Building Your Brand On Twitter

Alex Lawrence: Vice Provost – Weber State University

Twitter: @_AlexLawrence (underscore before my name)

LinkedIn: /AlexOnLinkedIn

Facebook: /AlexLawrence

Blog: StartupFlavor.com

Google+: Gplus.am/Alex

Street Cred

51,000+ Twitter Followers (Currently #4 Utah)

Top 10,000 followed overall on Twitter

Founded & Sold TwitJump (Featured in TechCrunch)

100,000+ Blog Readers (started in 2011)

Started 9 Companies – Sold 8 (9th is #34 on Inc. 500)

1,000+ mobile apps downloaded

Average 1,300+ clicks per link and 100K+ views per post

50M Users Put In Perspective

Twitter

iPod

Internet

Radio

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Years

Twitter Stats

500M registered users

Adding 500,000 new accounts per day

300 million unique visitors per month

300 million tweets per day

1.2 billion tweets per week

Largest VC raise in history = $800M

Growing faster than Facebook in US

Mobile Market Stats

Average teen sends 1500 texts per month

76% of all phone subscribers use texting

8 trillion texts sent in 2011

US -- 18% smartphone market In 2009, 44% in 2011

Over 500,000 iPhone apps, 37% are free

Within 5 years, mobile internet access > desktop access

Mobile Market Stats

Short form is winning

Best mobile experience wins

Twitter is texting on steroids

Easy to understand and use – can be text only

23% of Time Online (US) = Social

Average Twitter Users Under Age 35:

27% check status and post updates 10+ times per day

40% post updates while driving

30% use while on dates

64% post updates at work

Advertising $ Follow Eyeballs

1999 2009

Global Internet Ad Revenue

$55MM $106B

Ad Revenue Per User $9 $86

Global Internet Users

6MM 2.2B

How Do I Use Twitter For Business?

Be yourself

Don’t do or say something you wouldn’t mind sharing with an employer or partner

Customers talk to each other online

It’s not a commercial

Real photos, custom backgrounds, detailed info

If you don’t control your brand, someone else will

Control Your Brand Or Someone Else Will

Due diligence on you via social media

Can you connect with customers?

Talk to people you wouldn’t normally have access to Mark Suster (iActionable intro) Hank Haney (golf tips from Tiger Woods coach) Robert Scoble (introduction to potential partner) Chad OchoCinco (cell phone number) CBR Venture Capitalist ($20M raise) Scott Anderson (Zion’s Bank CEO)

Curation and Follower Growth

Museum: art = content

Search and share – best at this grow followers

Fastest source of news

In the media = best way to get immediate interaction

Activity Equals Influence

Either in or out

Insincerity is obvious

Listen to and talk about/with others

Time – no quick fix, no quick results

SEO value Rankings Clicks Customers

Google – bonuses based on Google+

Suggestions and Tools

Send out using a scheduling tool like Bufferapp.com

**Connect other networks (Twitter to LinkedIn, etc.)

Be sure to reply to people every time

Use a mobile application to share “live” updates

Setup keyword searches and join conversations

Put your Twitter name everywhere (cards, email footer)

Suggestions and Tools

Tweetdeck (multi-network)

Bufferapp.com (scheduling content – FB/Twitter)

Twentyfeet.com (analytics)

Crowdbooster (analytics/suggestions)

Stumbleupon.com for content

Takeaways

Twitter is not a toy for kids – it’s a legit business tool

Not a fad

If you aren’t actively engaged now, you are behind

Employers, partners, investors and customers are there

The great equalizer – influencers can be you

You will need to use it for most businesses (now or later)

Remember This…

“Realize that the social media success equation isn’t big moves on the chess board, it’s little moves, made every day that eventually add up to a major shift.” -Jay Baer

THANKS!

@_AlexLawrence

Slideshare.net/AlexanderLaw