9 Steps Toward a Twitter Strategy

So you’ve jumped into Twitter finally (or maybe you’ve been there for a while) and now you’re wondering: What should my Twitter strategy be?

Consider a Twitter strategy

First, ask yourself what are your goals: To learn? To share? To meet people? To sell?

All, but that last one, are easily done on Twitter. Perhaps the best strategy is to work towards a combination of learning, sharing and meeting. But how do you do that? I'm glad you asked.

9 Steps Toward a Twitter Strategy

1. Pick who you follow carefully: The quality of what you read and what you can learn from Twitter is directly related to the quality of the Twitter accounts you follow. Resist the temptation to follow just anyone back. Sit on your hands when a totally irrelevant, but seemingly influential, account starts following you. You control your incoming stream – make that stream useful.

2. Organize who you follow: Start lists around topics you care about. Use tools such as Tweetdeck and Hootsuite to keep track of multiple areas of interest.

3. Block irrelevant and spammy accounts: The temptation is to leave well-enough-alone and ignore the irrelevant accounts that follow you, but you will be judged by the accounts that follow you. Allowing even a few irrelevant accounts means others considering following you may change their minds.

4. Retweet (RT) people you hope to build relationships with: Pay special attention to just a few people who share good stuff and retweet them a few times. Add your “5 cents worth” too if you have the character count to do this.  

5. Find a few new people to follow: Look into the Twitter streams of people you respect and see who they are retweeting and talking to. It is more likely you’ll find relevant people this way. If you have the time use Twitter’s Advanced Search function and find people near where you live who might be tweeting about things you care about.

6. Share just a few things you’ve found on the web: If you share good content others will pass it along and you will get noticed. How do you increase your chances of this? Use relevant hashtags.

7. 'Favorite' content from others: Each time you favorite someone else’s tweet they get a notification. What better way to get your name in front of someone?

8. Learn the Twitter lingo: The network has its own useful Twitter Glossary, but more importantly pay attention to how others are using Twitter.

9. Be patient: This is the hardest part for most people. However, the advantage of growing an account packed with genuine people who share real content and exist as an online community is invaluable. This kind of community will be there for you when you need them.

If this last point upsets or annoys you perhaps Twitter is not the platform for you. And … this is just a beginning or "Steps Toward a Twitter Strategy."

So what do you think? What else can someone getting serious about Twitter do to build a following and get more from the network?

Related posts:
11 Reasons I Won’t Follow You on Twitter
6 Reasons to Finally Join Twitter
Twetiquette: 10 basics for Twitter politeness
Twidiots and Twools and Other Twitter Types

5 Quick Ways to Decide on Twitter Follows

We’re all pressed for time so when someone follows you on Twitter or you see a Twitter account you think looks interesting how do you quickly decide if you should follow that account?

While there is no sure-fire way to make sure you only follow the right accounts any combination of the following is likely to increase the chances you’ll be happy with your choices.

5 Quick Ways to Decide on a Twitter Follow

1. Is the account real? Is it a person who really exists or a business that is real? Some tell-tale signs: Recent tweets that mention other Twitter users, retweeting of some posts with links and a URL in the bio that goes to another web site (preferably a personal page about the account owner).

2. Does the account have a reasonable Follower-to-Tweets ratio? If an account, for example has 1,000 Followers and 47,000 tweets that says the account is a "broadcaster" who tweets merrily away and does not get a lot of new followers based on what they share. And "0 Tweets" is a big warning …

3. Does the account have a reasonable Follower-to-Follows ratio? I know, I know not all things can be reduced to numbers: But if an account has a few hundred Followers and is at the Twitter-allowable-maximum of 2,000 Follows then it is likely the account owner is trying to too hard to just get Followers

4. Does the account show some personality? Admittedly this is a personal taste issue, but it becomes something that’s easy to see once you look for it. Does the account sometimes engage in an actual conversation with others on Twitter? Does it add value and/or comments when retweeting interesting material?

5. Is the account relevant to you for other reasons? Is it a person who lives near you? Or is it a business that provides a service or works in an industry that you care about? These things can be checked in the Twitter bio, following the URL in the bio (see No. 1 above) or a quick look at the recent tweets.

What do you think? Are there other things you take into account before deciding to follow or not follow? I'd love to hear them.

Related posts:
11 Reasons I Won’t Follow You on Twitter
6 Reasons to Finally Join Twitter
Twetiquette: 10 basics for Twitter politeness

5 Ways to Undermine Your Linkedin Profile

As Linkedin continues to grow (now close to 150 million members) it seems more and more people may be rushing to get their profiles published there.

In their rush to be live on Linkedin (or maybe through a lack of thought earlier) they may be doing things that will make them look bad on this social network, specifically, and in social media generally.

