The Hello Bar is a simple notification bar that engages users and communicates a call to action.

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lori r taylor, revmediamarketing, social media, social media marketing, branding, product branding, networking, oneclicksociety, social caffeine, mobile marketing

What Would You Pay For A Tweet?

I read a news story today about a Philadelphia councilman who has been paying $28,000 to an outside contractor which is running his Twitter account. On the surface this might seem like an effective use of taxpayer money to some–seeing as how Twitter is a tool which can be used to reach a younger demographic, however, using an outside contractor instead of Tweeting his own thoughts undermines its effectiveness.

Twitter is a fantastic communication tool for personal and branding use. However, it is built on the understanding that the person (or entity) you are Tweeting with is who they claim to be. There are certainly examples of celebrities using outside services to manage their Twitter accounts, and there is nothing wrong with any business outsourcing their Twitter campaign, however, if you are an individual, perhaps especially a public servant, being not only responsible for your Twitter account but also actively using it is an imperative.

There is no substitute for YOU. You are who people expect to find when they dial your cell phone number and so too you are the person they expect will be checking in to your Twitter account. We constantly remind our clients the importance of being hands-on when it comes to their entire social media campaign. We can take care of the bulk work–scheduling Tweets or posts; responding to customer questions, providing directions or instruction. But when it comes to questions specific to YOU, YOU are the best source of this information.

Before you completely outsource your Twitter consider how this might impact your core business, or how it might impact the people trying to reach you via your network. You don’t need to do all the work yourself, but you should be certain you upholding the principles you have set for yourself and upholding your end of the bargain when it comes to your relationships with the people you are connecting with.

Kenney says he sometimes tweets on his own and otherwise approves all tweets written by ChatterBlast, although one tweet from Kenney’s account last year wrongly said he wasn’t up for re-election.

A ChatterBlast co-founder defended the contract, saying Twitter is an avenue of communication that has helped solve citizens’ problems.


Click here to read more about the councilman.

#1 All Followers Are Not Created Equal (most are a waste of time)

Most of us have learned the hard way “size matters” (I simply couldn’t resist – pun intended!)

But seriously, do you know who you’re engaging with?

Do you know who you SHOULD be talking to?

Yes there are uncovered gems out there – of course there are! But let them find YOU because you are in the right places doing the write things.  Including, asking questions, actually reading the posts you retweet with helpful comment and responding to legitimate inquiries from your followers.

Just spraying and praying for the best is probably the #1 most newbies make when on Twitter.

A great service for this is MarketMeSuite, which Jeff Bullas says at his blog, “It boasts a ton of great features that make it well worth giving a go. You can create reply campaigns, pull in RSS feeds and compare the Klout score of the users you are interacting with you. On top, you can also collaborate with other’s through the App’s multiple user setting.”

Social Media Consultant, Twitter infographic

Image originally posted on Bit Rebels

[This Infographic was put together by designer Michael Neff.]

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That’s when I started to look around.  There are some rather interesting numbers being thrown around, especially those that are whispering about the number of followers people have.  If you follow someone, you at some point expect them to follow you back.  That has become the moral sense of the whole thing.  However, there is a little secret hiding behind that Twitter curtain that you will be quite surprised about when revealed.  According to the data provided byPureWire, Twitter has a dirty secret for you.   

#2 Twitter Done Right Can Have More Impact On Your Brand Than Facebook

One of the things Shannon Downey who wrote a compelling guest blogger the Bruce Clay blog is the power of the TweetUp.

[NOTE: I do NOT participate in these at all. And it's a MISTAKE.]

Your goal for 2012 should be to find the best tweet up you could join and participate in each it every single week.  This allows you to establish more of a one on one rapport with your peers.

I’m going to do my best to do this starting this month, if you want to join me send me a tweet with hashtag #socialcaffeine with best time of day and let’s make it happen!

(I’ve heard that Google+ hangouts are equally as powerful and less crowded.)

social media consultant | twitter infographics

Image originally posted on Blue Clay

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Twitter users understand the game and we want to reward people and brands who play by the rules and go above and beyond. Check out these statistics from ExactTarget:

  • 17 percent of Facebook users are more likely to purchase from a brand after “liking” it.
  • 21 percent of Facebook users are more likely to recommend a brand after “liking” their page.
  • 37 percent of Twitter users are more likely to purchase from a brand after becoming a follower.
  • 33 percent of Twitter users are more likely to recommend a brand after becoming a follower.

