Posts tagged ‘Twitter’

May 20th, 2011

What the F is #FF on Twitter?

#FF stands for “Follow Friday” on Twitter.

The hashtag is used to indicate that you are promoting a fellow Twitter user. It’s like saying “Hey followers, I think this person is worthwhile following on Twitter”.

I personally dislike this kind of #FF:

To me it looks like a random list of names that really mean nothing to me. I don’t go and click on each one and see who they are and if they would be a good person for me to follow, I usually skip right over them.  So I say WTF to that #FF.

Here’s how I do it:

I describe WHY someone should follow my recommended #FF. It becomes a meaningful #FF. When I see a meaningful #FF (meaningful to ME and my interests) I am much more likely to click on the suggested user and learn more about them.

Two thumbs up for meaningful #FF’s.

Tweet on.

CategoryTwitter | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
November 5th, 2010

5 Tips on When to Tweet

The idea of strategically timing your tweets is an idea to consider. The idea is simple: tweet when your audience is online. Tweets can quickly become old news, so it sounds logical to  tweet your key messages at optimal times of the day.

Here are 5 tips on how to strategically time your tweets:

1. Tweet at the “all respected 9am”

9am seems to be golden hour for tweets, with the idea that you want to get your message from coast to coast, across North American and also dabble in the UK. Why? Well the West Coast peeps are just getting to work, it’s lunch time on the East Coast, and its 5pm in the UK.  

2. The 9am-3pm window

According to sysomos the bulk of Twitter activity happens between 9am and 3pm. For Calgary social media users, the most tweets go out between 9am and 5pm, check out Mack. D. Male’s Calgary stats.

3. It you want to be ReTweeted shoot for 4pm

According to FastCompany post tweets at 4pm (Friday is the most RT’d day) for a higher chance of being RT’d, Monday is the worst – each day up until Friday gets better and better – so shoot to post mid and late weekdays.

4. Go against the trend, broadcast with less competition
If you are the type to buck against the norm you can take the above advice according to stats, or you can do it differently than everyone else. If most tweets are going out from 9am onwards, try throwing in some early morning tweets before Twitter streams get overwhelmingly full. 

5. Or decide that this is all bull****.
Ignore all of the above stats and post when thoughts pop into your mind. There are many ways to successfully build your brand online, the most important way is to be online, if you can get stratetegic about it and tweet at optimal times then capitalize away. If this all too much for you, then ignore the above and continue to get your message out at anytime of the day that suits your fancy – you can still be successful.

My overall recommendation is to prepost the “important tweets” regarding promotions, events and blog posts at optimal times of the day, then spread your spontaneous tweets out during the rest of the day when it feels right, at any time of the day. Using hashtags, mentioning twitter handles and building a relevant following will help your randomly times messages be successful.

If you want to pre-post tweets check out a www.hootsuite.com – it allows you to set up future pending tweets. I use it, and love it – and it does a lot more than just prepost tweets.

CategoryTwitter | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
October 15th, 2010

Why an iPad? John Biehler’s Story:

I am intrigued how people from different industries, in different positions are using the Apple iPad. Often I get the comment “what would I use an iPad for”. I decided to start asking how people were enjoying their iPads. Here is one iPad story:

John Biehler  describes himself as an e-business analyst, working for a large corporation. He is a technologist, a consultant, a conference speaker and attendee, a trainer, a photographer and a gamer!

John and I met at the Vancouver #F5Expo last year. My brother who normally resides in Vancouver was in Calgary (my hometown) and noticed that I tweeted from a Tweetup I organized in Vancouver the night before the #F5Expo conference. He then noticed that John had also tweeted from the Tweetup. My brother then did a quick intro via Twitter all the way from Calgary, and next thing you know John and I had met and were chatting in Vancouver.

John’s iPad story:

1. What do you use your iPad for?

A little bit of everything…I take it with me everywhere for taking notes, surfing the web, email, photos, dabbling with one of the many music creation apps and the occasional game.

2. How often do you use it?

Everyday.

3. What kind of iPad did you purchase?

I originally purchased a 32gb Wifi only model when they were first available in the US (I drove down to Seattle launch weekend to get one) but have since upgraded (after selling the original one) to a 64gb 3G model for more flexibility.

4. What accessories do you have?

I have the Apple brand flipcase, the VGA out cable and the camera connection kit.

5. Would you recommend an iPad? If so what type of a person would you recommend buy one?

It’s a pretty personal device, like a laptop. I’d recommend people at least consider the iPad if they are looking at a netbook at a minimum or even for a light duty laptop user. The battery life and portability are huge with the iPad over other devices and the available apps cover most users needs.

6. Do you also use a laptop, if so how do you use the laptop vs the iPad?

I also have a laptop and haven’t quite been able to give it up yet as there are a few things that I still can’t do with the iPad such as access my work VPN, code hacking and more advanced photo editing. Aside from live app demos, I’ve also used it to create and present Keynote presentations at a number of conferences. It was great to be able to leave the laptop at home and be confident that the presentation was completely created and presented on something so small.

