Social Media Marketing - Jamie Faidley's Internet Marketing Blog

20Jul/110

7 Keys to Building Relationships By Using Twitter

Twitter and other social media sites are about one thing, building relationships. Sure, you don't want to waste you time writing Tweets, replying to people, and retweeting if it isn't going to earn you more money in the long run, but therein lies the secret. Don't look for immediate results, instead focus on long term benefits.

Users who focus on the short-term flood their streams with product promotions, affiliate links, and sales copy. Their followers don't take their messages to heart and will be hesitant to trust anything they send out. If you only self-promote you will quickly be tuned out.

Marketers who focus on the long run will build up a connection with their followers. You have to earn your follower's trust by being selfless and rewarding them with quality content. To do this you have to offer followers some sort of value with your tweets, send them to interesting and helpful resources, and answer their questions. When you send out a tweet with an affiliate link or new product, it will be to a product that you have actually used, tested, and found helpful. This results in not only more clicks, but actual conversions.

What is the best way to build relationships with your followers? Let's take a look:

1. Before you send out an update, ask yourself what information do you think your followers need to know right now? What have you learned today? What resources on the web have you found that make your life easier? Is there something that is capturing your attention? Be useful and make a genuine effort to help your followers out.

2. Follow your peers and offer your opinion on applicable content. Someone posts a blog in your niche about how to do something, maybe you add that you don't like one point or would also do something else. See a well-written Tweet? Retweet it to your audience with your thoughts attached.

3. Thank and promote those followers who retweet your updates or mention you in their Tweets. Taking a little time out of your day to give those users recognition will increase the chances that they do it again.

4. Ask questions to poll and survey your audience. Once you have gathered the data let everyone know what the results were.

5. Don't use the full 140 characters. Instead only take up about 100. This enables people to retweet you with a short little message of their own.

6. Use the Twitter search to seek out people discussing topics in your niche. Join their conversations and add to them.

7. Create lists related to your niche. You can start with the popular news sources, direct competitors, indirect competitors, or just people unrelated to your niche that you find interesting. This will help you be seen as a "hub" of information within your market.

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Filed under: Social Media MarketingNo Comments

19Jul/110

7 Step Guide on How to Get Started with Using Twitter

1. Sign up for Twitter - All you have to do is enter your name, email, password, and username to create your account and get started on the platform. Invest some time into your username so you can come up with something that is witty and short, but also memorable.

2. Set up Your Profile - Right at the top of this page is a place to update your picture. Make sure you upload one! People are less likely to follow users who don't even take the time to upload a photo. I think a real picture of your face works best, but you can also use a logo or design to identify yourself.

If you have a website, add the URL to the "Web" section. The bio is important. Think of it as a short headline that you can use to entice people to follow you. Make it interesting. Take a look at our Twitter bio tips for more information on what to include in this section to gain more followers.

Add a Twitter background, preferably with all of your other contact information such as email address, site URL, and other social networks users can find you on. Check out our list of places to find cool Twitter backgrounds.

3. Start Following People - Twitter really wants to help you find who to follow so you have a positive experience. Use their tool and get suggestions based on who you already follow. If you are just getting started and have no followers you can browse interests to find people who tweet about topics you are interested in. You can also find your friends by searching your Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, or LinkedIn contacts. The search box enables you to enter keywords and see some of the top Tweeters related to that term.

Once you start following people, check out Twitter's suggestions on who to follow. After you follow someone, check out who Twitter recommends as being similar to that person. You'll start to gather a list of followers that cover topics you are interested in and have a stream full of information you care about.

4. Learn the Language - Retweets, Mentions, Direct Messages, Followers, Hashtags, and Tweets are just a few of the terms that you need to become familiar with if you are going to use Twitter. Check out the Official Twitter Glossary for the definitions and Inkhouse's list of abbreviations for popular terms.

5. Join the Conversation & Help Others - Once you start following people, your stream will fill up with their tweets. Read through and if you find something interesting, reply back to that person. If someone asks a question and you know the answer, give it to them. If a particular tweet catches your eye as interesting, retweet it.

Don't just reply or retweet, say something unique yourself. If you find a great blog post online, write a catchy headline and post a link to it. Post links to your own blog posts. Post interesting facts and information within your niche.

