Posted by TeamCharlie on March 31, 2009 under Gabe's Twitter Gems, Social Media, Twitter, Twitter for Beginners | 
For some reason I awoke at 3:30 this morning. That’s usually not a big deal, I can normally get back to sleep until it’s time to get up. I started thinking about this new feature I am supposed to implement at work. I came up with the general concept and told myself I should remember it for later. Then I started thinking about a new blog post about the 10 top things I like about Twitter. That was enough to get me out of bed and start writing. I’ll do the work thing later.
#1 The Connections
When I started using Twitter just before the start of the year I had no idea what it would bring. Think about all the forums, bulletin boards, social networks, etc. that have existed in the past. I have participated, but usually only when I wanted a question answered. For some reason this 140 character thing that seems so simple is a great way to connect with people. I have honestly never seen anything like it. Young, old, male, female, all cultures, all languages, nothing seems to matter. If you use Tweetdeck, there is even a translate button that will translate the tweet into your native language. So there are really no barriers – you can connect with anyone on the planet that has access to a computer.
#2 Courtesy is Rampant
In the three months I have been using Twitter I have seen an abundance of professionalism and courtesy. I expected to see at least some bashing, arguments, hate language, etc. I have only seen one or two instances where there was a mild altercation between two tweeters, easily remedied by Block button. Even when a person perceives they may have offended an explanation or apology has already been sent. My Twitter stream is always full of retweets. This is another reason that makes the Twitter experience so pleasant. Maybe if every car on the road had the driver’s Twitter ID on their license plate there would be far less road rage. :)
Update: 4/23/09 I also wanted to add how great it is to see all the support that is prevalent on Twitter. As I write this we are in a contest to have our pitch produced as part of a video called “Pitch TV” that will be played on all of Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic flights as part of their inflight entertainment. I have found all the encouragement from people on Twitter to be overwhelming and I know I wouldn’t have a chance if it weren’t for you folks. The end result still has to be determined, but I do thank all of you who voted for us, blogged about us, interviewed us and sent us kind and thoughtful words. (Twitter is AWESOME!!)
Update: 6/05/09 The results of the pitch contest are in! Thanks to you all we are featured as the first pitch in Richard Branson’s Premiere Pitch TV Show. Check it out here!
#3 Marketing/Blog Promotion
Think about ways that you can market your business or non-profit for free. One way that comes to mind is email. And that isn’t even free because if you are serious about it you have to pay for email lists. What percentage of emails get through and even are read? Twitter on the other hand provides people that have already told you they want to hear what you say just by following you. Once you connect with them they will also market you via their respectful retweets. They might come across someone that could use your services and tell them about it. Twitter is all about each one of us lifting each other up – helping out each other’s causes. Be careful however – Twitter marketing isn’t just about telling everyone how great your product is. You must market yourself first by connecting with people – they will in turn discover your product and will be much more open to consider it and promote it to others. Blogging is another form of marketing. It shows your knowledge of a particular subject. Before Twitter I had very few readers of my blog since I was just out there hanging in the middle of cyberspace somewhere. With a tool like TwitterFeed, I can feed a link to my blog to my Twitter stream. Now I have exposed all of my followers to my blog. I have gotten quite an increase in readership which will only continue to rise as I keep tweeting.
#4 Philanthropy
This is the reason I joined Twitter – to promote Kids Are Heroes. Before I discovered Twitter I was able to get exposure in our local paper and a radio spot or two but that’s about it. Since I joined Twitter we have been featured in the Denver Post, completed one podcast and scheduled another, and invited to be guest speakers at a tweetathon. We are gaining new heroes from around the world because of this new exposure. I believe this is just the beginning. I get so excited when I think about where we will be one year from now or five years down the road. There are many non-profits that are thriving on Twitter. With this economy it is helpful to have another source of revenue.
#5 Global Reach
“The world is your oyster.” Twitter makes it available to you. The URL shortener http://tr.im shows not only how many clicks a link has received, but where they originate as well. When we host our Friday Twitterthons, we usually try and promote them all week, so we use the same link. Here is an example of the reach that Twitter gives you. The link itself has been clicked over 1600 times and the following is the list of where people originated: US, France, Germany, Canada, Ireland, UK, Russian Federation, China, Australia, Republic of Korea, Singapore, New Zealand and Israel. If you use Future Tweets, you can also connect with people while you are sleeping. Now some might think this is an impersonal way of tweeting or it is tweeting by some form of trickery. I disagree. I use it regularly so I can be in front of someone when their time zone makes it convenient for them. I have learned that to get the most out of Twitter you must be active on it. Future Tweets lets me be active in the middle of the night. Currently I have five tweets I have set to run overnight. I space them out enough not to be obnoxious, but hopefully between the times that I tweet during the day and the automated ones at night I have everyone covered. When I looked at my Replies folder this morning I saw I had three responses to my tweets – one being a retweet. How I make that personal is by replying to them in the morning. Now I have connected with more people around the world. There is usually a window somewhere during the day that enables us to tweet live to each other. The “future tweet” made this possible.
#6 Newsworthy
Many people talk about how Twitter informs of all breaking news. Yes that is true, seemingly minutes after a major incident has happened, it ends up in my Twitter stream. The next person will post a video of the same incident. This is a great by-product of Twitter. But what goes along with this is learning about things in general. There are so many different interests and perspectives. You can learn about anything. My friend in Singapore taught me about the origin of numbers. Yesterday I downloaded a Powerpoint presentation that had photographs (not renditions, actual photographs) of our planet by astronaut Sunita Williams. Now you wouldn’t think that was such a big deal because we’ve all seen what the earth looks like haven’t we? We’ve even seen pictures. But this was different. It showed how night falls, what sand storms look like from space – it just gave me a different perspective that I was thrilled to share with my 10-year-old daughter.
#7 What do you Need?
I have a practice of asking people if they need anything. This might sound like a funny rhetorical question, but it’s not. If it’s something I can help with I do. If it’s something I can find for them I try to. If it’s something I cannot accomplish or tell them, I try and find someone who can. Twitter is like that. People are always anxious to help and offer free advice. Many times it comes unsolicited in an informative blog. A newbie recently tweeted to me how she loves the “collegial” atmosphere of Twitter. It was refreshing to her. That’s the way things should be.
#8 Searching for Godot
Google is great for searching. It is so great, there is now an accepted verb in the English language: to google. Sometimes when you google however you get too much back and it becomes hard to sift through the results. There are two ways to search on Twitter. One way is to use a search tool to filter the tweets. That method is powerful enough on its own. The second way is to simply tweet the question. Now you have people from around the world reading your question. The good news is that they understand exactly what you are after. Often times it is simple as posting a question on Twitter to get the answer you need.
#9 Education
Twitter is a great conduit where you can learn from other people. From news to different cultures to simply learning about each other’s passions. I have learned so many things from my colleagues on Twitter it is amazing.
#10 Tweet-Ups
Tweet-ups are when Twitter people get together to socialize in person. Make no mistake about it – Twitter is a social networking platform. It enables people to both forge new and strengthen existing relationships. But nothing can replace face-to-face networking. Twitter is a great way to facilitate these meetings. Thanks to @mjovel for getting one set up in our city. Regretfully I cannot attend this one but eagerly look forward to the next one.
Ok, I bet I missed one or two (or three) great things about Twitter. Please remind me of them in the Comments section. I’m sure I will think of more too. Best post this before another one occurs to me.
