How to Tweet to the beat

Hey everyone! Here are a few tips to help you Tweet your way to success in your personal and business life!

 

1. Above All, Keep It Personal

Although Twitterers like CNN breaking news  have been very successful, generally, corporate Twitter accounts are a mistake. Twitter is about person-to-person communication and not a broadcast tool for faceless corporations. To use it in that way is to miss the potential of Twitter.

Does that mean you cannot have a Twitter account for your organization? Not at all. They should include personal content and a dialogue with followers.
This is important because it enables you to make a connection with your followers. An open and honest relationship with followers is very powerful. It builds trust, loyalty and engagement. It encourages repeat traffic and word-of-mouth recommendation.

2. Learn From Others

I have learned a lot about Twitter just by reading the tweets of those I admire. I personally enjoy tweets from Nick Cannon and Kim Kardashian. The way that that they add a personal touch and humor to their tweets makes it more user friendly.

3. Get A Good Desktop Client

Without a shadow of doubt, the most powerful Twitter client currently available is TweetDeck This application not only runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, but also provides a range of superb tools for managing your life on Twitter.

With TweetDeck, you can create groups, filter tweets, monitor certain subjects as well as post tweets, replies and retweets. In fact, it is so powerful that it can be somewhat intimidating at first. Don’t let that put you off. Check out this shoial on TweetDeck’s core features, and you’ll be up and running in no time.

4. Use Twitter On The Road

If your Twitter account is going to be personal as well as professional, then you will almost certainly want to use it on the road. One option is simply to use Twitters mobile website. However, if you are fortunate enough to have an iPhone, then there is a wealth of Twitter clients available to you.

5. Tracking The Results

TweetStats is just the tip of the statistical iceberg. There is an ever-growing number of tools you can use to track your activity on Twitter. However, the ones that really interest me are those that track click-throughs. What I really want to know is, if I post a link on Twitter, how many people click through?

So stay on track with who is interested in what you have to say in order to track your progress. You will be glad you did.

6. Follow And Be Followed

Always remember that Twitter is a two-way conversation. A big part of successful tweeting is replying to those who tweet you. Twitter is not just about who follows you, either. It is also about who you follow. So keep up with your followers and those who you follow in order to stay afloat in the Twitterverse.

7. Integrate Whenever Possible

If you intend to use Twitter for anything other than personal use, it needs to be incorporated in the rest of your Web strategy. That means it needs to link to your other online activity, including your website and other social networks. There is no shortage of tools to help you do this, from the basic Twitter site to a  tool for sending your tweets to facebook.

One tool that caught my attention is called Twitter feed. It posts content from an RSS feed to Twitter, which is a convenient way to update your followers on new posts. However, use any tool that automatically posts to Twitter with caution. It can easily become annoying if used too much. Also, it lacks the friendliness of a personal post.

8. Don’t Over-Think It

Of course, the problem with all these tools, statistics and analysis is that they can suck the spontaneity and personality from your tweets. While some of those late-night awkward tweets are best left behind, you want to avoid making your tweets too sterile.
Let me elaborate I am a fairly good speaker but when I am forced to think to hard on what I am about to say I freeze.  But view Twitter as your avenue to express yourself in any way you see fit and you will be a success!

Tweet on fellow Twitter-lovers!! Good luck!

Ways to Increase Engagement on Facebook!

A reoccurring theme I have noticed within the small business and nonprofit arenas is Facebook engagement. Everyone is aware of the importance of engaging on Facebook, but cannot seem to get enough audience involvement to truly make it worthwhile. So, here are my secrets to increased Facebook engagement.

Ask Questions!

When you are sitting in a coffee shop, or at a work mixer, the best way to engage with someone is to ask questions. So it goes without saying why this tactic would generate more responses on Facebook. However, there are a few tricks to this trade. John Haydon sums up the key to asking questions superbly in his “16 Ways To Get More Comments On Your Facebook Page” post. He says:

“Asking questions are probably the easiest way[s] to get fans commenting. But keep in mind that Facebook fans don’t like homework. If they have to spend time trying to understand a question, they’ll be less likely to answer it.”

The takeaway here is to be simple in your questions. These are my top 5 question types:

• Yes /No
• True/ False
• Requesting Tips or Recommendations
• Ask “heart string” questions
• Specific Questions

An added benefit of asking questions is that you get a better understanding of your audience based on their responses.

Responding to Comments

One of the first things I learned about engagement is that the company, brand or person behind the blog post, Facebook post, or Tweet, should almost always respond to comments. The key to replying according to Guy Kawasaki is to do it:

• Fast: Within 24 hours
• Often: Reply to everyone’s comments, and comment on your fans/followers’ posts as well

Always responding to comments may not be the best practice for all cases. A company should never directly defame their critic over social media. There are two large companies that do this well and use different approaches:

• Dunkin Donuts: hardly ever addresses negative criticism, instead their fans/followers respond
• LivingSocial: always takes negative conversations away from social media, by publicly requesting the follower/fan to call or email them

While it is important to engage it is equally important to stay away from conducting negative conversations over social media. By doing this you ensure that they do not evolve in a public arena, and that you are not feeding the media negative information.