So if you’d like to deliberately waste your effort on the world’s leading social network for professionals, here are the 5 Ways to Undermine Your Linkedin Profile:

1. Use a bad profile picture: By "bad" I mean any image that makes you look like someone I would not want to work with, collaborate with or in any other way connect with. For example, you may look like you’re in a police lineup or you’ve decided to use an image from your webcam that makes you look serious. But, your picture is there to help people remember you or identify you quickly from all the others with the same or a similar name.
Best practice: Have a picture that’s a tightly cropped image of your face and shows you at your best. And, this should be obvious, smile!

2. Write a poor Professional Headline: In the area of your profile right under your name is the opportunity to have a “headline” on your profile. Simply saying "student" or "engineer" is a great way to keep people guessing. But when someone is searching on Linkedin they will usually just see this shortened version of your profile.
Best practice: Use this headline as a "King of Elevator Pitches." In other words, in as few words as possible say what you do professionally and why people might want to connect with you. For example: "Children’s book author and teacher" or "Marketing and sales professional" or "Deep thinker and inventor of the widget."

3. Have an ineffective Summary: Just saying something about who you are and what you want is all that matters right? Wrong! This is the space where you need to sum up your professional experience, how you like to contribute to others’ success and how people can connect with you beyond the URLs Linkedin allows you to post.
Best practice: Write your summary in short paragraphs as though a reader might drift away at any moment – they will. Start with a short paragraph that sums you up – your Professional Headline explained, if you will. The next paragraph talks about a current position and how it fits into who you are professionally. Take what journalists call the “Inverted Pyramid” approach (newsiest item first, second-newsiest second and so on) to these paragraphs. Round it out with you contact points such as where you can be found on other social networks and a phone number.

4. Ignore how your Public Profile looks: If you think that just "being on" Linkedin is far more important that "doing anything" with your Linkedin profile then just walk away now. But if you want Linkedin to act as an online resume or CV then spend the time (just an hour or so) to make it the best it can be.
Best practice: In the "Edit Profile" view of your Linkedin Page you’ll see a nicely boxed area that contains all the information that appears at the top of you profile when it’s displayed. The last item in this box is call "Public Profile" and to the right of that is the URL for your page and a link to "edit" this. Click on the "edit" button. The page you arrive at will show your profile as it appears publicly and over on the right side allow you to control what others see. Make sure that as much as possible you are displaying everything about your work history and expertise. Also take a minute to personalize your URL so that it has your name in it rather than the alphabet soup URL that Linkedin provides.

5. Make your Connections open: By leaving your Connections open to the public anyone can "creep" on your profile and find other people to connect with. If you know them well that’s fine, but, lets be real, do we want all our connections to be open to everyone we connect with?
Best practice: Under Privacy Controls click on "Select who can see your connections" and select "Only you. " Then take a short paragraph at the end of your Summary to explain that your Connections are kept closed to assure privacy, but that you’re willing to open them at an agreed upon time to people you know and trust.

These are only the most basic mistakes – there are plenty of others. Perhaps that’s fodder for a future post.

What do you think? Are people being sloppy with their Linkedin profiles? Are they looking bad in social media because of it?

Possibly related posts:
5 signs you need help with social media strategy
Is a "Dr. Death" Undermining Your Social Media Efforts?

10 Rules for the Workplace (That Just Might Help in Social Media and the Rest of Life)

This week marks 34 years since I started my first full-time job (and more than 40 years since I started part-time work).

While thinking about that time I realized that I’ve developed some internal “rules” about working that might equally apply to my time on social media and, in fact, life in general.

I don’t know that working in 11 jobs across four countries and five time zones gives me any special qualifications for this, but I feel compelled to share it.

Therefore, here are my 10 Rules for the Workplace (That Just Might Help in Social Media and the Rest of Life) – I hope one or more prove useful to you:

1. Having fun is essential: There are always deadlines and pressures to get things done so if you’re not having at least little fun why are you doing it? If you can find ways to inject extra fun into your work you and those around you will benefit.

2. As much as is possible, get along with everyone: Work (and life) places us in situations where we must be with people we don’t agree with or would avoid at any other time, but be there we must. And because you never know when that person you don’t see eye-to-eye with may need to “have your back” a best practice is to find a way to get along with them.

3. Say what you mean and mean what you say: Double dealing and insincerity are toxic fumes. If you play it straight – you win; it’s that simple. Rarely this truthfulness will cost you something, but over time those small costs will be outweighed by bigger rewards.

4. Be helpful and giving: No matter where you are on the workplace ladder or the journey of life there are always those above and below you – and the more you can help others get what they need and want the more your stock will rise too.

5. Always do more than is expected: You may not be the smartest person in the room or on the network, but you can always be the hardest working – and many times effort is more valuable than smarts.

6. Be able to take criticism: Getting feedback from others is always a good thing and you can always dismiss any that isn’t relevant. But over time I’ve learned that inside even the most off-the-wall criticisms there usually lurks a truth.