Posted by TeamCharlie on March 27, 2009 under Friday Connections, Gabe's Twitter Gems, Social Media, Twitter |
This week my Friday connections are a bit different. I usually list those that connect with me and how they did it. It’s hard for people to connect with me if I’m not on Twitter that much. The more you use Twitter, the more connections you can make. This week made it difficult to be on Twitter for long periods of time.
The first connection I list was not spawned from Twitter. I just think it can be used as a learning tool for all you marketers out there. The second connection was made in a similar manner than the previous ones. And since I didn’t want to end with just two, a lesson can be learned from the other pseudo-connections.
If you would like to start this practice, use the #fridayconnect hash tag to let everyone know what new people you have conected with this week. You can also read my previous Friday Connections blog posts.
#1 @5within22
This connection is a lesson in salesmanship and marketing. I received an email last Friday from Ed. A Google alert sent him to MaryMargaret’s web site. Not Kids Are Heroes, but her personal web site that is helping her raise funds so she can go to the Junior National Young Leader’s Conference this summer. He is a student entrepreneur that was offering us his product to mark up and sell as a fund raiser. I like the fact that he’s a student, but did not respond to the email as I am skeptical of other people that I perceive may be trying to “cash in” on what we are doing. So I let it go. Sometime during the week I received a phone call from the same gentleman. His manner was very professional, soft spoken and not pushy at all. After he reminded me of who he was I was very frank with him and told him why I did not respond to his email. Since he was a student I gave him a longer rope than I normally would. (I have no patience for unsolicited phone calls or similar such things – right or wrong – in case you haven’t detected that yet.) He explained what his product did and how it worked and how it could help us. As I tell everyone these days I suggested he get on Twitter. “We are on Twitter and we followed you a couple of days ago.”, he said. I asked him if I followed him back to which he said, “No.” Now that was odd, because I do follow back the majority of people that follow me. I asked him his ID and looked up his profile. I saw that he had no @replies in his Twitter stream. He wasn’t being spammy, just didn’t seem to engage with anyone. I told him why I did not follow him. He told me he was new to Twitter and did not know all the ins and outs. I sent him my Twitter Do’s and Dont’s post in hopes that it would help him. After reading the post, he graciously asked the etiquette of reposting to other Twitter friends. “Flattery will get you everywhere” I told him and he shared it with his partner. So the long and short of this is that here is a student who is just starting up his own company. I would not classify him as a typical salesman – he probably wouldn’t have gotten this far with me if I thought he was one. But he was persistent without being obnoxious and even though we haven’t decided yet whether we will try and raise funds with his product, he made a connection – good for him. I now follow him and his partner @aveleroy. I will give him a plug for two reasons: 1) I liked his controlled persistence and 2) MaryMargaret likes his product. These are note cards that can be shared among tween friends that interact with their web site. Their pitch is: “BFF Notes is a notepad that allows girls to pass secret coded notes to their friends. It also serves as the gateway to a secure online social network exclusively for tweens.” Check them out at BFFNotes.com.
#2 @inspiringdesign
Justin has been hovering just under my radar screen for quite some time now. He has been quietly retweeting some of my posts. Now that I look back at his tweets I’m really not sure why I didn’t mention him sooner. I see that three weeks ago he made a very nice #followfriday tribute to me. This week he retweeted one of my posts and I thanked him. His response to my thank-you was to tell me that he tried to come to our Music for Life! fund raiser but was unable to. That made me realize that maybe my marketing wasn’t falling on deaf ears. We had a decent showing for the 10:30 seating but a sparse turnout for the other two. All in all we raised $600.00 so I the event was indeed a success, but we all know every charity is suffering during this economy. But sometimes I felt alone out there when the response wasn’t what I had hoped. Justin reminded me that maybe people really did want to come but for whatever reason just couldn’t make it. That simply made me feel better. The lesson learned here is to be persistent when trying to connect. Some people (like me) can be slow to react sometimes. Now I am not saying that Justin was trying to get noticed by me this whole time and I ignored him – if that were the case he wouldn’t have gotten through to me. He was just being a good guy and doing what you are supposed to do on Twitter: retweet posts that you like and give tributes to people you enjoy following through the #followfriday tradition. That is a natural way to connect with people.
#3,#4,#5 @homeschoolsegue @DaytonChildrens @ontheirway
Maybe one reason this was a slow week for me regarding Twitter was because I hadn’t written a new blog post. I have a “Citizen Blog” I must maintain for the local paper, plus all my other responsibilities. I also have no schedule to keep for my own blog so I only write when I am inspired. I finally had that urge yesterday to write more about Twitter. I wrote a new post about people who don’t use Twitter because they ”Don’t Have Time” for it. I also added to my Do’s and Dont’s post as a few things came up this week that were appropriate. The people mentioned here all @replied to me thanking me for the Do’s and Dont’s post. They are all new to Twitter and were happy to get some insight. I am always happy to help new people get adjusted. Twitter can be an extremely productive environment if you just use it right. I feel so sorry for those who just don’t know any better. I was followed today by a person who was following 2000 people and had zero updates. Such a shame. Anyway, I almost forgot that writing blog posts can help you connect with new people. These folks gave me a very nice reward for blogging: a simple and sincere “thank you”.
So far I have gotten a positive response from these “Friday Connection” posts. I urge you all to try it out. Keeping track inspires you to go out and find new connections. The connections I make are strenghthened in ensuing weeks. That is when it becomes really fun. So let us know about the connections YOU made this week – add your Twitter ID and those of the people you made connections with this week in the Comments section.
Posted by TeamCharlie on March 26, 2009 under Gabe's Twitter Gems, Social Media, Twitter |
I hear this a lot when I tell people about Twitter. They perceive it as a place to waste time, probably because they do not fully understand it. How can I be critical of them when that was exactly how I felt when I first looked at Twitter? Anyway, my response to this objection is the following: “Do you spend any time promoting or marketing your business? If you do then you have time for Twitter.” Twitter is a tool that if used properly can connect you with people you would never have met in your lifetime. It is a gold mine. But like a gold mine, the nuggets just don’t leap into your pocket, you must hunt for them. It is my position that companies that ignore Twitter will be left behind. According to KnowledgeCentre News, more than 6000 firms a day are turning to Twitter to cut costs and boost their marketing efforts.
So where’s the beef? People like to see proof. I would love to hear your success stories in the comments section here so I can direct people to them later. And I know there must be countless success stories, or there would not be so much buzz about Twitter these days. But what about me? How has Twitter helped Kids Are Heroes? Well let’s see. I started tweeting in late December 2008. In three short months I have connected with many people across the country as well as around the world. I have links back to my site from a blog site as far away as Singapore. My main goal is to promote Kids Are Heroes, so I follow moms, dads and teachers. I have seen the web site rise in hits on an average day from under 50 to over 100. (Just three days ago we enjoyed 365 hits with no special promotion.) Kids from all over the country are posting shout-outs to the heroes from their classrooms. Many more people are reading my blogs. We have raised the awareness tenfold of what we are doing. We have gotten new heroes from Twitter. We have been invited to participate in podcasts and as guest speakers in tweet-a-thons. The Denver Post ran their first story (of several) on us just two days ago. We have raised awareness and funds for MaryMargaret’s Music for Life! project. I feel that the fire hose has only been turned on to a trickle at this point. As more people join, more people recommend, more people will hear our message.
