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Twitter Secrets Revealed

By Derek Fredrickson in Featured

Twitter just announced a brand-new feature that I wanted to make sure you knew about. It allows people to have 1-click access to follow you on Twitter directly from your website which is a huge benefit for building your following with your network and establishing a great social media presence using Twitter.

I would definitely recommend setting it up on your website asap.

Speaking of Twitter, I want to share some of the behind-the-scenes strategies and techniques that I personally use with Twitter to build a huge network of loyal, engaging and responsive followers that allows me to consistently build my list and get new clients.

I’m going to make some assumptions that you are already aware of what Twitter is and how to do some of the basics like find friends, get followers, as well as send updates, replies, retweets, etc.

These are some of the more advanced “systems” I use for leveraging the most of what Twitter has to offer.

Friends (you follow) and Followers (follow you)

I always suggest connecting with like-minded people and those you want to connect with as much as possible. It’s pace, not race. Most number of friends or followers does not matter. Often those you follow (as a friend) will follow you back. Having said that, people ask me about auto-following back those who follow you. My thought is you don’t have to. Auto-follow is not an obligation, it’s a choice. There are many followers I have which I don’t follow in return and vice-versa. If you’re wiling to take the time and effort to manually follow back those who follow you, I’d suggest it (I personally do it.)

Direct Messages

I’m a huge fan of using DM’s to connect with my followers and friends. Sending a direct message is quick and easy and almost ALWAYS gets a response. Now, I’m very active and engaging on Twitter so people I interact with DM’s tend to be the same. But, it’s in some cases more effective and efficient than sending emails for things like making introductions and connecting.

Favorites

I use Twitter favorites all the time, marking other tweets as favorites that I want to read later. It’s kind of like email folders for Twitter. See a tweet you like with a link but don’t have time to read it now? Mark it as a favorite and carve out time later to refer back to it.

Lists

I have lists to help categorize and organize my Twitter friends. With 55,000 plus friends it’s hard for me to obviously read EVERY tweet that comes out – it’s insane. So, I use Twitter Lists to group relevant friends in buckets and then review those lists together. I have some for friends, brands, skiing and even locked (hidden) lists for things like competitors, prospects, etc.

Search

Twitter search is a great tool for finding content and possible connections (friends and followers). You can search by hashtag (#) and see relevant tweets to that topic or just do a general search for “Internet Marketing” and see all the tweets and conversation about that topic. From there, jump on in and get tweeting.

Applications

I use the following: Hootsuite and Twitter for iPhone. Hootsuite allows me to view everything in a browser which means I can do it from anywhere (any computer and from my phone). It’s great for viewing all the tweets in columns and then replying, DM’ing, scheduling and posting tweets. The Twitter for iPhone application is just flat-out the easiest and simplest application for a mobile device.

Now the most frequently asked question: “Derek, where do you get all your content and ideas?” Here are my secret sources (never revealed these before). Google Reader (I subscribe to a ton of blogs and content sites relevant to my niche). StumbleUpon and Digg for finding interesting and relevant content that my followers will respond to. ME! Yes, I do create most of my own content and tweets based on what YOU provide to me as feedback and content you’re looking for. So, trust your followers and give them what they want – they will love you for it!

I hope these Twitter Secrets help you in the Twitterverse and I can’t wait to see you out there.

Until next time – Learn It, Love It, Live It!

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Derek Fredrickson, Authentic Internet Marketing Specialist, is founder of the Authentic Internet Marketing System, the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to authentically market your business online, in record time… guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. videos and receive his authentic internet marketing articles on attracting more leads and converting more sales online, visit http://www.derekfredrickson.com.

10 Things That Will Make Your Tweets Pop!

By Dawn Pigoni in Featured

Every day we work at it: toiling away on our social media networks, doing what we can to reach our customers and broaden our client base. Twitter is one of the simplest platforms to use when reaching out to people, but you may not be tweeting to your best advantage. So, what can you do to make sure that people actually want to read your tweets and can get the most out of them?

Here are ten things that you should be doing with your tweets in order to make them stand out. The only way to reach out and grab the attention of your followers (and that of future ones) is to have some interesting things to say!

1. Be Unique

When you find an interesting article or video that you want to share with your followers, don’t just copy and paste the title into your tweet. Instead, try to put together your own unique spin on it and give them an idea of what is in store for them
when they click on the link.

