Get More Out of Twitter
Tuesday- May 13, 2008
Micro-blogging service Twitter is all the rage these days. It allows you to stay up to date with friends and family no matter where you are or what you may be doing. It's fun and it's engaging, but in my humble opinion, the application lacks certain features. Where Twitter lacks, the open market has filled in. Check out some of the services below to get more out of your Twitter experience
Find more people - Sure, you're following lots of cool people, but even they get boring from time to time. Find people in your local area with Twitter Local. Still not exciting enough? TwittEarth, TwitterVision, TwitterHolic or TwitterPoster are a few of the most popular sites that let you see what's going on worldwide at any moment. Find out who's got the most followers or discover new people twittering about subjects that interest you.
Mobile - Yes, I know that Twitter already has features for updating through your mobile phone, but to me it still lacks something.
Hahlo, PocketTweets or BrightKite are three easy ways to update and interact through your mobile device.
Coordinate with a group - If you're following a lot of people on twitter then it may be difficult to cut through all the clutter to find those conversations that are most beneficial. GroupTweet allows you to interact and broadcast your message to a selected group of friends through one main group account. This could be very useful for small teams or even communicating with family members.
Search - Interested in hearing what other people are saying about a certain issue, product or article? Punch your query into Summize and find all related Tweets. This service can be especially helpful for business owners hoping to listen in on the conversations that are going on about them. For more ways to capitalize on Twitter in your business check out my past article - Using Twitter and other Micro-blogging services to Advertise to Your Best Customers
Polls - Want to get feedback on a question or dilemma that's been on your mind? Check out Straw Poll Now or TwitterCensus for informal polling and feedback.
Software - Wouldn't it be nice if you could interact with Twitter in other ways beside your browser or mobile? Spaz and Snitter are two good looking Adobe AIR applications that can sit right on your desktop.
Fun - Life's too short, have some fun with Twitter. Check out Overheard or get a sense of what people are feeling at Twistori. If you're rocking a Mac, then there is a hidden feature that will show your Twitterverse within your screensaver.
Additional Resources:
What is Twitter? - 2
Twitter in Plain English
Using Twitter and other Micro-blogging services to Advertise to Your Best Customers
OneHalfAmazing on Twitter
Find more people - Sure, you're following lots of cool people, but even they get boring from time to time. Find people in your local area with Twitter Local. Still not exciting enough? TwittEarth, TwitterVision, TwitterHolic or TwitterPoster are a few of the most popular sites that let you see what's going on worldwide at any moment. Find out who's got the most followers or discover new people twittering about subjects that interest you.
Mobile - Yes, I know that Twitter already has features for updating through your mobile phone, but to me it still lacks something.
Hahlo, PocketTweets or BrightKite are three easy ways to update and interact through your mobile device.
Coordinate with a group - If you're following a lot of people on twitter then it may be difficult to cut through all the clutter to find those conversations that are most beneficial. GroupTweet allows you to interact and broadcast your message to a selected group of friends through one main group account. This could be very useful for small teams or even communicating with family members.
Search - Interested in hearing what other people are saying about a certain issue, product or article? Punch your query into Summize and find all related Tweets. This service can be especially helpful for business owners hoping to listen in on the conversations that are going on about them. For more ways to capitalize on Twitter in your business check out my past article - Using Twitter and other Micro-blogging services to Advertise to Your Best Customers
Polls - Want to get feedback on a question or dilemma that's been on your mind? Check out Straw Poll Now or TwitterCensus for informal polling and feedback.
Software - Wouldn't it be nice if you could interact with Twitter in other ways beside your browser or mobile? Spaz and Snitter are two good looking Adobe AIR applications that can sit right on your desktop.
- TwitBin and TwitterFox integrate nicely with Firefox.
- Rather get your Tweets through email? If so try out TwitterMail
- Update your status across multiple networks including Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Pownce and Bebo with HelloTXT
Fun - Life's too short, have some fun with Twitter. Check out Overheard or get a sense of what people are feeling at Twistori. If you're rocking a Mac, then there is a hidden feature that will show your Twitterverse within your screensaver.
Additional Resources:
What is Twitter? - 2
Twitter in Plain English
Using Twitter and other Micro-blogging services to Advertise to Your Best Customers
OneHalfAmazing on Twitter
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Marketing and Public Relations 2.0
Sunday- August 19, 2007
I recently ran across an interesting article in Business 2.0 highlighting the work of South African winery Stormhoek who distinguished their product in a crowded market by using blogging, crowd surfing and viral marketing. I thought it would be good to compare Stormhoek (new-age) with the PR that your company (stone age) is probably doing.
