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If you’re looking to add some snazzy features to your tweets to get your business more attention, check out Twitter Cards and the role ThingLink is playing to help make tweets more visually appealing. TwitterCards allow interactive images to play directly inside a tweet, and ThingLink images are now viewable and linkable. This means you can drive traffic from an image in your tweet, not just a bitly link. Businesses can make their tweets more dynamic, getting customers more engaged. You can create images that include sound, video, text and more.
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Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’
3 Reasons to Stick With Social Media Marketing
December 18th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Diving into social media marketing is fun and scary at the same time. When you’ve been at it for a while and you’re not getting the results you want, it can be incredibly frustrating. Why so few likes, comments, retweets, shares? I totally hear you, believe me! Between trying to deal with Facebook’s EdgeRank and timing social media use so people will see your brilliant content, it is easy to give up.
Resist the urge – don’t give up! Here are 3 reasons why (statistics courtesy of HubSpot):
Your demographic is on social media
No matter who your customers are, they are using social media: 83% of 18- to 29- year-olds and 70% of 30-49 year olds are active on it. Even 51% of those 50 and older are active on social media. Whether your business is B2B or B2C, your customers will interact with you on social media if you share engaging, useful content.
Social media use is growing
Your customers are continually joining social media – and using it more and more. Consider these numbers:
- Every 60 seconds, 66,000 things are shared on Twitter, 695,000 things are shared on Facebook, and 7,000 things are shared on LinkedIn.
- Every day, 700,000 new Facebook accounts are created.
- Every week, 7 billion (billion!) things are shared on social media.
The more active you are, the better your chances for engagement.
Social media marketing works
Just because you’re not seeing immediate results on social media (new leads, new customers, higher sales numbers), don’t give up. Marketers are reporting 3 significant results:
- 91% see improved website traffic due to social media
- 79% are generating more quality leads than those who don’t use social media
- 50% have successfully connected with new customers on social networks
Making sure social media marketing works for you is pretty straightforward:
- Be real
- Be remarkable
- Show your appreciation
- Make your fans and followers feel special
How has social media helped your business grow?
Image courtesy of englishwithjo.com
Google+5 Ways Smartphone Shopping and Social Media Are Changing Retail Marketing
November 14th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
With holiday shopping moving from in-person to desktop to smartphone and offline word of mouth moving to review sites and social sharing, retail marketing has entered a whole new era. HubSpot recently produced a fantastic (and very long) infographic called The Meaning of Like, which I went through and analyzed for insights all retailers should know.
There are my 5 favorite takeaways:
1. Shopping via smartphone is huge
If you don’t have a mobile site, you are missing out on the 64 percent of smartphone users who shop online with their devices. It is estimated that 167 million people will shop online this year and spend an average of $1,800 per person. You do the math.
2. Online shoppers are very social
Retailers who are active on social media have a distinct marketing advantage, as social media users are big shoppers: 40 percent of Twitter users search for products via Twitter, 51 percent of online shoppers conduct research on social sites, and 60 percent of Facebook users will discuss a product or service in exchange for a discount or deal.
3. Online shoppers check reviews
As I mentioned above, online shoppers do a lot of research, so it is worthwhile to ask customers for online reviews and spend time on Q&A sites like Quora to answer questions specific to your industry, product or service. Consider these numbers: 59 percent of online shoppers check customer reviews, 42 percent check question and answer tools, and 26 percent look up Internet forums.
4. Online shoppers do more than just shop on their smartphone
A third of online shoppers use their smartphones to look for sales and specials, check store info, look at product reviews and compare prices. Make sure all of that information is easily findable on your mobile site!
5. Online shoppers use Pinterest
Do you have a Pinterest account yet? Half of consumers check for coupons and deals on Pinterest, 43 percent look for product information (which strikes me as odd, since Pinterest is a visual platform), 36 percent read or post comments, and 34 percent look for event information.
In my next post, I’ll share all the ways retailers are changing to accommodate this new shopping and sharing behavior.
Image courtesy of bigfrey.com
Google+6 Common Reasons People Unlike Your Facebook Page and Stop Following You On Twitter
November 8th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
As you may have noticed by now, I really like infographics. I found a great one published earlier this year on the Get Satisfaction blog that listed the reasons people will stop following a brand on Facebook and Twitter. All the reasons are super easy to avoid, so here the top ones that I see all the time, along with tips on how to not make those mistake.
