Just as there are many different kinds of social media sites, so there are many different ways to microblog. One of the most popular now actually takes place within the larger, general social media sites. When Facebook realized that many of its members loved the idea of being able to update their contacts in real time, they added their own microblogging system.
Facebook’s system only works within the site, though, so unlike Twitter, which can broadcast your tweets to mobile telephones as well, updates are only visible to friends who happen to be on the site at the time. For Facebook users, though, it’s still very powerful—and Twitter users who want their updates to reach further can use Facebook’s Twitter application. This lets them send tweets from within Facebook itself.
Facebook isn’t the only social media site to try to add microblogging to its list of features. LinkedIn, a social networking site geared towards professional connections, has integrated a system that lets people share information about what they’re working on.
Just as importantly, the site also lets its users track what people are saying in those posts with a very neat application called “Company Buzz.” This is the first time that microblogging has been geared specifically to a business audience, and it’s easy to understand the value this could have for a firm that wants to understand what its employees, customers, and suppliers are saying about it.
A Closer Look at Microblogging
What Can Twitter Do for You
Online marketing is a fantastic way to build a business. You can do it from your own home, at your own pace, according to your own schedule and sometimes even without startup costs. Providing advice and promoting products across the Web has helped me to build a successful seven-figure company. It started in my bedroom and has since taken me on speaking tours across the country and around the world.
But creating an Internet business—even a small one—does require work, and part of that work involves staying up to date with the newest tools and the latest online innovations. That’s not as easy as it sounds. Not every “next big thing” turns out be a giant. The Web is littered with links leading to services that promised a great deal, delivered little, and faded away. Part of building a successful online business means knowing which tools are likely to be useful revenue-generators and which are going to be major time-wasters.
Sometimes, that’s obvious. It was pretty clear when Facebook and MySpace came along that they were going to be both powerful and useful. The ability to renew old friendships and maintain current ones with very little effort—and for no cost—was always going to attract large numbers of people. And the ease with which entrepreneurs could use those sites to build networks and keep their market interested and engaged meant that an understanding of social media has become hugely important for online marketers.
The value of Twitter was far less obvious. The system really couldn’t be any simpler. It lets anyone send a
message no longer than 140 characters that answers the question “What are you doing now?”
You can send that message at any time, from your computer or from your mobile phone, and it can be seen by anyone who has chosen to follow those messages. That’s really all there is to it. I told you it was simple. It doesn’t sound like much, and for Internet entrepreneurs used to writing 300- to 500-word blog posts several times a week, it also sounds painfully restrictive.
What on Earth can you put in 140 characters that could possibly be worth reading? Surely you can‘t promote products, build a brand, generate interest in your company, and keep people reading with such small amounts of content? The answers, it turns out, are “a lot” and “yes, you really can!”
Twitter has proven itself to be incredibly addictive and, for business owners, very valuable too. Ever since I stumbled onto Twitter, I’ve spent many hours thumb-typing messages. I do it frequently and I love it. It’s fantastic fun, like writing a personal blog but without the effort.
The pleasure alone would be enough reason for me to recommend Twitter, but Twitter isn’t just good fun. It’s also proven to be a very important and easy way of finding new users and customers, a powerful networking tool, and an excellent way of picking up useful information.
It’s helped me to build deeper relationships with my partners, my clients, and other entrepreneurs. It’s extended the reach ofmy brand, making the name ofmy business known to people who might never otherwise have heard of it.
It’s brought me advice and suggestions from experts I couldn’t have reached any other way. It brings me a steady stream of additional Web site users and provides a channel for me to alert people who have visited my sites when I’ve uploaded new content. And it’s brought me some fascinating reading and a bunch of wonderful new friends, too.
In this book, I’m going to explain what you can do to get the most out of Twitter and make microblogging—the sending of tiny messages—work for your business. I’ll start with a quick introduction to social media. Twitter grew out of the online networking craze that had given sites like MySpace and Facebook such giant valuations. Although Twitter can work wonders when used alone, it’s at its most powerful when combined with other social media tools. This book will focus on Twitter, but I’ll begin with an overview of social media sites so that you’ll find it easy to connect your microblogging with other forms of online networking.