6. Post Frequently - In our article on when to post on Twitter we found that you really can't do it too much. The users with the most followers send out 22 tweets per day. Another great thing about Twitter is that if you take a break and don't post for a week, you can pick up right where you left off and start sending out updates.

If you do not post status updates your Twitter account will not be able to help your business.

7. Don't Spam - If you are only sending out self-promoting junk either via Tweets, direct messages, or replies then you will lose followers and be viewed as a spammer. People really don't want to hear that you are lonely, bored, or sad either.

Other resources:

Twitip's 10 Easy Steps for Beginners
Dan Hollings

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Filed under: Social Media MarketingNo Comments

18Jul/110

6 Reasons Why You Should Use Twitter

Twitter started out as a "micro-blogging" platform. The original ideas was to answer the question "what are you doing" in 140 characters or less. If that message is all you have heard about Twitter then you might think it's just for people who have too much time on their hands and want everyone to know what they are having for lunch.

Twitter has grown to mean much more that that, but before you dive in to the platform you should find out if Twitter is a good fit for you and learn what you can expect from your investment of time and money. If you use the social platform intelligently it can add value to your brand and help build your business.

1. Building a List of Followers - With Internet marketing there is nothing that beats a solid list of email subscribers. I've listed the details before, but building a relationship with a group of prospects is an asset enabling you to "push a button" to send an offer that makes you money. While Twitter followers are lower value, this policy still applies. Build a following and you can send links to your site to drive traffic, promote special offers, and learn what your market wants.

2. Establish Yourself As An Expert - If you see someone posting valuable information every day you start to see them as an industry leader. Share your knowledge. Solve problems. Answer questions. Don't just send links to your site, but other high quality articles on other people's sites. You'll quickly be seen as a specialist in your field and a thought leader.

3. Engaging with Clients & Prospects - People don't trust everything they read online. They have seen the fake testimonials, exaggerated claims, and excessive marketing hype. Here is your chance to interact with prospective clients and make them feel comfortable that you are the person that can solve their problem. You can also engage current clients to find out if they are having any additional issues and get ideas for future products.

4. Breaking News - Newspapers, magazines, and TV stations all have Twitter accounts. They will post updates about what is going on in the world so you can stay up to date with the latest news. If you don't want general news every niche has popular sources of what's going on in the market. Retweeting breaking news enables you to come across as someone who is on the cutting edge.

5. Answering Your Questions - Twitter is all about crowdsourcing. It can be a hard and fast fact like "Who do the Lakers play tonight?" or a general opinion on a certain movie or book. The more followers that you have, the more answers you are going to get. Even if you don't have that many friends on Twitter send your question to @answers and get your answer in a reply.

6. Marketing - I put this last on the list because too many people think that they are going to sign up for Twitter, start blasting out links to their services, and make money fast. That's now how it works. Sure you can market your products and get some additional exposure, but only after you have established a following that thinks you are an expert and trusts your advice.

Other Resources on Why You Should Use Twitter:

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Filed under: Social Media MarketingNo Comments

16Jun/110

When to Post on Twitter & Facebook

Both Twitter and Facebook have a huge audience of potential customers who might be interested in what you are selling, but what is the best way to reach them? You are competing for each user's attention with a lot of other noise, so it's not easy to get your followers or fans to listen to and be interested in what you have to say. One of the ways that you can give yourself the best chance of social media success is to post at the right time of day and on the right days of the week.

I have found two different studies (Buddy Media and Dan Zarella) that tried to figure out just when is the right time to post, how often you should update, and what days work best. One of the thing that is clear from both studies, what works for most people might not necessarily work for you. As always, you are going to want to test your social media strategy to find your own sweet spot.

What Time of Day to Post

If you want your updates to be seen, early in the morning is the best time to post. When people wake up in the morning they go online. Their Twitter streams and Facebook news feeds are ordered in chronological order with the latest updates appearing first. If you can post right before the person checks their account, you will appear at the top and have a great chance of being seen.

Zarella found that if you want to get your updates retweeted, the majority of people do this between 2 PM and 5 PM, but if the goal is clickthroughs then the rates are fairly even throughout the day.

What Day of the Week to Post

Buddy Media says the best day to post is Thursday and Friday. Zarella found that retweets go up slightly towards the end of the week as well. One of the theories behind the data is that people don't want to be at work, so they are more likely to look for distractions online.

Sharing on Facebook goes way up on the weekend, even though most stories are published during the week.

How Often

Zarella studied how often people post on Twitter and correlated that to how many followers they have. The results were pretty surprising as the users with the most followers post 22 tweets per day and even post the same message in slightly different formats a few times each day. If you are posting links to your own content, once per hour seems to be a good guide to achieve the highest clickthrough rate.

Using Zarella's information I would try to tweet once per hour, nearly every hour of the waking hours of your target audience. Don't be afraid to send out a link to the same article once in the morning and once in the afternoon, using slightly different text accompanying the URL each time.

Zarella also found that Facebook was a completely different animal. While users might not get overwhelmed by a lot of updates on Twitter, your Facebook friends and fans will give you more "likes" if you post every other day. If you clog up their Facebook stream, they are less likely to want to see your stuff.

Tagged as: Facebook, twitterNo Comments

18Apr/110

Twitter Bio Tips

People who sign up for Twitter often times neglect to put much time into filling out their bio section. It's pretty common and if you are in a hurry to get signed up and to check out the Twitterverse then I can't really blame you for doing it. However, your Twitter biography is important and it can help you display information to potential followers. By hovering over a username in any kind of followers list it will display your bio. A solid description can entice the person looking at you into becoming a follower.

Here are a few tips that I have found that can help you get more out of the social platform.

Tell People What You Do

Your bio should tell users a little bit about yourself, it is your bio after all. Most people that stumble across your page will no nothing about you. This is your chance to tell them a little bit about yourself and why they should listen to what you have to say. Tailor this information to your audience. If you want to get the attention of golfers, then describe your golf bio, not your computer science background.

It's also OK to add a few hobbies or interests that you have. This shows that you have some personality and aren't completely dull, but what is your main purpose behind the account? If you are promoting a site or your brand, then make sure that comes before hobbies or your family details.

Use Your Real Name

Using your real name works best to show you are an actual person. If you are tweeting for a company, having a name will at least help the followers figure out just who the "I" is in your tweets. It also portrays a more human side to the company.

Identify Yourself As An Authority

Dan Zarrella did a lot of research on Twitter users with a lot of followers and his data debunks the old myth that you shouldn't call yourself an expert. If you are an expert in a given field, then identify yourself as such. His list includes using the words official, founder, speaker, expert, guru, and author. Anyone who owns a blog can be called an author or founder. If you know more than the average person does about a specific niche then you should feel confident enough to identify yourself as an expert or guru.

No Keyword Stuffing

You know what makes you look really stupid? Stuffing your bio full of keywords that you are trying to target. People might be searching for something specific and it's great that you want to be the one that they find. However, f someone reads your description and finds 10 different variations of the keyword in a list they are going to see you (correctly) as low-value and they won't follow you anyway.

More Resources

Bajillion Hits - Tips for "cool" bios.

Tagged as: twitterNo Comments

21Mar/110

Engaging Online Communities

One of the hot terms in Internet marketing over the past few years has been to "engage your community" to attract people to your site. With the rise of social media there are lots of conversations going on about your niche and by building relationships with these members you can get more links to your site, build your brand recognition, and get more customers. How exactly can you successfully engage your community and get more traffic and sales? It's not all that hard.

Find the Community

The first step to engaging an online community is to actually find them. The obvious places to look are Facebook pages and groups, and Twitter. All you have to do is search for your keyword terms in their built in search boxes and look through the results. It's also beneficial to search for forums (Google "(keyword) forums"). Forums might not be as popular right now, but a lot of times they are places that a large group of people interested in your niche have gathered together for an extended period of time, making them a dedicated group.

How to Engage Your Audience

Nobody likes the person who comes into their community and tries to endlessly promote themselves without adding anything back. If you do that you could get banned, but even if you don't you aren't going to make many friends.