1. Posting or tweeting too much
You know what they say: Too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing, especially in social media. When it comes to posting on Facebook, once a day is plenty. As for Twitter, twice a day is fine.
2. Posting or tweeting too much about the same thing
This is where an editorial schedule comes in. By listing all the different topics you can write about and then spreading them out over the course of, say, two weeks, you won’t bore your followers.
A corollary to this is: Don’t post the same exact thing on Facebook that you do on Twitter. Your audiences are different on each platform, so your content should be as well.
3. Posting or tweeting too much promotional stuff
People care about one thing: themselves. The more content you share that benefits your followers, the better. If you post too much stuff about your company and how great it is, well, where’s the value in that?
4. No value beyond one-time offer
Once you hook a new Facebook fan or Twitter follower, make it worthwhile for them. They responded to your offer for X, so that means they are interested in X. Post about X – tips, tricks, guides, funny quotes, photos, etc.
5. Not offering enough deals
If you offered a special promotion exclusively through Twitter or Facebook that got a great response, then your audience probably really likes deals. Keep offering them weekly or monthly to build brand loyalty.
6. Irrelevant content
If you want to really engage your audience, be sure you’re sharing information about topics they care about. Whatever gets zero response should be pulled from your editorial schedule. Whatever gets a lot of response should be put front and center on your editorial schedule.
If you’re not sure what your audience cares about, ask them!
Have you unfollowed a brand or business for doing any of the above?
Image courtesy of fbei.wordpress.com
Google+Twitter Goes Visual: What You Need to Know About the New Profile Header Image
November 7th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Twitter jumped on the visual bandwagon and has updated their account profiles so you can now use images to tell your company’s story. It is worth pointing out that unless you have implemented the change, your Twitter account will look the same as it always has. Eventually, you will be forced to make the change.
Here’s what you need to know about the new profile header images:
Twitter Looks Like Facebook…
You know the Facebook timeline cover image? That’s what the new profile header image on your Twitter account looks like now.
…But Different…
The header image is like wallpaper. Your Twitter account information (profile image, user name, Twitter handle, Twitter bio, location and Web link) are overlaid on the header image.
…and You Can Add Information
There are no limits on the content you can add, so consider adding a link to a landing page, email address, special offers, announcements and hashtags you use or follow on Twitter.
Get Creative With the Image
Here are a slew of ideas that will tie your image to what you do. You could use a photo of:
- Your products
- Someone using your products
- Employees
- Your office
- The outcomes of your product or service
- Customers
- A collage of the above
You could also ask a graphic designer to create an image that demonstrates what you do.
Ready to give it a shot?
You can start by going to your account page and clicking on the gear in the top menu. Select settings and in the left column, click Design. Twitter will walk you through the process from there. Have fun!
What did you choose as your header image and why? I am still working on mine!
Image courtesy of dailyblogging.org
Google+12 Tips on Effective Live-Tweeting From an Event
October 11th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
On the surface, the idea of live-tweeting from an event you’re attending seems to be pretty straightforward. Live-tweeting can be a great way for you to enhance your expertise on a topic, attract followers who are interested in the event or topic, and connect with other businesspeople who are “in the know” about the subjects at the event. What could be simpler? And as long as you have the Twitter app installed on your smartphone, you should be good to go, right?
Not quite. Like any aspect of your marketing strategy, you need to have a plan in place to make sure your live-tweets are useful and valuable for your audience rather than noisy and annoying. Here are 12 tips that will make your live-tweeting effective:
Before the event:
- Ask about Wi-Fi and how to access it so you don’t have to rely on an overburdened mobile network.
- Send out a few tweets in the days before the event to let people know you’ll be attending.
- Confirm all hashtags for the event so your tweets can be easily found during a search.
At the event:
- Be courteous: put your phone on vibe-only and stand or sit where your constant typing won’t bug others.
- Do not tweet every little thing or you’ll most likely lose followers – and fast.
- Tweet valuable quotes along with the speakers’ handle so they can see your shoutout.
- Tweet any fun or interesting photos for further engagement.
- Retweet other tweets from the event that are interesting.
- Monitor and respond to replies, mentions, and retweets.
- As the event winds down, tweet out a big thank-you to the speakers you most enjoyed.
After the event:
- Compose a blog post based on your tweets – and the tweets of others.
