Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
7 Reasons Every Business Needs to be on Twitter
Despite the fact that Twitter has more than 32 million users, has received massive publicity from both celebrities and government, and produced remarkable results for companies like Dell and Zappos, many business executives still don’t “get” Twitter. Granted, there is an awful lot of noise (“Just got back from the gym…eating pizza again for lunch…watch a Seinfeld rerun”), self-promotion and spam-like content on the world’s most popular microblogging service—and to newbies it can seem like a bizarre online cocktail party where everyone is shouting and no one is listening—but for those who understand and learn to use it effectively, Twitter can be a powerful business tool.
Here are seven reasons every business needs to be on Twitter.
To Interact with Customers
For most business, it’s far easier and more profitable to generate continued or new business from existing customers than it is to acquire new ones. Growing existing customer business requires ongoing communication. Staying in touch with customers on Twitter is not only more real-time than many other techniques, it’s also far more cost-effective than direct mail, attending trade shows, picking up the phone, or even maintaining a customer newsletter. It’s not that Twitter can replace other touchpoints completely of course, but it can reduce the required cost and frequency of high-touch interactions.
To Interact with Prospects
Just as many of your customers are probably on Twitter, so are your prospects. They care far less about your advertising than about what your customers are saying about you, and how you respond. An active Twitter presence enables you to demonstrate strong customer service, rather than just claiming you offer it (after all, who advertises poor customer service?).
To Influence the Influencers
Industry analysts, journalists, bloggers and other influencers from most sectors of the economy are well-represented on Twitter. Tweeting content of your own that will interest them (i.e. not just your marketing materials), retweeting content they post, and engaging in dialog is a great way to get these people talking, and writing, about your company. It’s less formal, more “social” and usually more effective than “cold” outreach.
To Gain Market Intelligence
The fact that customers, prospects and industry thought leaders are all using Twitter make it a valuable tool for monitoring the topics and concerns being discussed. This is a great potential source of new product/service enhancement ideas as well as topics for blog posts, white papers or other content.
To Become a Resource
Prospects don’t care about your products or services—they care about solving their problems. Demonstrating your knowledge of their industry and their challenges, for example by tweeting your thought-leadership blog posts and white papers, makes you a resource they can go to for helpful information. That gives you the opportunity to explain how your products or services can help them, in a consultative fashion.
To Give the Business a Personality
Business websites are, necessarily, one-to-many communication. No matter how compellingly your site presents your value proposition, it’s still formal and impersonal. Twitter is a much more casual and conversational. Again using the example of Zappos, CEO Tony Hsieh has been successful on Twitter by sharing his personality. Unlike a company website, Twitter is immediate, informal and personal.
To Be Part of the Conversation
As noted above, your customers, prospects and key influencers are already having conversations about your industry, your competition—and quite possibly your company—on Twitter. If you aren’t participating in that conversion, you’re missing valuable intelligence, business opportunities, and possibly even the opportunity to prevent damage to your firm’s reputation.
Twitter is far more than a 140-character soapbox for celebrities, spammy “Internet marketers” and the incorrigibly obnoxious. Savvy business tweeters can filter out the cacophony and create valuable dialogs with key participants in their marketplace.
This piece was originally published in the Web Market Central blog.
Here are seven reasons every business needs to be on Twitter.
To Interact with Customers
For most business, it’s far easier and more profitable to generate continued or new business from existing customers than it is to acquire new ones. Growing existing customer business requires ongoing communication. Staying in touch with customers on Twitter is not only more real-time than many other techniques, it’s also far more cost-effective than direct mail, attending trade shows, picking up the phone, or even maintaining a customer newsletter. It’s not that Twitter can replace other touchpoints completely of course, but it can reduce the required cost and frequency of high-touch interactions.
To Interact with Prospects
Just as many of your customers are probably on Twitter, so are your prospects. They care far less about your advertising than about what your customers are saying about you, and how you respond. An active Twitter presence enables you to demonstrate strong customer service, rather than just claiming you offer it (after all, who advertises poor customer service?).
To Influence the Influencers
Industry analysts, journalists, bloggers and other influencers from most sectors of the economy are well-represented on Twitter. Tweeting content of your own that will interest them (i.e. not just your marketing materials), retweeting content they post, and engaging in dialog is a great way to get these people talking, and writing, about your company. It’s less formal, more “social” and usually more effective than “cold” outreach.
To Gain Market Intelligence
The fact that customers, prospects and industry thought leaders are all using Twitter make it a valuable tool for monitoring the topics and concerns being discussed. This is a great potential source of new product/service enhancement ideas as well as topics for blog posts, white papers or other content.
To Become a Resource
Prospects don’t care about your products or services—they care about solving their problems. Demonstrating your knowledge of their industry and their challenges, for example by tweeting your thought-leadership blog posts and white papers, makes you a resource they can go to for helpful information. That gives you the opportunity to explain how your products or services can help them, in a consultative fashion.
To Give the Business a Personality
Business websites are, necessarily, one-to-many communication. No matter how compellingly your site presents your value proposition, it’s still formal and impersonal. Twitter is a much more casual and conversational. Again using the example of Zappos, CEO Tony Hsieh has been successful on Twitter by sharing his personality. Unlike a company website, Twitter is immediate, informal and personal.
To Be Part of the Conversation
As noted above, your customers, prospects and key influencers are already having conversations about your industry, your competition—and quite possibly your company—on Twitter. If you aren’t participating in that conversion, you’re missing valuable intelligence, business opportunities, and possibly even the opportunity to prevent damage to your firm’s reputation.
