….. but only if you waste time using it inappropriately or inefficiently!

There’s no point in “transmitting” on Twitter if only one man and his dog are listening!  Your message gets lost in the Twittersphere in the “graveyard of tweets” that were never read!   So, when starting out on Twitter, one of the most productive things you can do is build an organic and natural following of people who are genuinely interested in hearing your messages and engaging with you in your area of niche expertise. 

It could be said that the one health hazard of twitter is your “follower” count. If it wasn’t there, would twitter be as important as it is?

By “health hazard” I mean there appears to be two reasons for having or participating in twitter: 

1:   For the IMHO, real reason – which is to blog, or in this instance to micro-blog to spread messages and demonstrate your specialist knowledge and skills.
2:   For the “game” of who can get the most followers.

However, if you focus on the first reason then the second one will happen, but if you focus on the second reason then the first will not happen.

There is no doubt that having a following gives you a sense of credibility.  However, if you focus on the “game” of numbers, that credibility could be short lived. Moreover, the bigger the numbers the more obvious it becomes – in both camps.   And the bigger the numbers, the harder they are to manage, and the less likely you are to be able to engage with people – which is the whole point of Twitter!

Social media is about sharing of information, and twitter is just one of the web 2 tools that allows us to do that.  It is particularly powerful because it is in real-time and businesses must increasingly react in real time to remain relevant to their audiences and customers.

As my friend @therobbrown recently commented on another blog “Don’t count your conversations – make your conversations count. That’s how to build a great network, and a great network (who you know) builds a great reputation (who knows you)!”

You’ll notice that on the front page of twitter, just below the account holders name, there is a list of “following”, “followers”‘ “updates”. All these numbers should have a balance in them. If not, then that will explain what the user is up to (either gaining numbers or giving information) – not that there is anything wrong with either routes, but as a follower I would want to know. 

So how do you create a healthy natural following?

Here’s my top ten ways of creating a healthy following and for all the right reasons …

1. Avatar: Your picture (Avatar) should be the same on ALL your social media sites and it should be a good one. Either a good photo or cartoon, whatever. Remember on twitter your photo will be your signature for the content NOT your name. People associate good content with your avatar.

2. Biography: Write a compelling biography because I want to know who you are. You have 160 characters to do this and it is good practice for writing engaging tweets. IMHO, you should always follow back (this can be automated here) as part of reciprocity. You can always “cull” at a later date if necessary (this can be done here). This is not a given – if you prefer to “vet” your followers then that’s fine, but you will need time to do that – I would prefer to write stuff.

3. Twitter homepage design: Be serious about your web efforts!  Let people know for sure that you have intent to enrich their lives with valuable information and one of the easiest ways is to create your own identity on your twitter page. People will follow leaders and what better way of being a leader than going that extra mile and making yourself different than everyone else. There are many ways to do this and for free, but if you want a professional finish then you might want to try here.

4. Follow others who share the same interests as you: You want to be part of a Club, an association of “like-minded people”, twitter gives you this ability. Most of these people will adopt the same attitude, they will want associate with you and probably they will want to “RT” (Re-Tweet) your content – this in turn will put your message out to a wider audience.

5. See who they follow: The people who you follow will also follow compelling individuals (probably). Therefore it stands to reason that you should be knowing them too.  Leverage other people’s lists to find other tweeps who share your interest or niche area of expertise.  Their followers will then be exposed to you through RT’ing etc.

6. See who follows them: As above (ish) people who follow the ones you follow have good reason. Moreover, they might be useful people for you to follow.

NOTE: People like to “hang out” in groups, or to “align” themselves to certain thinkers or leaders. Numbers 4,5, and 6, although they sound confusing, are very simple ways of “getting yourself” involved in these groups. Providing you write compelling content yourself you will attract followers.

7. Signature: Create a signature that you use on a consistant basis on ALL your web pressence, that point people back to your twitter homepage and makes it easier for them to follow you. There are many different ways of doing this, twitterbuttons.com is one. However, you can create your own bespoke button – click here – to e-mail me if this is what you want to do.