You know what the members will like? An expert who helps them out. Forums are a perfect place to find an archive of questions that people in your market have had. If you want to engage your market, answering their questions and becoming known as a helpful expert in the field is the easiest way to do that. Plus, it's a great way to find content ideas for your site.

Getting Links & Referrals

So someone in an online community asks a question and you know the answer. If you post a quick reply, you might make a few friends with your knowledge, but you won't generate many links to your site nor refer many prospective customers that way. The best way I have found to answer the question is to write a detailed article covering the solution or answer, then give a short summary in response to the person who asks the question with a link back to your site. If you have a decent following on Twitter and Facebook, I'd even repost the question with a link to the answer. This should generate additional tweets, Facebook likes, and referrals from others.

This is the best way to engage online communities. Find out what the people are talking about in your market and then contribute something of value to their conversations.

Tagged as: Facebook, forums, twitterNo Comments

6Mar/110

Top Twitter Tips

People are connecting in a variety of ways these days. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are just a few of the most popular options. Today I'm going to focus on Twitter, offering some of the best tips that I have found for you to increase your number of followers, engage your audience, and get the most out of your Tweets. I'm not the world's foremost expert on the subject, but in using Twitter for the various niches that I am involved in, I have learned some of the things that work best on the platform.

1. Don't use the full 140 characters

Do not underestimate the importance of having others retweet you or better yet, add their comments to what you have to say. This means keeping your tweets down to around 100 characters instead of using the full 140. If you are posting links, this means using a URL shortener is a must.

2. Limit Who You Follow

Do not automatically follow back every single person who follows you. If you do that then you are either going to miss seeing important tweets by people you actually care about or you are going to get frustrated and stop following everyone altogether. What you want to do is follow the people that are tweeting news and information that is important to you. Try different people out, and if they aren't tweeting information you are interested in unfollow them.

3. Know Your Niche

If you have a personal Twitter account, you can use it similar to a Facebook status update and talk about your personal life. If you are using Twitter for your business, talk about the specifics of your niche. Sending personal information out every once in awhile is fine, but if you want people to follow you for Internet Marketing advice then don't talk about your baby with five tweets per day. It is more than fine to have more than one Twitter account, and use one for that kind of personal information while keeping your business life seperate.

4. Frequency

With blog posting it's advised to be consistent and give your audience a steady dose. If you take a break then your audience might leave and never come back. With Twitter it works a little differently. You can send out five tweets in two minutes (as long as what you are sending out there is quality information) and people will be satisfied. You can also take a two week break and probably won't lose any followers. The most important thing to remember is say something only when you have something worth saying. If you are drawing a blank, don't tweet just to do it.

Tagged as: twitterNo Comments

1Dec/100

How Much is Facebook Worth?

Mark Zuckerberg has to be a happy man these days. He is a 24% shareholder in Facebook, the company that he co-founded with a few of his classmates while attending Harvard. Sure he has to deal with a seemingly endless amount of lawsuits as people try to take a piece of the pie, but Facebook was recently valued at over $50 billion based on private market transactions disclosed to TechCrunch.

While $50 billion seems like a lot (and it is) that is still around 1/4th the size of Google or Microsoft. Facebook is worth more than Yahoo or eBay, but it still has some catching up to do to chase down Amazon's $80 billion valuation.

How fast has Facebook reached the $50 billion mark? Let's take a look at some past transactions that give an indication of the company's worth:

November 29, 2010 - The SecondMarket.com auction closes with share prices indicating a valuation of $50 billion.

January 20, 2010 - TechCrunch reporting that offers on Second Market for Facebook's private shares put the company at roughly $14 billion.

May 2009 - Digit Sky Technologies invests $200 million for a 1.96% stake, giving Facebook a value of $10 billion.

October 2007 - Microsoft invests $240 million for a 1.6% stake, giving the company a $15 billion valuation.

April 2006 - Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital contribute $27.5 million to give Facebook a value of $525 million.

May 2005 - Accel Partners invests $12.7 million to give the company a value of $100 million.

Not a bad track of growth! A lot of people think that there are a lot of profits to be made with Facebook, but right now Zuckerberg is still concentrated on growth. Once the company goes public, he is going to have less control and more of a demand from investors on increasing profits. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next couple of years.

Tagged as: FacebookNo Comments

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