How to pick a Twitter username

How to pick a Twitter username

 

Setting a 'username' in Twitter requires taking into consideration a number of issues.

First how are you recognized?
In Twitter, most of the time your followers will see you flying by in the Twitter stream they are following. That means they will see:
- your Avatar image
- your name
- your Tweet post

So bearing this in mind, in considering your username, you can be creative and select something that will COMPLEMENT your Avatar image, rather than repeat it.

For instance your company logo can be in your branded colors and serve as your Avatar, and a descriptive word can be your username.

Second, what impression do you make
The next line of engagement on Twitter is followers visiting your full Twitter page.
There your page is very identifiable and fully branded
- use a custom background image featuring product imagery, useful link information, and at a glance product info
- Fill in the bio section of your profile, using prime keywords
- show your URL

So rather than just picking your company name as your Twitter 'handle', pick a popular keyword for your market to conquer that area. For instance, if a computer manufacturer chose a Twitter name like fastcomputer, rather than Compaq, it could further their brand perception.

Branding on Twitter

Branding on Twitter

 

Recently I saw an article about Branding on Twitter. I was very excited about the headline, seeing a lot of potential for Branding and Twitter. I went in and read the article, but was disappointed.

The article focused on one of Go Daddy's new initiatives for when you set up a new URL you have a quick link to sign up for Twitter and register your Twitter name. The article tied this into branding for the importance of having a branded Twitter name.

I was not just a little in a huff at that ending, because this advice didn't begin to explore what twitter means to branding.

Starting Points
True! Your Twitter name should extend your brand, and you should also create a background that extends your brand identity. Yet these actions alone still leave nearly entirely off the 'Twitter radar', in other words, nobody knows who you are.

Extending your brand
Once you have your Twitter account set up to reflect your brand, the most important step is adding followers. Your followers can serve as the 'mouthpieces' of your brand, commenting, praising, and sharing your brand throughout the Twittersphere. For the ultimate statement on branding is "Its not what you say about you that makes your brand, its what THEY say."

Getting more followers
The lure to pumping up the 'Followers' number on your Twitter profile can be seductive. There are many program out there trying to pull you in with "Add 400 followers a day" or "how I got 10K followers in 90 days". Don't be pulled in by these tactics. As much as Twitter is being hailed and discussed, like any other web marketing tool, it still requires time, patience, hard work, and your analysis.

Stay Focused
You know your brand, your audience, and brand associations. So stay focused. Look for people on Twitter that can be interested in your brand, and even 'tweet' about it. Do a keyword search in Twitter for some of your brands focused keywords. Join groups that focus on niches related to your brand like Twibes.

Your Followers reflect
Your followers reflect who you are. If you are just going for the numbers, you can leave your account on autopilot while spammers and porn follow your account and Tweet your name. To keep your brand healthy and legitimate, you will need to vet your followers frequently to keep followers that are close to your brand. This is important for several reasons. Firstly, spammers don't care about anything you are tweeting about, and won't comment or retweet. You need quality and credible followers. Secondly, by keeping spammers in your follower list you are polluting your account. Legitimate followers will hold back from commenting on your Tweets out of concern of being exposed to your spam followers. This exposure will have a domino effect onto their account and Twitter experience.

The bottom line
Its less about how you look on Twitter, but about what they are saying about you on Twitter. The more influence you can have on what they are saying about you, and pushing that out, the greater impact that Twitter will have on your brand.

Hello! Can you hear me?

Hello! Can you hear me?

 

More and more people and entrepreneurs are getting into social media as a marketing venue. I am reminded of a few year ago (and even today) where everybody said, 'I need a website.'

As then, not many people knew what to do with their website. They built or paid a lot of money for someone to build it, and then it sat there. The sprightly innovators didn't know how to update the website with timely information, and didn't want to toss more money into their pricey investment. They got frustrated that they didn't see their website in Google. They didn't understand what people would look for in search that was relevant to their web's main content.

So the lonely little website sat out there in cyberspace screaming for someone to notice. Maybe in an email signature some friends would find the little site.

Then the frustration, consternation, anger and blame would descend. 'What did I waste all that money on a website? Nobody ever comes to the site! I don't get any customers!'

Now I see the same happening with Social Media for business. New ventures are jumping into Twitter, like getting behind the wheel of a car without a license. From day 1, they are Tweeting away about new offers, specials and website updates, even when they only have less than 20 followers (half of which are spammers or porn).

I hate to say it, but nobody is listening.

Social Media, like websites and webmarketing is a new dimension of marketing. Once marketing was linear, where you put an ad in a magazine, billboard, radio, or TV and people saw it. Even hanging a sign on a telephone pole for a garage sale was more certain than having a website that had not been web optimized or marketed.

Effective use of social media for marketing requires strategy, homework and a lot of cultivation.

FollowFriday is coming!

FollowFriday is coming!

 

Every week FollowFriday seems to just creep up on us. Are you ready? Do you know who you want to tweet?

What is FollowFriday?
So what is all this FollowFriday? FollowFriday is a Twitter mega-trend that started in mid-January 2009, with a simple tweet, encouraging people to recommend and follow their fellow Twitter users. This is the epitome of the 'social' in social media, where Twitter-world puts asid sharing info and updates, and makes a mad, free for all 'scratching each other's backs'. Read more about the creation of FollowFriday here.