8. Post on shared interest forums: Have an opinion, thats what forums are for, not bickering but opinion. You must think of YOUR BIT OF THE WEB like a special interest magazine such as MacWorld for Mac users. Associate yourself with these forums/blogs and have an opinion, but make sure that I can find you when you write something.

9. Use the SHARE buttons that you find: On most sites you will see “share” buttons – either twitter, fabebook, linkedin, ecademy etc etc – these buttons are there to make it easy for you to publish your content or anyone else’s content. Sharing other peoples content will make you a “newsgatherer” and I might want to follow you because you find “good stuff”. Use these buttons.

10. Write, write, write, write, write: You get the message, but it has to be compelling. I don’t always want to know what you are doing but I might want to know why. I might want to know what you are reading, creating. I want to know your opinion. I want you to share my opinion. I want you to gather great information and put it together in a fantastic blog. I want you to point me to an awesome event. I want to know what you have learned. I want to know that it might benefit me. I want to know the latest gadget. Then I want to know it was crap because the battery does not last, I want to know who you follow and why, I want ….

I want to know what you know, afterall I’m following YOU.

N
P.s  There are other ways of growing your following and using Twitter, such as Twitter search and advanced search on key words and hashtags, what time of day to tweet, how to make sure your tweet is not lost in the Twitter “noise”.  For the answers to these, and to get the best out of your Twitter efforts, you might want to consider this – click here -.

 

Get a flying start to harnessing the power of social media in your business.

• Don’t know your Tweets from your Facebook?
• You’re aware that 15% of all global internet traffic is attributed to social media but you have no idea what all those people are doing or talking about?
• You know more people are communicating via social media than e-mail, but you don’t know how or why?
• You thought that Facebook was for kids but you’ve just heard that Barack Obama is on there.
• You could not see the relevance of having a blog but you’ve just heard that a supermarket “check out girl” has had her blogs published as a book which has now sold over 100,000 copies.
• Feel like there’s a big party going on and you’re sitting on the sidelines?

Lightbulb moment! You need to get started with Social media.

We guarantee that a year from now you’ll be glad you started today!

But what exactly is social media?

This is what what Wikipedia has to say … "Social media is information content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. It is intended to facilitate communications, influence interaction between peers and with public audiences. This is typically done via the Internet and mobile communications networks. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and "building" of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM). Social media are distinct from industrial media, such as newspapers, television, and film. While social media are relatively cheap tools that enable anyone (even private individuals) to publish or access information, industrial media generally require significant financial capital to publish information."

 

Need some help making sense of all of this? If the answer is "yes", then carry on reading. You need our new Social Media training course:

Duration: One day course

Suitable for: This course has been designed specifically for the small to medium sized business owner to get to grips with social media for marketing, PR, and business exposure. It will also suit PR professionals, marketing professionals, e-commerce professionals, journalists, academics, brand managers, and any other business professional who is interested in understanding new ways of communicating and spreading messages.

Objectives:

1. Understanding why old methods of marketing are becoming defunct.
2. Understanding that the web is free to use with billions of potential customers who can be reached through social media.
3. To understand the role of social media/bookmarking in marketing, on-line visibility, awareness, reputation, branding, building meaningful business relationships, and building trust on-line.
4. Understanding where your customer can be found in the on-line world.
5. Understanding the value of “contribution currency” and how to participate in networks to achieve maximum exposure of your message.
6. Gain practical knowledge of the best platforms and web tools to use for your particular business and how to use them.
7. How to leverage time spent on social media activities
8. How to monitor your results on social media, using feedback loops to fine-tune your social media campaigns.

You will learn:

• How Barack Obama became the first high profile exponent of social media and how it contributed to his successful Presidential campaign.
• Why social media is vital for businesses or individuals in terms of on-line visibility, reputation, and how it allows you to reach niche markets and customers.
• The importance of “contribution currency” on-line and how you can become an “expert” or “leader”.
• How to “release” yourself and/or your business on-line and the importance of communicating authentically and consistently.
• Which social media platforms are relevant to your business and how to set them up and use them.
• The importance and power of “permission marketing”.
• Why there is growth in transparency, why “Google never forgets” and what this means to your business.
• The impact of having a long “tail”. How and why you need to start now to build a long “tail” of content about your business on-line. (Using tools such as blogs, micro blogs, forums, video, clippings, news book marking etc).
• How to embrace random connections.
• How to understand the distinction between “network” and “contacts” and how to farm them for business.

