Enriching Your Work and Life

with Two-Way Twitter Communications

Presented to North Scarborough Rotary, February 12, 2014 Leslie Hetherington, MBA, APR, Communications Director

The Big Difference?

Two-Way, One to Many Communications and Relationships

(versus the pre-social media one-way ‘megaphone’)

What Can Twitter Do For You?

Personally Professionally

Agenda

1. Create Your Profile (Build your Nest)

2. Meet & Follow (Increase Your Flock)

3. Effective Tweeting & #Hashtags (Talk to the Flock)

4. Cultivate Influencers (Bring Your Flock into the Fold)

Twitter Screens

Twitter

“handle”

Full

Twitter

name

Profile page Home page

Your

Tweets

Tweet

Window

Twitter Feed

(others’ tweets)

First: Risk-proof Your Foundation

Get “buy-in”

Allocate resources & back-up

Set procedures & policies:

Who will tweet?

How often will you tweet?

What topics are taboo?

Determine detractor/ troll management

Build Your Nest: Create Your Twitter Profile

1. User Name - @___ - Account

2. Icon Photo (128 x128) – Profile

3. Header Photo (520 x 260 px) - Profile

4. Biography (160 characters) – Profile

5. Deselect “Protect my Tweets” – Security and Privacy

6. Select “Let others find me by my email address” – Security

and Privacy

7. Set-up mobile access - Mobile

Free Tool to help size images:

http://www.internetmarketingninjas.com/seo-tools/favicon-generator-crop-images/

Who do I follow and why?

Meet

Find & Follow

Cultivate

Converse, Share & Flatter

Retain Followers,

Hone Influencers... Ambassadors

Find and Follow…. Who to Follow….

1. Your clients/customers & partners

2. Your competitor’s clients/customers

3. Anyone who might talk about/ be interested in

your product/service

How to Find (basic)

1. Twitter’s Who to Follow ideas (left column)

Twitter’s Find Friends & Popular Accounts

2. Google ‘Name + Twitter’

3. Other users’ Followers

More Advanced Ways to Find Followers

1. Searching via ‘We Follow’ free tool (http://wefollow.com)

2. Free ‘listening’ tools: Google Alerts or

Talk to Your Flock: Tweeting Tips

1. Tweet short (120 characters or less)

2. Original comments

3. Numbers & positive words: You, Help,

How to, Check out

4. Repeat critical tweets up to 4x but vary with others

5. Tweet when your audience is online Often 8 – 9 am (morning commute), noon – 2 pm, 3 pm, 5 pm – 7 pm

6. Use up to 2 #Hashtags

What’s a #Hashtag? Putting the # symbol in front of a word or term

pertinent to the tweet

Increases engagement by 35%

Search hashtag before using

If creating: 6 – 12 characters, lowercase with caps to break words

Cultivate Your Followers

Meet

Find & Follow

Cultivate:

Converse, Share & Flatter

Retain Followers,

Hone Influencers... Ambassadors

Cultivate: Converse

(It’s Not All About You - 80:20 Rule)

Mention . or >@Twithandle

Reply

@Twithandle

Direct Message (DM)

D Twithandle

Private Public

Cultivate: Sharing

(and boost engagement)

Share Photos/Images

Share Links (Use Twitter tool or www.bit.ly)

Hint: Use Twitter ‘Lists’ to Group

Good Content Sources

Cultivate: Flatter with Re-Tweets

Re-Tweet (RT) their tweets

or a modified Tweet (MT) and credit them

Two Ways:

1. Auto RT -

1. Manual RT/MT*: Comment RT via @Twitterhandle, link or

Comment MT via @Twitterhandle, link

Thank Followers for RTs –

@Twitterhandle Thanks for RT

Cultivate: Flatter

2. Follow Friday (#FF):

3. Favourite a Tweet:

4. Thank new followers:

5. Listen & Provide to what they need/want

Converse

Share

Flatter

Cultivate:

Then….. Seek Support

1. Use Reply (@) to connect

2. Provide message

3. Ask for Re-Tweet or RT

@joesmith Learn the meaning

of life on March 4 at the Lightbox.

Bit.ly.ers7st0 Please RT

4. Thank supporters:

@joesmith Thanks for the RT

But don’t over use requests + wear out goodwill

23X When followers are

specifically asked to

“Retweet,” the Retweet

rate is 23X higher

than average.

1. Build a full profile

2. Follow others (brands & people)

3. Use up to 2 #hashtags per tweet

4. Keep tweets short & positive

5. Use photos & URL links

6. Cultivate Supporters with 80:20 Rule (Converse, Share, Flatter)

7. Use @reply to ask for Re-tweets & support prudently

Top Tweeting Tips:

What’s your goal?

What #hashtags will you use?

Who will you follow?

What content can you offer?

What content is taboo?

Who will you monitor for content?

How Will You Tweet?

Questions?

Email: Lesliehetherington@hardystevenson.com

Twitter: @lhetherington or @hardystevenson

Blog: hardystevensoninsights.com