Tweetin’ in ‘12
Okay, I promised before that I wouldn’t do one of those trite “end of the year” lists as a blog post, but I changed my mind when I was on Twitter yesterday. I was reminded that a lot of Twitter “newbs” come on line every day looking for good people to follow. So, in no particular order, these are some of my favorite Tweeters. Check ‘em out in 2012.
Note: This list is not comprehensive–I follow more than 3,800 tweeps–it’s just a sample of some of my favorites. They range from PR colleagues (and *clients) to writers to journalists to strategists to marketers to…well, people from all walks of life.
@kbmckinney Mom. Social Media Geek. Writer. Lawyer. And a Bunch of Other Stuff. (Kate posts consistently interesting tweets and info.)
@Brainzooming Tweets by Mike Brown featuring strategy, innovation, creativity, & social media ideas. (He’s also pretty funny.)*
@EdenBaylee Author of literary erotica and bestselling novel, FALL INTO WINTER. (Eden is a great example of a person who shares of herself and helps others in the social media space.)
@ShellyKramer Marketing/brand strategist, idea generator, digital content magician, scribbler, information junkie. Luv MilkDuds+Beer. Member of Oversharers Anonymous. (The “dean” of Twitter as far as I’m concerned–though Shelly is far more than a social media titan–check her out, you’ll see.)
@mmangen Bookworm | Horse Lover | Virtual Assistant | Single Mom | From the Land of Beer and Cheese now Living in the Sunshine State | Oldest of Seven | iTunes Addict (Michelle shares some fun stuff–with a wide variety of interests.)
@Dan_Coyle Nationally (now INTERnationally) Touring Singer Songwriter. Music Lover. Coffee Lover. Lover of Weird Things — If You’re Weird, I’ll Love You. (This guy is an excellent self-promoter who truly cares about his twitter friends and fans. He also has a quirky side and often posts links to some very interesting articles and sites.)*
@adamsconsulting Graduate of USC, Entrepreneur for over 10 yrs, Writer for BitRebels.com and InkRebels.com, Voice for the Homeless in Atlanta. I’m really into just being happy. (Diana always has something I can’t resist clicking!)
@OfRevolt I narrowly escaped the clutches of The Man to travel, write, and blog about the daily activities of being without a home. I sing, dance, and make merry! (My favorite travel blogger!)
@JohnFugelsang God got Vaclav Havel, the Devil got Kim-Jong II, and neither of them got near Christopher Hitchens. I’m an actor & comedian. Our album- http://bit.ly/un61bi (Smart, edgy comedian. Note he’s often political and Left-leaning. If you’re a Fox News fan, you probably won’t dig him.)
@Jdickerson Political correspondent Slate magazine/Political Director CBS News. (Informative, witty and incisive.)
@JeanGleason An HR Princess with attitude speaking the hard HR truths. I love to travel and the ocean! My family & friends are the most important things in my life. (Jean is a great person and a true resource for HR info.)
@JasonHarper Son of a librarian & English professor. Champion of writing, dialogue, knowledge & culture. Tweeting for @KCLibrary. (His bio says it all.)
@Harris_Barb PR chick by profession, humanitarian by passion. Writer of food blog http://ourfeedingfrenzy.com. @feedingfrnzy (Her food blog is a must-read. She needs to tweet more, though!)
@ginidietrich CEO of Arment Dietrich. Author of spinsucks.com. Vistage member. Author. Speaker. Communicator. Avid cyclist. A foodie. Loves shoes & wine. (Funny, informative and prolific, Gini has a great PR blog, too.)
@AlexisCeule Social Media Mamapreneur-Chief Engagement Officer: Making ur brand social via word o mouse! I love me some @Train and I’ll shoot u on MWII as KUfans2009. (Great fun and lots of cool info.)
@StephGreenKC Sprint B2B PR. Ask me abt M2M, connected car, smart grid, health/wellness, digital signs, security, mobility, IP. Love to chase my 3-year-old and travel! (Good telecom-related stuff and yes, she’s my wife so you’re damn right I list her here!)
I could go on…but time is running out on 2011 and I need to hop off the blog, Twitter and the internet in general to enjoy more time with my family. Remember–Twitter is a great way to connect with interesting people, but don’t let it hog all your time and prevent you from “connecting” with your loved ones and friends “in real life.”
Happy New Year.
Three Easy Ways to Get Your Business Noticed
I’m not a big list maker and definitely not the only one who’s pretty sick of the “Top Three This” or the “Ten Things That” type of blog posts. However, just like ordering “Combo Meal #3″ is faster than saying “I’ll have a single cheese, chili instead of fries, medium Sprite and hold the fingertip,” I’ll break my own rule and offer three easy (once you get the hang of it) things you can do to get your business noticed.
Before I commence, I should add that these three suggestions aren’t one size fits all. Your business may not benefit from all, some or any of these three things. If that is the case, well, sorry–but at least it’s only a list of three rather than ten and I only wasted a third of your time by comparison.
1. Blog. Yep. Blog. As in Weblog. You’re reading one now. But don’t set one up and then never write in it. You need to blog everyday–okay at least every business day. I try to blog everyday (don’t always, but I try). If I do a weekend post, I try to make it a little lighter–as in more fun than a weekday post which for some reason I feel has to be more serious. Write about what you know and how it effects your business or clients/customers. If you’re a Realtor, talk about what’s going on in your sales territory. My buddy Mary Hutchison excels at this on her blog. She’s like (hell, she is) a reporter–blogging about neighborhood association meetings, school happenings, etc. She even does restaurant reviews! People know that Mary knows her stuff, and that gets her noticed. Note: if you aren’t going to blog often, don’t blog at all. Nothing worse than a blog tab on your site with precisely two entries, like it’s some abandoned car you left on the side of the information superhighway.