I was asked the other day as part of a psychological study, “Where do you see yourself five years from now?” Without thinking I answered this question instead: “Where do you see Kids Are Heroes five years from now?” My answer was that I envision Kids Are Heroes as a global organization that will inspire hundreds of thousands of children to do wonderful things which in turn will help shape many more young leaders. In ten years I hope it will be as well known as the Boy and Girl Scouts of America. Now, is that perceived success all because of Twitter? I would say no but think of this: Do you remember the scene in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation when Clark Griswold applied the wax to his saucer sled? (If you don’t get that reference, here it is thanks to YouTube.) I see Twitter as the sled wax that will help get us there much faster. It certainly has been good to us so far.
So come on – let’s see how Twitter has helped you using real stories about your business.
Update: 4/24/09 I would think that success on Twitter is measured by what you want to get out of it. My original goal was to get more exposure for Kids Are Heroes. I have indeed accomplished that and then some – I wouldn’t be blogging about Twitter and spending so much time on it if I didn’t feel there was a good reason to do it. Because of Twitter, I discovered Richard Branson’s PitchTV concept where he offers budding entrepreneurs a stage to show their exciting projects. As of this writing our pitch is on his web site in the midst of a competition – the top five pitches will make it through to the PitchTV show which will be broadcast on all Virgin Atlantic flights for one month. Ok I bet you would classify that as a “win” regardless of the outcome. The buzz that has stirred and the newfound exposure is priceless to me. But what has been more important is the support I have received from everyone on Twitter with all their votes, blogs, features, encouragement and retweets. Without them I wouldn’t have stood a chance in this competition. (Must give props to my family and heroes too.) This to me is a bigger sign of success on Twitter than being featured on a blog site somewhere. Either way, both are very cool. Still say you don’t have time for Twitter?
Posted by TeamCharlie on March 20, 2009 under Friday Connections, Gabe's Twitter Gems, Social Media, Twitter |
This was an extremely busy week for us and I was noticeably absent from Twitter. I would pop in from time to time but sadly was unable to make as many connections as I would have liked. I did indeed make some and in new ways I might add. But first let me give a quick rundown of what MaryMargaret and I were up to. Last Saturday, a reporter from NBC showed up at our door and taped an interview (see it here) about MaryMargaret being nominated for the Junior National Young Leaders Conference this summer. She had Monday off, so we visited Key 103 radio and taped another interview (listen here) regarding our Music for Life fund raiser coming up on Sunday. Last night she had her first solo presentation in front of the Kiwanis Club of Suburban Frederick updating them about the progress with Kids Are Heroes and detailing her Music for Life project. (This organization is handling all the donated funds for us.) Somewhere in there we were interviewd for a podcast moderated by @tumblondad, one of my earlier Friday connections. And our Twitter activity also got us noticed by the Denver Post, who did a story on us that will be in Tuesday’s paper. Now I am not naive enough to think that this kind of attention will continue. As a matter of fact, I believe it was a fluke occurrence that it all happened the same week because we have no more media events on our immediate schedule. So things should be back to normal and I hope to be making more connections this coming week.
This week I made five connections. I believe three of them were made by different methods than those used in the past.
#1 angellr
I saw a tweet from Bob asking if anyone knew of a utility that would back up his followers to his local drive. It seemed to me I had seen something like this before during my travels. I assumed that someone would have given him the answer right away, so I told him if he didn’t get the answer within a few minutes I could see if I could find the link for him. Well, no one else reading his note had the answer so I googled. I came up with a utility that sort of did what he wanted. I sent that to him. A few minutes past, and it was bugging me that I didn’t really solve his problem so I googled some more. I found Tweetake, a third party utility that did exactly what he wanted it to. You can save all your followers to a text file on your hard drive. I felt very satisfied to send it to him. Bob was very excited and gracious to get this information. So much so that he put me on his #followfriday list last week. That wasn’t necessary but was appreciated very much. This is one way of making a connection that I have talked about before. A great way to connect with someone is to solve a problem for them.
#2 and #3 @MissBlondie919 and @Annagain66
Last Friday night’s Twitterthon was a blast. I put these two tweeps together in my connections list because they were both in attendance. There was a lot of participation last week and right at the very end I was going to announce to all to join our “after party” on Ustream. Sadly right at that point I had used up all my allotted tweets for the hour and got booted. This was even after taking the precaution of having @TeamCharlie send out the songs. I DM’ed a few people about the after party (note when you run out of tweets you can still DM) and @MissBlondie919 and @Annagain66 came along with @jonkurozawa who got a Friday connection mention last week. MaryMargaret read all the questions and it was more great fun. @MissBlondie919 was getting many of the answers right. When that happens I try and change things up a bit and ask something I think is difficult from another subject. The question was this: “On what vegetable did an ancient Egyptian place his right hand on when taking an oath?” I asked this question with a smug smirk on my face thinking, “They’ll never get this one!” Miss Blondie quickly typed: “An onion.” I’m thinking, “No way!!! How did she know that??” So I asked her. It turns out her grandfather was an historian and she would sit on his knee and listen to story after story when she was young. What a cool fact to know about someone! Even in a silly little trivia game you can make a connection.
#4 @rmolden
This is a good one. One of my previous Friday connections, @hiannie, lives in Singapore. She recently told me she put the Kids Are Heroes web site on her blogroll. How cool is that? Kids Are Heroes and Twitter are a perfect match because they are both global applications. Being included in Annie’s blogroll made me think of ways I could reach other parts of the world more effectively. The answer I came up with was to tweet about Kids Are Heroes during their day. I googled for a utility that would tweet at a scheduled time. The best one I found was FutureTweets, because it allows you to tweet at a scheduled time recurringly for free. Not wanting to be obnoxious about it I scheduled it to tweet the Kids Are Heroes link just twice throughout the night. Well the first night I did it I saw that it had been retweeted by @rmolden who lives in Sydney. That was cool so I sent him a belated thank you. Turns out he was still up. He liked the link so much he asked for it again so he could retweet again! Who would ever think you could make a connection on Twitter while you are sleeping?
#5 @OKE_Menachem
Menachem is simply a nice man. He has retweeted my tweets on several occasions. He participated in our Twitterthon last week. I made his #followfriday list this week. He even donated to MaryMargaret’s Music for Life cause last week, as that is why we do our Twitterthons. Thanks so much Menachem. Now I’m not saying you have to donate to the Music for Life program to get a mention here, but it sure doesn’t hurt. :)
This is so much fun tracking all these new people that I meet on Twitter. Remember if you want to do the same, use the #fridayconnect hash tag and mention the people you have connected with throughout the week. It’s also fun to progress with the same folks each week. If you have any #fridayconnect stories, please share them with us in the Comments section.
Posted by TeamCharlie on March 13, 2009 under Friday Connections, Gabe's Twitter Gems, Social Media, Twitter |
I really had fun making new connections this week. I was under pressure to make ten more because I promised to blog about it. I came up with six. I learned something. There are some days when it is difficult to connect for whatever reason. Some days are better than others for connecting. I found one day that I was reading the tweets, ready to jump in at any time, but nothing was reaching out to me. Other days I could barely keep up.
For those of you who didn’t read last week’s blog post this is all about Friday Connections (use #fridayconnect on Twitter). These are now weekly blogs where I recount the connections I have made during the week. Twitter is all about connecting with people, so I make every effort to do so. I hope to start a trend on Twitter where everyone makes a better effort to actually connect with (as opposed to sell to) people.
