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Checklist: Twitter for Business

13 May

by Chief Geek

Join my webinar tomorrow – “How to Use LinkedIn for Business”

If you’re not quite sure how to start using Twitter for business, just follow this checklist:

Create a Twitter account.

Just get started.  It takes only 5 minutes.  Have fun.  Don’t worry.  You won’t break anything.

Be sure to choose a good Twitter handle.  This is extremely important.  Try to use your full name or a variation of it.  You want people to recognize you and your company at an event.  Be consistent with your brand.  Avoid underscores and random numbers

Good:  SuperGeeks or AskSuperGeeks
Bad:   SuperGeeky123

Follow interesting people, thought leaders…even competitors.

Remember, Twitter is as much about broadcasting info as it is about receiving info. In fact, for many people, Twitter IS their primary news source. You can use Twitter to stay on top of events, market trends, new product announcements, etc.

Go to Twitter Search, wefollow and twitrratr.  Search on topics and find people.

Complete your profile details.

Click on the Settings tab located top right of your Twitter account and then click on Profile.  Fill out the requested information.

Include your domain name and a quick blurb about your company (think mantra).  Keep it succinct, warm and friendly.  Remember, Twitter is all about people.

Customize your page design.

Click on the Settings tab located top right and then click on Profile. Be sure to capture your company’s brand.  Color scheme, slogan, etc should be congruent and consistent with your website, biz cards, brochures, etc.  The visitor should know where he/she is in a blink.

Use a shortener.

Remember, Twitter limits your tweets to just 140 characters.  This can be troublesome when you’re trying to share a long URL or domain name.  Fortunately, there are many tools to help you shorten those long URLs.  And those shorteners include statistics, so you can measure how many people clicked on the link, where they are located, whether they retweeted the link, etc.  I recommend this free tool:  Bit.ly

Use a management tool.

Many people have multiple Twitter accounts.  One company may have multiple accounts. You can imagine how labor intensive it can be to send and reply to all those tweets.  These management tools will even let you preschedule tweets and resend the same tweet several times throughout the day for maximum exposure.

Try using TweetDeck.com and HootSuite.com.  Use the one you like.  They are free.

Add your Twitter icon (and other social sharing icons) everywhere.

Your website, business cards, newsletters, stationary, emails, doors, counters, receipts, packaging…everywhere!  The more it’s visible, the better.

Add a blog to your website.

It’s important to share your wisdom and knowledge. By maintaining a blog on your site and posting an article once a week, you will eventually build a dedicated following.  Blog posts should be useful, insightful, interesting and relevant.  You can post tips and tricks, case studies,  best practices, news, etc and use Twitter to help broadcast those messages.

Reposition your website.

All roads lead to Rome.  Think of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn as avenues back to your website.  It’s ok if those roads are unpaved, just make sure you’re everywhere on the internet and your website is the target destination.

Leverage all social media.

Twitter is just one way to reach your customers.  Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn are also very effective.  Take the time to create an account for each.  Be sure to keep your brand consistent.  Use management tools to reduce your labor.

Update your company’s policy for acceptable computer-use.

You know the adage:  If it’s not written down somewhere, it’s not a policy.  This is especially true when defining acceptable and unacceptable use of company computers.

Take the time to map out your company’s policy pertaining to social media.  Are employees permitted to visut their personal Facebook accounts during working hours?  Are they permitted to represent your company on those pages?  And if so, what kinds of things can they share or not share?

Computer-use policies are very important.  Let me know if you’re struggling with them.  I can help.  Contact me:

James Kerr
Chief Geek
(808) 531-GEEK
help@supergeeks.net
Twitter:  supergeeks

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Twitter Demographics

30 Apr

by Chief Geek

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Tools and Tips for Social Media

21 Apr

by Chief Geek

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My Presentation to Society of Human Resource Professionals

16 Apr

by Chief Geek

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Getting Uncomfortable with Technology

14 Apr

by Chief Geek

I was recently invited to speak to a board of directors.  The company was considering investing in technology. It was not an easy decision for them.

Through the years, the company had managed to sustain itself amongst heftier competitors, but they weren’t thriving and it was clear they needed solutions.  The company had that old-school feel about it, and had the kind of stale bureaucracy that festers over a long period of time.

So there I was, invited by one executive, to make a case for the proposed network upgrade.  About half of the Board were dead set against it and their questions were intended to torpedo the project:

“If we decide to move forward with this project, we will have to be trained on how to use it, right?” one exec asked, as if it mean the kiss of death.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Then that means some staff will have to learn it, too…They are not gonna want to do that!”

“Yes, they will need training,”  I replied while quietly thinking it would be ok to let them go if they didn’t embrace the training.

“And then they’ll have to use it.  On top of everything else they do…”

“Yes, they will have to use it,” I said.  That’s what they get paid to do.

None of the questions focused on the bigger issues like how will this solution improve our operations, how will it boost productivity, and how will it enable us to do what we do even better.

As business owners, we need to push ourselves, our employees and our companies to incessantly explore technology – even if it’s just for the sake of exploration.  Why?  Because it will make your business more competitive.

Companies fail because they stop learning.  People fail because they stop developing new skills.  Comfort breeds complacency, and complacency is the precursor to decline.

We are helping one of our clients develop a new browser.  I strongly encouraged him to by an iPhone and start using – if for no other reason than to understand why/how the world has purchased some 30 million units and downloaded more than a billion items.

The same is true for Twitter (http://twitter.com/).  As business owner, you may not have time to do it faithfully every day, but you should make the time to play with it – if only to see what appeals to the 12 million or so people who have signed up for it.

As an employee, when was the last time you picked up a new tech skill just for the sake of learning something new?  The next time you have 30 minutes free during lunch, hop online and check out Google Docs (http://docs.google.com/) or Zoho Wiki (http://wiki.zoho.com/).  You will become more knowledgeable and more marketable.  You may also discover a new tool for doing your work even better.

Is your business in good shape?  Regardless of answer, poke even deeper into technology.  Gte uncomfortable with it.  You may discover something your competitor hasn’t.

James Kerr is Chief Geek at SuperGeeks.  Follow him on Twitter: SuperGeeks

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