Archive for the ‘Twitter’ Category
List of Brand-Side Corporate Social Strategists: Twitter Edition
Monday, February 28th, 2011Jeremiah Owyang recently published a fantastic List of Corporate Social Strategists for 2011 (Buyer/Brand Side), an impressive compilation of individuals either holding the title or performing the role of corporate social strategist, defined by Jeremiah as “the business decision maker for social media programs – who provides leadership, roadmap definition, and governance; and directly influences the spending on technology vendors and service agencies.”
It’s an outstanding list, categorized by industry including Automotive, Chemicals, Electronics, Telecommunications, and a dozen other sectors, but all of the names were linked to the individuals’ LinkedIn profiles—no Twitter links! You can follow Marshall Kirkpatrick’s entire Social Strategists list, based on Jeremiah’s list, here, but what if you want to get a bit more granular and be a bit more selective in your following?
Here you go. This list is a tad shorter than Jeremiah’s original as some of these strategists appeared not to have Twitter accounts (an odd omission for a “Corporate Social Strategist,” or possibly just inadequate searching on my part) and includes only the Twitter accounts I could fairly confidently match up with these names, that tweeted in English, and that did not use “protected tweets.” (If your title includes “social media,” why on earth would you have a Twitter account but protect your tweets? Serious disconnect there.)
Followers range from less than 10 (no, that’s not a typo) to more than 10,000. It is somewhat surprising how many have only a few hundred followers, despite being social media managers, practitioners and strategists at large corporations. Not that number of followers means everything, of course, and those few hundred followers may be really highly engaged. It’s also possible there may be errors in my list; please let me know in the comments or through my Twitter if you find any, and I will correct them. Anyway, on to the list!
List of Corporate Social Strategists for 2011
Airline
• Morgan Johnston – Manager Corporate Communication at JetBlue Airways
• Bowen Payson – Manager of Online and Digital Marketing at Virgin America
Automotive
• Kim Snedaker – Social Media Manager at AAA Mid-Atlantic
• Christopher Barger – Director, Global Social Media at General Motors
• Scott Monty – Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager at Ford Motor Company
Business Services
• Matt Anchin – Senior Vice President, Digital Communications at The Nielsen Company
• Collin Douma – Vice President Social Media at Proximity Worldwide (CAN)
• Debbie Curtis-Magley – Public Relations Manager at UPS
• Aneta Hall – Social Media Marketer at Pitney Bowes
• Jaimee Clements – Senior Online Product Manager, eBusiness at AAA NCNU
• Kenny Lauer – Vice President, Digital Experience at George P Johnson
• Rick Mans – Social Media Strategist, Capgemini
• Jodi Gersh – Manager, Social Media, Gannett
• Stephanie Gaspary – Director, Social Strategy and Creative Services, CareerBuilder.com
• Niall Cook – Worldwide Director of Marketing Technology at Hill & Knowlton
• Yianni Garcia – Digital Marketing & Community Manager, The McGraw-Hill Companies
Chemicals
• Kristina Bobrowski – Social Media Manager, Dow Corning
• Alison Buckley – Social Media Manager, Dow Corning
Consumer Product Goods
• Matt Ceniceros – Director, Global Media Relations at Applied Materials
• Philippe Borremans – Chief Social Media Officer at Van Marcke Group
• Jordan Williams – Manager of Digital Engagement at REI
• Bonin Bough – Global Director of Digital and Social Media at PepsiCo
• Michael Donnelly – Group Director, Worldwide Interactive Marketing at The Coca-Cola Company
• Jennifer Cisney – Chief Blogger and Social Media Manager at Eastman Kodak
• Jim Deitzel Sr. eMarketing Manager at Newell Rubbermaid
• Bert DuMars – Vice President E-Business & Interactive Marketing at Newell Rubbermaid
• Marisa Thalberg – VP, Global Digital Marketing at The Estee Lauder
• Gareth Hornberger, Digital Marketing Manager at Levi Strauss & Co.
• Brian Snyder – Senior Manager, Interactive Communications and Knowledge Management at Whirlpool Corporation
• Andrew D. Nystrom – Digital Marketing Manager – Social Media, Red Bull
• Debbie Weinstein – Senior Director, Global Media, Unilever
Educational Services
• Mike Rivera -New Media Strategist, University of Denver
Electronics, Devices, Mobile
• Jussi-Pekka Erkkola – Digital Marketing Manager at Nokia
• Marcy Cohen – Sr. Manager at Sony Electronics
• Ray Haddow – Senior Manager at Nokia
• Ian Kennedy – Head of Service Innovation at Nokia
• Esteban Contreras – Social Media Manager at Samsung
• Dan Anderson – Emerging Media Manager at T-Mobile
• Christopher Baccus – Executive Director of Digital and Social Media at AT&T
• Michelle Kostya – Social Media Support Program Manager, Research in Motion
• Baldev Solanki – Manager, Self Service, Research in Motion
• Angela Losasso – Director, Social Media, Research in Motion
• Felix Leander – Senior Social Media Marketing Manager, Research In Motion
• John Pope – Senior Communications Manager, Nokia
Energy
• Maria Amezaga, Global Social Media Advisor, Shell
• Lanie James – Social Media Specialist, Chesapeake Energy
Financial Services
• Ken Hittel – Vice President, Corporate Internet Dept. at New York Life Insurance Co.