How it works is that you keep track of the NEW people you feel you have connected to or they you during the week. It doesn’t have to be dramatic, just enough so that you know a bit more about that person when you see their tweets. This will breed some sort of familiarity between these new connections. As a side effect this is how you will develop followers in a natural way. I have a goal of getting 10 new connections per week. This week as of this writing I have 6. I don’t force them. I will also say that the connections grew stronger with some of the people I listed last week.
#1 @UBUIBME
Eric seems to like my posts. He retweets them often. He added me to his #followfriday list last week. This is without really engaging with me. I recommend doing this, but only if it is done naturally. The tweets you retweet must reach out to you. This is a great way to connect with people. Thanks Eric.
#2 @DarleneVictoria
Darlene reached out to me last Friday night just after my Twitterthon. I was really frustrated at the time because Twitter booted me for some reason and I couldn’t tell people why I went silent all of a sudden. Once I was let back in and settled a bit she did what no other person has done since I have been on Twitter. It was so cool I was embarrassed that I hadn’t used the same approach with other people. She asked me a simple question. “Why did you start Kids Are Heroes?” Now if that’s not a way to connect with someone I don’t know what is. Find out a bit of what people are doing and ask them how they became involved in it. So simple yet I hadn’t thought of it. Well at least up until then I didn’t. I now try to do this at every appropriate opportunity. Darlene plans to have MaryMargaret and I do a podcast for her blog and we are happy to oblige.
#3 @AJaneChambers
Sometimes it takes a few nudges to make a good connection. Jane responded to one of my tweets. Her response interested me so I looked at her profile. Turns out she is from Ellicott City, about 30 miles down Rte 70. “Drove past you on Wednesday!” she quipped one day. On another occasion it was “Hello from Ellicott City.” The answer here is to keep at it. Now I will know exactly who it is when I see her tweets and also know where to go if I need a lawyer!
#4 @ItzaBitza
This is a good one. I read a tweet from @JesseNewhart about using Tweetdeck for following large numbers. This definitely interested me so I saved it. I finally got a chance to watch the video and liked it so I retweeted it. Margaret liked it as well so she responded back to me thanking me for posting the link, even though I had nothing to do with it. We continued on and discussed our children and the challenges of our families. I very much look forward to tweeting with her again. This is all because I retweeted someone else’s post!
#5 @jonkurozawa
As many of you know, every Friday night MaryMargaret and I put on a Twitterthon from 8-10PM. Last week we spiced things up a bit by adding a trivia game. Jon was a frequent answerer. He was also fun to have in the audience. Now I’m not saying you have to put on a Twitterthon to connect with people. But if someone is trying to engage in an unique way then feel free to jump in and support them.
#6 @ShaneJohnston
This connection points to why I joined Twitter in the first place. I joined Twitter to promote Kids Are Heroes. Period. (It doesn’t hurt that it’s also lots of fun.) Shane had retweeted one of my posts. Usually if I have time that alone will cause me to look at someone’s profile. I noticed he was from Brampton. This is a town in Ontario Canada. It just so happens it is also where my sister (@moelib) lives. I put that in the back of my mind somewhere. On another occasion I noticed something about his avatar. He appeared to be at home speaking into a studio quality microphone. This was interesting to me so I asked him about it. Now that little nudge got him to think about nominating his own kids for the Kids Are Heroes web site. He also discovered the forms on the web site weren’t working and I spent most of the day scrambling to fix them – thanks Shane for the heads up! Turns out his kids are doing amazing things creating sleeping bags for children in Haiti. Due to the similarities of what they are doing and what my brother is involved with (he lives about an hour away from Shane) I connected them up as well. This type of connection is what I am really seeking because it benefits our web site which inspires other kids to become involved. This to me is the equivalent of a signed contract to all you business people. Success happens on Twitter, believe me.
I know there are a couple more but I forgot to write their names down. I’m sure I will run into them again and will post them for future Friday Connections. Let’s hear about how you make your connections, so we can all learn from you. That is what is so neat about Twitter – we are all lifting each other up.
Posted by TeamCharlie on March 11, 2009 under Gabe's Twitter Gems, Social Media, Twitter |
One lady on Twitter did. I won’t “out” her here, but that was a tweet that stuck in my head: “I just ate a Twix bar with a fork.” After pondering the inanity of this quip I thought I should put it away for future reference. And now it rises. This is the common complaint about Twitter. People are so busy with their oh so important lives that they cannot be bothered with time-wasting tweets such as this, thus Twitter is a waste of time in their eyes. I must admit I was one of those naysayers. The first time I tried Twitter I told myself it was a bunch of people wasting time talking about nothing. I know different now. I find it an extremely useful tool to connect with people. But what about those tweets? Do I care about them more now that I like Twitter? Actually for the most part, no. That is until I get to know that person. Then these kinds of tweets can be endearing.
So let’s try an experiment. The next time you see a tweet that you think is totally vapid, try and make something out of it. Try and engage that person just to see what happens. For example: “I just ate a Twix bar with a fork.” could be replied with, “Did it taste any better?” See where that takes you – try and make an actual connection with that person that you did not know before. Leave a comment here with your results, and I will also try it and see what comes of it. There must be some reason why Twitter asks, “What are you doing?”
Posted by TeamCharlie on March 6, 2009 under Friday Connections, Gabe's Twitter Gems, Social Media, Twitter |
This is the first of my planned weekly blogs where I recount the connections I have made during the week. Twitter is all about connecting with people, so I make every effort to do so. I hope to start a trend on Twitter where everyone makes a better effort to actually connect with (as opposed to sell to) people. I have reserved the hash tag #fridayconnect for just this purpose. I would love to see it put to use.
How it works is that you keep track of the NEW people you feel you have connected to or they you during the week. It doesn’t have to be dramatic, just enough so that you know a bit more about that person when you see their tweets. This will breed some sort of familiarity between these new connections. As a side effect this is how you will develop followers in a natural way. So here goes. In no special order, this is my top 10 connections for this past week.
#1 @GreetingsthtGro
Anne brought her daughters to our Twitterthon last Friday and donated to MaryMargaret’s cause. I’m not saying that one has to give us money to make a connection but it sure helps! :)
#2 @Fox5NewsEdge
Other stations should pay attention to what Fox 5 is doing. Not sure who is behind the curtain on this one – sometimes I think it’s the producer and other times it is Brian the news guy but either way, they reach out with their personalities and they pay attention to what people say to them. They engage on Twitter which makes me more interested in their news show. They broadcasted two of my tweets last week! Now I’m not saying that you have to put my tweets on the air to make a connection, but it sure helps! :)
#3 @BrianBolter
This is definitely manned by the Fox 5 News guy. News anchors never get to show their personalities on the air so we think they just don’t have one. Well Brian sure does and he proudly displays it. He also responds if you @ him which is a classy move. Also makes me want to watch their program. To coin a phrase from the Guiness commercial: Brilliant!
#4 @BetsyCollings
This one is a bit different. I have known Betsy for a while in person. To be honest I do not know her that well besides our bantering at our local Chamber of Commerce events. She connected with me by saying nice things about my blog posts. Don’t try this at home unless you are genuine, but that was very nice of her to reach out like she did.