7. What do you dislike about the iPad?

I wish it either came in larger capacities or was capable of connecting to an external drive for storage. This was one of the factors that made me upsize to the larger model as I wanted to be able to download photos while traveling onto it for immediate uploading/basic post processing. I’d love to be able to connect a small portable (passport) drive to it to pull photos down off it after editing to free up space.

8. How do you see your use of the iPad evolving in the future?

The apps that are being created for it continue to impress me from a creative perspective…there are frequent apps that I see that blow me away from a “I can’t believe it can do that” angle and it’s only going to get better as the platform matures.

9. What are some apps you would recommend?

Some of my favorite apps are Flipboard (Facebook/Twitter magazine using your content), AirVideo (stream any media from your home computer to the iPad), CameraBag (photo post processing app), GoodReader (ebook/PDF reader with lots of bells & whistles) and Words with Friends HD (a Scrabble clone that is played turn based with others).

10. What apps would you not recommend?

There is a lot of apps to avoid…I can’t think of a specific one but I regularly use http://www.facebook.com/l/e5ddf3jhJuyW1jyFeVtNKFjCqYQ;Appshopper.com (also an app for the iPad) that gives you more options for viewing the apps on offer from the App Store as well as keep track of apps that drop in price (which is sometimes an indication of it being unpopular or overpriced).

John has written some blog posts around his iPad experiences: http://www.facebook.com/l/e5ddfXYsrcVs67LRcUwdoKEDtXA;johnbiehler.com

He can also be found on: http://johnbiehler.com/about/

Thanks John! More iPad stories to come. Share yours in the comments below.

CategoryMarketing Interviews, Tools and Technology | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
July 10th, 2010

Three Steps To Get You and Your Business Online Using Social Media

Getting your business and your personal brand online can be overwhelming with all the options and buzz that is going on right now.

Three suggested steps for those that want to play in the online marketing / social media realm:

Step #1 – Establish a profile on LinkedIn

Build your profile by using your resume. This is a good start, people will now be able to find you if they are looking for you – (if you are not on LinkedIn and still pondering why people use LinkedIn that last sentence should make you open up the computer and get after it, people are likely looking for you and that can equate into opportunities).

Now start finding people to connect with: Open your rolodex or connect to gmail contacts and start connecting. When you have connected with some of your key contacts start going through their connections – you will find more peers that you can invite to connect with. If you can personalize your message instead of sending the standard request you will be more memorable, “great to see you are now with XZY Company – how are you liking it?” “nice to connect again, hope to see you are the annual meeting”.  And watch the “People You May Know” box, this is helpful in adding connections as well.  

The time to set up your LinkedIn profile and add your core group of contacts will take time in the beginning, but once it is setup you can spend a few minutes a day or week depending on what you are doing,  checking in on contact updates, invitations,  articles and events.

Eventually you can make your profile more useful by collecting and displaying referrals,  books you are reading and events you are attending. I find that my LinkedIn Profile much better describes what my interests and strengths are over my resume because it is so much more dynamic.

Step #2 – Get on Twitter

Twitter is a strange tool, it takes time to figure out how you are going to use it. Open up an account, follow some people and start talking on it. Commit to tweet a few times a week at least to keep your stream relevant. If you are looking for opportunities of any kind do not LOCK your Twitter stream, that’s pointless, it’s like attending a networking event but then shushing most of the people that come up to meet you. Don’t shush, unlock, be open, and just don’t Tweet things you don’t want people to read.

Step #3 – Start a Blog

Start a WordPress blog. Like Twitter, blogging will also take a bit of time and practise in order to become efficient at. Most people have a fear about blogging. Writing information about yourself, or your thoughts or opinions can be terrifying. Take whatever baby steps you need to. Start writing and clicking that post button, once you get 10 or so posts under your belt things will become easier in the blogging world.

 

Should I Have An Online Strategy?

There are two paths you can take in establishing your online presence:

  • Jump right in and figure it out as you go, or
  • Establish your strategy and goals and cater your online campaign appropriately

Both options can be successful, and both can fail. You will have to decide what type of person or business you are and what ypes of resources you have. Either way, try not to continually postpone using these tools, they are here to stay, and your customers are likely online, find and connect with them. And hopefully have some fun doing it!

If you are ready to commit to social media and want a step by step guide I really liked Dan Evan’s “Social Media – Marketing An Hour A Day”.

Post any questions you have on my blog. Cheers!

Shannon Bowen-Kelsick (sbk)
Twitter: @sbkelsick
contact me: sbk@sbkelsick.com

CategoryTools and Technology | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
June 10th, 2010

Twitter Is Buying – Acquiring Smallthought Systems

Mashable announced that Smallthought Systems has been acquired by Twitter.