#3 Twitter Is Dangerous: Look Before Your Click

Please don’t click on random links from random followers.  In fact there is a service Parrot Fish that is free where you can see a preview of the link and Jeff Bullas recommends it on his blog here.

I make it a policy to NEVER click on a link from a DM even if I know a person because people’s accounts have been hijacked. I first DM them back to see if this was sent by them.

Secondly, I almost NEVER click on a link from an untrusted source in my Twitter feed, period.

social media consultant | twitter spam

Source: TweetSmarter

#4 Twitter Is The Lazy Way To Blog (That’s why I love it!)

Ok, so you might not be lazy – you could just be BUSY.  And that’s ok. As long as you’re consistent, follow the rules and are kind to the people who engage with you, it’s better than doing nothing.

When I first started in Twitter back in 2008, I had NO BLOG. But I was a voracious reader. So I picked a topic I felt I could add value to and stayed focus. Nothing about where I ate, who I dated or how my life was going.  Just relevant and helpful tips to get you started in social media.

Pick a topic – ONE. Find obscure tips or give original short ideas and be consistent. Retweeting Mashable, Problogger or Social Media Examiner, while admirable to support the blogs (and you should do it – if you read it and use it – shout it!) is better than nothing. But it won’t get you much.

Add a thought. No matter how short. Just add value.

social media consultant | why I love Twitter

Image originally posted: Tweeterism 

[NOTE:  It's now a go daddy landing page and no longer live.]

#5 Twitter Is The New Google

Ok, maybe not quite. But do this.

1. Do a search on your company name and Google and see what happens.

2. Do one at Social Mention, http://socialmention.com

3. Heck for fun, search Lori R Taylor. Even though I have hundreds of articles at my blog, what comes up includes content from Twitter, Facebook, etc.

The point is, you can’t ignore your customers opinions, you can’t beat or delete them (that’s another whole post – but just ask brands on Facebook who have tried this – bad, very bad) so you might as well join them.

Plus with the new Google search parameters weighing social so heavily, how can you afford NOT to?

social media consultant | twitter statistics

Image originally posted on Zengage, The Zendesk Blog

Note to use this image they ask you to use embed code, but I couldn’t get that to work, so I created link from it. In addition, in return for using this image, I’d like to give the service at Zen Desk a huge shout out by saying they are highly recommended by several 7 figure earners online (that I know personally).

So if you need help managing your business online., Zen Desk has great customer service packages you can buy so you don’t have to handle that inside!!

It’s very affordable and really frees you up to do what you do best – your core business! They are big Twitter fans, and have a nice article to support this wonderful infographic…

The brilliance of “140 characters or less” is now being shared by more than 100 million users. Say anything you want, and you automatically “BCC” the World. And more and more of us are choosing to say things that are directly relevant to businesses and to the relationships that they foster with their customers. If you want to learn about products, you are among the 42% of all Twitter users. If you provide opinions about brands and services, you fit in yet another 41%. If you are looking to buy an ERP, or a movie ticket for that matter, you are among 21% of us all! The takeaway is clear – the conversation is on – and whether or not you as a business take an active part in it, is up to you.

Read More…

If you want to do more infographics, I highly recommend checking out some of the provides at Fiverr.com who will do this for you for $5.00. It’s your job to provide them with the stats you think matter and write a blog post to support it – but if you suck at graphic design this is a quick fix.

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Social Media Consultant | Twitter Home RunLet’s face it, whether you are a fan or not, the guys at Twitter get it as they show in this fantastic testimonial driven video. It’s social media marketing at it’s finest!

Capitalizing on the world’s fascination with celebrities, they get video testimonials from the best of the best. High profile people like Richard Branson, Hillary Clinton, Piers Morgan, Martha Stewart, Serena Williams, Snoop Dogg, and others all took the time to share a video why they use twitter.

Brilliant. Grand Slam. Video marketing at its best.

