By Karen Emanuelson  Reciprocate has surveyed thousands of small business owners since 2010 and found that few are actually using Twitter effectively. While we typically recommend that Reciprocate clients use social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn first based on their target customer base, Twitter does have a place in online marketing for both B2B and B2C organizations.
In fact, numerous companies directly credit their Twitter accounts with boosting their bottom line. Online tech news giant Mashable offers insight into several of these success stories through 7 Twitter marketing campaigns to learn from.
If you decide to venture into the world of Twitter, here are 7 tips to get you started:
- Your Twitter account is part of your brand. Be mindful when setting your Twitter “handle.” While Twitter tends to be more casual then LinkedIn, make sure your tweets are consistent in tone and style with your brand.
- If you are having trouble coming up with things to tweet about, consider organizing tweets around a specific event like a press release, product launch, speech or event. Also, don’t be afraid to retweet (RT) others’ tweets if they are relevant to your audience.
- Use keywords. The words you use in each tweet will impact your success. Twitter feeds are integrated into search engines so use words in your tweets that your target audience might use in a search. For example, if you are an accounting firm and your customers would search for “tax help”, use “tax help” in your tweets as frequently as possible to promote that service offering. You might even want to create a hashtag such as #TaxHelp.
- Provide useful information. Don’t forget to include a link to your website or registration page.
- Tweet frequently. Use a tool such as Hootsuite to schedule tweets.
- Check your Twitter account at least once a day and respond to retweets, direct messages and mentions.
- Experiment, have fun, and learn from your mistakes. You might be surprised by the level of interaction you can achieve in 120 characters
Reciprocate offers custom, one-on-one and small group Twitter training sessions. Contact Reciprocate today to find out how Twitter can help you grow your bottom line. In the meantime, we encourage you to follow us on Twitter at KarenEman and ReciprocateLLC. Happy tweeting!
By Karen Emanuelson
Domino’s delivered 400 million pizzas last year. Monster Energy is the Number 1 energy drink by volume in the U.S. What can a small business owner learn from these mammoth companies? Plenty, including how to use photos to promote your business. Regardless of the size of your staff or the industry you are in, you can take advantage of photos and photo opportunities to market your company online.
6 creative marketing ideas using photos
Here are 6 creative ways to use photos to promote your products or services online:
- Run a contest. Ask customers to submit photos featuring your products or services. Offer a prize or discount for entries. Domino’s Pizza created a special URL to promote their recent photo contest ShowUsYour Pizza.com.
- Create an account on Flickr for your business. Upload photos that build anticipation for an upcoming event or new product line. I use my Flickr account to showcase community and nature photos I have taken as editor of the North Oaks News as well as to promote my company.
- Feature one photo on each page of your website to add visual interest. While too many photos can be distracting, one large image can have a lasting impact on visitors. Additional photos may be placed in a less dominate location lower on the page. Photo gallery pages are an obvious exception to the one-photo rule.
- Send photos via Twitter. Using TwitPic, you can share photos from your PC or camera phone via Twitter in real time. TwitPic also provides stats on how many people have viewed your photo, and you can add the TwitPic widget (above right) to your website for additional exposure for your photos.
- Upload photos to Facebook. Create albums based on themes. The Monster Energy Facebook page has more than 70 company-created albums and encourages customers to post their own photos. The result? More than 5,000 photos uploaded by Monster Energy customers. Examples Facebook albums small businesses could create include:
- Holiday Gift ideas
- Why customers love us
- How we make (product)
- Before and After
- On the road
- A quick, fun way to promote your small business or organization using photos is Smilebox. This website offers a free (or relatively inexpensive if you choose to upgrade) way to create a short video display of 8-15 photos. Below is the Smilebox I created in just a few minutes using a free account to promote Reciprocate LLC.
 Click on the play button above to view the Reciprocate LLC Smilebox creation. |
| |
5 small business ”photo op” ideas
Opportunities for using photos to promote a small business abound. Keep a camera or camera phone handy as you go about your day. Make a conscious effort to take 5 photos each day for one week. By the end of the week, you’ll have created a photo gallery to choose from and you will have also created a mindset to look for and create photo opportunities.
Here are some possible photo opportunities to get you started:
- Products or services
- Company-sponsored events
- Employee meetings, client successes, awards, and celebrations – especially if you can feature your product, service, or company logo somewhere in the photo
- Company representatives and/or your product at trade shows, speaking engagements, and events. Stage photos in front of banners and signs which promote the event or in front of recognizable location signs.
- Before and after photos — this can translate into almost any industry but works especially well for organizers, home improvement companies, and decorators. Think outside the box. Even accountants can show a “before” photo of a mountainous pile of receipts and an “after” photo of a clean desk, featuring their company logo displayed on the monitor along with a happy customer.
Use your imagination. Get creative! Unless you are in the professional photography industry, don’t worry so much about getting the perfect shot with perfect lighting. Some applications (like TwitPic) atually lend themselves to impromptu camera phone images. Have fun but do keep your company image and marketing goals in mind. I encourage you to share links to your favorite use of company photos in the comments section below.
By Karen Emanuelson Twitter recently reset passwords on numerous users’ accounts.
If you cannot log into your Twitter account, check your emails to see if you have received one from Twitter that looks like this:
If you received this email, you will not be able to log into your Twitter account without clicking on the emailed link. Additional information may be found on the Twitter help page.
As a precaution, Twitter users are advised to not share their Twitter password and account information with third party companies that offer to increase follower counts rapidly.
By Karen Emanuelson  You, no doubt, have heard a lot of buzz about Twitter — especially from TV broadcasters and famous personalities, who seem enamoured with Twitter and it’s power for instant communication. Twitter claims more than 150 million registered users with 300,000 new users every day! According to The Huffington Report , an April 2010 study suggests that while most Americans are aware of Twitter, few are using it. So, what’s in it for you?
Twitter basics
Twitter is based on 140-character snippets of information called “tweets.” Think of a tweet as a broadcast message. You need a Twitter account to send and receive tweets. The benefit of Twitter is its immediacy. The disadvantage of Twitter is the volume of tweets sent — averaging 55 million tweets a day. It’s not easy breaking through all that noise.
There is no subscription fee to join and you can set up a profile in a matter of minutes. Twitter is one of the more casual social networking sites — more like Facebook than LinkedIn. It is used for both business and personal communications.
Setting up your account
- Decide on the image you want to portray on Twitter. Let your intended use be your guide. Even though Twitter is less formal, if your intent is to use this account to promote your business, keep your Twitter image more professional.
- Create a unique Twitter name or “handle.”
While you could certainly use your real name, most Twitter users choose a name more representative of their personality or business. MNFamilyMatters is the Twitter handle for a Twin Cities based family law practice; ESQCoach is the handle for a web-based attorney marketing site; KarenEman is my Twitter handle.
- Add a photo or graphic. Since I primarily use my Twitter account for business, I use my Gravatar – the photo I use on all my online profiles including Twitter and LinkedIn. You can use a company logo or even a graphic.
- That’s all it takes to set up the very basics. You can use the “Settings” tab to add details to your profile, including a web address, as well as design the look of your Twitter background.
Now what?
Now the fun begins. You need to find people to “follow.” The social media networks are making it much easier to cross-connect. The easiest way to get started is to find connections from other social media networking sites and/or your email address contacts lists to see who you know that is using Twitter. If you are on LinkedIn, add your new Twitter account to your LinkedIn profile. When asked, “allow” Twitter to connect to your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn just added a “Tweets” section to their site that shows which of your LinkedIn connections are on Twitter and those that you are following.
Another easy way to find people to follow is to check out “lists.” On my Twitter profile page, I have created multiple lists of Twitter users as a way to categorize them. One list is made up of Tweeters who live in Minnesota; another includes those who tweet about Las Vegas deals (great if you are planning a trip); and another lists people who tweet about topics of interest to small businesses,
One caveat: Don’t think of Twitter as too personal. Unlike Facebook or LinkedIn, it really doesn’t matter if you know the people that you are following or that are following you. You can follow politicians, CEOs, friends, family members, industry leaders, and individuals from across the globe — and they, in turn, can follow you. That’s part of the fun!
More info
If you are hesitant to set up a Twitter account, you can check it out first. Click on the image on the left to go directly to Twitter. Without signing up, you’ll be able to see, in real time, some of the people using Twitter as well as a collection of “ Top Tweets.” I look forward to having you follow me on Twitter. I’ll reciprocate and follow you back.  RCE7FBKYKTWZ
|
Thinking about email marketing? Click below for a free 60-day trial
|
