maine web development, web design, internet marketing

How you choose to expand your network will directly affect the quality of your network

I know a woman who refers to Twitter as a giant cocktail party and loves that you can eavesdrop and jump in on any conversation, at any time. True, but what if your followers stink? They tweet about boring things, share the same links over and over, talk at you not TO you and no one responds to your thoughtful content.

If you focus too much on your Twitter followers being a numbers game and not a relationship starter, you will be blessed with crappy attendees to your virtual cocktail party. Thousands of boring tweeters will clog your Twitter stream with sales promos, what they had for breakfast and whiny tweets about how horrible their lives are.

Relationships beat numbers

What are you using Twitter for? As a broadcast tool? To tell you boss that you have 10,000 followers? Then sure, numbers are good but more often then not, your tweets fall on deaf ears (or um, eyes). If you are using Twitter to build and reaffirm relationships with your customers, establish yourself as an expert in your industry or to get feedback on your products and services, then relationships matter more.

Jason Falls wrote a quick and to the point blog this week about what is more important, ‘influence’ or trust? Many people spend too much time trying to get the attention of the people with the biggest Twitter followers or most blog subscribers. If one of those picked up your content, would you really get the eyeballs you want on your content? You are probably better off finding someone in your niche who has followers that would really benefit from your content, products and services.

3 easy ways to find good people to follow on Twitter

1. Try adding your LinkedIn contacts to your Twitter followers. The Next Web thought that with this new easy integration, this could be the ‘a-ha’ moment for many Twitterers struggling to find meaningfulness in their Twitter streams.
2. Look for hashtags that are in and around the target group you are trying to reach.
3. Can’t find a good hashtag? Start your own or start a Twitter chat. Twitter chats are a great way to find new people you can connect with. I have met some really good people through #blogchat.

Lastly, if you feel like your followers are lacking the qualities you need, don’t feel bad about trimming the fat and getting your numbers down to people who care about you and your content.

This afternoon Twitter had a bit of a snafu on their hands. A bug was created that could make users force others to follow them. If you had a close eye on your follow count you may have noticed that you were following more people than you chose to follow manually.

In the process of fixing the bug, for about an hour today everyone’s Twitter followers and people they were following was set to zero. No one was following anyone else. Direct messages became impossible because no one was actually following anyone else, according to the Twitter website.

Some people freaked out, while others rejoiced. Some pondered what this could mean for the internet, status and defining real influencers. Some marveled at the thought of starting over and some people were just silly with the thought that no one could read their tweets.

What you SHOULD have been thinking about

What you should have thought about was the reality that none of your Twitter followers or content on Twitter belong to you, it all belongs to Twitter. The same goes for Facebook, LinkedIn or any of your other favorite social networking sites. Your Facebook photo albums, your contact list on LinkedIn, notes, events created on these sites etc. all belong to someone else.

Twitter did fix the problem but what if they didn’t? What if fixing the bug meant you had to start over again at zero?

Many people who read this blog are using Twitter for business. How would this have impacted your online marketing strategy?

3 things to consider after today’s #followgeddon

1. Back up your information – Just like you back up your computer, network, email (you do that right?) you should consider backing up your social networking data. LinkedIn easily lets you export your network data. There are online tools to help you export your Twitter followers. Record who your Facebook fans are. What data would you want if that social network was gone tomorrow? Figure that out and save it.
2. Adding relationships to the sales funnel – How are you taking conversations, leads, connections, inquiries from social networks and recording them? If you have a CRM system, consider a point where you think it is relevant to add connections to your database.
3. None of your content belongs to you on social networks – Social networks are required to have strong privacy policies. What ends up happening is that they now own any content you put on their websites and they have the right to take anything down they want to. This does not happen very often, especially to businesses that play by the rules but, it very well could happen. Be sure you have all your content you need backed up or on your website (that you own). Social networks are a great way to get people to see your content and move them to your website but you don’t want to rely on them to be the ‘end-all, be-all’ for interacting with your content and business.