#5 @RobCollings
This one is a related to #4 as you might guess. Rob is a Twitter “newbie” and Betsy recommended that he connect with me. He did it in a very professional yet personal way which I greatly appreciated. He simply @replied to me introducing himself. Again, I don’t recommend you start @replying people at random for no reason, but if someone tweets something you like I think this is a great way to make a deeper connection with them.
#6 @Hiannie
The other day when it snowed I posted a innocuous tweet about how my daughter MaryMargaret enjoyed the snow falling outside. I got a response from someone I had never noticed: “@KidsAreHeroes If it was snowing outside I’d jump for joy!” It turns out this responder was from Singapore and was in the middle of a sweltering heat wave. Now I read her posts whenever I see them thinking about what the weather might be like in Singapore. That’s how you connect on Twitter – respond to people!
#7 @AlexKaris
Alex is an “uber-twit” that has close to 19,000 followers! I retweeted one of his posts and soon after that he followed me. He always responds to my @replies which is amazing considering how many followers he has. I have adopted his habit of following people that retweet my posts. The logic is if they feel the post is worthy of retweeting then we have at least that much in common.
#8 @BirthSource
I received a very nice direct message after I posted one of my blogs. Tracey made a very nice comment and thanked me for posting it. Since my reason for writing about Twitter is to be helpful I was glad to know it helped at least one person. Very nice way to make a personal connection.
#9 @tumblondad, @marianmerritt
I cheated a bit here and added two for the price of one. Both these folks made very nice comments on one of my blogs. Whether it be mine or anyone else’s blog posts, if they help you or if you appreciate them please make an effort to comment on them.
#10 @DFS_Ellen
Ellen runs an online pet supplies store. She actually @replied to my @TeamCharlie moniker, which I periodically use to announce things related to Wags for Hope. Ellen took the time to look up my bio and make a nice comment about Wags for Hope. That’s how to connect with people.
So here you see several examples of how to get people’s attention on Twitter. This to me is putting Twitter to its best use. Look for all of these folks on my #followfriday list, and I hope you all start trying out the #fridayconnect practice.
Posted by TeamCharlie on March 1, 2009 under Gabe's Twitter Gems, Social Media, Twitter, Twitter for Beginners |
Twitter is not rocket science, people. What I offer is common sense here. Twitter is a medium that connects people from all over the world. If you use it properly, you can connect with a lot more people in a very meaningful way. Having immersed myself in reading about and participating in the Twitter Universe the last few months, I came across a tidbit that says that posts that use “Top Ten This” and “Top Ten That” are retweeted more often. So there is a gem for you before I even get started. This list is purely my own, but I am sticking to it. I hope it helps.
One caveat: As I reread this it appears like I am dictating. I am just a guy who loves Twitter and enjoys connecting with people. I am not telling you to follow these rules. I put them forth as suggestions because following them has made for a very positive Twitter experience for me.
#1 Tweet Content
Don’t persist in spewing why I should buy what you are selling. This should be self evident, but there are many people who still think if they keep ramming their business into my Twitter stream I will buy from them. Just the opposite – you will be unfollowed at minimum. When I look at a person’s profile, if I see that the majority of their posts try and lure me to their commercial web site, or tell me why they are so great I simply don’t follow them. It amazes me that so many people still don’t get that.
Do ask about other people’s businesses. Find something you have in common and tweet them about it. The best use of Twitter is when you are engaged with someone else. Once you engage they will be more curious about what you do.
#2 The Retweet
Don’t keep asking us to retweet about something that will benefit you. That gets annoying fast and will cause an unfollow if practised too many times.
Do retweet others’ posts that impress or interest you. This is a common way of showing respect to those that you follow. Just last night I was retweeted four times regarding one tweet. Three of the people that retweeted I wasn’t following. Their interest showed me we have something in common so now I follow them as well. Sometimes you can connect with people just by retweeting them.
#3 Followers
Don’t ask for followers. I often see tweets such as “Please RT – I am at 986 followers – help me get to 1000!” When you think about this you should see how little sense it makes. It simply shows how self-serving you appear to be. If you do get that extra 14 followers as a result chances are they aren’t following you because they care about what you say anyway. “Empty” followers are worse than no followers at all.
Do ask what you can do to help someone else. Look for tweets that ask for something you can help with and respond. It shows that person you are listening to them and want to help. That’s how you engage on Twitter. Those followers will come naturally and that is really what you want.
#4 Recommendations
Don’t ask for recommendations. I often see tweets that say “Please vote for me! Please fave me! Please recommend me to Mr Tweet!” Think about this. If you were at a party would you go around the room with a petition asking people to sign something that says how great you are? (If you would you seriously need help.) :) It’s obnoxious, people!
Do recommend other people to Mr Tweet. Since you can only recommend one person at a time, this shows that person that you respect them, took the time out to care about them and hold their tweets in high esteem. They will get a notice that you did this and they just might return the favor.
UPDATE: 4/22/09 Ok I had to come back and edit this one because I have been asking for votes all week as we have a chance to be on Richard Branson’s Pitch TV. It is definitely out of my comfort zone but I am thinking of all the lives it can change (besides our own) if we win. So I still think it’s spammy to ask for votes, but use your own discretion and try and do it tactfully if you must. I will say that I did lose over 50 followers (some who had been with me for a while) when I did it a bit too much. So the concept still proves to be true.
#5 Testimonials
Don’t tell me how many followers you have because honestly I don’t care. Tweets such as “WOOT! I just reached 1000 followers!” are self-serving and annoying. It makes those of us that have fewer followers feel less important, and those that have more don’t really care.
Do make us laugh or retweet something that makes you laugh. Be entertaining. I read once that a good Twitterer is one that makes other people’s lives just a bit better for that day. One recent tweet that sticks out in my mind is “I’ve always disliked the word ’nougat’. Just saying.” Now I can’t tell you why that is funny to me but it just is. In writing this I even had to go back and research who wrote it so I could give him props, so @jleveille thanks for that! Turns out he’s a local. Who knew?
#6 Information Dissemination
Don’t hold back information. Being coy with what you know will get you nowhere.
Do be generous in what you give out. I would even go so far as to recommend that you Google information that other people are looking for if you don’t know it. There is no better way to engage someone than to solve a problem for them.
#7 Another about Followers
Don’t follow people for the sake of getting return followers. This does work if all you want are numbers following you. And numbers following you are just that – they could care less about what you have to say. These people are easy to spot. They are following 2000 people (Twitter’s limit unless your followers are proportionate) and have far fewer followers. I never follow someone when I see this in their profile because they are only after the numbers. Guess what else is going to happen if they have followed you? In order for them to reach the 2000 follower mark they will have to continually unfollow and follow others. So chances are they will unfollow you anyway.
Do be diligent in uncovering your target demographic. When you look at a profile, see if you have anything in common with that person. Make sure that they engage with others - this increases your chances of engaging with them. Followers come naturally from this type of behavior. People discover that you are engaging so they want to follow you as well.
#8 Stop the Profanity
Don’t swear in your tweets. I might be a tad biased about this one because my 10-year-old daughter is on Twitter as well and I would rather not have her bombarded by vulgarity. But in my mind ther’s more to it than that. It is simply about acting professionally. Being on Twitter is like being at a crowded party. The only difference is that on Twitter your voice is MUCH louder than it is at a regular gathering. It is so loud that everyone can hear you. Would you climb up on a table and yell profanities at a party?
Do respect that there are people in the room that may be offended by this sort of behavior. This will only reflect back on you in a positive way.