Twitter is far more than a 140-character soapbox for celebrities, spammy “Internet marketers” and the incorrigibly obnoxious. Savvy business tweeters can filter out the cacophony and create valuable dialogs with key participants in their marketplace.
This piece was originally published in the Web Market Central blog.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Proactive Leadership Course- TCL CE.
TCL's CE Proactive Leadership- March 15-19- Beaufort Campus. More info? www.tcl.edu/cewd. Call me if you need help! 843-470-8405...
Monday, February 1, 2010
Social Media I
The way we share information and gather business leads has changed exponentially over the past 5 years. Venues such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin have made it possible for people to seek out and receive business and product referrals in a matter of seconds. Are you keeping up with what it takes to be successful in this information age? Social Media 1 will provide an overview of the most important aspects of Web 2.0 and show you how to start your own social media accounts and enhance them to attract maximum viewership.
Members of the Social Media 1 class will be expected to establish their own social media accounts and interact through several Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter groups established for the class.
Session 1:
Web 2.0:
•What is Web 2.0?
•How are people using the Internet to share information, referrals, reviews?
•How can you use Web 2.0 to advance your businesses goals?
Facebook:
•What is Facebook?
•Setting up an account
•Best Practices
•Establishing a Fan or Group Page (What are the differences?)
•Using Profiles, Fan Pages and Group Pages to promote business
•Effective promotions
•The most important Apps
•Simple FBML to customize your page (Facebook Markup Language)
•Tagging functions
•Facebook on your mobile
Session 2:
Twitter:
•What can you say in 150 characters?
•Gaining followers
•Customizing your profile
•Autofeeds
•Auto Followers
•Pictures, Video
•Short URLs
•Twitter on your mobile
Linkedin:
•Its use
•Making the most of your profile
•Gaining referrals
•Job searches and hiring
•Group functions
Session 3:
Multimedia:
•Flickr
•YouTube
•Vimeo
•PhotoBucket
Blogging:
•Different blogging services
•Starting and customizing your blog
•What to blog about?
•Incorporating video, photo
•RSS
•Connecting your blog to your other social media
•Promoting your blog
•Keywords
Incorporation:
•Tying all aspects of your Web 2.0 campaign together
•How to do more in less time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meet your Instructor:
Ian Leslie is director of marketing for the Lowcountry Economic Network.
In his role as marketing director Leslie oversees several social media ventures for the Network, including management of the @lenetwork Twitter account and Industry Appreciation, Lowcountry Economic Network and Pecha Kucha Beaufort fan pages.
Through the Network, his own consulting business and volunteer works Leslie manages social media accounts that reach a combined viewership of more than 3,000 people.
Leslie successfully has used social media as a whole and targeted campaigns to create a viral, underground energy for events and attract attention to local businesses and civic organizations.
Leslie received his bachelor’s degree from the University at Albany in 2001. He worked as a journalist in New York and South Carolina before joining the Network in 2008.
Want to know more about Ian Leslie? You can find him at all of these online locations:
http://www.facebook.com/ianrleslie
http://www.twiiter.com/irleslie
http://flavors.me/ileslie
http://www.flickr.com/photos/irleslie
http://www.vimeo.com/irleslie
Members of the Social Media 1 class will be expected to establish their own social media accounts and interact through several Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter groups established for the class.
Session 1:
Web 2.0:
•What is Web 2.0?
•How are people using the Internet to share information, referrals, reviews?
•How can you use Web 2.0 to advance your businesses goals?
Facebook:
•What is Facebook?
•Setting up an account
•Best Practices
•Establishing a Fan or Group Page (What are the differences?)
•Using Profiles, Fan Pages and Group Pages to promote business
•Effective promotions
•The most important Apps
•Simple FBML to customize your page (Facebook Markup Language)
•Tagging functions
•Facebook on your mobile
Session 2:
Twitter:
•What can you say in 150 characters?
•Gaining followers
•Customizing your profile
•Autofeeds
•Auto Followers
•Pictures, Video
•Short URLs
•Twitter on your mobile
Linkedin:
•Its use
•Making the most of your profile
•Gaining referrals
•Job searches and hiring
•Group functions
Session 3:
Multimedia:
•Flickr
•YouTube
•Vimeo
•PhotoBucket
Blogging:
•Different blogging services
•Starting and customizing your blog
•What to blog about?
•Incorporating video, photo
•RSS
•Connecting your blog to your other social media
•Promoting your blog
•Keywords
Incorporation:
•Tying all aspects of your Web 2.0 campaign together
•How to do more in less time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meet your Instructor:
Ian Leslie is director of marketing for the Lowcountry Economic Network.
In his role as marketing director Leslie oversees several social media ventures for the Network, including management of the @lenetwork Twitter account and Industry Appreciation, Lowcountry Economic Network and Pecha Kucha Beaufort fan pages.
Through the Network, his own consulting business and volunteer works Leslie manages social media accounts that reach a combined viewership of more than 3,000 people.
Leslie successfully has used social media as a whole and targeted campaigns to create a viral, underground energy for events and attract attention to local businesses and civic organizations.
Leslie received his bachelor’s degree from the University at Albany in 2001. He worked as a journalist in New York and South Carolina before joining the Network in 2008.
Want to know more about Ian Leslie? You can find him at all of these online locations:
http://www.facebook.com/ianrleslie
http://www.twiiter.com/irleslie
http://flavors.me/ileslie
http://www.flickr.com/photos/irleslie
http://www.vimeo.com/irleslie
Thursday, January 28, 2010
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