Too good not to share! Have you had this conversation lately?

Thanks to Scott Stratten from UNmarketing for making this!

In 2006, not many marketers realized the impact that this silly thing called “twitter” would have on our e-strategies. Here’s a great video clip of how Biz Stone got the word out in the early days.  Did you know it was originally spelled Twttr?

A sense of humor is critical in marketing, isn’t it!

(Credit for finding this video goes to Mashable and Say OMG)

As a hands-on business owner, there are many tasks clamoring for your attention daily. A smart business owner knows their strengths and will outsource the other areas as appropriate.

But what about Social Media?  Do you know enough about it to decide if is right for your business?  Should you pay someone else to become the voice of your business, or are you willing to find out what it takes to tackle it yourself?

You and/or your industry are being talked about already.  Think you should join the conversation and be heard?

There are lots of “tweeple” with very large followings.  Chances are they were early adopters of this communication channel, social media is their primary business, or they have set up auto-pilot features to automatically follow anyone who follows them.

Whether or not you automate certain aspects of your twitter brand is dependent on what your business objective is.  The larger your following, the less targeted your demographic is and the more difficult it is to engage meaningfully with your followers.

As for me, I like to check out bio’s and twitter pages before I follow back.  As the channel gets more popular, I’m starting to see some rather shady looking tweeps out there.  Plus I won’t follow back if their bio talks about making a fast buck, politics, or exercising. 

Don’t get me wrong here…lots of followers can be great.  But make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. So go forth and engage with your followers consistently.  The more engaging you are, the more your following base will start to represent your target market. 

Just keep it real!

~Susan

P.s., here are a few tips for finding quality followers:

• To find good followers, use the weekly #followfriday event.  And remember, it’s a two way street!
• Use keywords in your tweets to attract your target market
• Turn off your notification setting when new folks follow you.  It’s easier to review and follow followers directly from the “followers’ link from your Twitter page.

Social Media is powerful.  Not only in the results you can achieve, but in it’s innate ability to suck you in and steal precious time from your already time-limited day.  I know some business owners who sense this and are wary to start something they can’t keep up with. 

So, to help out, here are a few tips to help you get your social media groove on while maintaining your daily schedule.  Feel free to print these out and tape them next to your computer in case you feel the social media pull too great to resist.

Twitter

• Twitter is like a river. You can’t monitor the water running by, but you can dip your toe in it 3 times a day and tweet, retweet and reply appropriately. 
• Turn off the notices (under settings) so you don’t get an email every time someone follows you or send a DM (which is mostly auto-crap). 
• Take those moments to find new followers and follow back those who follow you on a daily basis.  Just click on “followers” and follow those you aren’t already.
• Friday’s are a great day to find new folks to follow because of the weekly #followfriday event. 
• Tweetdeck is a great way to organize your tweet data, but don’t keep it open all day, unless you don’t have anything else you need to get done.

Facebook

• Facebook has the benefit of threading the conversations, so you can tune in once per day and still be relevant in the conversations.
• No time?  You can set up your tweets to go directly to Facebook. The benefit is that those who reply to your tweets in Facebook end up as a thread you can follow.

LinkedIn

• LinkedIn has a nice weekly email they can send you with updates.  Very easy to respond to. 
• If you’re involved in groups (and you should be – that’s where you meet new people), don’t opt for daily digest updates, they’ll drive you nuts.  Just periodically check in with the groups you follow and chime in with your two cents.

Now I must provide a disclaimer here…do as I suggest, not as I do.  Remember, I follow this stuff for a living, so I’m not a “normal” user.  But rest assured I will keep up with what’s new and report back here so you don’t have to.

What is it that you have to offer?  What makes YOU unique?  Chances are, there are other companies who offer the same products or services you do.  How can you use Social Media to differentiate yourself?  By BEING yourself!

Don’t be afraid to blur the lines between work and life in your tweets and posts.  Today’s generation has an automatic “brochure speak” filter that dismisses anything that appears less than real or personal.  It’s back to the “people do business with people, not businesses” principle.

So go ahead, trust your instincts and have a little fun out there!

Social networking is not a direct sales function.  It’s about building exponential relationships.  I’m amazed at how many Twitter folks will set up an automated DM when you follow them that tries to sell you something.  Bad Twitter etiquette!

There is much more to gain in the exponential factor than a quick sale. It builds your brand, credibility and the chance to meet friends of friends.  Once you establish a new follower, the key is to follow back and then tweet good stuff!  Illustrate what you and your brand are all about according to your business objective.

So keep your eye on your objective and tweet smart!

There are some who spend unecessary energy stressing about why someone would unfollow them on Twitter.  Really, it’s nothing to take personally!  There are (some) who will follow you to get you to follow them then will  unfollow you (follow that?).  Sounds like grade school, doesn’t it! 

I’ve always found my number of followers to roughly equal the number of followees, so I haven’t had to worry about that.  Mostly because I’ve grown my base organically over time.  If you rush out there and follow 1,00o tweeple, your ratio looks off and people won’t trust your agenda.

Just remember this…it’s not about the number of followers, it’s having the right mix of followers.  If you consistently contribute quality content (meaning keyword rich blurbs to define who you are), the right people will find you.  Be patient!