YOU WILL WALK AWAY FROM THIS COURSE WITH "THE BIG 7" SOCIAL MEDIA SITES SET UP, FUNCTIONING AND READY TO GO!

Course synopsis:

• Introduction to the course:
• What are we going to cover today?
• What brings you here and what do you want to achieve from today?

Introduction to social media:

• Case studies of social media successes: Barack Obama, Burger King, the author Anna Sam.
• The three C’s of social media success: conversation, community, conversion.
• How and why you need to build a long tail on Google (online CV).
• The importance of understanding that “Google never forgets”.
• Creating your brand on the web

Getting started in social media (practical):

• Understanding the vastness of the social media landscape.
• Introduction to the top ten social media sites and why and how you need to use them.
• Setting up your profiles on these sites, including social networks, business networks, video, photographs, blogging, micro-blogging, clipping, online business cards etc.
• Interlinking these sites to spread your messages.
• How to generate authentic content and find your niche expertise.
• Using “permission marketing” to generate sales.
• Representing yourself on-line in a consistent and authentic fashion to build your personal on-line brand.

Please note: this is a “hands on” and practical course and you will be required to bring your lap top. You will be setting up your own profiles and social media platforms and starting to use them on the training day. You will also be sent some homework in advance to prepare for the course. After the course, you will have FREE access to the forum for support and to remain connected with other delegates.

 

 

Why ignoring social media could be the worst business decision you ever made!

• People now communicate more regularly via social networks than they do by email.
• Social networking is not just for teenagers.
• In 2008, 35 – 49 year olds represented the biggest growth segment for the social networking sector. Some people are choosing to ignore Social Media as they think it is "just for kids". It isn’t. Don’t make the same mistake in your business.People spend more time in social networks when they’re online.
• Nielsen Research noted that, here in the UK, one in every six minutes online, was being spent in, or on, the social networking websites making them stand out clearly as the places where more and more people are choosing to connect.
• Social Media can build a community around your business.
• Don’t make the mistake either of thinking that you need to be a corporate to build a community around your business using Social Media. It works brilliantly for small businesses too.
• Despite the recession, most marketers are increasing their spend on Social Media

Some mind-blowing statistics: The time it has taken different products or services to reach a market audience of 50 million is as follows:

• Radio 38 years
• TV 13 years
• Internet 4 years
• iPod 3 years
• Facebook 2 years and growing at the rate of 1000’s per day!
• Twitter 25 million users in 2 years

THAT is why you need social media and you need our training course. Reach a global market of millions of people using free resources and organic content! Start Today … Social media starter package. ONLY £350 + VAT Price includes:

• Refreshments
• Lunch
• Course notes
• Internet Connection
• FREE follow-up and support on the forum
• On purchase, you will be emailed some homework which prepares you for the course, and will enable you to walk away from the course with the BIG 7 platforms up and running and a social media strategy in place specific to your business.

Next event date:

24th June at the Mandolay Hotel, 36-40 London Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 2AE . FULLY BOOKED

14th July at the Mandolay Hotel, 36-40 London Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 2AE .  FULLY BOOKED

13th July at the Mandolay Hotel, 36-40 London Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 2AE . FULLY BOOKED

13th August at the Mandolay Hotel, 36-40 London Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 2AE . Places available

14th September at the Mandolay Hotel, 36-40 London Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 2AE . Places available

13th October at the Mandolay Hotel, 36-40 London Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 2AE . Places available

Next dates TBA

From 8.30 to 18.00. Please note: As this is very "hands on", intensive training day with lots of personal attention, we have to limit the numbers to a maximum of 12 people per course. On purchase you will receive an e-book including some homework, this will allow you to start the training day with ease and "hit the ground running".

There are some useful tips in the book as well.

 

ONLY £350 + VAT

Click on the button below to get regular up-dates, web information, web feeds, free stuff …

 

Click here to register