I’ll then describe Twitter. I’ll explain how it works, what the service can do, and exactly why it’s so powerful. The site might look small, but it packs a surprising punch. I’ll explain the reason behind Twitter’s super powers. Then I’ll start to get practical. I’ll talk you through signing up to Twitter and selecting a username. Both of those are fairly straight forward (even if it is easy to make expensive mistakes), but Twitter also lets its members create profiles to introduce themselves to other users. The profiles are pretty basic. You won’t find any of the fancy bells and whistles that you can expect to see on other social networking sites. But that doesn’t mean you should stick to the fundamentals.
Your profile is an important marketing page.With a little thought and just a touch of creativity, it can function as a useful entry point to your commercial site and help raise the profile of your business. I’ll discuss what to include, how to design it, and how to make the page pay.
I’ll then talk about the most important thing you’ll need to know on Twitter: how to build a following. That’s vital. Although every message—or “tweet,” as they’re called on Twitter—is public, if no one knows you’re there, no one will know to read them.
There’s a huge list of different strategies that Twitterers are using to build up followers, make new contacts, and keep in touch. Some of them are very simple. Others are a little more complex and require a bit of thought—and sometimes even a little expense, too.
I’ll talk you through some of the most effective ways that I’ve discovered to build up followers. Finding followers isn’t difficult. Much harder is keeping them. That’s only going to happen if you create the sort of content that
people actually want to read. There’s nothing new about that. Anyone who has ever tried to generate revenue with aWeb site knows that content is king. When you can write articles and posts of any length you want, upload videos, and show off your images, there are plenty of options and lots of flexibility. When you‘re restricted to a message of no more than 140 characters, though, creating interesting content sounds much more challenging.
It is more challenging, but it’s also a lot more fun. You can do it quickly, without making great demands on your audience and—once you get used to it—without a great deal of thought. I’ll explain what makes good Twitter content and talk you through some of the sorts of messages that successful Twitterers are sending.
Tweets, though, are just a means to an end. The goal of using Twitter is to build relationships—especially relationships that can benefit your company. In the following two chapters, I look at how connecting with two different types of followers can bring those cash—and so can stores and other retail outlets. Although Twitter is not strictly a commercial area, with carefully written content, it is possible to directly increase your conversions and make extra sales. And like Facebook, Twitter has also created a network of add-ons and applications that help its users get even more out of the service. I’ll introduce you to some of the most useful and, in Chapter 11, explain how to add powerful solutions to the Twitter platform.
Finally, I’ll provide a 30-day step-by-step plan for dominating Twitter that will take you from a Twitter Johnny-No-Friends to a powerful social networking force in just one month. Twitter is very restrictive. It doesn’t allow users to make videos, upload rich media content, or do any of the fancy things you might have become accustomed to on other sites.
Nor is it a sales arena. Although businesses are using Twitter to increase their revenues and make money, thinking of the site as a low-cost—even free—way to advertise is not going to bring results. In fact, that’s just going to cost you time you could have spent doing something far more rewarding. At its most basic, Twitter is a communication tool. It’s a channel that lets you speak to lots of people and enlighten them about your life and your work. You can think of it as a giant virtual water cooler. It’s a place where people come to get to know each other, to make friends, to network, and, most importantly, to converse.
It’s not a place where people come to sell—and pushing sales hard on Twitter just isn’t going to work. On the other hand, if you do manage to build up friends on Twitter, you should find that those friends see you as the first stop for the products or services they need. People always prefer to do business with people they know, and they get to know them by talking to them and swapping ideas with them.
On the Internet, people are doing that on Twitter. While I will provide you with various examples, I will use my own experiences with Twitter as an ongoing case study throughout this book. After all, Twitter is about relationships. It only makes sense to provide you with an up-close look at how I have used the site to build relationships and grow my business.
I discuss connecting with customers on Twitter by problemsolving, winning referrals, and supplying support; and I talk about using Twitter to communicate with team members, especially when they’re scattered in different places.
Once you’ve built up your following and are enjoying using Twitter, you can start to make all that effort pay off. There are a number of ways to do that, and I’ll talk about them in detail as well. The first is brand extension. Twitter can be a very effective branding tool for any business, and it’s been used by some of the world’s largest companies to drum up publicity for their products. I’ll discuss ways you can use your tweets and your followers to
extend the power of your company’s name, as well as the rules for effective brand-building with Twitter. Blog posts can also be promoted using Twitter—an important way to turn your followers not just into visitors but also into it.
How to Increasing Your Productivity
Whatever your ambitions are, your personal success is determined by the foundation of your character. The person you become in life is a direct consequence of the types of information you are exposed to, and the quality of decisions you are able to make. It is obviously possible for you to live and still be somebody but if you are not exposed to the process of decision-making, you may have a personality rather than a character, and of course you know that both personality and character are on different stand points.
As a person, there are things you were born with that you cannot change. One of these things is character; it is like your fingerprints. Your character is something you live the rest of your life to take responsibility for. It is nurtured by how you respond to the things that happen in your life, whether they relate to winning or losing in every game, having financial breakthrough or handling challenges and difficulties.
A good character is not developed overnight. It takes discipline to create and diligence to nurture. The idea of who you want to be is the beginning of the journey to building your character and is greatly influenced and determined by the quality of information and persons you expose yourself to. It is like an athlete or a footballer who is preparing for a competition; he/she takes responsibility for preparation to ensure that he maintains adequate fitness and readiness before the tournament. The amazing thing is that he does not stop even after the competition; irrespective of the result of his performance, he strives to keep himself fit by participating in several trainings and routine physical exercises,
When you are determined to make yourself the person you want to be, either by setting goals for yourself and achieving them or by starting a journey to re-branding your entire self towards attaining a desired status in future, you must sincerely commit to the key elements that would help to deliver these results to you; you will strengthen, re-create and adapt to these elements so that you would have them in abundance even as you feed on them every day.
Personal Development is one of the key elements that would help you to build good character. It helps you to identify where you are going, and points you to the right steps to start your journey toward getting there. It shapes your mind and activates the sparks you need to remain committed in the journey until you reach your destination. If your ambition is to succeed in business, create a lifestyle for yourself and family, venture into brand new ways of doing things or to achieve financial freedom, you can rest assure that learning from Acclaimed World Experts and applying their tips, principles and guidance notes to your daily living would help you to be the person you want to be.
Troubleshooting Noises on Your BMW Car
Troubleshooting strange noises that occur in your BMW can go a long ways to helping you identify problems early on and get them repaired before they worsen. The best way to listen for noises is with a stethoscope. It’s easy to place it in the spot you want and it provides you with the most accurate sound. Here are some basic guidelines for troubleshooting some of the most common problem sounds on your BMW.
Bangs If you hear a sharp bang in your car’s engine, something that sounds like a rifle shot, you’re probably dealing with engine backfire. This could be caused by a leak that’s creating a rich air/fuel mix, or it could be related to a clogged monolithic converter. The bang will appear once and it will precede a significance increase in power.
Buzzing An annoying buzz sound usually means there’s some bad positioning of the car’s interior trim parts. Have someone drive the car while you look around the interior for the source of the noise. Luckily this sound does not usually signal serious issues.
Loud clangs and clacks This is a sound that could not be emitted by any small, light parts. It’s definitely coming from a heavy and likely important component of the vehicle. Such a sound could be coming from a set of gears, or a bad rear axle pinion bearing, which will make the sound when you shift into driver or reverse.
Grinding This is usually a loud, unpleasant sound reminiscent of a dentist’s drill. If you hear it coming out of your BMW, it means something real bad is happening, and it’s happening fast. It’s often related to break issues, and it can mean that the linings of your BMW are out or that you have an overly aggressive friction material formula eating away at your rotors.
Hissing A continuous hissing sound that fluctuates along with your rpm could mean a couple of things. It could be related to normal belt noise, in which case it’s not a problem or it will require a minor check up. It could also be related to a leak in the BMW’s cooling system. Using a black light will make finding a leak easier.
Knock This is a deep, hollow sound, like the sound of someone knocking on a wooden door. It’s usually a sign that an important component is failing and is in immediate need of repair. Unfortunately, determining what the sound is related to can be a bit difficult, since a loose pin makes the noise just as well as a failed rod bearing. To determine the cause, you’ll want to check the idle oil pressure. If it’s low, the problem is likely the bearings. Now, listen with a stethoscope. If it’s a faulty rod bearing, the sound will come more from the oil pan; if it’s a wrist pin, the sound will come more from the water jacket. Next, hold the BMW’s RPM meter at 2500 and jerk the throttle open and let it shut close. This procedure will increase the sound if it’s a faulty rod. If the sound doesn’t increase, chances are it’s a pin. If you know what to look for, you can also try visually inspecting the pan.
Whir You’re BMW will make a whirring sound sometimes that just means the engine and all the mechanical components are working just fine. This is one of the few sounds that you usually don’t have to worry much about.
