sharing content Archives

Oct 16 2015

How Entrepreneurs can Use Twitter for Business

Most small business owners and entrepreneurs may not have the money or resources for a dedicated marketing team. Fortunately, the miracle known as social media allows you to level the playing field and play like the big guys with the big budgets for marketing. Today I’m going to show you how you can leverage Twitter for business purposes.

Using Twitter to learn

As a small business owner, you’ve got a lot on your plate. One question that plagues us all is “Where am I going to get the time to keep up with industry information?” Here’s an idea – leverage what others know. How do you find out what they know? Twitter.

You can use Twitter to catch up with what’s going on in your industry. There are usually plenty of online discussions that you can read—and even join—so that you’re always in the loop. Try looking for industry-related hashtags as a first step.

Using Twitter for business connections

The beauty of Twitter is that you can interact on both a one-to-many basis (as with hashtags) or on a one-on-one basis. Twitter’s best benefit for your small business is that you can connect to both customers and colleagues and form bonds without ever meeting them in person.

One effective way to do this is to share and acknowledge other people’s content. You’ll have your own content, of course, but putting yourself forward and helping others makes them notice you. If you’re genuine and friendly enough, they’ll start engaging with you and will be more willing to help you out. Who knows, you might even know them well enough to meet them in person.

Using Twitter to share and promote

When using Twitter for business promotion the best approach is to not sell, but to help.

What do I mean? The most interesting and valuable content gets shared. So focus on creating really cool and helpful stuff, whether it’s tweeting a clever and poignant quote, a blog post with actionable advice, or a compelling video.

Once you have that, then you can share it on Twitter. Remember to use hashtags.

Yes, you can share your own company information. Typically you want to do this in an 80/20 ratio. 80% of the time-share content that is from other people in your industry and is helpful to your audience. 20 of the time promote your own information/company/brand.

How often do you use Twitter for business? Do you tweet multiple times a day or week? Let me know by sending me a tweet at @jenkellyjen or @newimarketng. I’d love to learn from you.

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Oct 06 2015

How Can Twitter Get Me More Content Mileage?

If you’ve just published a blog, uploaded a video, or shared a photo, you want it to reach as many people as possible. Not only does this help your website ranking, but it also increases your visibility and promotes your brand.

Twitter can help you with that. With properly crafted tweets, you can get a lot more content mileage than if you’d just pressed “publish” and let your content languish.

Here are some easy and effective tips to follow:

Go visual

Humans are very visual, and social media proves this. Tweets with images get 18% more clicks, 89% more favorites and 150% more retweets. Put an enticing image in your tweet along with a link to the content and a compelling text message. That three-pronged approach will be a lot more effective than just links and text.

But speaking of text…

Generate curiosity

Tweets only give you 140 characters to work with (including the actual link), so make it count! You don’t have to just tweet the title of your blog post. Instead, use great quotes from your content, or interesting statistics. Write short, punchy statements related to the post to drive people’s interest. Be sure to use your article’s sub heads, and sentences (in context) as tweets.

Repeat your Tweets

Twitter isn’t like other social media channels. There’s a big chance people will miss your content as the tweets stream by. So don’t be shy about sending the content out multiple times. Even if your audience is “local” people dip into Twitter at many hours of the day, even outside business hours. I’m sure you’ve read something on Twitter late one night at 2am, or early one morning at 5am. Same with your customers.

Ask for a RT

Sometimes the simple act of asking can do a great deal. When you post a tweet with your content, ask for a RT. You’ll be surprised at how many people will do it! (Just don’t ask too often). It fosters interaction and can give your content a boost.

Use hashtags

Another great way to increase content mileage is to use hashtags. Generally, you only want to use one or two hashtags per tweet. Too many is going to be very annoying, and you want to attract readers, not drive them away.

Reference others

If you talk about other people in your content (in a good way) or are sharing an article written by someone else then mention them in your tweet. They’ll appreciate the credit and exposure.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways Twitter can help you increase your content mileage. And these aren’t complicated at all. Anyone can use these tips. They key to success is consistency.

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Sep 25 2015

How can I use Events as Twitter Content?

Last week I mentioned that I had the fortune of helping out at a local TED event. It was an awesome experience, and if you play your cards right you can get a lot of social media mileage from hosting an event. But you can also get a lot of Twitter content even if you’re only attending an event. In fact, events are one of the richest sources of genuine, timely and relevant Twitter content.

Below I’m going to suggest various things you can tweet before, during and after an event, which you can use to beef up your twitter feed.

Tweet Before the Event

You can start tweeting about an event long before the actual date. In fact, you probably should. The event organizers want you to spread the word. Doing so will build up buzz and help make the event more successful.

The way it benefits you is that it shows your followers that you know what’s going on in your industry and puts your name in front of other like-minded individuals going to the same event, and also helps you be known among the people running the event, who may be good connections themselves.

If you’re stumped on what to tweet, then try:

Sharing the excitement. Dying of anticipation? Then tell people about it! Being excited on Twitter will make others curious as to what’s going on and may encourage others to be curious, too.

Finding out who’s going. Wonder who else is going? There are easy ways to find out. Most events nowadays have a dedicated hashtag. Just tweet a quick question with the hashtag included, and wait for the affirmatives to pour in. You can even use it as an ice breaker if you want to interact with your followers.

Checking out the agenda. Most events post an agenda online so people know what to expect. If you have any questions or comments about the agenda, then tweet them to the organizers. They’ll be more than happy to respond (they want to build buzz, remember).

Sounds good, right? But the twitter content doesn’t end there. Let’s cover what happens during an event.

Tweet During the Event

If you’ve never heard of livetweeting before, then you’re in for a treat. In essence, livetweeting is sharing what people are saying at an event, as it happens. You basically take a great line or quote that one of the speakers mentioned, and then tweet it to your followers using the event hashtag. This could also include pictures of the event, like so:

Livetweeting has many benefits, such as:

It promotes the event you’re attending, especially if you include the event hashtag in your tweet.
Puts your name in front of other attendees, the organizers and interested people. It’s a great way to create some personal brand recall.
Gives you lots of shareable twitter content that you can reuse later on. You can share inspiring or informational tips that you learned days after the event.

Livetweeting can be a bit of a challenge, especially if it’s your first time, but just focus on the best quotes and you should be fine. Remember, practice makes perfect.

What to Tweet After the Event

Just because the event is over, doesn’t mean your tweeting is. There are plenty of event-related tweets you can post long after the doors close and everyone’s gone home.

Connect with the people you met. If you made new contacts at the event (or met up with old ones), Twitter is a great way to keep that connection going. Follow your new friends on Twitter and send them a follow-up tweet. It doesn’t have to be anything complicated; just mention that it was a pleasure meeting them.

Reactions. Did the speaker blow your mind? Did you learn something new and awesome? Mention the speaker and tell them how much of an impact they made. It’ll put your name in front of them and could maybe act as an ice breaker to get to know them better.

If you do it right, one single event can easily generate dozens of unique tweets—some of which can be reused for days after the fact. Tweeting can be a great way to ease in to meeting new people and establishing your brand name among a new crowd. The more visible you are, the more people will know about you even before you shake hands with them. So get tweeting!

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