Today’s bug was good for a laugh and I don’t believe anyone got hurt but it was a good reminder that all your tweets could go up in a cloud of smoke. Protect yourself, your company and your content by keeping the content and connections that are most important to you backed up.

… or should you be both, or neither?

Twitter is becoming more and more popular among businesses and marketers. People are using Twitter to connect with friends, meet new people, look for help and answers, promote products and services and so much more.

As more and more people and businesses join the fight for people’s attention on Twitter, the lines seem to be getting more blurry on whether you should be yourself or your company while you Tweet.

I hear this question a lot in meetings and at Social Media Breakfasts and here are some things to consider when deciding who to represent when you Tweet:

Let your goals, not your current place guide you. – I always think it is important to know what you want out of social media before you dive right in and start participating. Make a list of the things you want to accomplish in this space; brand recognition, use for customer service, make new relationships with people in your industry et al. Once you have a clear idea of what you are trying to accomplish, you can decide if this message is better carried out by you personally or your brand.

What type of content will you be producing? – When you sit down to figure out what you want to accomplish with social media, think specifically on the types of content you will be producing (the tweets). If this was an in-person conversation, would the content be better from a person or from a brand representative?

What are you going to be an expert on? – One of the best ways to succeed in social media is to establish yourself as an expert in something. Be the go-to guy or girl on something. Much like above, would this type of advice and content be better delivered from a person or brand representative? If you are establishing yourself as an expert versus establishing your business as the go-to place for these types of services, then perhaps you want a personal tone.

Think about what could go wrong first – I don’t mean to scare anyone but it is better to think about what could go wrong and have a plan for it before something actually does go wrong. Set company policies on what you want people who are representing your brand to adhere to. Determine what content is out of bounds and what content you want more of.

Be honest with yourself – Think long and hard about your 1, 3, 5 year plan. Are you going to be at this company for a long time?

Two scenarios to consider:

• You spend your time tweeting as your brand or company and you leave that organization – The content you produce on behalf of your employer, belongs to your employer (most likely). You may have 4,000 followers and when you walk out that door you have to leave them all behind and start over.
• You spend your time tweeting from a personal account making it be known where you work and you leave the company – Will you audience/followers want to make the transition with you? Will they want to follow you through starting a job search or new business? Did you sell yourself as a marketing expert and then take a job in accounting?

Can you be both personal and professional on one account? – I have a few stories to tell about people who tried to both represent their brand and their personal life on one account and it all went up in smoke in minutes. Your personal life could bring down your organization. Even if you work for yourself, carefully consider what content you are going to produce and stick to the specific content.

Being personal doesn’t automatically equal business – I recently overheard a conversation between two people who are heavy Twitter users. One brands herself as her business and the other as himself. She told him he wasn’t very clear about what he did for work or that he was looking for business. He was surprised. ‘Well isn’t that how this all works? You get to know me and then you are curious what I do for work and I get business?’ Well… no. Yes being likable and sharing information about your town, children, activities is a good way to get some followers but if you aren’t staying on message you could just be clouding the water.

“The trick of being in a personal brand is that there’s a big difference between being known, being known for something, and also being able to turn that into business.”

Chris Brogan – When YOU Are the Brand

What we do

I am not saying what we do here at Hall is ALWAYS the best scenario (although I usually like it) but I did want to share with you what we do here and how it has worked for us. We have been using Twitter for a few years and it took some trial and error but I really like how we are sharing content on Twitter. It is effective and a bit more organized.

Our company account is maintained by one person. We use it to announce new blog posts, webinars, share useful links we find online and answer any questions people may have for us. Yes, it is used more for sharing our news, like a broadcast tool.

If people are looking for a more personal connection with Hall on Twitter we have a large number on our staff who tweet regularly. Each employee who is going to tweet about our business or establish themselves as an expert in our field, has a long conversation with the management team about what is and what is not acceptable, about the responsibility going along with tweeting for our company and we define a niche they are comfortable tweeting about.

As a group we often Retweet each others content, not to broadcast but because we genuinely appreciate the content our co-workers are putting out.

