Increasing Employee & Client Engagement

Now that we have created interest and garnered their attention… we have to engage them and get them involved.  Check out the last article about the 5 Things You Need to Do to Get a Good Foundation Set Up For People to Share Using Twitter http://bit.ly/1DCZY8

1. Use Twitter to survey your niche audience…  You can pose questions about site selection, content, speakers or other details about your event.  A great way for immediate feedback prior to setting up event or feedback after the event.

2. Use Twitter for Hub of Info Updates… this will help create buzz and excitement around your event.

3. Create a chat around your event or topics around your event…  This again creates buzz and excitement and can help grow the number of people who know about your event.  Use the #, set up a time and have preset questions that you can ask.  It will allow your attendees to give you feedback but even better is that it will get them to interact.

4. Promote on every signage, website, email etc… what the Twitter Handle is and the #hashtag.

At the event
1. Have the attendees tweet about the event…  Have screens throughout the event showing a live stream of what the attendees are saying.  It will be fun and engaging for attendees.

2. Use it as a way to ask questions to the speakers…  This can be done by attendees at the event and ones who could not make the event.

3. Use it as an “info central”…  for any updates, changes to the event to keep attendees informed up to the second.

4. Organize a TweetUp mixer around the event…  This can be before the event, at the event or after the event.  Embrace the tweeple.

Now get out there and use Twitter for your events.

Other Twitter Articles
Twitter is Most Powerful in Social Media Syndication - http://bit.ly/m1QXb
Twitter Set Up Basics - http://bit.ly/ojb20
Twitter Basics – Terms & How to Communicate - http://bit.ly/hFn4Z
Twitter’s Power Comes From Ease of Sharing & Interaction - http://bit.ly/JIBjw
10 Ways to Build Your Network on Twitter http://bit.ly/QrD6j

We have been talking about Twitter over the last few weeks.  Here are some of the articles we covered:

Twitter is Most Powerful in Social Media Syndication - http://bit.ly/m1QXb
Twitter Set Up Basics - http://bit.ly/ojb20
Twitter Basics – Terms & How to Communicate - http://bit.ly/hFn4Z
Twitter’s Power Comes From Ease of Sharing & Interaction - http://bit.ly/JIBjw
10 Ways to Build Your Network on Twitter http://bit.ly/QrD6j

Lets take it a step farther and talk about how to use it to increase exposure, attendance, and engagement at your events…  Twitter’s power shines in promoting events.  Why, because it is a communication tool and enhances word of mouth.  It is an easy way to share before the event, during the event and between attendees.

There are several things we need to do to begin our sharing. 

1. The first thing we need to do is determine our audience… Who are you targeting? Who is your unique audience? How are they going to find this info?  Who in that group has a huge influence in your target group and can help you spread your message?

2. Create a # Hashtag… which we learned earlier is a way to aggregate info about a topic, which is basically a keyword that ties everything together.  I have several but I am the head of Atlanta Bloggers and we use the #atlblog – so everybody that communicates about the event uses that # so that you can search for it and see all the conversation that surrounds the events.

3. Do a search on Twitter http://search.twitter.com (I prefer the advanced search so I can search by area) for certain keywords that may encompass and surround your niche market.  Type in keywords and see what people in your niche are talking about.  Who they are and follow them.  Engage them and let them know about your event.

4. If the event is big enough and ongoing.  An option may be to think about creating its own Twitter Handle.

5. Get your current network and followers to RT(forward) and share the invitation with their followers.  Give them a discount code to share with their group.  It gets them involved but also added value to their network.

This list is not exhaustive and many other ways to amplify your message on Twitter.  Would love for you to share some more thoughts, ideas or insights.

1. The best way to build your network is by following people.  Find interesting people, people in your industry or niche.  Listen to what they are saying.  Engage with them.  Provide quality content and they will want to follow you back.

2. Tap Into Your network – Find everyone you connect with regularly on other social media sites, face to face networking events, clients, prospects, etc.

3. http://Search.twitter.com - Type in different keywords and see what people are talking about in your niche and follow them.

