Author Archive
What Are Hashtags?
Posted by: | CommentsA hashtag is a single word preceded by the pound or hash symbol (‘#’). Using hashtags adds some context to your tweets. The best way to illustrate this is with some examples:
- I recently attended a party that it’s host had named ‘Bling Nite’. Several of us talking about this party on Twitter included the hashtag #BlingNite in our tweets. ANyone could then search for ‘#BlingNite’ to find all the conversations about this party. (It was a great party – Thank you, Jennifer!
- Many people are using the hashtag #swineflu when publishing breaking news about swine flu. By searching for that hashtag you can keep up with breaking news about it.
Just as we tag blog posts; just as we tag photos on Flickr, we use hashtags to say, “This is what this tweet is about” or mark specific words has being significant.
The idea was originally put forth by Chris Messina in this post. They were used extensively during the San Diego fires in 2007.
One really novel use of hashtags is my attendees at conferences. While the speaker or panel is underway the audience uses a specific hashtag to discuss the topic.
Anyone can create and use a hashtag.
In addition to making it easy to search for and follow a specific topic, hashtags off another novel use. THere is a sight named hashtags.org that tracks hashtag usage. If you follow @hashtags then your hashtag usage will be tracked too. Hashtags allow you to guage the popularity of a topic. For example, here is a graph displayed by hashtags.org displaying the use of the #swineflu hashtag:
In other words, hashtags not only help us find conversations about specific topics, they help us understand what people are talking about. This is kind of ‘meta search’, where we are less interested in the search results themselves that the data about the search results. An interesting concept and one that has yet to be fully explored.
Rating Yourself: Twitter Grader vs Twitter Influence Calculator
Posted by: | Comments“Mine’s bigger.”
“No, Mine is.”
“Wanna Bet?”
“Sure, Let’s Compare”
The urge to see how we stack up against others is irresistible, isn’t it? Twitter Grader tells me my ‘Grade’ is 96.7, but what does that mean? Twitter Grader used to provide some hints about their algorithm but no longer.
My observation is that it’s based mostly upon the number of followers you have and the number of your followers’ followers. With new people following me every day who each have 46,934 followers themselves, no wonder my grade is so high.
While Twitter Grader may be a quick, easy, and fun tool, I propose that for the small business owner it is a poor tool for measuring how well you are doing on Twitter. As a small business owner, in addition to the ‘what you you doing right now?’ stuff you should be using Twitter to:
- Engage in conversation with your tribe
- Provide helpful information, including links to relevant online material
- Building your brand by reaching out to strangers and helping them
If you engage in these activities a little bit every day, you will build an actual following, not just a list of followers. You want followers who actually pay attention to what you have to say. It’s unlikely that TheBusyBrain (38,233 followers) even knows who I am, let alone pays attention to my tweets.
So is there a tool that measures us against this standard? The folks at Web Analytics Demystified have this tool called Twitter Influence Calculator that I like a lot. (One of the reasons is that they disclose their algorithm here.)
Granted, Twitter Influence Calculator’s results require a little more effort to digest than Twitter Grader’s single number. But telling me things like:
“Relative visibility based on roughly 13 references to @dbarnhart: SLOWLY EMERGING”
Is far more useful. And though this one is a bit humbling, it is far more telling than Twitter Grader’s 96.7:
“Relative generosity based on @dbarnhart retweeting roughly 2 times
on behalf of others: SLOWLY EMERGING”
Another big difference between the two tools is that Twitter Influence Calculator is heavily time-weighted. It looks at your activity over the past week. Twitter Grader on the other hand, doesn’t seem to care how engaged I’ve been recently as long as I have popular followers.
To sum it up:
- Twitter Influence Calculator measures how engaged and conversational you are.
- Twitter Grader measures the potential size of your Twitter ‘footprint’
Of course, in some cases Twitter Grader will be a better measure. It’s up to you to look at what you are trying to accomplish and then pick the better tool.
Restaurants That Twitter
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve been asked by a client to do some research into the ways restaurants are using Twitter. My list of restaurants is nowhere near complete but I wanted to share it here. If you know of others please feel free to leave a comment. If you own a restaurant that is using Twitter I would love to talk to you:
Ashville, NC:
ninemile
Bethesda, MD:
ChefTony
Boulder, CO:
rbrig2
Buffalo, NY:
Panaros
Denham Springs, LA:
LouisianaCafe
Dublin, Ireland:
herbstreet
Iowa City, IA:
Devotay
Nashville, TN:
OmahaNashville
NYC:
RickshawTruck
waffletruck
TheTreatsTruck
Orlando, FL:
orlandoichiban
Phoenix, AZ:
CrustRestaurant
Portland, OR:
westcafepdx
San Francisco:
12stAmendment
Seattle, WA:
queencitygrill
shultzys
Witchita, KS:
Caffeposto
meadscorner
RiversidePerk
thedonutwhole
Zoomdweebie
Nation-Wide:
Carl’s Jr
jasonsdeli
PopeyesChicken
Starbucks
Yats
(A large portion of this list was contributed by OnlineRestaurantMarketing.wordpress.com, many thanks.
