We all know that social media is greener than the paper and ink versions of promotion. It is also an entirely different entity and has a life of its own that is less controlled than a traditional print broadcast campaign. Today, I participated in a fantastic HubSpot Webinar on
The Science of Twitter.
The main take-away ideas of the seminar were great reminders that online social media promotion is highly effective, when you follow a few rules. Besides writing good content, HubSpot offered some data-based suggestions to tweet more harmoniously and more in-tune with your sales goals.
10 steps to better Twittering
(from HubSpot's "webinar" on Twitter)
1. To find new clients online: identify keywords that are appropriate to your business and then follow the conversations that are happening when those keywords show up. Start to follow those that use your keywords, and add interesting content to the conversation. Use a monitoring tool like
Google Alerts to find new and relevant content.
2. Use words like you, us (inclusive language) instead of words like me, my, our.
3. Unless you're in a business in which sensitive information should be protected, there is really no need to use separate twitter accounts for business and personal. That's what social media is all about - being a real person that people can feel connected to.
4. There is a "best pratices" ratio of followers:following in business. During the webinar it was suggested that even though as an individual it may
look better to have more people following you than you follow, as a business that isn't always the case. A smaller business could appear uninterested in their followers (potential clients) if they have a very high number of followers without following many people. A 1:1 ratio would suggest that the information you are tweeting is relevant and interesting, and at the same time communicates openness and involvement of the business tweeter.
5. Be picky about who you follow, but don't worry about who follows you.
6. Spend at least 10 minutes a day on your twitter promotions.
7. Increase promotion by: setting up a full profile including your bio, adding a pic, and chosing a word like "owner, official, master, guru, founder, speaker, etc." to position yourself as an expert in your field.
8. Refrain from negative commentary.
"Nobody likes a negative Nancy." Twitter is social (
think...fun), if people want to hear about life's negative clippets, they can turn on the news.
9. Ask for a ReTweet, and you will probably get it. Social psychology suggests that we are more likely to do something if we are asked, and on that note, if you add the word "please" then people will be more inclined to oblige your request. (Use this technique conservatively, and only once in a while for the best results.)
10. Add interesting hyperlinks. More ReTweets include links to great content.