4. www.twellow.com - this is a yellow pages for Twitter.

5. # -hashtags around certain events – follow people who use it.

6. #followfriday – most popular hashtag, this is a way to give a shout out to people you think your followers should follow.  These endorsements are a great way to find new people to follow.  I always check out who I follow endorses on #followfriday

7. I follow a lot of blogger friends – I have my Twitter handle on my blog so people can easily find me.  Most bloggers do.  Go to blogs you like and get their handle and make sure if you blog that you have yours easily accessible.

8. Watch who you follow engage and reply to

When they Respond to people - @swfrost – thanks for the RT of my blog post
                                                      OR
Respond to many people – Great Tweet Up @swfrost @toddschnick @marisasharpe @leekantor @stephaniealloyd @rachelwriter

anytime you put an @ in front of someone’s username, it automatically becomes a link to that person’s profile. This feature makes it easy for you to check out those people’s profiles and follow them & engage with them as well.

9. Market It – put it on your website, your email signatures, business cards

10. Tweet Up – This is a networking function for people of Twitter. – Collect as many names as you can.

This is a small list of ideas.  Hope this helps you build your network.

Other Related Twitter Articles

Twitter is Most Powerful in Social Media Syndication - http://bit.ly/m1QXb 
Twitter Set Up Basics - http://bit.ly/ojb20
Twitter Basics – Terms & How to Communicate - http://bit.ly/hFn4Z 
 Twitter’s Power Comes From Ease of Sharing & Interaction - http://bit.ly/JIBjw
Twitter Strategy Revolves Around High Valued Content

The question that is behind the existence of twitter is “What are you doing?”
The absolute WORST question in the world for business or professional use.  That is too literal.  Twitter needs to be thought of as an educational resource.  Not a journal of meaningless events.

Since Twitter is a form of blogging, you are creating content…  Content is king and you will only be well received with great content.  Twitter does not require you to connect back to followers.  This is important.  So when you are creating content with strangers, you have to be so valuable & incredible they will want to tune into what you have to say.  More importantly is where the real power is… sharing it with their followers.

Facebook until recently… required you to be friends to share info with anyone other than friends with status updates.  Even with the change, Facebook is sharing more personal things, it is more lenient about content because the relationship is deeper and allows it.

Biggest mistake is forgetting Twitter is still Social Networking…  It is very easy to use this as a broadcast medium.  It is almost set up that way.  The people who really get it though, understand this is an awesome 2 way medium.  

Like anything it is all about balance…  You need to do maybe 50% of broadcast tweets.  30% need to be engaging with your followers or new people & 20% need to be direct.

I think one of the biggest tactical errors is doing to many tweets…  I have said the more visible you are the more invisible you become.  It is great to recognize people publicly.  This shows your followers you are engaging and participating, but after one or two public mention messages, then take it private.   Your followers do not get to see both sides of the conversation, so it can be frustrating.  Everyone has that perfect # that would be the most in a given day.   Is that 6, 10, 20 etc?  It depends on who you are, possibly quantity of active followers, value of content etc.

You need a consistent copywriting strategy to include useful tips, links to your articles and reports, positve messages, and interaction.

Ideas to tweet about
•Link to Something, An Article You Are Reading or Video Your Watching
•Engage With People By Chatting With Them
•Promote Content You Have Created
•Create Buzz Around Upcoming Events You Know of, Are Hosting or Going To
•Customer Service Tool
•Retweet (forward) Someone Else’s Content
•Track What People Are Saying About You

I hope this gives you some value to incorporate into your Twitter strategy, but check out these other Twitter Articles

Twitter is Most Powerful in Social Media Syndication - http://bit.ly/m1QXb 
Twitter Set Up Basics - http://bit.ly/ojb20
Twitter Basics – Terms & How to Communicate - http://bit.ly/hFn4Z

Let me share why I feel Twitter is so powerful… I hope this solidifies in your mind why you should engage in Twitter.