Beware of Auto-Unfollow
Posted by: | CommentsThe latest issue of TweetLater’s newsletter contains something to keep in mind:
Twitter has added methods to the Twitter API that make it a lot easier to get full follower lists and process them.
You can probably expect to see many more Twitter applications offering the ability to automatically unfollow those people who unfollow you.
As the article points out, there is a hazard if you opt-in for such an auto-unfollow service. The Twitter API doesn’t actually provide a list of people who have un-followed you. The best that such a service can do is to get a list of your followers periodically and compare them. Theorectically the people missing from the second list are those that have un-followed you.
The hazard is that if there is a glitch in the Twitter API (which seems to happen) then Twitter can return a empty or incomplete list. If that happens, the automated service will presume that most or al of your followers have stopped following you and proceed with unfollowing them. DIsaster. Relationships you have spent months nurturing will be destroyed in seconds.
TweetLater does mitigate that somewhat, but prudence dictates that one should be cautious about employing any auto-unfollow service.
Advanced Twitter
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve had inquiries from people who have taken the Twitter 101 webinar asking for an ‘Advanced’ webinar.
What topics would you like to see covered?
Your Twitter Name: Company Name vs Personal Name
Posted by: | CommentsDavid Meerman Scott wrote a great post today on his Web Ink Now blog entitled: Time to Stop Abusing Twitter. David Wrote:
“I’m seeing more and more Twitter feeds created not with a person’s name “Mary Smith at XYZ Company” but instead the feed is created with the company name instead “XYZ Company.”
It’s easy to misconstrue that using your company name as your Twitter username is bad idea.
First, let me say that it’s perfectly fine to use your company’s name as your Twitter username. The important thing is that the tone and style of your tweets conveys the impression that there is a real person behind the name.
Southwest Airlines is on Twitter. And in typical SWA fashion, their Twitter profile reads:
“The LUV Airline! Airplanes can’t type so Christi is responding/chatting with you!”
So now we know we are really talking to Christi.
Here’s a company that I think should be held up as a shining example of how to make effective use of Twitter: SixApart. A couple of months ago, I wrote about my excellent experience with SixApart’s support group that came about as a result of one of my tweets. Though their profile doesn’t mention anyone’s name, it is clear from reading their tweets that Twitter is a formal part of SixApart’s support and outreach. It’s also clear after a couple of interactions with them that there is a real person on the other end. She’ll even include her email address in her replies to you if circumstance warrant.
Dell Computer has made the news recently by announcing that it has sold $1M worth of product through Twitter. Dell has several Twitter accounts, each targeted at a different demographic, interest, or persona. The notable one I think is DellOutlet, used to announce short term specials and deals in the Dell Outlet store. Even then, their Twitter profile makes it clear that someone named Stefanie is behind the curtain.
Don’t forget that Twitter is the ultimate opt-in permission-based channel. Nobody is forced to follow you. If you want to use a Twitter account to promote and advertise your high-precision laser-guided pneumatic-powered cat-whapper, people who are contemplating the purchase of a cat-whapper will find you and follow you. Just remember:
- Use your Twitter profile to tell people what you’ll be tweeting about.
- Make it a point to et people know the identity of the real person on your end
- Make your tweets personal and genuine
One final thought:
Sometimes it’s NOT a good idea to use a person’s name as your company’s Twitter username. If you are going to designate a person in your company as ‘The Twitter Person’, you should use the company name instead of her personal name. She is going to be building social media capital on your behalf. If she leaves the company you don’t want her taking that capital with her. If that happens you’ll have to start all over. Stick with your company’s name as your Twitter name under those circumstances.
Twitter: The Perfect Tool for Small Business
Posted by: | CommentsDell (NASDAQ: DELL) says Twitter has produced $1 million in revenue over the past year and a half through sale alerts. People who sign up to follow Dell on Twitter receive messages when discounted products are available the company’s Home Outlet Store. They can click over to purchase the product or forward the information to others.
Interesting, isn’t it? Actually if you go to this page on Dell’s site, you can see that Dell has set up 28 separate Twitter accounts, each focused on a different buyer persona. Of course, that doesn’t mean that you have to set up multiple Twitter accounts too. Just one is fine.
Follow Carl’s Jr, the hamburger chain for a while and you’ll see how effectively you can build brand awareness, goodwill, and stay top-of-mind. I’ve certainly driven out of my way to eat at Carl’s Jr simply because their twitter presence made me think about them.
I wrote this book for you to help you use Twitter in your business.