Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’
IABC Philadelphia Presentation: Writing for the Web
This post is for the attendees (and anyone else who stops by) of the March 20, 2009 IABC meeting on Writing for the Web. My portion of the panel discussion is writing for social media. And instead of having boring handouts, I wanted to share the information via a blog post and hopefully get attendees to engage in conversation…because that’s what social media is all about!
Social media is surely the buzz word these days and perhaps you’re ready to tip your toe into the social waters. Before you do…Ask yourself the following:
- Can I comprehensively write in 140-characters?
- Do I know the best practices for blog writing?
- Am I prepared to change how I write news releases?
- Do I know how to write with the unwritten rules of social media in mind?
Twitter and Facebook
On a basic level, Twitter is a microblogging and social networking that allows you to share your daily events (microblogging) and have conversations with other people (social networking) in 140 characters. Facebook, another social networking tool, also lets you connect with people and share ‘what’s on your mind’ in 160 characters. Marketers and communicators tend to be verbose, so how can you chat in 140-characters without sounding like a 14-year? (u know what I mean, kthxbai.)
Shorten your words and say exactly what you mean. Sounds basic, right? But you’d be surprised how hard it can be at first. Writing in 140 characters has really strengthened my writing skills and I have heard the same from other marketers. Also, it’s okay to shorten common words…for example:
- About – abt
- Great – grt
- Good – gd
- Thanks – thx
- And – &
- People – ppl
- Social Media – SM
- Social Networking – socnet
You get the drift…
Best Practices for Blog Writing
Because everyone blogs for their own reasons, styles and mileage will vary. But since we are talking, for the most part, about corporate blogs here are some quick tips:
- Always write your own posts (i.e. don’t outsource to a ghost blogger)
- Don’t use a blog as a vehicle for collateral or news release delivery (that’s what websites are for)
- Use a blog to expand on your news and have conversations around it
- Find and have an authentic voice
- Write about something interesting to your audience
- Use your search engine optimization (SEO) keywords in your copy (but not overtly)
- Always use outbound links to other blogs and sites (just like I did here)
- Ask questions that generate conversation
- Consider having multiple bloggers (Graco’s corporate blog is a great example of this!)
- Write often (1-2 times a week is a good start)
- And don’t forget to have fun
Want to get more information on blog writing? Check out Debbie Weil’s awesome book, The Corporate Blogging Book and be sure to subscribe to her blog too. Another good source to get you started is Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel.
Writing a Social News Release
The Social Media News Release (click on the link to see the format) was introduced in 2006 by Todd Defren (the principal of SHIFT Communications). Todd is truly a pioneer because people are just starting to use this format in varying formats. What’s different? The Social Media News Release focuses on less writing and more concise, targeted content. But better yet, it includes information that can be viewed (videos), listened to (podcasts) and shared! Because these days, public relations isn’t just about the media…it’s about putting the ‘public’ back in PR.
If you aren’t quite ready to dive into a Social Media News Release, try an optimized and shareable release that is social without giving up the traditional format. Services like PitchEngine, PRX Builder, PRWeb, Business Wire’s EON, MarketWire, PR Newswire offer the ability to optimize your releases for search and come with the option to make your release shareable (i.e. Digg, del.icio.us, Newsvine, etc.). As well some provide multimedia features that let you add collateral, videos, podcasts, etc.
The Unwritten Rules of Social Media
As a company [or non-profit, agency (government or creative), university, etc.] engaged in social media you’ll find that a community starts to develop. They’ll be the ones to let you know how they want to how they want to be communicated to/with. In other words, there aren’t any hard and fast rules to social media or writing for social media…just guidelines and best practices.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you engage (and write) in social networks:
- Be real
- Be nice
- Be respectful
- Listen then talk
- Give then take
- Try to be consistent
- Apologize when you make a mistake
- Say thank you
- Don’t broadcast (i.e. self promote)
- Don’t stalk
- It’s not a numbers game
- Don’t publicly or privately unfollow/unfriend
Seems like basic etiquette, right? You’d be surprised how often companies [or non-profits, agencies (government or creative), universities, etc.] get off track and then have to deal with fixing their snafus. Try to keep Emily Post in the back of your mind.
What would you add to this information? If there are any questions, don’t be shy and be sure to ask…we’re all here to help!
[Image: BioJobBlogger]
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Social Media in Action
A few weeks ago I went to Best Buy to get a new laptop and software. I asked for what I wanted and left with my new laptop fully loaded with software. It wasn’t until I got home that I noticed the Microsoft Office version and Internet protection software loaded wasn’t what I had asked for. So, the following week (when I had time), I went back and explained that they had provided and installed the wrong version of Microsoft Office (it was a non-commercial use version). They told me an upgrade would solve the problem.