#9 Update your Bio
Don’t hide who you are. How can we find something in common with you if you don’t tell us about yourself? The more information you give us the better. Another of my pet peeves is people who attest their location as “Everywhere” or “Planet Earth”. I really want to know your town and state or province. That makes you unique. I can ask you about what it is like to live there.
Do put as much information in that section as you can. People are interested in you and your bio is part of what makes you interesting.
#10 Spam
Don’t spam. People who do won’t be reading this so I go no further as to why.
Do report spammers. @spam seems to be the place to report spam on Twitter. Follow @spam and they will follow you right back. They ask that you DM (Direct Message) them details. (Note – they are also a good follow warning you of the latest scams going around.) Please use this properly. The last two nights I have received many new followers with the same name of “Sale Today” or “alwayslearning24″. They have one update with a link to their spamminess. I reported them. I ask that you do not report someone who is new to Twitter and is sending out too many spammy tweets just because they don’t know any better. In this case I recommend educating them or unfollowing them.
I hope you have found a gem or two in this list that helps you. Feel free to leave others that I missed in the comments section.
Update – “The Extended Dance Version”
Because I can’t just keep to ten and I keep seeing more do’s and don’ts in my Twitterstream, I wanted to share more, so here goes:
#11 About Yourself
Don’t tell us how many emails you have in your InBox. I have seen a rash of this lately. “Oh I have 250 emails to get to – how to find the time.” Guess who cares about this? Not me. It tells me that you are trying to point out how important and/or popular you are. Yawn.
Do share something about yourself that draws me to you. If you don’t appear boastful it might help someone make a connection. Here’s an example of something I saw yesterday that connected with me. @AlaskaArtist tweeted the following: “Today’s Alaska Photo: http://tinyurl.com/aeaxxx.” I have been to Alaska and I love it there. So of course I am going to click on the picture and it was beautiful. She even sells the photos and I didn’t feel her approach was spammy at all. There are many ways to send out enticing tweets – this is just one example.
#12 Third One re Followers
Don’t pay for followers. Another trend I am seeing is “I will donate $xxx.xx dollars if I get to XXXX followers by March 5.” Somebody please explain to me how this makes sense. First of all you don’t seem to care who the followers are so you are announcing to everyone that you are just looking to bump up your numbers artificially. You are trying to make that OK by making people think that you will donate money as a result. I also never see tweets that say “I just got my XXX followers by XXX date and here is a twitpic of the receipt that proves that I donated.” The accountability is hedgy at best.
Do get followers naturally by engaging with people. If you want to donate to a charity, just do it – the world doesn’t need to know about it.
#13 The Direct Message
Don’t automatically direct message (DM) me after I follow you. It insults not only my intelligence but all the others that you are sending them to. There is no personal touch to it and if you pay attention to Twitter most people hate them. Putting a link to your “whatever-you-are-selling” inside the DM makes it even worse and will more often than not cause people to unfollow you.
Do send @replies to people. This is a much more personal way of communicating, and people realize that you formulated a tweet that was meant just for them, so they are much more apt to respond. One of the people I follow, @AlexKaris, has close to 19,000 followers at the time of this writing. Every time I have @replied to him he has responded. That to me is amazing. Now I don’t do it often to him because I respect how difficult it might be to manage that many followers, but the fact remains he makes an effort. All the “uber-twits” on Twitter should use him as a model. Regardless of how many or few followers you have, please respond to these @replies because if people went to the trouble to contact you about something you should return the favor.
#14 Your Ego
Don’t ask certain people for a follow. It is presumptuous and can put them in an awkward spot. This goes along with don’t feel bad if someone you think should follow you doesn’t. Both have happened to me. I asked someone to follow me who I thought would thank me for giving them my Twitter ID and they never followed me. What’s worse is that a few months later they did and in a day or two unfollowed me!! Hey folks, guess what? This happens. Not all people are in to you. ;)
Do enjoy the people that are following you. Get to know the people that you don’t know. It is so much fun. In order to force myself to engage more I am starting up a new trend for myself. Each Friday I plan to post the “Top Ten New Connections for the Week”. These are people who I feel I have connected to in a small way for the first time. It may be with just an @reply or two, but the next time I see their tweet there will be just a bit more familiarity with the person behind it. I encourage you to try this practice. If you don’t have a blog just keep a record of them and try and get at least 10 new connections per week. This really pushes me to seek out tweets I can relate to and respond in kind. I would love to hear about it if you start this habit yourself.
#15 Getting People’s Attention
Don’t @reply someone with your great business deals or acumen. Boy is that one ever obnoxious. I had never experienced that until a few days ago when I got a reply saying something like “@KidsAreHeroes Come check out our web site – we’ve got GREAT deals!” I said to myself, “Well that was annoying.” but let it go. About a day later I got another similar reply from the same person. Sorry guy, but I had to block you. I do not block people without giving them the benefit of the doubt first. The only people I block are out and out spammers. I think the person behind this was not necessarily a spammer. I think he just didn’t know any better but he left me no choice other than to block him.
Do retweet. Do you want people to notice that you exist? Retweet the posts that are interesting to you. But be careful, if I see someone’s profile and all they do is retweet then I don’t follow them. They are trying to be falsely generous and people can see through that. Make sure you retweet only the tweets that move you in some way. So, what is retweeting and how do you do it? Retweeting is simply reposting someone else’s tweet to your followers. The format is as follows: If I tweet this: “I just ate a Twix bar with a fork!” the retweet would look like this: “RT @KidsAreHeroes: I just ate a Twix bar with a fork!” A newer method that has surfaced recently is this: “I just ate a Twix bar with a fork! (via @KidsAreHeroes)” I’m not a big fan of the latter as it uses more characters. (Hint: If you want your posts retweeted more often, leave enough space for this to go in front without editing: ”RT @YourID: “.)
Another way to get people’s attention is to @reply them with an open ended question, or a compliment on their tweet. Say something to them that beckons an answer. That’s a good way to keep on people’s radar screens.
#16 Managing your Profile
Don’t only talk to yourself. Remember that when people decide whether or not they will follow you, the crucial thing they look at is your profile. There are three things that are important here: your picture, your bio and your tweet content. Even if you are not posting your link each time and not bragging about how great your business is, it is a turnoff if you are not engaging with people. I want to see plenty of @replies in your profile so that I know you are conversing with people. That is the reason to be on Twitter - to engage with others.
Do @reply to people – even if you don’t know them. Or should I say especially if you don’t know them. That is the key to being successful on Twitter and that is to connect with new people. You can’t do that by talking to yourself.
#17 Your Brand
Don’t keep changing your brand. A brand takes time to establish. Many people do not even consider it. There are several things associated with your brand, but what I am specifically referring to here are your picture and your Twitter ID. I would take some time to choose them both in the beginning and stick with them. I recently blogged about a Twitter friend and linked to his page so people could follow him. He had a cutesy acronym for an ID. He decided after I blogged that he wanted a different cutesy acronym. Now my post goes to a dead link. Try this: Go to Google and search for ‘Twitter’ and your Twitter ID. Depending how much you update you should see plenty of hits. If you change your ID they also will all be dead links. Changing your picture doesn’t have as much of an impact, but it does have some. The more times people see your picture the more it breeds familiarity. Familiarity is what people are comfortable with. Keep changing the picture and you lose that familiarity. Sometimes I look through the pictures of people that I follow to find someone specific. Maybe I cannot remember their ID specifically but want to find them. I look for the familiar picture. If they keep changing it I may not find them.