Following Hall on Twitter

If you want to follow Hall on Twitter for news, updates, useful links, new blog posts and webinars: @Hall_Web

If you want to follow Amanda on Twitter for all things social media, blogging, Maine living, Social Media Breakfast Maine, trying to live a healthy lifestyle and for things I find funny: @amanda_pants

If you want to follow Kyle on Twitter for tips on web design, random quips from a Massachusetts native trying to live in Maine, Social Media Breakfast Maine: @kyyuulle

If you want to follow Kasi for all things SEO related, some cute dog pictures, random dance party inspiration: @kasi_marie

If you want to follow Alayna for all things CMS related, WordPress, Drupal, content marketing and upcoming events and webinars: @CMS_Girl

If you want to follow Jenika for all things web marketing, channel marketing, tips, and random things that make her laugh: @Jenika29

I hope you find this post helpful when trying to decide who you should be portraying when you tweet. There is no exact science at this point. Please feel free to share with me things that have worked for you and your business as well. Our Hall example is just one of many options. I learn best by seeing what other people are doing so I wanted to share that with you.

Many businesses have realized that social media marketing is an important tool to have in their marketing tool belt. One of the problems businesses have, SMBs in particular, is that there are just not enough hours in the day to add more things to do, monitor, listen to, update, post, blog et. al. Most SMBs don’t have marketing departments, copywriters or the extra manpower to add more work to do by participating in this rapidly changing online social landscape.

Using this space and using it well is tough to do. Twitter alone is raw and happening at rapid tweets per second. A major part of using Twitter well for your business is making sure you have a loyal, interested and active list of people you are following and who are following you. Remember, this is networking not broadcasting. It is usually better to have a small active Twitter following who reads, reacts and republishes your content versus having thousands of followers but none of them contribute to your effort.

Each morning as I drink my coffee, I check for any new followers on my Twitter accounts (@Hall_Web and @amanda_pants). I manually (that is by hand not a plugin or bot that follows back anyone who is following me) check each new follower.

I look at lots of things when determining whether or not to follow someone back and with a collection of all the information, I make my decision.

Here is what I look for before following back a new follower:

• Avatar or image – Does the person have a picture? Is that picture of them, their face, a logo?
• Location – Is the person from my geographic location? Are they from someplace I have lived, traveled to, am interested in, do business in?
• Recent Tweets – What kind of content do they publish? Are they conversational or are they simply broadcasting?
• Number of Followers and Following – Do they have tens of thousands of followers? Unless they are super important or famous, they probably used some type of bot of following scheme to garner so many followers.
• Twitter lists – How many are they listed on and what topics are they listed for?

Twitter Lists

Twitter lists are pretty new. When they were first rolled out, not many people knew what to do with them, some thought they would hurt already standing Twitter traditions and some just plain old didn’t like them. Since the dust has settled, I have found Twitter lists very useful in determining if I am going to follow someone on Twitter.

First – How many lists are they on? The act of creating a list and adding people you want to it takes time. Someone took enough time to create this list and categorize this person because they wanted to organize or bookmark this person’s information. Time = Value in my mind. A human being took the time to categorize my content. I think that is a big deal. I have looked around and if you can get 5-10% of your followers to add you to a list, I think that is pretty good.

Second – What lists in particular are they on? Consider what lists people are on. Is their expertise something you are hoping to learn more about? Are they in your industry, local market, attending an event you are attending? Or perhaps they could just clog your Twitter stream with information you are not looking for.

This is also a good way to monitor your own Twitter content. If you consider yourself a Social Media Expert and you are being listed as an SEO expert, you could be sending people the wrong message (or tweets). If you are an HR Blogger and people are listing you as social media expert, whiskey connoisseur, running blogger and the list goes on and on, you could be sending mixed messages. By talking about all of your interests you may have diluted your message.

This is just one way I try to keep my Twitter efforts organized and make sure I am following and being followed by good people. I want both parties to benefit from this relationship. What other precautions or tips do you have for streamlining your Twitter efforts?