- If presentations are made available post-event, share them on Twitter.
If you have successfully tweeted from an event, what else worked well for you? Share your tips below!
Image courtesy of Twitter.
Google+4 Easy Ways to Make Twitter An Effective Marketing Tool
October 4th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
You learn something new every day, especially when it comes to marketing. The always reliable Social Media Examiner published an incredibly useful post listing a bunch of new ways to make Twitter a much more effective and less noisy marketing tool – and a few ideas on the list were new to me.
Here are my 4 favorite tips, curated from their list of 16:
1. Create lists to organize followers
Did you know you can organize your followers on Twitter? Me neither. Because the noise on Twitter can be deafening, this will make it much easier to find relevant information by subject or group that you can retweet, reply to, mention, etc.
Create up to 20 lists for customers, friends, industry, media, etc. by clicking on the account drop-down menu in the upper right hand corner of your page. Lists is the third option.
2. Brand yourself
If your business has a Twitter account, it totally makes sense to use your logo as your profile picture. But…I don’t. I tweet as myself, and my Twitter profile picture is a casual headshot of me. That’s because I wanted to make Twitter more personal and have my followers connect my tweets with me, not my logo.
If you use your photo, make sure it’s an up-close pic of you that focuses on your face. No animals, kids, lovely shots of you on a beach or mountaintop. Your profile picture is pretty small in a news feed. Make it easy to see.
3. Update your Twitter bio
This is one of my favorite suggestions. Your Twitter bio should include what you do, how you help people, and have personality. Mine says:
Kickass copywriter with a focus on Web content and blogs for high-tech and mid-sized companies. Blogger at @growsmartbiz, lover of food, wine and the sun.
It doesn’t say how I help people, so I need to update that, don’t I? It’s great to regularly review your Twitter bio, so set a calendar reminder to review your bio every 3 months or so.
4. Weed out the trash
By trash, I mean people who tweet a lot of junk (just check your feed for this – if it’s not relevant to you, it’s junk), people who don’t follow you back (use Manage Flitter) and people who don’t tweet at all (use unTweeps).
Yes, the number of people you follow will decrease, but quantity trumps quality, always – especially when it comes to marketing.
What is your most reliable, tried-and-true method, tool, or strategy to make Twitter a more effective marketing tool for your business? Share your ideas below!
Image courtesy of marketinglearn.blogspot.com
Google+3 Valuable Tools That Use Social Media for Customer Research
September 26th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Want to know more about your customers? Look them up on social media. People put an amazing amount of information in their Facebook profiles, Twitter bios and (sometimes) LinkedIn profiles. Skim their bios, and you’ll not only be able to gather a lot of information quickly, you’ll also be able to put together personas, or basic profiles of who your customers are, from age and gender to location to lifestyle.
But you can do more than that. In an article published this summer, Social Media Examiner offered up 3 great tools to help you learn even more about your customers, all of which I took for a test drive. Here they are, and here’s what I learned:
Use Followerwonk to learn more about your Twitter followers. The tool pulls information from their bios and puts keywords into a word cloud, thus allowing you to make better decisions about what content to share on Twitter.
The site also analyzes your followers, so I found out some really interesting information about my Twitter followers: I gain the most new followers on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and I gained a ton of new followers mid-August.
If you want to be more visible on social media, use the super detailed reports from Tweriod to find out when your audience is socially active so you can post content at ideal times for them.
I signed up; it took about 30 minutes to get my results, which were delivered via email (with a link to my account on the site). I learned a lot of incredibly valuable information, like the best time for me to tweet on the weekends is between 1 and 2pm, 4 and 5pm, and 6 and 7pm.
Klout is all about measuring influence, a topic I recently wrote about. If you want to find out who your audience deems influential, Klout topic pages curate the top influencers on different topics. If you can get a quote from a key influencer your audience cares about, you’ll likely get a lot of engagement – and traffic.
I went into Klout, and found my top influencers on Twitter: Mashable, Jonathan Perelli, Tech Cocktail, Heather Huhman and SmartBrief. I then looked up the top Marketing influencers, a topic I care about, and they are Chris Brogan (no surprise!), Brian Clark, John Jantsch, Olivier Blanchard and Brian Solis, all of whom I now follow and will be keeping an eye on!