In short, Stormhoek, hired Hugh MacLeod to promote their products through his site, GapingVoid.com. Stromhoek believed that MacLeod's following of tech geeks would be the perfect match as they shared the same single-minded passions as wine enthusiasts do. MacLeod offered a free bottle of the wine to any blogger who asked so long as they were of legal drinking age and had been blogging for a minimum of 3 months. Bloggers were asked to write a post on the Stromhoek wine experience without any obligations. The post didn't have to mention the name of the company or even reflect a positive review.
At the end of the 6 month experiment, nearly 100 bloggers posted related items or comments. MacLeod capitalized by using his online celebrity to organize "geek dinners" for the bloggers in Britain, Spain, France and in the United States. Stromhoek's sales have jumped nearly six-fold over that time. They expect to push about a million cases annually within three years, up from their 50,000 cases a year worldwide now. The total cost of the campaign over the 2 years came out to about $40,000 which is remarkably cheap considering the amount of publicity and sales conversions the promotion added. To top off the success, Ad Age named the Stromhoek strategy one of the top 50 marketing campaigns in 2006. Not bad for a bunch of bloggers.
How does the promotion and strategy that Stromhoek pulled off differ from your company's plans?
Stromhoek - Gave their small niche audience something to talk about. On a volunteer basis, their customers chose to read their advertisements and PR. They had the permission of each person they came in contact with to market their product to them.
Your Company - Force your story and splatter your advertisements across as many mediums and over as many people as you can afford. Yes, some of the crowd may already know about your product and yes, you may gain a few new supporters in the process, but the probability and conversion rate is very low. You don't engage your customer or find out who they really are which in turn costs you more money down the line as well.
Stromhoek - Created a true grass-roots / word-of-mouth customer program. They were transparent and clear with their intentions. They asked permission from their customers. They didn't interfere or do the song and dance to get attention.
Your Company - Fakes a grass-roots campaign. You have a lackadaisical MySpace or FaceBook page (so does everyone else), but your customers can see right through your futile attempts.
Stromhoek - Built a marketing strategy on-line and off. They correlated and had a similar function and feel to them.
Your Company - Lucky if you can get the group that develops the online collateral and marketing plan in the same room with the group that is responsible for the print pieces.
Stromhoek - Let their customers be their guinea pigs. They tested outside of the lab and gave free samples. They took their customers advice and made changes as necessary.
Your Company - Test, test, test in the lab, but still end up being surprised when your product fails in the market. You know what your research tells you. Customers don't know what they want.
Additional Resources:
Mixed Media courtesy of mgwinc
Seth Godin - Permission Marketing
Made to Stick - Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
In short, Stormhoek, hired Hugh MacLeod to promote their products through his site, GapingVoid.com. Stromhoek believed that MacLeod's following of tech geeks would be the perfect match as they shared the same single-minded passions as wine enthusiasts do. MacLeod offered a free bottle of the wine to any blogger who asked so long as they were of legal drinking age and had been blogging for a minimum of 3 months. Bloggers were asked to write a post on the Stromhoek wine experience without any obligations. The post didn't have to mention the name of the company or even reflect a positive review.
At the end of the 6 month experiment, nearly 100 bloggers posted related items or comments. MacLeod capitalized by using his online celebrity to organize "geek dinners" for the bloggers in Britain, Spain, France and in the United States. Stromhoek's sales have jumped nearly six-fold over that time. They expect to push about a million cases annually within three years, up from their 50,000 cases a year worldwide now. The total cost of the campaign over the 2 years came out to about $40,000 which is remarkably cheap considering the amount of publicity and sales conversions the promotion added. To top off the success, Ad Age named the Stromhoek strategy one of the top 50 marketing campaigns in 2006. Not bad for a bunch of bloggers.
How does the promotion and strategy that Stromhoek pulled off differ from your company's plans?
Stromhoek - Gave their small niche audience something to talk about. On a volunteer basis, their customers chose to read their advertisements and PR. They had the permission of each person they came in contact with to market their product to them.
Your Company - Force your story and splatter your advertisements across as many mediums and over as many people as you can afford. Yes, some of the crowd may already know about your product and yes, you may gain a few new supporters in the process, but the probability and conversion rate is very low. You don't engage your customer or find out who they really are which in turn costs you more money down the line as well.
Stromhoek - Created a true grass-roots / word-of-mouth customer program. They were transparent and clear with their intentions. They asked permission from their customers. They didn't interfere or do the song and dance to get attention.
Your Company - Fakes a grass-roots campaign. You have a lackadaisical MySpace or FaceBook page (so does everyone else), but your customers can see right through your futile attempts.
Stromhoek - Built a marketing strategy on-line and off. They correlated and had a similar function and feel to them.
Your Company - Lucky if you can get the group that develops the online collateral and marketing plan in the same room with the group that is responsible for the print pieces.