2. Keep It Short

Twitter limits your tweets to 140 characters, which may not seem like a lot. But really, you’re not supposed to be writing a book here. Keeping it short lets you give only the necessary information without a lot of fluff. Try to keep your tweets to around 120 characters. That way, followers can add their own opinions when they retweet.

3. Think of Your Tweets as Headlines

When writing articles, the sure-fire way of getting readers is by having an attention-grabbing headline. The same goes for your tweets. Make them easy to read and catchy in order to induce your followers to reply or click on the added link.

4. Use Interesting Facts

People love finding out new tidbits of information. These can be random statistics about a topic that is related to your own business. Giving your followers an interesting fact will be more likely to encourage them to click on a link than a boring title.

5. Tweet With Your Own Voice

Don’t tweet like an automaton. Readers want to know that there’s an actual person on the other end of those tweets, so write as you would speak. This gives your tweets a hint of your own unique personality, which followers love.

6. Get Your Timing Right

In order for your tweets to get noticed, you need to make sure you’re publishing them when your followers are the most active. Take note of when you get the most replies and retweets. This is when you should be the most interactive with your followers.

7. Add Value

There are a wide variety of reasons that people use Twitter, from how to collect stamps to the newest techniques in web design. Whatever your reasons for using Twitter, focus on tweeting about those specific topics. When you concentrate on one or two topics, followers will see you as a valuable source of information.

8. Be Interactive

When it comes to your followers, think quality and not quantity. Get them to interact with you, ask questions, and make sure you’re responding to their own questions too.

9. Add Helpful Links

Since tweets are limited, including a link will allow you to share more information. You can include links to your blog, an article, or your webpage. Use your tweet field to include an interesting way to lure them in.

10. Get Them Thinking

Your tweets should always leave your followers wanting more. You want your tweets to be thought-provoking because that’s how you get your readers to stay connected to you and want to interact with you even more.

What works for you in your tweets? Do you have any extra tips for enhancing the Twitter experience? Share with us! We’d love to know what works for you!

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Dawn Pigoni – Social Media Virtual Assistant http://BeSocialWorldwide.com | http://Twitter.com/dawntrenee

The Social Media Marketing world is important to online businesses and I bring value to other companies by offering social media marketing assistance to those small companies that don’t have the time, knowledge or manpower to keep up with social media marketing.

Social Media Management: Quality Social Experiences

By Enzo F. Cesario in Featured

You’ve heard it before, here and probably elsewhere: Social media is about much more than exposure or coverage. Simply putting a friend request out and amassing a ton of retweets is not enough to achieve genuine social impact.

Now there’s some additional evidence that bears this argument out:

Does Google Use Data from Social Sites in Ranking?

In short, Google officials have said that while the search engine giant does use Facebook and Twitter as part of the input in determining a site’s SEO ranking, it is a very small, low-key part. It’s more of a modifier of other data than it is an actual contributor in and of itself.

But before you go slashing the budget to your social media marketing department, hear out these few issues that explain why this means more attention, not less, should be paid to social media efforts.

It’s Social, not Digital

Despite being in the online realm (insert all the stereotypes about the cold, impersonal Internet here), social media is all about the first word. Social interactions are about relationships, conversations and, above all, respect and trust. Violate a trust or fail to provide respect, and you gain nothing at all. You could even find yourself blackballed as your reputation flies out of control online.

8 Powerful Twitter Marketing Tips

By Timothy Capper in Featured

According to the latest social networking news, Twitter has begun to outpace Facebook. Reportedly, Facebook lost six million users in the last month. Twitter appears to be the new generation in social networking. Twitter is being used worldwide to educate, sell products, and socialize. New research reveals that people who use virtual networking are healthier than those who do not participate.

1. Define the Target Market Precisely, and Stay Focused.

The biggest mistake new Twitter marketers make is that they attempt to reach everyone who might be interested in their product or service. But Twitter doesn’t work that way. In order to maintain subscribers, you have to engage.

For examples, consider how many of the largest corporations use Twitter solely to target their young consumers.

2. Proactively Acquire Followers.

Another big yet common mistake is the expectation that followers will magically arrive. Instead, we must earn our followers. A great way to do this is to follow high-profile individuals and groups in the appropriate market, and then communicate with them, which will draw attention to your account if that communication is engaging enough.