What other tools have you used to conduct customer research, whether through social media or not? Share your favorites in the comments section below!
Image courtesy of berxblog.blogspot.com.
Google+9 Easy Ways to Tweak Your Twitter and Facebook Strategies for Better Engagement
September 20th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Social media marketing firm Buddy Media released a very interesting report that looked at how marketers use Twitter – and they found some surprising mistakes. In the study, they analyzed 320 Twitter handles from large brands between December 11, 2011 and February 23, 2012. Instead of making the same mistakes as big companies with large marketing departments, learn from them!
Here are the top findings of the study, along with 9 easy ways to get better engagement on Twitter and Facebook:
1. Twitter engagement is 17 percent higher on Saturday and Sunday
Takeaway: save your best tweets for the weekend, and don’t be afraid to tweet more than once.
2. Beginning on Monday, Twitter engagement falls off as the week progresses
Takeaway: Don’t stop tweeting, but tweet less between Monday and Thursday.
3. Twitter engagement drops off on Thursday but picks up as Friday progresses
Takeaway: Send out tweets on Friday afternoon/early evening when people are winding down from the week and getting ready to dive into the weekend.
4. Tweets perform best during “busy hours”
Takeaway: Keep tweeting between 8am and 7pm to get the most engagement.
5. Facebook status updates perform best during “non-busy hours”
Takeaway: Shift Facebook updates to publish between 8pm and 7am.
6. One tweet per day has the highest engagement rate
Takeaway: While 2-4 tweets still perform well, Twitter engagement nosedives beyond 4 tweets per day, so spread out your tweeting.
7. Tweets of 100 characters with working links get much higher engagement rates
Takeaway: Keep your tweets to the point, and be sure your links work.
8. Tweets with hashtags and photos get twice the engagement
Takeaway: Research hashtags first to be sure you’re using popular ones, but don’t add more than 2 or engagement will drop off. And be sure to say if a link is a photo.
9. Asking for retweets works
Takeaway: if you ask for a “RT,” you’ll get a 12 times higher retweet rate; if you spell it out instead of using the abbreviation, you’ll get a 23 times higher retweet rate.
What other tips can you offer for better engagement on Twitter and Facebook? Leave a comment below.
Image courtesy of avenuesocial.com
Google+5 New Twitter Features – and Why They’re Important to Your Marketing Strategy
September 17th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Between vacations, holidays, long weekends and generally enjoying the summer, you may have missed some great new features Twitter rolled out in June. Social Media Examiner did a great job highlighting them, and I’ve added my two cents on why these features are important to your marketing strategy.
1. Top stories
You can now get a weekly email digest filled with the most relevant tweets and stories shared in your stream.
Why this is important:
- You’ll keep up with the zeitgeist
- You can tweak your marketing – from special offers to a blog post analyzing a change in your industry – based on what’s trending
- You can share stories people care about by retweeting, but also by posting them on Facebook and LinkedIn
2. Top tweets
This is different from top stories – these are tweets from across Twitter (rather than just your feed) that got retweeted hundreds or thousands of times. This weekly email can be super entertaining – and useful.
Why this is important:
- It’s a great way to learn what is shared most often on Twitter so you can apply others’ success to your own Twitter strategy
3. Tailored trends
Unless you are a 12-year-old girl or work in the entertainment industry, I am willing to bet you don’t care that #JustinBieber is trending. You can follow trends by tailoring them by location and who you follow, which will be send to you in a weekly email.
Why this is important:
- You’ll stay on top of industry news; use what you learn in blog posts or your own tweets or Facebook posts
- You’ll be able to follow local trends that could affect your business
- You can tweak your marketing strategy – from blog to newsletter to email – based on the intel you gather
4. Follow suggestions
Their fourth and final email includes suggestions on who to follow based on who you follow now.
Why this is important:
- To improve the value and quality of your stream and expand your list of followers, it is always great to add new people to your Twitter community
- This feature makes it easy to do all of the above
5. Expanded tweets
This feature already exists for images and videos, but now it is applied to links, allowing you to see content previews.
Why this is important:
- Engagement around content should increase since people will be able to preview your blog post or article
- Creative headlines and lead paragraphs will become the norm
- It works for mobile and Web, allowing you to better reach all of us mobile users who are tethered to our devices
Which new feature do you think will be most useful to you, and why? Leave a comment below!
Image courtesy of Twitter.
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