Do be consistent with your brand. Select a picture, Twitter ID and background carefully in the beginning. Once you have settled on something, stick with it!
#18 The Retweet (part deux)
Don’t retweet someone’s post and then as soon as you get a thank you ask them to retweet you. This puts the person you retweeted originally in an awkward position and could cause an unfollow. It tells the person that you were never interested in the tweet in the first place, that you are more interested in getting your own posts retweeted.
Do retweet others’ posts that impress or interest you. Period. Ask nothing in return. Create posts of interest so others will likely retweet. If you are not getting retweeted, there might be a reason.
#19 Games on Twitter
Don’t play games on Twitter unless you expect to be unfollowed…a lot. Now I am totally against the Spymaster, Mafia140, “I gave you bla blah so you should give me a gift” type activities on Twitter because they clog my stream with noise and they are often part of auto-DMs. But I cannot equivocally say don’t play them. If that’s what you enjoy then go for it. But don’t expect people to take you seriously as a professional. To use the networking event example again, if you were attending one, would you bring out a game of parcheesi?
Do engage with others by starting conversations. Period.
#20 Ranting
Don’t rant on Twitter. Or at least keep ranting to a minimum. If I see a heated discussion between two people regardless of who started it and who I think is in the wrong, I usually follow neither of these people. Now I know that Twitter is a GREAT place to rant and I admit I’ve done it once or twice but the rationale here is that people have their own issues and are not likely to want to be saddled with yours.
Do write tweets that are positive. These will attract a lot more people to you than those rants.
Ok that’s it for now. Hope you all are benefitting from these. Again – feel free to tell me what your do’s and don’ts are in the comments section.
Posted by TeamCharlie on February 27, 2009 under Gabe's Twitter Gems, Social Media, Twitter, Twitter for Beginners |
Update: 6/17/09: I received an email this morning from dad of a family of heroes. The McKay family is recognized on our site for collecting food for local food banks. He wrote: “Hey Gabe! I just joined Twitter. How does it work? How do you use it?” Great, I thought, I’d send him the link to the post I had written back in February on the subject. Then I read it and thought it wasn’t that good so I am now rewriting it. Thanks, Mark! ;)
Ok, you are convinced that you would at least like to try Twitter. Let me say this: If you do not give it enough time or if you go about things in the wrong way, you will probably leave feeling you have wasted your time. Twitter is an incredible platform that allows you to connect with an unlimited (0k – it is limited to millions – sorry!) number of people around the world and it doesn’t cost a dime. It can be used for personal enrichment and/or as a conduit for you to do some professional networking.
How Do I Start?
1) Go to http://twitter.com and register yourself by clicking “Join the Conversation”.
Once you have registered and you are at your “home page” you will see that zero people are following you and you are following zero people. It doesn’t make sense to jump in just yet because no one is listening. You may want to leave one “tweet” such as “Just getting started!” so that if people discover you they will know you are active.
2) Choose your Twitter ID (Username) wisely.
This is critical that you do this. First off, you don’t want it to be too long because people don’t like to type and it will also “crowd” tweets. Remember tweets can only be 140 characters and you’ll find that real estate can be precious sometimes. When you get retweeted your tweet plus your user name must fit in the 140 characters or people will have to edit your tweet to rebroadcast it. People don’t like doing that and will only do it if they really like the tweet. So keep it as short as possible. Also I do not recommend underscores or dashes. It just lengthens the user name unnecessarily. Eventually you will be able to search your twitter user name on Google and if you are trying to establish your brand you never want to change your user name. I have written blog posts about people on Twitter, gave their user name so that others could follow them. Later they changed their user name and now these links are dead. I trust you get the picture.
3) Fill out your profile.
This sounds trivial but this is an extremely important step. How you present yourself is what will help feed the decision of whether people follow you. I have a lot of personal opinions as to what should (and should not) be written in your profile. But let me at least suggest to make sure you write your city, state and country, spelling out at least the city and state. I say that because I was once discussing with a Twitter friend from Australia where each of us is from and he didn’t know what Frederick, MD meant. So I changed it to Frederick, Maryland, USA. Remember, you have a global audience now. Also I have found that most people want to see your real name and what your passions are. It is certainly OK and expected of you to put a web link that promotes you in some way. When writing your bio give as much information as you can but if it’s too spammyor self-promoting it might turn people off.
4) Add your picture.
I know my profile doesn’t follow my own advice but 9 times out of 10 it is best to put a picture of smiling self as your avatar. When I look for people to follow I instinctively look for people, not companies or groups with an agenda. In my experience many others are the same way. Don’t doctor it to make it cute or stand out, and please don’t put it sideways or upside down. Some people do that to attract attention and it works – I avoid following them. Click the Picture tab and upload your picture. Hint: Make sure the pic is as square as possible when you upload it. Also it is ok (and even recommended) to upload a picture that is bigger than the box it appears in. Twitter will reduce it automatically but people can see the original size of your photo by clicking on your profile then your picture.
5) You can protect your updates (or not).
In the Account tab there is a check box at the bottom that, if checked, will protect your updates. This means that anyone who looks at your profile cannot read anything you say unless they request to follow you and you approve them. I protect the updates of my daughter (who is 10) so that spammers and porn bots can’t just follow her automatically. Those types of accounts don’t bother to send requests or are unable to. But unless you have a really good reason I do not recommend protecting your updates. It’s hard to read a person whose updates are protected so I am less inclined to follow them.
6) Change your background
On the Design tab you can add a theme or add a background image. Depending on what your goal is and what you want out of this experience, you can simply choose a theme or you can pay someone for a professional Twitter background. There are also things in between that you can do. I recommend that for now you choose a theme and when you discover that you really want to invest your time in Twitter then decide what is best. Also note that free background images can be acquired from several places, including http://www.twitbacks.com/.
7) Add your Devices
Click on the Devices tab to add your iPhone, Blackberry or whatever device. I am not an expert on this since I don’t use my phone to tweet, so I am going to defer to Twitter’s own help on the subject.
8) Get People to Follow You
Ok, now you are ready to start tweeting. But wait! No one is following you. That means that no one will read what you are saying. You need to get followers. This is a bit strange because it is sort of a chicken and the egg situation. People who see you have few tweets are less likely to follow you but why would you tweet if no one is listening? The answer? To get people to follow you. This to me is the most difficult time, because you haven’t figured out yet what Twitter is all about, you have no followers and you are not sure what to do. My answer here is to go real slow. This can be a bit tricky if you do not know anyone on Twitter, but I will give you a bit of a boost if you like. If you follow “KidsAreHeroes” (Go to http://twitter.com/KidsAreHeroes and click the ‘Follow’ button) and send me a message that you read this blog I will follow you back. (I may follow you back anyway.) If you would like my assistance always feel free to ask I will gladly answer your questions if I have time and opportunity. But Twitter isn’t about just making one connection – it’s about connecting with a lot of people. The easiest way to get followers is to follow people. They see they have a new follower, read your profile and decide if they want to follow you back. There are many web sites that offer suggestions as to who to follow. One of my recommendations is @AlexKaris. He is always offering interesting tips to newbies. Once you are at his home page you can see who is following him. You can see their profiles, see if you like the things that they say, and follow them if interested. More often than not they will follow you back and that’s really how to get started. You may also want to check out Twitterholic.com to connect to the big players on Twitter. http://wefollow.com and http://twellow.com are great resources that classify Twitter users by category so you can follow people with similar interests. Here are some other quick recommended follows: @TheRyansWell, @Isipho, @ChloeMaxmin @LexxiSaal @AlanasAchievers and @HeroHugsOrg (all “heroes”) from our web site. And of course let’s not forget the cofounder of Kids Are Heroes, @MM4Animals.