Why is FollowFriday good?
FollowFriday is the 'pay it forward' of Twitter. Part of the fuel for each user's Twitter energy is gaining 'followers', especially 'followers' that are relevent to your subject and content updates. Growth in Twitter is not a linear, but VIRAL. Our Twitter networks expand in ALL directions. FollowFriday gives us a chance to really focus on expanding the network at least for one day a week. It is also a great 'pat on the back' to the new connections that we make during the week.

Is it Spam?
FollowFriday differs form spammers significantly. Spammers are using follow-baits throughout the week by filling their Twitter posts with names, in the hopes that the recipients will follow them, or give them acknowledgement in their networks. How does FollowFriday differ?
1. FollowFriday is one day a week
2. FollowFriday is based on sincere recommendations and not junk mail
3. FollowFriday is a positive group experience and a recognized trend

How does FollowFriday work?
FollowFriday is as easy as a ReTweet. The main thing is keeping in mind, or keeping a list of the great people you have crossed paths with throughout the week. You can make several FollowFriday tweets. And most of all, make sure to thank others for suggesting you on FollowFriday.

FollowFriday in action
You can easily create a FollowFriday using the following syntax

Example tweet for group: #FF These are great guys to follow @myfriend, @myfriend1, @myfriend2
Example tweet for individual: #FollowFriday Check out my buddy @myfriend

Good luck and see you on FollowFriday

Pimp my Tweet

Pimp my Tweet

 

Twitter lesson: Pimp my Tweet

Keywords, Hashtags, and short URLS

1. Since Twitter is limited to 140 characters, sometimes just the URL alone can fill up the whole space.

Putting up a long URL like this: http://www.theones2watch.com/newwave/1103

Having looked at the article, I am very impressed with this group of up and coming photographers.

- Yet, what would induce me to open the link?

- Moreover, how would somebody not on my follower list reach the link?

2. Short URLs

The first thing you need to do is shorten the URL.

Go to http://www.snipurl.com/ and paste the URL into the main field.

Out comes the 'short' URL http://snipurl.com/nq4mu

3. Keywords

Now with a short URL, you can make the most of your 140 characters, so add keywords.

You can't write a sentence, but use words that make the article meaningful.

For instance you can write: Photographers rising to fashion’s forefront.

You have to HOT keywords here: photographers, fashion

4. Hash tags

Hash tags (symbolized by #) are the grease in the Twitter machine.

By adding these words, you are indexed in the Twitter search mechanism.

So go ahead and hash those keywords: #photographers, #fashion

5. Posting

Now your new, 'pimped-out' Tweet is ready for posting

Shooting #images with passion, #Photographers rising to the forefront of #fashion http://snipurl.com/nq4mu

Postscript

Don't overdue hashtags! Otherwise it looks like you are spamming to get noticed. Keep it simple.

Validation is Twitter Fuel

Validation is Twitter Fuel

 

Validation comes in all forms. You can have your parking validated, your identity, or more importantly...you can receive validation.

There is a great video on YouTube entitled Validation, showing how much more successful and meaningful life is by giving your fellow human being some positive feedback.

Twitter is being powered on the same fuel: validation. Besides the spam approaches to expanding followers like: want more followers, get 16,000 followers in 90 days, follow me etc, you can expand your follower base with simple positive comments.

Retweeting

The easiest validation to someone is the ReTweet. You simple write Retweet (or RT for short) followed by the persons Twitter name (including the '@' sign of course), and their comment, news, or link.

With minimal effort, you have affirmed their input into the world. You have shown them that the risk they took exposing themselves, their opinions, and identity to the Twitter sphere was not only worth it, but is being recognized.

Response to Retweet

When I retweet information, I don't really expect to get responses. I am sharing items that I find interesting, hope others will to, and plan to go back and visit these posts in the future.

So when I get comments back like:

Thanks heaps for your kind retweet love!! :)

This makes me that much more dedicated to retweeting for this person. Its all part of Twitter fuel.

Feedback

Taking a bolder step, you can give some positive feedback on Twitter.

It can be like:

Hey @xxxxxx, you have a great design on your website, and a cool blog

Who can't resist responding to a nice comment like that. And that is where Twitter Fuel comes from!

Twitter Fuel

Positive comment ==> Positive response ==> Positive interaction

Can you make me a website

Can you make me a website

 

I meet many people excited to get into the web. They see what others are doing and want to get in too. So, when they see I have a website, I hear, "I'd like to have a website like yours."

For the individual, a personal website for presenting their professional qualifications and experience (not just showing pictures of the kids) is a great tool, and a better way to present yourself. It can be more presentable and approachable than a resume.

The stumbling blocks are:
- what content to put
- how to build it
- how to maintain it

What content to put
As with any project, I say ask yourself:

"What do you want to accomplish, what are your goals."

With the personal website you can expand on the dry bullet point of your resume to actually SHOW accomplishments, not just mention them. So if I were answering this question, I would say, "I want to clearly present my accomplishments in a visually engaging manner."

How to build it
Building a website still seems like black magic. Somehow it just gets on the web. Or in the days of TV, somehow those little people got into your box. Today you can blindly pay someone who is an expert in the 'black magic' of websites, or you can take a leap and make one yourself.

Two great services now exist for making websites as easy as 'drag and drop'
- Weebly an HTML, javascript based visual system
- Wix a Flash based site

For the experienced web designer, both have their limitations, but with each new release, there are more advanced settings. These tools practically allow anyone to easily put together a website and publish it very quickly, using professional looking templates

How to maintain it
So you have a website, now you have to keep it up to date. You can keep calling your 'black magic' website builder and throwing money. Or with one of the above tools, you can easily go in and add a page, or drag in another paragraph. The control is in your hands.