Stromhoek - Let their customers be their guinea pigs. They tested outside of the lab and gave free samples. They took their customers advice and made changes as necessary.
Your Company - Test, test, test in the lab, but still end up being surprised when your product fails in the market. You know what your research tells you. Customers don't know what they want.
Additional Resources:
Mixed Media courtesy of mgwinc
Seth Godin - Permission Marketing
Made to Stick - Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
What is a Blog and How Can It Help Your Small Business?
Tuesday- July 31, 2007
Many businesses both small and large are adding blogs to their website to better communicate with their target market and build traffic to their site. According to Technorati, a blog search engine, their are over 71 million blogs world wide and approximately 175k are launched daily. Blogs are no longer a fad - they are here to stay!
The word Blog is the combination of the terms web and log. Blogs are somewhat similar to online journals or daybooks created by both individuals and companies contained within a website. Blogs typically contain text, images, media (such as video and audio) and most importantly, they link to other relevant web pages and content on the net.
Blogs can help to build stronger relationships, target certain groups such as clients, media, general public and encourage conversations.
Why should a small business build a blog? Besides a way to express yourself and keep others abreast on relevant news I've compiled a list below on the benefits of writing a blog.
Benefits of Blogging for your Small Business
1. Establish Expertise - Just as I spoke on in my post "Upload a video to YouTube", a blog positions you and your business as the expert in your industry and raises your visibility among your niche market.
2. Communication/ Builds Customer Relationships - Blogs enable companies to present a human face and voice to the public. No longer can you hide behind your phone tree or email - customers want and demand to know whom they will be working with. A blog gives you the opportunity to become transparent to your customers.
Blogs typically allow customers to join discussions respond to concerns, provide tips and insights or receive support. This can be accomplished through any number of mechanisms (comments, forums, etc).
3. Simple, low-cost PR - Writing a blog is probably one of the simplest, fastest ways to put information online.
4. Build communities - Use your blog to grow group support around a cause, political issue, technology or hobby related to your service or support.
5. Test ideas or products - Those that read your blog and comment are your biggest fans and supporters. Use a blog to publish an idea and use it to generate any interest or buzz. A small software company that I support will dangle an idea that they have for a product in front of their best users, gain feedback, tweak their product and then tease them with small bits of news and insight prior to its release. It works like a charm.
6. Higher search engine rankings - Google and other search engines reward those sites with lots of relevant content that is updated often and contains many inbound and outbound links to other relevant content.
Additional Resources:
Do's and Don'ts of Corporate Blogging - CNN Money
Publish and Prosper: Blogging for Your Business - Amazon.com
Why Blogging Matters to Business - About.com
Bloggers Code of Ethics
Blogging for Business - The Entrepreneurial Mind
The word Blog is the combination of the terms web and log. Blogs are somewhat similar to online journals or daybooks created by both individuals and companies contained within a website. Blogs typically contain text, images, media (such as video and audio) and most importantly, they link to other relevant web pages and content on the net.
Blogs can help to build stronger relationships, target certain groups such as clients, media, general public and encourage conversations.
Why should a small business build a blog? Besides a way to express yourself and keep others abreast on relevant news I've compiled a list below on the benefits of writing a blog.
Benefits of Blogging for your Small Business
1. Establish Expertise - Just as I spoke on in my post "Upload a video to YouTube", a blog positions you and your business as the expert in your industry and raises your visibility among your niche market.
2. Communication/ Builds Customer Relationships - Blogs enable companies to present a human face and voice to the public. No longer can you hide behind your phone tree or email - customers want and demand to know whom they will be working with. A blog gives you the opportunity to become transparent to your customers.
Blogs typically allow customers to join discussions respond to concerns, provide tips and insights or receive support. This can be accomplished through any number of mechanisms (comments, forums, etc).
3. Simple, low-cost PR - Writing a blog is probably one of the simplest, fastest ways to put information online.
4. Build communities - Use your blog to grow group support around a cause, political issue, technology or hobby related to your service or support.
5. Test ideas or products - Those that read your blog and comment are your biggest fans and supporters. Use a blog to publish an idea and use it to generate any interest or buzz. A small software company that I support will dangle an idea that they have for a product in front of their best users, gain feedback, tweak their product and then tease them with small bits of news and insight prior to its release. It works like a charm.
6. Higher search engine rankings - Google and other search engines reward those sites with lots of relevant content that is updated often and contains many inbound and outbound links to other relevant content.
Additional Resources:
Do's and Don'ts of Corporate Blogging - CNN Money
Publish and Prosper: Blogging for Your Business - Amazon.com
Why Blogging Matters to Business - About.com
Bloggers Code of Ethics
Blogging for Business - The Entrepreneurial Mind