Shedding Light on Twitter in 5 Easy-to-Follow

StepsHeather Whaling

@prtini

• 10 million users• 1,382% year-over-year growth

• Twitter traffic surpasses NY Times• Majority = 35 years old or older• 45-54 years olds = 36% more likely

than average to visit Twitter• 25-34 years olds = 30% more likely

Twitter Phenomenon

Still Not Sure?Response to columnist Leonard Pitts:

Getting Started

Tweet Posting a message to Twitter@ + name The command which allows tweets to be

sent; proceeds username (i.e. @journchat)Following You choose to receive someone's updatesFollowers People who choose to receive your updatesDirect Message Private message sent between two peopleBlock Preventing someone from reading your

updatesFavorites A public area to save your favorite tweets Fail Whale Too many people are tweeting!Hashtag The # next to a word allows for conversation tracking (#beatcancer)Tweetup A face-to-face gathering of those who tweet

Twitter Basics

Credit: @prsarahevans

• Why are you here?• Increased brand visibility• Personal branding• Develop a large network• Monitoring trends• Connecting with customers• Other goals??

Step 1: Identify Goals

• People• listorious.com • twellow.com• wefollow.com• mrtweet.com• justtweetit.com

• Trends• search.twitter.com

Step 2: Develop Network

• Connect with reporters• Bit.ly/mediatweet• Searchable by beat, location, name outlet

• Don’t start pitching … yet• Does reporter want to be pitched on

Twitter?• Establish a relationship with reporter FIRST

Step 2: More Networking

• Understand community “norms”• Quality vs. quantity• Read bios to find connections• Say “hello”• Be a resource• Promote others

Step 3: Dip Your Toes In

“Find the people that you would like to have conversations with, and start having conversations with them. Just because they’re not following you, doesn’t mean you can’t start conversations with them. If you’re a consumer brand, it’s important to create a large following. If you’re business-to-business, having just the right 50 people following you is important.”

-- Geoff Livingston (@geoffliving)

Step 4: Start Talking

Step 4: Start Talking

• Participate in hash-tag chats:• #journchat• #gno• #blogchat• #smbiz

• Create and follow lists• Personal email signature• Don’t forget to include your ID on blog comments• Update Facebook, LinkedIn profiles

Step 5: Build Your Network

• TweetDeck, Seesmic• Tweetgrid• Bit.ly, Hootsuite, • iPhone: Tweetie, TweetDeck• Blackberry: TwitterBerry,

UberTwitter

My Favorite Tools

• It’s ok to dip in and out • Reveal your personality, but

remember your goals• Create categories to stay organized• Promptly reply to @s and DMs• Twitter isn’t IM-ing• 120 is the new black

Parting Advice