The true power comes in the ease and ability to share information with your followers and passed to your contacts followers and so on…  Not all followers are created equal, but they all have the ability to pass their endorsement to their following on your behalf without solicitation.  You do not know who is following them, so treat all followers with respect.  Do not judge the book by the cover. 

So the power of syndication comes with the ease of sharing information…  Lets say you have 500 followers.  They are tuned into what you have to say.  You send something of value.  Lets say 10% or 50 of them pass it on & forward it to their following.  Lets make it easy and say each person who forwarded only had 100 followers.  Your message just reached another 5000 people.  That is only if the followers had 100, but there are many with thousands.  2K, 5K, 10K, 25K etc.  If the right people forward your info., it can go viral… very quick.   Just think if that scenario happens one more time.  You can reach tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions with just a few clicks.

As you may of read my Social Media Cocktail Example, then lets use Twitter as a cocktail party and see the power of the interaction…  This party has 15 million people who all are in different conversations.  Every time some one you follow posts info, it shows up in your  twitter stream.  The most recently updated is always at the top.  Just like your facebook wall.  So everytime you view your stream you are getting a snapshot.  You may be walking into the middle of a conversation or your chance to start one.

In this cocktail party, there are clusters of conversations…  Again, you do not have to have approval to follow someone (as long as their tweets are public, some do only have private tweets that require approval to see), so you can follow anyone.  You get to poke your head into them by looking at the stream of conversations by the people you follow and you can decide to engage them. 

One cluster may be talking about Marketing and as a marketing expert you may want to share your thoughts, ideas or an article that may provide value to the conversation.  So you want to be interesting and add value.

Sticking your head into a conversation is not only PERMISSABLE it is ENCOURAGED.  So get out there and find & listen to some conversations and stick your head in.

Other Twitter Articles You Might Enjoy:
Twitter is Most Powerful in Social Media Syndication - http://bit.ly/m1QXb 
Twitter Set Up Basics - http://bit.ly/ojb20
Twitter Basics – Terms & How to Communicate - http://bit.ly/hFn4Z

After reading my first article about Twitter… http://bit.ly/m1QXb and agree that you need to look into Twitter.  Then you set up your bio based on my second article… http://bit.ly/ojb20    Here are some terms and Twitter basics to help you understand how to communicate.

First, You subscribe to people’s informational message feeds and they subscribe to yours.

A Message/Post – known as a “Tweet” – just another name for the message. It is a short message in 140 characters or less. There are 3 types of messages.

1. Message To a Bunch of People Publicly – This is like a broadcast email
Examples
· Share an Article - Check out this article http://bit.ly.com/
· Share An Event – Great Atlanta Bloggers event coming up
· Share Breaking News – Michael Jackson Died today…

2. Message/post To a Specific Person Publicly- This is a @mention that all of your followers see. It publicly endorses or recognizes someone.

@swfrost – great seeing you at the tweet up last night – All my followers would see this message.
@toddschnick – I enjoyed your high velocity radio show

3. Message To a Specific Person Privately – Direct Message (DM) – just like a private email

D @seanenelson – Lets get together for lunch
D @stephaniealloyd – Loved your blog post about…

RT – This is exactly like forwarding an email. You are passing on someone else’s message and giving them credit.

Example – RT @marnafriedman – just finished self publishing book, the small business that could
*** (this means she sent this out to her followers, and since I follow her, I saw this and then forwarded it out to all my followers)

# - hashtag – this is an aggregator of content – a way for people to search for common group, content or event.

Example - I am head of the Atlanta Bloggers Meetup Group. I just created the hashtag #atlblog so every time anyone talks about it in a message (tweet) they put that on there. Like a flag. So if anyone wants to go see all the messages posted about it, they can search for #atlblog and see every message about it.

Example - ATLANTA BLOGGERS - If you have a blog & live in Atlanta - come to our meetup Sept 2nd - http://bit.ly/44Hnc #atlblog

Go to http://search.twitter.com and type in #atlblog and see all the chatter about that event (there could be hundreds of people talking about the event, but if they do not use that # hashtag, then you will NOT see those, you will only see those who talk about it and use that #atlblog

The most popular # hashtag would be #followfriday… type that in and you will see thousands pop up.