Twitter Tips for Beginners
Top Things You Need To Do When Starting on Twitter
Twitter has taken the social networking world by storm. With over 3 million registered active users on its network, it might overtake some of the pioneers of online social networking. You can also benefit from Twitter as a new tool for your online ventures. Actually, Twitter is more than a social networking site. It is also a micro blogging platform, a subscription tool, a social messaging service, and lots more.
You can practically use Twitter in any way you like to connect with people you know and to build a wide online network. Here are the top things you should do with Twitter especially if you’re just starting to use the service.
First, you have to determine your purpose why you will use Twitter. Having a clear objective will make your Twitting more meaningful. For example, you might want to use it to find old friends and follow what they’re doing now. You can also use Twitter as a way to communicate or share your thoughts and ideas. Most importantly, you can use Twitter to promote your blog or to make a unique brand for your website.
Second, you have to start Twitting right away. If you want to achieve your goals at Twitter, then it is best not to leave your Update Box empty for extended periods. You will notice that the more you Twit, more people will follow your updates. Lastly, you also have to search for other Twitters who share your interest and follow them. In this way you can breakin your own Twitter page to the system. Following others is also a good way to widen your network.
How Twitter and Email Work Hand in Hand
Working Twitter in with your email is a great idea to keep a bigger network active and generate income for your business. This is especially true if your business is of the marketing kind. If so, then Twitter is a great marketing strategy that you should incorporate along with your email techniques and strategies.
To start off, you need to create a Twitter account. You should create a Twitter ID based on your given name or you can use a creative name such as the one for your business. After going through the process of filling up the registration form, carefully select a specific option: Email when someone starts following me”.
Additionally, you should also choose a second option which is “Email when I receive a new direct message”. The second thing you need to do is to tempt others with freebies – an electronic freebie is sure to be a unique gift your Twitter followers would want. If you have decided on this yet, you can insert the sales copy and the form that your followers will need to sign up in order to get the free giveaway you are offering.
For purposes of tracking, you can also put up a unique page which lets you in on how many subscribers you actually generated from such an invitation. And finally, you need to create your own Twitter bio. You are given one hundred and sixty characters which you can use to describe your business – if you make a well written one, and then you can attract more email alert requests.
Time-Wise Wed Efforts with a Twitter Code
Twitter is a great application to use if you want your contacts to know what is up with you. Of course, this means they will need to go to the Twitter site in order to read your Tweets.
Fortunately, there is a great way for you to manage your Twitter and your own blog site as well. The way to do this is to get the code for your Twitter account and put it on your blog. This can very well be achieved if you have some knowledge of HTML and web. It can be quite technical, but it can be a lot useful once you get to understand things.
Even a Mac operating software can have a Twitter widget on it once you have the code. If you want this on your Macenabled computer, you will need to add the widget of Twitter right onto your Mac Dashboard.
Furthermore, the installation of the Twitter Updater (which is a type of required plug-in) is necessary for the integration of Wordpress. These plug-ins word well when you bank on
the Twitter badges as well, as it has an output code that syncs with the customizations you may want to make later on.
With a Twitter code, you can then have an easier time managing your efforts on the World Wide Web. Of course, this does not mean that you cannot anymore access your Twitter account on the site itself. For as long as you have your registered log-in, you can get to it right away even if you have a code.
Watch Your Network Soar with Twitter
Getting into the whole Twitter thing is more than just keeping with the times. It goes beyond knowing what the younger ones are into, because it certainly does a great number of
things for your business if you have one. And because this service is a free one, who are you to pass up a great opportunity to make a bigger network for your products and services?
For your business to soar using Twitter, you first need to get as many followers to your account in order to attract a wider client base. How you can do this, you must ask. It is very simple – by being able to Tweet or send messages about interesting things, you can deliberately create curiosity about you. As soon as you pique the interests of other people, you can be sure that they will want to track you.
Just be sure that you know what their interests are and if you have anything good to offer them. If you do, then you will have captured their attention and they will surely be reading your Tweets. As soon as you have them, your next task would be to urge them to get more followers for your Tweets. This can be done subtly by suggesting great promos and freebies that would require them to put other people on your tracker.
People love prizes, and when you have something great dangling in front of them, they would be more than motivated to track you. Having a Twitter account, if you know how to manage it and keep it exciting at intervals, would surely make other people take notice of you.
Twitter Can Help at Work
Twitter is a simple messaging service that you’ve either heard about a lot or not at all. Either way, it’s a fun and useful tool, well worth trying if you want to reach potential and existing customers, employees or employers.
Like blogging, Twitter lets you write messages that other people can read. Unlike blogging, Twitter limits your messages to 140 characters. (The previous two sentences absorbed exactly 140 characters.) Readers can choose to receive your Twitter updates (sometimes called “tweets”) on their phones, via IM, RSS or on the Web. The brevity, combined with the variety of delivery systems, make Twitter a powerful medium. Here are five ways to harness it:
1. Share ideas. Twitter is often called “micro-blogging,” and as with regular-size blogging, some people use it primarily to share personal information, while others use it for professional reasons.
If you’re interested in the professional possibilities, ignore the Twitter prompt, “What are you doing?” because frankly, the details of your day are banal to people who don’t know you (Proof: my Twitterstream). Instead, note cool work-related things you’ve discovered — a great article, a new Web site or an intriguing idea. Whenever possible, include a link (if it’s too long, use TinyURL to shorten it with one click).
Or share your knowledge. The lexicographer Erin McKean posts neologisms; a group of venture capitalists gives tips to entrepreneurs.
2. Show respect. Another way to share ideas — and your respect for other people in your field — is to “retweet” something interesting somebody else has Twittered. Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media (for which I’m co-writing a research report on Twitter), does this frequently and to great effect. Simply start your message with “Retweeting@username” and then paste in the original message (the @ symbol is the Twitter convention for responding or referring to other users).
3. Build your brand. Zappos, the online emporium known for outstanding customer service, encourages employees to Twitter and to respond to customers who also use the service — increasing the company’s reputation as a friendly place to shop and work. Notably, the chief executive of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, Twitters frequently. Because the company cultivates an un-corporate image, he’s the rare executive who can effectively post personal updates.
4. Engage customers. Run contests, solicit feedback and thank customers for supportive messages. Jetblue does all three. (By the way, JetBlue doesn’t identify the person or people who Twitter under its account, but best practices suggest you should.)
5. Provide customer service. Wesabe, a personal finance site, has long used Twitter to respond to complaints and to let customers know when it’s fixing problems. Comcast doesn’t post, but it does use Twitter to respond to customers who have complained about the company.
How do Comcast and Wesabe know customers are grousing? Twitter’s excellent search feature lets you learn what people are saying about any term — including you, your competitors or your industry. (Oddly, this search feature is different from the relatively useless one at the top of your own Twitter home page.) You can then respond to individuals — as Comcast and Wesabe do — with the @username trick.
Signing up for a Twitter account takes about 15 seconds. If you first want more detail on how the service works, check out the Wikipedia entry or the “Twitter in Plain English” video. Still on the fence? Chris Brogan has 50 good ideas for using Twitter in business.
Finally, no matter how you use it, remember that messages posted to Twitter — even updates you send by phone or IM — reside on the Web in perpetuity, where prospective employers and customers can find them. While 140 characters may not seem like much, they are enough to look unprofessional.
How to Post for Success on Twitter
The most basic way of using Twitter to build traffic to your blog is to post updates on Twitter whenever you make a blog post. But there’s so much more to Twitter than that. The Twitter site has one question and one question only - What are you doing? How you answer this question is completely up to you.
A lot of people simply post about what they are up to. You’ll see a lot of posts like “Just finished eating lunch.” Or “Working on a project.” But you’ll also see a whole lot more. If you’re having trouble answering the question “what are you doing” try thinking of it in terms of “what are you interested in” or “what has you attention.” To start out with, you’ll want to post things that are related to you personally and not your blog directly.
Remember, first and foremost Twitter is a social networking utility. People have a low tolerance for blatant advertising. Here are some ideas for non-blog post related Twitter posts:
Share information. You can post links related to your niche, or just interesting things you find around the Internet.
Ask questions. You can increase your relationship with your followers by asking questions. Ask people what they ate for lunch, what they think of the latest news story or their opinion on a topic.
Share your opinion. You can post links to recent news stories, especially those related to your niche, and offer your opinion.
Post tips related to your niche. Add to the value of your twitter feed by sharing tips that aren’t on your blog. 140 characters are a great space to share a short, helpful tip.
Share links to other people’s sites and explain your view. When you do post a link to your blog, make sure to add more to your Twitter post than just the link. Explain what it’s about and tell your audience what is coming next on your blog. This way you won’t just be spamming your link all over the “Twittersphere.”