3. Quantity Matters

Do not waste time wrestling with quality versus quantity. An active presence is a key to recognition and to maintaining a large subscriber base. That doesn’t mean you ought to tweet nonsense, but your followers will quickly forget a tweet that falls flat, and that failed tweet still has the cumulative effect of making your presence felt.

4. Share Content from Others.

A good means of consistently delivering interesting tweets is to share tweets from others that you think will engage your base. This has a number of positive effects, including possible recognition from the original poster. A consistent effort in this regard can get you talked about by Twitter users who are influential within the target niche.

5. Leverage Automation.

We don’t have to do all tweeting by hand, and we can use automation to great effect to maintain our presence. For instance, a number of sites provide free Twitter automation based on RSS. Simply choose a relevant, high-profile blog, and then the service auto-tweets each time it publishes a post; you can even filter it based on tags and such.

6. Use Followers like a Focus Group.

Most Twitter users understand that they have to engage their audience, but they find it difficult to so. The truth is it’s not that difficult if you approach your followers as you would a focus group. Twitter followers follow because they’re interested. They also want to exchange ideas. After all, communication is what social networking is all about.

7. Do Not Fear Controversy.

In fact, controversy is so effective that many Twitter marketers go out of their way to create it. You don’t necessarily have to go that far, but if you have a hot topic that is relevant to your niche, you should tweet it, encourage conversation and run with it as far as it will take you. Of course, always be careful not to alienate your base.

8. Be Human.

When operating a business online, people tend to act professional to the point where it becomes impersonal. We don’t want to make this mistake on Twitter because emotional connection is a big part of what makes Twitter so productive.

Be business like, but don’t be afraid to have fun and to engage with your base on a personal level, have fun with your twitter marketing.

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Complete twitter marketing was used as a resource for this article. The site provides articles, information and products available for general twitter marketing http://completetwittermarketing.com

Dissection of a Twitter Account: 10 Ways I’ve Used Twitter This Month

By Jill Whalen in Featured

Twitter

A few weeks ago I learned that I was chosen as one of the “Top 25 Online Marketers to Follow on Twitter” by David Vogelpohl over at Marketing Pilgrim. (I’d like to thank my family, my 2nd grade teacher…)

While it was cool to be chosen, more interesting to me was how David characterized my Twitter account: “…an engaging Twitter feed where she makes the most of interacting with other Twitter users…With enough quips to make her feed personal and interesting, she maintains a mostly serious and professional Twitter persona.”

That does seem to sum up my Twitter existence, although I had to laugh at the serious and professional description, since I sometimes tweet some crazy stuff! On the other hand, I agree that the mix of personal and professional is a large part of the appeal of my Twitter account. In fact I think it’s key to nearly any good Twitter account. For more on that, Lisa Barone (also on the top 25 list) just wrote a great article: “The Myth of ‘Professional’ Twitter Accounts,” with which I agree 100% (see my comments over there).

How To Use Twitter for SEO

By Kristina Weis in Featured

Links Tweeted on Twitter Matter for SEO

It’s official. Google and Bing include social signals – namely, links that get tweeted on Twitter – when determining rankings in their search results. This was confirmed by Danny Sullivan in his December 1, 2010 post on Search Engine Land, and it was likely a factor for a while before that.

To put this new factor in perspective, Google uses hundreds of signals to determine how it should rank a website. These include inbound links to the site, the title tag of a web page, and site speed.

Getting people to link to your site is really all about having great content that people want to share, whether on their blogs or websites, or on Twitter. As Google and other search engines increasingly take note of social activity and the links shared on sites like Twitter, having a good social media presence will become increasingly important for ranking well in search results.

Tips and Tools on How to Grow Your Twitter Following

By Vince Peek in Featured

Growing a large following is something many new Twitter users struggle with. They see all these big accounts with 20, 50 or even 100K followers and wonder how did they ever get there?

Today we will give you some tips and tools on how to grow your following steadily and we’ll also make sure that you stay within the Twitter guidelines to avoid account suspension. There are certain practices that are not allowed and the last thing you want is to get your account suspended after you worked hard to get a decent following.

Quality or Quantity?

This is the first thing you have to ask yourself. Do you want a small group of followers where you can easily keep track of the timeline and interact with everybody or do you want to grow as big as possible and utilize Twitter lists to keep up with the tweets you care about?

Why You’re Not Getting More Followers On Twitter

By Cathy Goodwin in Featured

Business owners are beginning to realize the potential of social marketing to build relationships. However, to make these tools work effectively, you need to make direct connections. On Twitter, you have to get people to follow you.

Often we see Twitter profiles of business owners who are following many people, but getting few followers in return. This imbalance will be fine in the early stages. Later, as you want to create more impact, you need to keep a ratio of followers to follows that’s close to 50-50.

Here are some reasons you may not be getting all the followers you want and deserve.

(1) Your bio (and maybe some of your tweets) used language that’s potentially offensive. Many of us would not be offended by this language if we were good friends hanging out in a bar. We wouldn’t mind if you were writing a script for the return of the Sopranos. But on Twitter? No thanks. If you are promoting a business, it’s important to write professionally.

(2) Your Twitter page includes the same Tweet, over and over. Maybe you are selling. Maybe you are just re-tweeting. Regardless, this content goes beyond boring. Your readers want to learn from you. They want to exchange information, ideas and yes, an occasional chuckle.

(3) You have a 29,323 people following you. You follow 101 people. When you enjoy this type of ratio, you do have lots of power in the Twittosphere. At the same time, people may avoid following you. It’s likely that you won’t follow back.

Among other reasons, Twitter requires that you follow up to 10% more people than are following you. Therefore, Twitter users can afford to follow just a small number of people who are not following back.

(4) You need to follow Twitter etiquette. For example, let’s say you want X to follow you. You follow X, knowing that X will probably reciprocate. Then you immediately unfollow X. Now X will be following you but you are not reciprocating. Not nice.

(5) You don’t have a photo. Or you have a photo of your child, your pet (without you), your dandelion patch, or a scenic picture that viewers cant understand.

(6) You are doing everything right, but we are just not a good fit. Not everyone will connect with your product, service or spiritual orientation. Maybe it’s obvious that your Twitter account has been set up to interact with personal friends, so a business contact won’t want to follow you.

The bottom line: Writing for Twitter is another form of copywriting – promotional writing to motivate buyers. Even a few small tweaks can have a huge impact.

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Online marketing pro Cathy Goodwin has the laser vision for recognizing the unique strengths that every service professional brings to the marketplace, and the skills to leverage them to attract more clients online. If you’re seeking creative ways to create a profitable online presence (without sounding sales-y), get your FREE tips now at www.GoodCatmarketing.

Promote your Business with Twitter Hashtags

By Jack Collins in Featured

If only there was a way that you could watch your marketing message instantly hit number one in the search results. You didn’t even have to worry about how competitive your key phrase was. All you had to do is submit it and then instantly see that you hold the top place. Well you absolutely can do this!

Alright so maybe I lied a little. I didn’t say WHAT search engine or for how long right? Twitter has a handy feature called a “hashtag” that lets you do just this. Utilizing this to promote your new product, web page or blog post can get you that coveted #1 spot (at least until someone else tweets using the same hashtag).

What is a Hashtag?

A hashtag is a short concatenated word or phrase prefixed with the hash symbol. These hashtags when used in a tweet and clicked by a user will force a twitter search for the term. The resulting search result page will be a list of all tweets that contain the hashtag listed from most recent to oldest.

A couple things happen as a result of using this hashtag:

-Anyone who reads this tweet and clicks on the now hyper linked hash tag will be re-directed to a search result page for it.

-Your tweet will be at the very top of this search result page until someone else tweets with the same hashtag.

Twitter users add hashtags to their tweets as a way to be added to a search result page that people check to see what’s new on that particular topic. Most Twitter users have a list of saved searches they use to check in on topics that interest them. People can hold open forum style conversations in this way without having to follow or be followed by the users in the conversation.

How can I use Hashtags to Market my Website Content?

This is where the real power of Twitter as a business marketing tool comes into play. Let’s say you wrote a new blog post on Widgets. You could take the following steps to make sure that your tweet promoting this new post reaches the most number of readers as well as the most relevant:

-Go to Twitter and use its handy search function to find tweets on Widgets.

-Look for authorities in the field of Widget production in the search results. Follow their tweets back to their profile and see what hashtags they commonly use.

-Click on their hashtags to see if there is an active conversation that relates to your blog post about Widgets. Do the people using that particular hashtag seem like the ideal audience for your blog post?

-If so add the hashtag to your tweet promoting your post.

When Twitter users look at the search results page it will be your tweet at number one!

This system is a perfect way to place your tweets, links and message in front of the exact type of user you would deem ideal for your content. You can also use as many hashtags as 140 characters will permit.You may find that there are a few popular tags people use when talking about your Widgets. Its possible they use #widgets to talk about Widgets in general and #acmewidgets to talk about Widgets made by the ACME corporation. Go ahead and use both if it makes sense.

Using hashtags can expand the reach of your tweets far beyond the wall of those who follow you. It is also a great way to increase the number of followers you have as it will be exposing your words to people interested in the topics that you love to write about.

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Connective Web Design specializes in SEO friendly website development. Visit us at www.connectivewebdesign.com

Harvesting Tweets for Research and Profit – Is it Legal?

By Chip Cooper in Featured

Harvesting tweets is on the rise.

Researchers and marketers alike are now capturing and downloading Tweets from Twitter’s database. Privacy activists argue privacy concerns. Researchers, marketers, and Twitter users all want to know – is Twitter harvesting legal?

How and Why

Every day, users of the Twitter social media publishing platform send out millions of Tweets — short electronic messages of 140 characters or less — to their readers and followers.

Most Twitter users are not aware that it’s relatively easy for anyone with a skilled programmer to harvest and download their Tweets. All a programmer has to do is to gain access to Twitter’s Application Programming Interface (API), and then to write code that requests data from Twitter’s servers through the API. The code contains search criteria, usually in the form of key words and phrases of interest.

One prime example of why Tweets are harvested is the harvesting of Tweets by news organizations Tweets during the riots that followed the Iranian presidential election of 2009. The results provided an excellent source of real time information from a closed society as events unfolded, and afterward, a fascinating historical record of how the protesters worked together under difficult conditions.

Advertisers have also joined the Tweet harvesting process.

For example, suppose you’re going to lunch in an urban office setting, and you tweet a collection of co-workers suggesting a specific restaurant. A savvy marketer harvests your Tweet, and then emails to your smart phone a coupon for a hefty discount at another restaurant nearby. Pretty nifty for the savvy marketer, and perhaps a welcome suggestion for a discounted lunch, but is it legal?

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act

In 1968, the Wiretap Act was passed to impose rules for obtaining wiretap orders. In 1986, the Wiretap Act was amended by The Electronic Communications Privacy Act to extend coverage of the Wiretap Act to electronic communications.

Generally, the Wiretap Act as amended prohibits the intentional interception, use, or disclosure of wire and electronic communications, unless a statutory exception applies. This means that all persons (including governments) are prohibited from wiretapping phones and intercepting electronic communications over the Web, unless a statutory exception (safe harbor) applies.

How does this apply to Tweets? A specific statutory exception applies to electronic communications that are publicly accessible. This is the exact language of the statutory exception: “It shall not be unlawful … for any person… to intercept or access an electronic communication made through an electronic communication system that is configured so that such electronic communication is readily accessible to the general public”.

Readily accessible to the general public is defined by the statute as follows: “… with respect to a radio communication, that such communication is not… scrambled or encrypted”.

It would appear that any Tweet that is not designated by the Twitter user as “private” would clearly fall within the statutory exception because the Tweet is not scrambled or encrypted. So, Tweet harvesters appear to have a strong argument that they’re protected by the publicly accessible safe harbor.

The Google Litigation

Google is now involved in litigation involving its collection of WiFi data. It seems that Google’s Street View cars have engaged in the now-ended practice of collecting bits of private wireless data while cruising neighborhoods for data used in its Google Maps online service.

Although Google ceased this type of electronic data collection and stated that it was not intentional, a class action suit has been filed against Google.

Conclusion

The harvesting of Tweets that are not designated as private would appear to be protected by the publicly accessible safe harbor. It’s interesting that Google’s collection of WiFi data is very similar to Tweet harvesting. It would seem that publicly accessible safe harbor would also protect Google in this litigation, but we’ll have to wait and see how this case is resolved.

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Leading Internet, IP and software lawyer Chip Cooper has automated drafting your website legal forms with his Digicontracts.com Website Legal Forms Generator – www.digicontracts.com/websitelegalforms/. Use his free online tool — Website Documents Determinator — to determine which documents your website really needs. Discover how quick, easy, and cost-effective it is to draft your website legal forms at DigiContracts.com.

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