Sure the music is a little boring, and perhaps the video is a tad too long, which is ironic coming from a brand built on 140 characters at a time. But you’re compelled to watch to see who says what next.

Twitter definitely hammers their message home…

If these people who have almost any media channel they want at their disposal are using Twitter, why aren’t you?

Yet, as always, I focus on how to make this campaign BETTER.

Why not leverage the ability to do things like other brands such as Google Chrome did so you can enter a tweet on why YOU use Twitter?

Since Twitter had over one million views and assuming most of those people use their service – how fun and easy would it have been for their fans to jump on the “I Love Twitter” bandwagon too?

The guys at Reel SEO did a kick ass break down of Google’s social media marketing strategy maxing out the technology prowess of You Tube. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it out this very cool video called Chrome Fastball .

It’s truly an amazing interactive video – wow!

The piece is called “Chrome FastBall.“ It’s really more of a game than a video–this is not the standard YouTube player, but a Flash piece that is part-video, part-game. At first it appears to be a standard video of a cute little Rube Goldberg device. But then every few seconds the video stops, splits itself in two, and little puzzles and tasks emerge in the center for the viewer to perform before the video can continue. The goal is to be as quick as possible, to help the ball get to the end in record time… they want you to be “Chrome-fast.”

From asking for your input to “get directions”…

Social Media Consultant | Lori R Taylor | Video Review

Image Credit ReelSEO

 

To asking you to tweet out the fastest ball…

Social Media Marketing | Lori R Taylor | Video Case Study

Image Credit ReelSEO

 

To even showing you how easy it is for Chrome to translate a tweet for those of us who are lame and only know one language, they rock it.

Social Media Consultant | Video Marketing

Image Credit ReelSEO

 

I have to admit it got really fun when I was asked to spell the word BRIDGE by using band names that started with each letter of the word, respectively.

Social Media Consultant | Interactive Video Review

Image Credit: ReelSEO

(But even the Google peeps missed an opportunity by disabling the share feature – what was the point of that? Not sure. Or maybe I’m too stupid (or lazy) to figure it out. Either way, it should have been easy for me to share and review on a blog and it wasn’t.)

In summary, I give this Twitter promotional video a BIG thumbs up and a standing ovation clap clap Grand Slam vote for knocking this one out of the park.

And what’s cool for YOU, is this is a very easy strategy for you to use for your brand, isn’t it?

If you are a local business owner with people coming into your restaurant, gym or even having you sell their home, would it be that hard to grab a camera and ask them why they do business with you?

Nothing sells you like other people singing your praises.

You can put testimonials up on your blog, site or in your communications, but honestly putting together a short video on why you are the best at what you you do is a sure fire way to open your doors to the world asking all who watch to “give you a try”.

Is this something you could do or have done for your business?

I’d love to see your videos, hear your comments and know if you believe this could drive a rabid fan crowd to YOU.

Check it out and tell me what you think.

 

Social Media “Ruining The World?” Hardly

May 5, 2011

Pittsburgh Steeler Rashard Mendenhall question the reality of the events behind the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. Then his teammate, Steelers safety Ryan Clark went on the radio and said “social media is ruining the world.” Two wrongs do not make a right and two stupid things posted on Twitter do [...]

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Neil Gaiman Uses Social Media Sword

May 5, 2011

Neil Gaiman recently came under fire from a Minnesota Republican leader who called him a “pencil-necked weasel” and accused Gaiman of stealing $45,000 from the state of Minnesota. Interesting since Gaiman had been in Minnesota at the invitation of the republican party. What is most interesting, however, is that Gaiman was able to use social [...]

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5 Ways To Build A Content Driven Crowd

January 24, 2011

Facebook seems to be the place to be.  I say “seems to be” because every day I get asked to like new fan pages, ads are in my face daily and the like button is crack for marketers.  But once someone likes you, what do you do next? Do you hear crickets chirping? That’s what [...]

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3 Ways To Leverage Negative Comments

January 24, 2011

One of the biggest fears brands have about social media is “exposing” themselves to negative comments.  But the “bury your head in the sand strategy” doesn’t work, just ask companies like Comcast. Comcast has used twitter for a customer service feed.  Not only do they have customer service representatives on the front lines, ready to [...]

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