if it is just an hour) a day you will be dedicating to social media.

Conversion Rates

Just like with any other online marketing tactic, you need to set a benchmark. Start tracking your website traffic from Twitter, Facebook, YouTube wherever you are present. Set up specific landing pages if you have to. The more you can see a straight conversion rate from your efforts, the more you can start tying in a revenue stream from the traffic brought in from these sites.

If you are conducting a contest, a new landing page is your best option. You will be able to see exactly how and when your target audience is paying attention to your stream, which allows you to figure out when the best time is to post new information.

Links

If you are paying a writer (or taking time from your day) to write content to bookmark, track that time as social media time. If you are getting quality backlinks from the copy you are writing, and in turn submitting it to social bookmarketing sites, then that can be tied into SEO revenue. Social media can be a great way to attain more links to your site and get brand exposure—you just have to start tracking your efforts.

Although the links that are submitted to social sites are nofollwed, it doesn’t mean that reporters, bloggers or other companies won’t find the article and use it for their site—which could be followed. Monitoring your company online is a must—whether you have a social media presence or not.

Contact Forms

If you already ask your customers about how they heard about your company, add the options for them to select Twitter and other social media sites you are on. This will give you an idea of the brand exposure and actual sales you are making because of these sites.

Jeffery Cohen writes on Social Media B2B that, “The total cost divided by the number of leads, or other number that represents conversions, is the cost per lead. As these leads go into the normal sales funnel, and get qualified, you will see the return on your social media investment.”

The main point for marketers is social media may or may not be a viable option for your company, but you have to set benchmarks and measure your success. There is no guarantee that Twitter, Facebook and YouTube will be the right fit for your company, but you will never know until you try. Start out small and see if you get any followers and traffic from these sites. You don’t have to throw a lot of money at a “social media guru” if you don’t know if it will work.

Shannon Suetos is an expert writer on fulfillment companies based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as VoIP Service at Resource Nation.

Why Social Media Can Help Women Entrepreneurs

Being an entrepreneur is hard enough.  You have your entire business riding on your back, and regardless if you have built up an empire, a small business or have a one woman show you need to know how to do many things.

Social media, or new media – whatever you want to call it – doesn’t seem to be losing too much steam.  Many businesses have figured out how to use this medium to their benefit and help gain more leads, brand awareness and even use it as a networking tool.

However you decide to use social media, you should be aware that women are leading the game.  A study conducted by BlogHer and iVillage states that, “nearly three-quarters (73%) of online women are now active social media users, engaging weekly or more often with popular social media platforms.”

Having a great networking circle is a must for entrepreneurs. Knowing where to go to find like-minded women can keep you up to date on your industry as well as having a great circle of entrepreneurs to run ideas off of.

WomenForbes.com reports that “women often use online social networking tools to make connections.”  Jodi Kahn, the head of iVillage, goes on to say in the article that, “We're women--we like to talk about things. Women use social media as a way to connect."

For women, the networking sites most used are: Twitter, MySpace, Bebo, Facebook and Flickr.  This doesn’t mean you need to stick solely to these sites, but it just means you will run into more women engaging on these sites.

Although social media is a great tool, remember you need to offset social media with a great website.  After all, where are you going to send your Twitter followers if you don’t have a website?  If you want to keep the conversation going, have a blog on your site as well.

Having a blog can give your site more traffic, allows you to set yourself as an expert in your field and also allows your visitors to communicate through comments.  Being able to stay connected to your clients in more than just one medium is key.

What types of social media tactics do you find helpful?

Shannon Suetos is a writer based in San Diego, California.  She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as phone systems & VoIP service at Resource Nation.