When to publish a post

Everyone knows that it is important to share information on Facebook. But did you know that you could generate up to 20% more engagement by sharing it at specific times? Below is a table designed by Buddy Media which indicates when publishing information should generate the most engagement. Over the course of two weeks in January - February 2011, they analyzed the Facebook posts and engagement rates of approximately 200 clients, to generate these results:

Strategies for effective Facebook wall posts

By timing the publishing of content when fans/followers are most likely to be on Facebook, companies/brands have a higher probability of being seen in newsfeeds and updates. These results do not mean that all information should only be shared during this time. It simply implies that if you follow these steps your engagement should increase.

What are your secrets to increasing engagement on Facebook?

Developing an awesome business website

For those of you who don't think it's important to have a strong website for your business, you need to immediately change your way of thinking. Your business' website is a chance to make a first impression -- and the first impression is the most important one.

These days, whenever people hear about your business, they won't be looking for brochures or fliers. These things are dying a slow death. Instead, they'll whip out their smart phones and iPads and put your business name into a search engine. If you're serious about your business, make sure the first thing that pops up is your website -- www.yourbusinessname.com.

I've seen some pretty terrible websites -- ones that have literally made me cringe. But again, here I am with some awesome tips that can help you with what seems like an incredible feat -- creating an amazing website.

1. Don't do information overload -- When people see paragraph after paragraph of information, they will not bother venturing any further into the site. Don't burden people with having to search for nuggets of useful information mixed in with mundane and unimportant details. Instead, choose the most important things about your business and feature them on the front page. Organize the other information into pages that visitors can choose to click on if it is something they are interested in.

2. Free is not always best -- There are many web hosting services that offer you free templates for your site. Sometimes you get your money's worth with templates that are very generic, boring, or just generally painful to the eyes. Find a website designer that will give your website the professional look it needs, as well as make your website reflect what your company is all about.

3. How do I reach you? -- This may seem obvious, but please remember to list ways for potential clients to contact you. I have visited sites that, apparently, were just up to make known to me that the business exists somewhere on planet earth. At the very least, make a reliable phone number and email address available to viewers, and make sure that the contact information is easy to find.

4. Give them a reason to stay -- Use sticky content, also known as content that attract site visitors and makes them stay. Sticky content includes blogs, videos and articles that turn visitors into customers. "How?" you ask? The longer people stay on your site, the more likely they'll turn into buyers.

5. What do you do? -- Don't make visitors have to guess what product or service you provide. Make it palpably clear from the first page what your business is all about.

6. Security is key -- If your website collects information from visitors, ensure that security systems like SSL (Secure Socket Layer) are in place. This will keep sensitive information safe and show site visitors that your business cares about keeping their personal data safe.

Ways I Embrace My Audience

The best way to be most effective when training or presenting, is to be fully engaged with your audience.
How do you do that one may ask...

Whenever we are called upon to train or present, we ensure that we do the necessary research. Here are some tips to get you prepared for your next speaking gig!

1. Research your topic extensively.
Try to find out as much information you can before you begin writing your presentation. Ensure that you make it highly media oriented, and visual. People are drawn to images more than words. It also helps if you bring your personality to the presentation as well!

2. Know your audience.
This will help you win them over. It's important to share anecdotes and some personal experiences when you are speaking. It adds flavor to your mix!

3. Know your presentation by heart.
In the event that something may happen to your written notes, or even if the powerpoint presentation you prepared has "technical difficulties" you can still win your audience over by speaking from the heart.
Passion for something always outweighs abilitiy to do something. Once you have practiced your presentation, you should be able to share it with others in a way that will be conveyed as genuine, relevant, and informative.

4. Connect with your audience through eye contact.
It's true that the eyes are the windows to the soul. With this in mind, it's vital to look your audience in the eyes while you are presenting. If you feel slightly intimidated, or nervous, find a few friendly faces in the room, and focus on them. However, be sure that you feel connected to them, and they feel connected to you. Another great way to establish a connection during a speech or presentation, is to ask rhetorical questions, request volunteers, or ask situational questions that would get the audience thinking, and also responding.
Your ability to connect with your audience will make the difference in your presentation. This will also decide whether you get called again in the future to speak :)


5. Ask questions and allow for discussion!
Many of us have heard presentations where we thought that the information was useful and the speaker did a great job. One thing was missing....there was no room during or after the presentation for discussion or questions.
One of the best ways to test your effectiveness as a presenter is to initiate a discussion  afterward. Ask someone to give a synopsis on what they have learned. Don't be afraid to answer questions from your audience. This allows you to be viewed as more credible. Remember that once you have prepared yourself, and researched your topic, you are ready to go!
Don't try to be someone else when you are presenting. Build your brand by bringing your unique personality and charisma and go ahead and WOW your audience.
If you need further media coaching, or presentation training tips, SageEden Media Group would be happy to assist. Email us at sageeden@gmail.com.

All the best!