Go to Twitter and start listening…  This is just the basics.  Because if you can understand this, when we get into strategy, creating content, create a following it will start to click

Other Twitter Articles
Twitter is Most Powerful in Social Media Syndication - http://bit.ly/m1QXb 
Twitter Basics – Terms & How to Communicate - http://bit.ly/hFn4Z
Twitter’s Power Comes From Ease of Sharing & Interaction - http://bit.ly/JIBjw

After reading my first article about Twitter… http://bit.ly/m1QXb and agree that you need to look into Twitter.

If you are not set up on Twitter, then you will need a username or referred to as your Twitter handle… 
Mine is @chadrothschild  - I just did my first name and last name.  Make it easy, memorable etc. 

I would advise against the underscore, but depends on your situation.   My first one had an _ between my name and it did not fit with the rest of my URL’s  and got rid of it.  It is not standard.  I would not use multiple numbers in your username either.  However, there are no hard and fast rules. 

If you are tweeting for your company..,  OK to use company name, but try to make it as personal and human as possible.  Maybe put picture of person like @comcastcares  has. 

Bio – This is very important.  I determine who to follow based on this information.  It is a very short synopsis, so use it wisely.  I put mine in word so I could add the symbols and then pasted it into Twitter.

I like people who put their location in there…  I don’t mean EARTH, Global Nomad, but put city and state in US.  Yes we live in a global economy, but Social Media is based on authenticity.  By not putting somewhere makes it feel like spam or your hiding something.  The more info you put to make it feel real & personal  the better.

I really like to connect with people in proximity.  I can let them know about events etc

URL – absolutely have, so people can connect with you further.  Use your blog, Your company website, your linkedin profile,

Put a photo…  This is important to me.  I want to see who I am communicating with.  It makes it feel more human and personal. 

 
As with everything… for everything pure about social media, there are spammers and people who try to take advantage of it and you have to make sure you separate yourself from them.

Other Twitter Articles

Twitter Basics – Terms & How to Communicate - http://bit.ly/hFn4Z
Twitter’s Power Comes From Ease of Sharing & Interaction - http://bit.ly/JIBjw
Twitter is Most Powerful in Social Media Syndication - http://bit.ly/m1QXb 

Twitter could be the most powerful social media tool…
It has the ability to create conversations better than any other with complete strangers. However, Twitter is the most easily dismissed. 60% of people who get on Twitter get off. It is probably the easiest platform on the surface, but by far the most misunderstood. I have done panel discussions and workshops and 80% of questions surround Twitter.

People either love it or hate it. There doesn’t seem to be an in between.

Most people I talk to think Twitter is a lot about nothing…
Hopefully, I can dispel that. I believe Twitter is becoming the most powerful method to syndicate your message.
· It is one of the best prospecting tools 
· It encourages interaction.
· It is one of the best ways to promote events.

Let’s start with the reason for being…
Twitter was created to compete with texting. Short bursts of information. It is a micro-blogging service. Posts of 140 characters or less. Facebook and LinkedIn have status updates that were added due to Twitter. They function in the same method.

Why would someone want to be on Twitter?
· Connect with friends, colleagues, prospects
· Keep people informed of what you are doing
· Be a trusted resource
· You can share content you create
· Share & discover news
· Share & discover events
· Customer Service
· Find out what people are saying about you, your company or brands.

This is a little background for Twitter.  Over the next couple of weeks we will dig deep into Twitter and why you have to cement yourself into its power and more importantly how to use it EFFECTIVELY.

You can follow me at @chadrothschild 

If you do not use or like Twitter please let me know why in the comments.  If you do use it, please share which ways you feel it works best.

Other Related Twitter Articles
Twitter Set Up Basics - http://bit.ly/ojb20
Twitter Basics – Terms & How to Communicate - http://bit.ly/hFn4Z
Twitter’s Power Comes From Ease of Sharing & Interaction - http://bit.ly/JIBjw