7. Separate the work from the person: When critiquing the efforts of others be able to separate what they do from who they are. Just as someone’s work does not define them as a person neither does what someone posts to a social network fully define them.

8. Avoid small-minded people: The gossips, the mean-spirited, the thin-skinned and the trivialists are out there; don’t let them infect you and your efforts.

9. Be willing (and able) to fire someone: Sometimes the best thing for you and what you do is to fire someone else. It’s never easy, but over time I’ve seen that if it is done for honest (and not petty) reasons it leads to a greater good for everyone.

10. Live more; work less: It will always be true, no matter how much you work, when you reflect on your past it is unlikely that your work will define your life. Therefore find ways to live more fully in the real world – experiences there are the ones that make the warmest memories.

I hope this helps someone entering the workplace or someone reassessing their work lives. Equally I hope these guidelines might also help people figuring out their place in social media. What do you think? Are there things I’m forgetting?

5 Signs Your Business Needs Help With A Social Media Strategy

What is your business’ social media strategy? You do have a strategy don’t you?

Sadly many businesses are in social media, but are not IN social media – if you can see the difference. Let's see if this blog post can help.

You may need outside help on your social media strategy and tactics if you:

1. Don’t have a clear social media strategy: Why be in social media if it doesn’t support your business goals? Investing time in social media simply because it’s popular or because you heard it can be an effective marketing tool doesn’t earn you a single dollar. Your social media strategy doesn’t need to be elaborate, but you need one. The consultant can thoroughly assess your goals and needs and help frame a plan that will help your business.

2. Have too many different social media platforms: Or worse, have too many platforms without clear goals for each. If social media is to be an effective marketing tool for your business you need to focus your efforts for each platform and regularly audit the number of those platforms you’re on. An outsider can offer you a dispassionate assessment of how many (or how few) platforms you should really be on and what value they bring you.

3. Don’t aggressively manage your community: If you aren’t evaluating the quality of your network how do you know whether you’re wasting your time or not? Do you know who among your followers, fans and friends are likely customers, business partners or collaborators? The consultant can help you decide which community members are helpful and what is being said about you and your business.

4. Don’t measure your results from social media: Yes, there is something to be said for not measuring social media success by traditional metrics and demographics. But the bottom line is the bottom line: If you’re spending time and money on social media and not measuring whether it’s working you’re likely wasting both time and money. An outsider can help you focus on what will help the business.

5. Don't have search engine optimization (SEO) as part of your strategy: Rising in natural search is the big bonus in social media. If you plan your social media carefully, your efforts will help all of your web presences rise in search engine rankings. Again, an outsider can quickly identify the steps you’ll need to take to get there.

So how did you do? If you saw yourself or your company’s social media strategy approach in any of the points above it may be time to ask for outside help.

Possibly related posts:How to Sniff Out Social Media Snake Oil
10 Tips for Better Business Tweeting

Questions Are Recipe for Social Media Success

Some key ingredients will help you cook up a great plan

If you want Social Media to be part of your recipe for business success perhaps you need to think like a great chef.

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay knows a thing or two about the ingredients of success:

“Cook ingredients that you are used to cooking by other techniques, such as fish, chicken or hamburgers,” he says. “In other words be comfortable with the ingredients you are using.”

Social Media is no different. You need to be comfortable with the ingredients you will put into your SoMedia plan.

How do you get there? By asking questions that lead to a better understanding of your real Goals, Strategies and Tactics for Social Media.

To get started you might consider these questions as a path to cooking up a plan for Social Media success:

Goals:

• What are my overall business goals?


• What are customer goals?


• Which of my goals makes sense for a hands-on Social Media approach?


• Are some of these goals best served by traditional media?


• Why are we going into Social Media?


• Which aspects of Social Media fit our culture?


• Are we OK with Social Media taking time?


• Can we be good Social Media citizens?


• What will Social Media success look like?
  

Strategy:

• Who will we listen to?


• When is the appropriate time to join a conversation?


• Who will we talk to?


• How will we earn trust?


• If we earn trust … then what?


• Who will we help?


• How will we help others?


• How will we handle any kind of problem?
• What will we be known for or remembered for?

Tactics:

• Will we try a single platform? Or multiple platforms?


• Will we have a single Social Media champion? Or multiple users?


• Will our presences be heavily branded?


• What personality will each presence have?


• Will different platforms have discreet purposes?


• Can we commit the appropriate time to this?


• Can we be transparent?


• Can we accept ALL kinds of feedback?
  

If these questions give you cause to pause before rushing into the Social Media kitchen that may be a good thing. But when you do answer many or all of them you will have the basis for a plan (recipe): Bon appetite in Social Media!

Related Posts
5 Steps Before Jumping Into Social Media
10 Commandments for Social Media
5 Really Useful Sites for Social Media Newbies