Smallthought is responsible for analytics tools like  Trendly and Dabble DB.

Dabble DB reports:

“You may have noticed that we’ve been a bit quiet lately. It’s not that we’ve been on vacation; rather we can finally announce today that our company, Smallthought Systems, has been acquired. We’re joining forces with our friends at Twitter.”

I am so looking forward to Twitter becoming an even stronger tool, with valuable analytic dashboards like Dabble DB.

Shannon Bowen-Kelsick (sbk)

Twitter: @sbkelsick
contact me: sbk@sbkelsick.com

CategoryTools and Technology | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
January 11th, 2010

Don’t Hate Me Because I Tweet

A Change In Culture: Getting Used To And Appreciating The Use Of Mobile Technology

I had to laugh at a Tweet Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan co-author of Trust Agents) had a week or so ago. He is a man who has made a very successful career sharing his thoughts about business development and customer service – and how technology and the internet enables us to do that. He Tweets alot, and has over 115,000 followers. He tweeted that he was in a coffee shop, working on his mobile, when an older gentlemen looked at him and said something like “is there no limit anymore!” obviously frustrated with him punching away on his mobile.

But little did this gentleman know that Chris was actually working.

Sure he may have been “just” giving a shout out to a friend, or letting us know how CES was going. But this is all work as he is creating his loyal tribe of followers.

I often wonder what people are thinking when I am walking and typing away on my mobile – do they think I am crazy? Do they think I am just sending notes to my friends? Or do they realize that I am actually working – and working very hard?

Some interesting numbers:

  • There are 4,100,000 million active mobile phones in the world (ranking: China, India, US, Russia, Brazil)
  • 2.3 billion text messages are sent each day
  • Standard Life in the UK changed out worker laptops to Blackberrys
  • There are, on average, 357 texts in one month versus 204 phone calls

Mobiles are a vital piece to all businesses and non-profits today. Organizations that are embracing the technology are benefiting from it. Those organizations that are hesitant due to a misunderstanding or fear of the additional costs are loosing ground quickly.

When I got my first Blackberry I had no clue what I was going to use it for, I already had a cell phone that I barely used from my employer. I just knew that I needed a smart phone because I was missing out on a community of conversations and connections.

It was one of the smartest purchases I have made. I am more upto speed on the web and new technology than I have ever been – which is very important to my business. And my smartphone has positively affected my stream of business, allowing me to grow my network and connect with clients and peers.

So the next time you see young kids “playing” on their mobiles or adults in coffee shops “texting”, stop for a moment and consider they may be doing something very very productive, appreciate the culture change mobiles are creating – it is very interesting, positive, and it sure can be fun!

Shannon Bowen-Kelsick (sbk)
Twitter: @sbkelsick
contact me: sbk@sbkelsick.com

References:

CategoryTwitter | CommentNo Comments »

Tags:
January 4th, 2010

Why I Give a Tweet

The most common comment I get about my profession is “Why would I care about things like Twitter”.

So here I ask myself the same question: “Why give a Tweet? ”

Here’s why I Tweet:

I found the Marketing Community

The number one reason I Tweet is because I live in Calgary, Alberta – and we do not have a very strong Marketing Community – what I mean by that is I have found it hard to connect with other Marketing professionals. We do not have very many options for courses, seminars or conferences – although this is improving. So I Tweet to meet other Marketing Professionals in Calgary and other areas that I can learn from and relate to – it’s kinda like finding your long lost family. I also get great event postings and course postings, and that is valuable to me.

I don’t want to be left behind

Look, I am in my thirties and felt like I was loosing ground on being “in the loop” and “cool” because I did not have a smart phone and had no Tweeps to speak of. This was a bit terrifying to me. I look at our current older generation and feel they are missing out on some pretty cool things if they have not fully embraced technology. I can say that my smart phone and all of the other cool technologies I use make my life interesting, fun, and efficient – but most of all they have allowed me to feel like I am in the loop – and that is valuable to me.

I am building my network

I think that following valuable** people and them following me is like meeting someone and exchanging business cards. We exchange cards, check out our websites – and now we have another contact to refer work to, ask for quotes, buy products and services from etc. But this is even better than just having someone’s card to pull out and maybe call, I follow their business (or life) on Twitter and see what they need, do they all of sudden need a new computer? Graphic design? A good restaurant? Maybe I can offer my services or refer a friend? That is valuable to me.
** valuable people to me are people that I want to connect with – either to learn from their postings, or to see what my customers are doing to ensure I understand them.

I think Twitter is fun. If you try Twitter and hate it – it is not going to work. It should be a fun and entertaining activity that you get something out of.

Shannon Bowen-Kelsick (sbk)
Twitter: @sbkelsick
contact me: sbk@sbkelsick.com

CategoryTwitter, Uncategorized | CommentNo Comments »

Tags: