Twitter

Growing Your Social Media Network

Posted in: Blog, Facebook, Twitter by SpiderWriters on October 7, 2009 | No Comments

It’s not enough to set up a fan page on Facebook or a Twitter account and expect people to follow you in mass numbers. Granted, if you enjoy a strong following via a company blog or existing portfolio Web site, there’s a good chance visitors will migrate to your social networks for updates and interaction. You can place buttons on your main site, and post and tweet to your heart’s content to build your following, but what happens when you plateau and can’t quite reach a friendship goal?

Word of mouth is the strongest marketing tool out there, and often one has to mouth off quite a bit before people get the message. While recommendations may drive traffic to your fan pages and profiles, there has to be substance and activity to persuade them from clicking that ever-important “join” button.

The key to increasing fans and friends lies, naturally, in encouraging present friends to spread your gospel. Tell a friend, and they’ll tell two – but in this age of short attentions and instant gratification one will wonder what’s in it for them. You have already established your social media presence as a means of promoting your business and/or products, so now is the time to really make it work.

Incentive: You can set up Twitter to notify you when people follow your account, and if you check the fan member list of a Facebook page you’ll see the most recent fans at the top. Hold a membership drive where newly joined fans can receive a discount on products, maybe a freebie, or something equally attractive. For existing fans, offer an equivalent promotion if they write a blog to recruit fans or retweet your Twitter posts. Use the information you receive to reward their loyalty.

Partnership: Are there businesses or group in your area that can benefit from mutual promotion strategies? Maybe you are associated with a civic organization and have sponsored events in the past. Connect with others to devise a plan to cross-promote your social media endeavors. You might find fans at one network will join yours as well.

Expertise: Above all else use your networks to expand upon your experience and skills in your chosen area. People should follow your Twitter and Facebook because it provides a valuable resource of information in your field. This is your chance to prove just that.

Interact and inform – the more content you offer means a greater opportunity for people to share your wisdom.

Kathryn Lively specializes in professional social media services and Virginia web design.

6 Great Twitter Quiz and Polling Apps – ReadWriteStart

Posted in: Blog, Twitter by SpiderWriters on October 2, 2009 | No Comments

If Twitter really does reach the far recesses of the earth, then doesn’t it make sense for us to harness that diversity of opinions? We’ve seen the effects of Twitter on emergency aid, nonprofit fundraising and political outreach. However, if we just want to crowdsource a simple question like “Which of these 3 movies should I see?” or “Which of these is your favorite blogging platform?” a simple poll would suffice. Click below list of 6 services you can use to get the answers you need from your Twitter friends and followers

Read more: ReadWriteStart.

Twitter vs. Second Life: A N00b Takes Another Look – PC World

Posted in: Blog, Industry News, Twitter by SpiderWriters on October 1, 2009 | No Comments

Overhyped technology poster child of 2009, meet your counterpart from 2006. We’re talking about Twitter — which, by our reckoning, entered the mainstream at the beginning of this year — and Second Life, the virtual world which went through its own hype phase in 2006 (BusinessWeek: “Virtual worlds abound in useful business applications!”) before being brought roughly back to earth.

But not all hype is created equal. In a June 2009 blog entry for AdAge, PR executive Chris Abraham compared the two services, and concluded that Twitter’s hype cycle is more sustainable than that of Second Life. Why?

“Twitter is light, cheap, open and permanent, whereas Second Life is heavy, expensive, closed and ephemeral. Twitter does things right where Second Life failed.”

Predictably, this description fired up the critics, including Prokofy Neva (real name: Catherine Fitzpatrick), a long-time Second Life resident who is also a rapid-fire Twitter user (17,223 tweets as of this writing). While she agreed that Twitter is overhyped, she also questioned the comparisons of the two services. Twitter, she noted, is “not a place where you can build relationships and collaborate.”

Read more: PC World.

Twitter Adds Lists to Help You Get Organized – PC World

Posted in: Blog, Industry News, Twitter by SpiderWriters on | No Comments

Twitter is a great way to find out what people are talking about by following popular topics, finding people with common interests, or connecting with popular celebrities, athletes, or even your favorite product brands. The problem is, once you’re following more than a few hundred people, the endless stream of 140-character messages becomes unmanageable and the value of following so many people for news and information becomes lost.

Read more: PC World.

Going Viral on Twitter

Posted in: Blog, Industry News, Twitter by SpiderWriters on September 30, 2009 | No Comments

Once you make a nest for yourself on Twitter, it’s time to start thinking strategy.

Not only should you follow people with similar interests and follow the conversation, but you should start the conversation. After some time, you might even be the conversation.

Behold the power of the retweet.

Surely you’ve seen the RT before a tweet. This means the user took that tweet from someone else, and has given them credit by attributing them with an @username.

Here are a few suggestions on getting your tweets popular enough to get retweeted.

1. Make sure your links work. Always check up on link shorteners to make sure your link still gets your followers where they want to go.
2. Keep your content original and relevant. No one likes the person at the water cooler who just repeats what they hear and doesn’t provide any new news. Strive to keep your information fresh and interesting to your followers.
3. Use common keywords in your tweet that are likely to be searched in Twitter search menus. People who typically follow certain trends may find your tweet and RT it on their profile.
4. Make your tweets a little shorter than 140 characters. Keep in mind that for someone to retweet you, they will add RT @yourname before the tweet, and they may alter your message if they have to make it shorter to fit.
5. Don’t ask for a retweet often. Occasionally, you may want to get time-sensitive information out there about a promotion or sale. In this case, you might ask people to RT. However, sometimes this can come off as begging for popularity.

Your brand is constantly under a magnifying glass with each tweet. Like everything else, take the time to really focus on your message and putting your best foot forward. In the end, you may end up with quite a following.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer specializing in articles about Social Media Optimization and SEO for travel Web sites.

Twitter – It's All About Me!

Posted in: Blog, Twitter by SpiderWriters on | No Comments

What do Twitter users talk about in their 140 characters? Themselves, new research from Rutgers University shows.

A study of 3000 Tweets from 350 users found that 80% of users are “meformers,” or “Me Now” status updaters.

According to the researchers, these “meformers” use Twitter to “post updates on their everyday activities, social lives, feelings, thoughts, and emotions.”

The other 20% are “informers” who use Twitter to post informational updates, such as links, news, and articles.

Read more from the Huffington Post, and click here to read the entire study.

What is the difference between the “meformer” and the “informer” in terms of using Twitter for promoting your business? At the end of the day, the quality of the posts matter – making the most of the 140 characters allowed per post to attract a reader’s attention. If you worry that you are trying too hard to sell yourself over social media networks, just remember that sometimes it only takes one phrase or link of interest to capture a follower, who in turn may help spread the word. Sites like Twitter and Facebook may not provide the magic bullet to success, but the more you test information relayed you can gauge its effectiveness.

Spider Writers can help you achieve visibility via social media. Contact us today at 757-499-1990 to learn more.

Twitter Not Quite All-American?

Posted in: Blog, Industry News, Twitter by SpiderWriters on September 28, 2009 | No Comments

Twitter may be the rage on Capitol Hill, but the American public at large is not yet sold on the microblogging site, according to a new poll.

Thirty-nine percent said Twitter is a fad that will fade away, while 43 percent had either heard of it but didn’t know what it is, or had never heard of it.

Source: TheHill.com

Is Twitter a fad, or a valuable component in one’s online marketing strategy? Look around you, at the way communication is relayed. Think of how in just over one century we have evolved from telegraph to radio to television to the Internet. The rules of journalism in the 1970s don’t jibe with action today. Used to be if breaking news happened our television shows would be interrupted for on the spot reports. While that might still occur, social media sites like Twitter get there first.

Before you dismiss Twitter as a fad, learn more about how it can help you reach new clients and customers, and extend the reach of your brand beyond your neighborhood. Community is global now, your business must be, too.

Contact Spider Writers, social media specialists in Virginia Beach, at 757.499.1990 to learn more about how we can help you.

Media Companies Embrace Social Networks

Posted in: Blog, Facebook, Industry News, Twitter by SpiderWriters on | No Comments

At the top of each article on this online resource for Web developers are prominent links inviting visitors to post the story to Facebook and the bookmark-sharing sites StumbleUpon and Delicious. Just in case readers don’t get the message, at the bottom of each article is a handful of other icons, leading to Twitter, Digg, Reddit and several other social sites, along with a little inducement in a bright red font that reads “Sharing Is Sexy.”

Because the blog is new and has few readers, “I need these buttons to encourage referrers to share my articles with their friends,” said its creator, Dicky Lim, who is based in Malaysia.

That’s not to pick on Mr. Lim. Many sites are now festooned with an abundance of ways for readers to post content to their favorite social networks. The Web site of The New York Times, for example, offers links to post articles to Twitter and seven other services, including LinkedIn and Yahoo Buzz. The site of The Wall Street Journal has links to share its stories on Facebook and nine other services, including MySpace and Fark.com.

Read more about “How Sharing Links Has Become Big Business” from The New York Times.

Does your business blog offer links to share material via social media? If you don’t have buttons to allow readers to post your data to Twitter, Digg, Facebook, or elsewhere, you’re missing out on the opportunity to broaden your audience. News is social now, with thousands of links distributed daily through viral means. The more you wait to go social with these sites, the more your competition will scoop up clients and customers.

Spider Writers is a premier Virginia Beach social media group dedicated to assisting Virginia Beach businesses and organizations with increasing visibility and Web traffic via social networking. Let us help put you at the top of Twitter, and give you a great “Face” to show the world. Contact us at 757-499-1990 today to learn more.

Integrating Social Media into E-Mail Marketing

Posted in: Blog, Facebook, Twitter by SpiderWriters on September 25, 2009 | No Comments

Despite the rise of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, where customer interaction becomes immediate and can build trust among companies and brands, e-mail marketing remains a powerful method of selling products and services. As your business grows and accepts opt-in e-mail addresses for notification of updates, you hold a captive audience. A potential customer or client who hands you an address sends a message of interest, one that mustn’t be ignored.

This begs the question: how much should one devote to e-mail marketing when there are so many other options of communicating your business online? Nobody wants to feel left out as new innovations in Web promotion take hold, and where social media and e-mail are concerned one might wonder if it’s better to be “retweeted” or forwarded in an e-mail to a friend or two. There is no reason, however, for social networking strategies and e-mail blasts to work separately. By marrying the two, you can create new goals within your marketing campaign to ensure the highest visibility of your message. Not all of your Twitter followers receive your e-mail, and not all of your e-mail subscribers follow your Twitter. Integrate your marketing, and help create a balance between both audiences.

Make Your Social Media Viral - Used to be the most important line in your e-mail signature was your URL. Look at messages now, and you’ll find people have added their Twitter and Facebook URLs, or perhaps Ning if they rely on their community-style of interaction. Evaluate your e-mail signature, the way you introduce yourself as you send information, and decide where you want readers to follow you.

Cross-Promote Your Efforts – Composing a spiffy monthly newsletter? Let your FB and Twitter friends know. Post the URL to opt-in into mails. Add graphic icons to your newsletter to point readers to your social profiles. Word of mouth is a huge promotional tool, but it won’t work unless you open your mouth first.

Preview What Non-Subscribers Are Missing – Use the Notes function on Facebook to share samples of your newsletter to friends, along with a special invitation to opt-in to e-mail. Offer a promotion (a discount or freebie) to anybody who signs in via Facebook.

Vice-Versa with Social Media – While it’s difficult to precisely track when people sign to follow your networks, you can receive notifications of Twitter followers. Hold a promotion to offer to people who follow your Twitter network on a specific day.

The more you work e-mail and social media in tandem, the more you build your brand and in turn your following. Experiment using both together and see what works for your company.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist specializing in professional social media services and professional travel SEO services.

Social Media For Authors: Connect With Your Readers

Posted in: Blog, Facebook, Twitter by SpiderWriters on September 16, 2009 | No Comments

With the popularity of Amazon’s Kindle eBook reader, and the ensuing mass marketing of similar devices from Sony, Cool-ER and other companies, authors will find they must rely more on the Internet to promote their works. When one considers how bookstore chains are slowing moving toward a different inventory model that involves holding fewer books – many of which enjoy a brief shelf life as it is – the need to keep readers appraised of eternal, virtual stores is fundamental. Social media, to this end, provides authors with a variety of option to reach book lovers and maintain good connections with fans.

Authors Must Give Good “Face”

As the executive editor of a small press and electronic book publisher, I have studied the submission guidelines of similar houses to discover acquisition editors wish to see a marketing plan in addition to the manuscript. It it true among small-scale businesses that can’t afford to send authors on a world tour that some leg work is expected of any author contracted. Ads and reviews make for good PR, but ultimately the best method of promotion remains word of mouth, and in this age social media is the catalyst. That any author interested in selling books should at least have a Facebook and Twitter account is a given. One need not post status updates with regular precision, but using these profiles to inform readers of new releases, booksignings, and writing updates is a good way to establish relationships with people who buy your books, and in turn recommend your works to friends. Because Twitter and Facebook can be integrated to work together, you only have to update one to see changes in both.

Go Where the Readers Are

One common drawback to social media for authors is that writers tend to friend other authors, which leads to an endless cycle of promotion within a small circle of like-minded people. Yes, authors do buy books, but you don’t want to ignore the important demographic that doesn’t write and who regularly purchase books in your genre. Presently there are four social media networks geared specifically toward people looking for a place to organize the books they have read, are reading, and hope to read. As an author, it’s important to have profiles established in these spots to make your work available to somebody who otherwise might not know of the book.

Goodreads – Goodreads allows users to add books via Amazon.com search or manual entry. Authors can integrate a blog into their accounts to update readers on new developments.

Shelfari – With Shelfari you can create widgets to place on blogs or other social networks to inform readers of books you’ve written and read. Sharing your personal library enhances a level of camaraderie with readers – you might find you share similar tastes.

LibraryThing – This network offers applications for cell phones and blog implementation. Online groups provide a forum for genre readers and authors to discuss works.

As you establish profiles on general and focused social networks, you set your author name as a brand, indelible in the mind of readers. Be social with book lovers and share what you write. You may find readers will share that information with others.

Kathryn Lively is  a freelance writer specializing in articles on professional social media services and SEO for travel companies.