Today, I finally had a chance to load the upgrade and well, you guessed it, it was still a non-commercial use version and not what I wanted at all.
I packed up the laptop and all the software boxes and trekked back over to Best Buy. This would be my third trip and last time I was there I got a bit of resistance (they didn’t want to deal with returning opened and used software). So this time around, I thought I should see if Best Buy customer service was on Twitter.
A bunch of folks on Twitter let me know that the CMO of Best Buy, Barry Judge (@BestBuyCMO) was on Twitter (thank you @LenKendall, @DMASocialMedia, @KeithBurtis, @PhilBaumann for letting me know). I tweeted the CMO of Twitter and got a response from Gina, Best Buy’s Community Manager (@gina_community). Gina sent me an e-mail address and asked me to let her know what was going on at the store. I sent her an e-mail from my BlackBerry to get her up-to-date.
In the meantime, the Product Manager (Dwayne) at Best Buy was working with me to figure out what the next steps were. Simultaneously I was interacting with Gina on-line and Dwayne offline. Gina also e-mailed the store to see what progress was being made.
Dwayne was great and I was able to return all of the software that I couldn’t use and I finally got what I needed.
I was really glad to see that Best Buy was listening on Twitter, but unfortunately, they paid the price for not listening off-line (they are now stuck with a bunch of software that they can’t re-sell).
By the way, this whole situation was resolved in about 10-15 minutes and I can finally give kudos to Best Buy. I guess it’s true what they say… “third time’s a charm.”
[Image: San Fransisco Chronicle, SFGate.com]
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Who are you? And why should I follow you?
A recent post by Kami Huyse and my own stream of followers prompted me to write this post. In Kami’s recent post, “Painting by Number: Bringing Blog Content to Life by Coloring the Canvas,” she lists the below rule:
Learn the rules and then break them intelligently: Every community has a culture, until you know and respect the culture, you can’t start breaking the rules.
I am not talking about blogging, but microblogging…sites like Twitter and Plurk. (We can debate the term microblogging another time.) I have learned from being on Twitter that the rules of culture and etiquette, among other things, for the most part, expect a reciprocate follow to a follower.
Well, I am breaking that rule…intelligently.
Here’s the thing, as more people and companies become aware of Twitter and Plurk, they don’t take the time to see what the culture is like. By not taking the time to do so, they don’t see that most folks on Twitter are real people with real names. And from now on I am not following them back.
Here’s why:
The other day, after checking out a follower’s profile (to make sure they weren’t a spammer, etc.), I followed them. Then response I received: “Thanks. You can check out my website here [link] to learn all about me and what I blog about.” What the…?!
Another favorite: “Thanks for the follow. Be sure to follow my company too. And check out our site.” Ah, sorry, no. How about we chat first?
And my #1 favorite: “Thanks. If you don’t subscribe to my blog, be sure to do so today via RSS.” What am I, just a number to you?
Today as I was going through my followers, I was greeted by all kinds of avatars (some creepy), crazy names, and one-line descriptions (if any). It was very enlightening.
Here are are some tips to people and companies who want to join the conversation on Twitter, Plurk, identi.ca, etc.
- Use a name, a real name, somewhere. If you don’t want to use a name, I suspect you aren’t ready to engage in social media or a conversation. I can’t have a conversation with “BugGurlz” (okay, I made that up, but you know what I mean.)
- Don’t use Susie234 as a name, spammers do that.
- Use a photo of yourself, not an avatar. Okay, well, I can deal with an avatar if I have other proof you are human and not a spammer (as in a real name somewhere and a description).
- Fill out the description. And not just a one-liner (“I am a blogger.”) Tell us who you are and what you are about; otherwise, why should anyone follow you?
- If you are a company, designate a real person to your Twitter/Plurk/identi.ca account and let them have a voice.
I feel at a disadvantage. You know my name, what I do, what I am interested in and all about me (or at least what I share on Twitter & Plurk). I am asking you to reciprocate. You might be a real person with whom I could have a great conversation with or perhaps a business relationship…but we will never know.
Trust me, being real will benefit you more than me—really.
Update 10/9/09: Matt J. McDonald over at A New Marketing has a great post that includes a checklist to brand your Twitter account. Be sure to check them out!
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Tags: etiquette, Kami Huyse, microblogging, plurk, Social Media, social networking, Twitter | 
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Here a ping, there a ping…
Recently, the New York Times ran an article called Brave New World of Digital Intimacy that dives into how relationships have changed now that interaction with others-and our lives- are shared on-line via applications like Facebook and Twitter.
According to the article, ‘social scientists have a name for this sort of incessant online contact. They call it “ambient awareness.” It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does – body language, sighs, stray comments – out of the corner of your eye.’
A lot of updates are limited to 140 characters and applications like ping.fm make it easy to broadcast daily minutiae across multiple applications at the same time. There seems to be an assumption that broadcasting equates to participation in social media and its applications. It certainly makes it easier, right? Instant communicate to all networks with one push of the enter key.
But is communication with the network the same as conversing with the network? Connie Reece recently asked the question “are you conversationally tone-deaf?” and explained that one-way conversation (i.e. broadcasting) does not equate to a social media best practice.
Social media leaders, who understand the importance of conversation, leave different update statuses on different applications like Twitter, Plurk and Facebook. Why? Because they use the applications for the different purposes they serve. Perhaps Twitter for business, Plurk for friends and Facebook for the combination of the two. Time consuming? Yes. But importantly, they realize that their communities are different on each networking application and conversations on each will be different.
The article goes on to say that, “…this is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update-each individual bit of social information-is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting.”
But, that’s not entirely accurate. The portrait being seen is the one painted by the broadcaster. They control what is known about them. Without any meaningful conversation, whether on-line or in person, it is truly impossible to know that person. Basing relationships on what broadcasted messages they leave behind can lead to potential parasocial behavior. Conversation is an art. It takes practice and is time consuming. Having ambient awareness isn’t enough to develop a meaningful relationship. And as more people start using social media tools to broadcast and not converse, social media will become no more than traditional marketing utilizing on-line tools.
Ultimately as marketers it’s important to understand that broadcasting via social media tools will not help to engage customers, partners or employees anymore than newsletters and e-mail marketing do (i.e. one-way conversation). Ambient awareness does not truly provide the body language, sighs, stray comments that are only apparent during a real conversation. The only way to get to understand your customers, partners or employees and their wants, needs and goals/objectives is to have a traditional conversation. No tool or amount of broadcasting can replace that.
What’s your take on ambient awareness?
[NYT article hat tip: Alan Wolk]
[Image: iStock]
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The Twitter Dialogue
Back on July 16th I wrote The Twitter Monologue. It started out as a joke, but eventually became a post on my serious disenchantment with Twitter. I had only been using Twitter for about two months when I engaged in The Twitter Monologue…so it only seems fair that almost five months into using Twitter I provide an update.
I was wrong about Twitter. There I said it. And it’s not hard to admit.
Originally I stated that Twitter “offered minimal value to me either on a personal level or as a Marketer (except to pimp my blog).” Wow, I was REALLY wrong there!
So what happened?
First, there was one person who insisted that there was indeed conversation on Twitter and set out to prove it to me. We had our spats (in jest, of course!), we antagonized each other (Twitter vs. Plurk), and she shared her friends with me (albeit to gang up and wear their protest berets). But after all that, I consider a Lisa Dilg (@pprlisa) a friend and I am thankful to her for digging in her heels to prove a point and a valuable one at that!
Second, the other interesting thing was that a lot of the folks who I met on Plurk would make their way over to Twitter (usually due to some technical issue) where we would commence our conversations (although not threaded and hard to keep up with). Part of me wonders if folks not on Plurk enjoyed seeing the conversation and banter back on Twitter.
Third, I started following more (and different) people and just starting asking simple questions like ‘how are you?’ and ‘what are you working on?’ Sometimes a simple question is all it takes.
Fourth, I started sharing parts of my life. I still haven’t ventured into ‘diary’ mode, but I started sharing more of myself and tried having a bit of fun from time-to-time (okay, maybe a bit too much fun on occasion).
And finally, I got to meet a lot of people on Twitter face-to-face. It’s simply amazing to watch Twitter come to life!
What’s the lesson to be learned here for marketers and companies who want to utilize Twitter as part of their social media strategy?
- Listen (not just for a day or week, but for months)
- Respect the time it takes to acclimate (patience is a virtue!)
- Share before you take
- Engage & add value to the conversation
- Be human
- Be transparent
- Be honest
- Embrace the community (on- and off-line)
- Respect the influencers
That’s just my list. Can you offer any other lessons or best practices for utilizing Twitter?
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Tags: dialogue, Lisa Dilg, Social Media, Twitter |
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The Harte of Marketing by Beth Harte is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.theharteofmarketing.com. [If you have a question about what you can use from this blog, click on the above Creative Commons link to learn more.]