2. Social Media. Specifically, Twitter. I know, I know. I thought it was all bullshit myself only a short time ago. (Please spare me the “It’s people telling you what they had for lunch.” It isn’t.) If you do it right, it pays dividends in many ways. How do you do it right? First, follow people who are ethical and good at it. Like my pal Shelly Kramer or the Orange Sock King himself, Mike Brown. They don’t just broadcast or sell. They interact in a positive way. They form communities that share information and encouragement. They’re human. And kinda funny (looking.) Kidding. They are funny and informative and you should follow them and their example. As in #1, if you don’t intend to stick with it and contribute, don’t do it. It’s worse to have a Twitter account that sits idle than it is to go without. (Also instructional is Redhead Writing–she drills down deeper into whether you should be on Twitter or not here.)
3. Do Good. Do the right thing, even when nobody’s looking. I assure you that even if you don’t get caught doing the right thing. eventually somebody’s going to notice. Maybe you’ll hire a PR guy who knows how to get your good deeds front and center without being obnoxious (ahem). Or just maybe somebody will read about it in a modest, humble post on your blog (see #1). Perhaps they will Tweet about it (see #2) and you will become an international sensation. Getting noticed often comes with doing good. Ask these guys. (And okay, if nobody finds out but you and your employees or family, what have you lost?)
That’s my three. I confess that none of this stuff is “easy” right off the bat. It takes effort. But anything worthwhile does, right? Now get out there and get noticed. If you need a PR firm to help, you can find us right here, trying to do good. Or on Twitter. Whichever.
The aRT of the RT: Enthusiasm Levels
Mike Brown has nice handwriting. RT that.
I often meet my friend Mike Brown, the guru over at the Brainzooming Group, for coffee. Actually, Mike doesn’t drink coffee and cannot abide a place that smells like coffee, yet somehow we manage to meet at a local coffee spot every now and again to talk business, collaboration, creativity and the absurdities of life in general.
Speaking of absurdities, Mike is pretty active on Twitter (as am I) and a while back we were discussing the Art of the Retweet, or “RT” as it’s known on Twitter. If you’re into Twitter, you know that when you see something pretty cool that might be of interest to your Tweeps (readers, followers, etc.) you “retweet” it.
Example:
RT: @PRWeekUS Poll: Did Ricky Gervais misrepresent the Golden Globes as a host? http://www.prweekus.com/online-polls/section/990/
RT @MEAndersFit Looking at Pilate’s Cross by J. Alexander Greenwood @A_Greenwood at #smashwords http://smashwords.com/b/6806 Cannot wait to read this book! <This rocks! Thanks!>
RT @Brainzooming Blogging Challenges? Ideas for When You Find Blogging Difficult http://bit.ly/hLCaHJ #blogging #sm #writing #creativity <snarky>
Did I Build Facebook Fans with My Contest?
If you read my last post, you know I instituted a Trivia Contest on my novel’s Facebook page to:
* Generate buzz about the book
* Add new fans to the book’s Facebook page
* Add new readers by getting people to download a free sample of the ebook
* Sell books by converting sample readers into buyers of the entire ebook or paperback
Without repeating the whole blog post, I’ll get to the results, goal by goal, after the three-day contest (which was promoted on Facebook, Twitter and Google Buzz):
Goal: Generate buzz about the book
Results: Well, my Facebook Page Insights showed two new subscribers (far short of my goal of 10 new “fans”) but views and feedback were up approx. 50% and 60%, respectively. Not bad.
Goal: Add new readers by getting people to download a free sample of the ebook
Results: Six samples downloaded in three days. Again, not bad!
Goal: Sell books by converting sample readers into buyers of the entire ebook or paperback
Results: Eight ebooks sold! Though I cannot definitively ascribe these sales directly to the contest it’s still very encouraging.
Also, I only had a small number of people enter the contest–and I understand why: it was labor intensive! To enter you had to become a Facebook “fan” of the book, then you had to answer three trivia questions which could only be answered by downloading a free sample of the book and reading it–in less than three days. All that considered, I think this promotion was a qualified success. There was buzz, I sold a few copies–and I certainly look forward to autographing those prize winners’ paperbacks.
Any thoughts? Have you done a similar contest? Any suggestions for doing it better?
Stunning Stats on Twitter, YouTube, Photos, & Apps
A friend of ours in the broadcasting biz shared this data with us. Check it out!
The Bandwidth Music & Technology Conference in San Francisco last month featured discussions where attendees shared some incredible data points. Take a look:
The latest on Twitter…
# of tweets, daily: 70 million
# of tweets, monthly: 2 billion
# of registered users: 145 million
# of account sign-ups, daily: 300,000
(Source: Matt Graves, Communications Director @ Twitter.)
The latest on photos…
# of photos uploaded onto Facebook, monthly: 2.5 billion # of photos uploaded to Facebook, annually: 30 billion # of approved photos typically needed by a band, 2000: 6-9 # of approved photos typically needed by a band, 2010: 300-400.
The latest on YouTube:
#2 search engine in the world (of all engines, separated from Google) # of videos rotated by MTV, during its 80s prime: 30-40 per week # of views for Tyler Hilton’s cover of “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon: 748,099
The latest on Apps:
# of downloaded apps, App Store: > 5 billion (as of June)
# of artist apps typically downloaded (per artist): < 100,000
(Source on YouTube, photo and apps data: Jeremy Welt, SVP of New Media, Warner Bros. Records. Total downloaded app statistic from Apple.)