Remember, if you have very few tweets people will be less likely to follow you until they can see some substance. So be patient. Follow just a few people at first and test the waters – get used to how things work. As you tweet more then you can try following more, and so on.
We have now set up your Twitter account and you are ready to start tweeting. Before you actually get started you will want to know some things that are germane to Twitter.
1) What’s with the ‘@’ Sign?
When you tweet about another person on Twitter you always should preface their Twitter ID with the ‘@’ sign. This tells Twitter that people can click on that user name within the tweet so they can check that person out if they wish to. Here’s a great example, if you wrote: “Hey all, you should check out @KidsAreHeroes because they are doing great things!” When someone reads this tweet and is interested in checking out KidsAreHeroes they can simply click on the link you provided because you supplied it properly inside your tweet. Also, when you want to address one person in particular, you begin your tweet with the ‘@’ sign followed by their identity. Something like “@moelib Tell me more about your editing service!” is appropriate. (Shameless plug for my sister in Canada.) When you do this it ends up in their “Replies/Mentions” folder which makes it much easier for them to track things directed at them. Although be careful – even though it is addressed to them it is plainly visible by others to see it. To send a message only viewable by you and another person you need to send them a “direct” message.
2) The Tiny URL
One common method of communication and exposure on Twitter is to send links to websites whether it is for marketing purposes or just to point to a funny YouTube video. You would be right in guessing that a typical link could take up a lot of precious real estate when you are restricted to just 140 characters. Services like http://snurl.com, http://budurl.com. http://bit.ly and http://tinyurl.com will “shrink” these long addresses for you down to a manageable size. When users click on these short links, they will be redirected to the original sites automatically. Note: The most compact one of these I have found is http://tr.im.
3) The Retweet
A common method of flatteryand respect is the retweet. This is repeating a tweet that impressed you in some way so all of your followers can read it. You also give credit to the author. Be careful, if you do it too much it will be seens as disingenuous. Here is how to do it. Say you read a tweet from me that said: “Wow! I just ate a Twix bar with a fork!” Now I know I would never tweet like that and I especially hope you don’t retweet it if I did but it’s just used as an example. Here is the retweet: “RT @KidsAreHeroes: Wow! I just ate a Twix bar with a fork!” Please pay close attention to the spaces and lack thereof. If done correctly the person who you retweeted will see that you did so and hopefully will thank you. A newer method of retweeting is by doing it the following way: “Wow! I just ate a Twix bar with a fork! via @KidsAreHeroes”. Although preferred by some I am a bit old school and like the former method because it takes up less space. UPDATE 12/11/09: Twitter now has its own version of the retweet. You will see the option underneath the tweet to the right. All this does is repeat the tweet verbatim to your followers – you cannot edit it. Alos as of now when you do this the person you are retweeting will not be notified that you have done so. The old way will end up in your mentions folder. That’s why I prefer the older method.
4) Feed your Blog to Twitter
When I discovered you could feed your blog posts to Twitter I was really excited. I knew this would help me increase my readership dramatically. Before Twitter I would write and write with very few people noticing it. Now I get regular comments and retweets. You can feed your blog to Twitter by doing it manually – shorten the URL as described above – or automatically through a service such as http://twitterfeed.com.
Ok I Think I’m Ready – So How Do I Do It?
There is a plethora of tools out there that interact with Twitter. In the very beginning when you are just starting out I recommend you just use your regular browser. What’s nice about this is that no additional software needs to be installed. Go to Twitter.com and start “tweeting”. Don’t forget to refresh your page every minute or so to see the new messages – they don’t pop up automatically. Engage people in conversation. Send out open-ended questions and see what comes back to you. You will see the replies directed at you on your home page but you can also see them at any time in your @Replies/Mentions folder. The reason why it appears on both is because if you are not monitoring Twitter at the time they are sent, the messages directed at you will not get lost in the mix of other messages you are subscribed to read. When you log back on you can simply check your Replies folder to see if anyone sent a reply to you. Direct messages can be sent to you by people you follow, and in this case they can be viewed by no one else. These only show up in your Direct Messages folder. A reminder: From what I’ve experienced, newer people tend to forget to look in their “@Replies” folder for messages directed at them when they sign on. Please check it often and respond in kind. And be warned, Twitter can be addictive!!
I have written many posts on Twitter that I hope are helpful to people just getting started and people who have been doing it for a while. After you have digested this one and get your feet wet a bit I hope you come back to read some other posts. My favorites are my “Top 10 Do’s and Dont’s” as well as “To Follow or Not to Follow“. To see all of my Twitter related posts, simply click here.
Feel free to ask questions and/or leave your new Twitter user name in the comments section here. Are there any experienced Twitterers out there that wouldn’t mind helping out a “newbie”? Please also tell us about yourself and leave your Twitter ID in the comments. Happy tweeting and good luck!
Posted by TeamCharlie on under Gabe's Twitter Gems, Twitter |
As many of you know I began my Twitter journey fairly recently – that is in late December of 2008. I haven’t looked back since. I like to blog about things I have a passion for, and it just so happens that right now I am passionate about several things. In April of 2006, my dog Charlie founded Wags for Hope, which is a local pet therapy group in Frederick. In March of 2008, my daughter and I founded Kids Are Heroes, which is a web site that inspires children to become active in their communities. I only mention this because these are two distinct endeavors that I am very passionate about. So it made sense to me to create two Twitter personae. TeamCharlie is my Wags for Hope identity where I recount stories of pet therapy in nursing homes, talk about dogs, etc.. KidsAreHeroes is my other identity where we promote our web site. Now for the good stuff.
Since the start I have had one main blog where I reflect on all the things I care about. I would expect most if not all of you bloggers on Twitter are using Twitterfeed to automatically feed your blog posts to Twitter. That’s an easy and wonderful tool to have available. But what do I do when I want to talk about Wags for Hope, or specific things that concern Kids Are Heroes? How do I “split” my feeds? This has been tormenting me for a while, so I made an effort yesterday to start really looking for this solution. I was told about the ‘Filter’ option in Twitterfeed which is useful but not in my case. The filter option will pull posts that have certain key words in them. This doesn’t solve my problem. I was surprised that I discovered little about this subject on the Internet or through my Twitter family. At any rate I tripped over the solution this morning by simply playing with WordPress URLs. I hope that those who are searching for the same solution find this blog post. Full disclosure: This works for WordPress blogs only – you may be able to use the same logic on other blogs but I cannot attest to that. I currently use wordpress.com – not wordpress.org (I know – I need to upgrade) and I am assuming the same logic will work on both.
I wanted something that would filter tags (categories) instead of keywords. Therefore I can tag one type of post with Wags for Hope and the other with Kids Are Heroes. To separate them and create a feed link for Twitterfeed, here is what one of mine looks like: http://gabeoneill.wordpress.com/category/kids-are-heroes/feed . It’s as simple as that. So I can split up the ones that do not apply to each other. For something like this post that might benefit both identities, I created two feeds using the same tag and fed them to both Twitter ID’s. I hope this tidbit is helpful to you.