• Allan Schoenberg – Director, Corporate Communications at CME Group
• Ed Terpening – VP Social Network Marketing at Wells Fargo
• Betsy Flanagan, Social Media Strategist, Wells Fargo Bank
• Christine Morrison Roszak – Social Media Marketing Manager at Intuit
• Annalie Killian – Director Innovation, Communication, & Collaboration at AMP Ltd
• Shawn Morton – Director of Mobile, Social and Emerging Media at Nationwide Insurance
• Zena Weist – Director of Social Media at H&R Block
• Stacy Gratz – Social Media Marketing Manager at American Express
• Steve Furman – Director, Design, Customer Experience and Social Media at Discover Financial Services
• David Meiselman, Director of Digital/Web Strategy, The Hanover Insurance Group
• Jennefer Meyer – VP Social Media Strategies at BBVA Compass
• Suzanne Stull – Social Media & Brand Manager, E-Business at Discover Financial Services
• Michael Rubin – Social Media Strategist at Fifth Third Bank
• Kimberly Mahan – Director of Emerging Technologies, Genworth Financial
• Ryon Harms – Director of Social Media, Farmers Insurance
• Jim Rosenberg- Head of Social Media, The World Bank
• April Hammons – Social Media Manager at Bank of Oklahoma
• Jason Diperstein – Online Channel Coordinator at Aetna
Health and Life Sciences
• Jessica Soulliere – Social Media Communications Coordinator at University of Michigan Health System
• Ryan Squire – Social Media Program Director at The Ohio State University Medical Center
• Bob Stanke – Community Manager, Interactive Community Manager | Social Marketing Strategist at Life Time Fitness
• Shwen Gwee, Lead New Media Communications, Vertex Pharmaceuticals
• Charlie Schick, Sr Media Producer, Children’s Hospital Boston
• Lee Aase – Syndication and Social Media Manager at Mayo Clinic
• Holly Potter – VP Public Relations at Kaiser Permanente
• Vince Golla – Director, Digital Media and Syndication at Kaiser Permanente
• Erin Macartney – Public Affairs Specialist/Social Media at Palo Alto Medical Foundation
• Nick Dawson – Director of Communications & Community Engagement at Bon Secours Health System
• Jamey Shiels – Director Social Media and Digital Communications at Aurora Health Care
Hospitality, Food Service
• Vanessa Sain-Dieguez – Social Media Strategists at Hilton
• Virginia Suliman -Vice President – Websites at Hilton
• Kara Imai – Senior Director, Online Marketing at Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau
• Shannon McDowell – Director, Website Management & Communication at Hilton Worldwide
• Diana Plazas – Director, Doubletree Online Marketing at Hilton Hotels Corporation
• Scott Gulbransen, Director of Social Media & Digital Marketing at Applebee’s
• Nick Ayres – Social Marketing Manager at IHG
• Rick Wion – Director of Social Media, McDonald’s Corporation
• Eric Schechter – Social Media Manager, Carnival Cruise Lines
• Joe Curry, Social Media Manager, Global Web Communications at McDonald’s Corporation
Government, Armed Services, Education
• Christina Whitlock – Social Media Management, Supervisor at Marine Corps Recruiting
• Kevin Jones – Social Media Manager at NASA / SAIC
• Scott McIlnay – Director, Emerging Media Integration, Dept. of the Navy, Office of Information at U.S. Navy
• Paul Bove – Social Media Strategist/Web Developer at Air Force Public Affairs Agency
• Mike Boehmer – Senior Public Relations Specialist at Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services
• Sonny Gill – Online Marketing and Social Media Strategist at DeVry University
Media and Entertainment
• Brett Rudy – Director, Strategic Consulting at Epsilon
• Charles Miller Director – Digital Care/Social Media Strategy at DIRECTV, Inc.
• Michael Hall – Director of NESN.com at New England Sports Network
• Amy Worley – Vice President of Marketing at Andrews McMeel Publishing
• Robert Michael Murray – Vice President, Social Media at National Geographic Society
• Kelly Owen – Social Media Manager and Strategist at SPEED Channel, Inc., Fox Entertainment Group
• Tom Fishman – Manager, Social Media & Community at MTV Networks
• Kate Farber Gold – Social Media Director at Scripps Networks
• Ryan Osborn – Director of Social Media at NBC News
• Matthew Milner – VP, Social Media, Hearst Magazines Digital Media
• Gayle Weiswasser -Vice President, Social Media Communications, Discovery
Retail
• Winnie Hsia – Social Media Specialist at Whole Foods Market
• Tracy Benson – Digital / Interactive & Emerging Technologies at Best Buy
• Gary Koelling – Director Emerging Media Technology at Best Buy
• Vanina Delobelle – Manager, eCommerce Product Management at Sears Holdings Corporation
• Alexandra Wheeler – Digital Strategy at Starbucks Coffee Company
• Sarah Molinari – Senior Manager, Social Media, The Home Depot
• Dan Beranek – Social Business Strategy Leader, Target
• Daniel B. Honigman – Social Media Manager at Sears Holdings Corporation
Technology: Hardware, Networking, Component, Computer, Devices
• Bill Johnston, Head of Global Community at Dell
• Todd Shimizu – Director of Communities at Juniper Networks
• Len Devanna – Director Web Strategy & Operations at EMC
• Gunjan Rawal – Developer Marketing Manager, Intel AppUp dev program at Intel Corporation
• John Earnhardt – Senior Manager, Global Media Operations at Cisco Systems
• LaSandra Brill – Senior Manager, Global Social Media Marketing
• Richard Binhammer – Senior Manager at Dell
• Bill Pearson – Manager, Intel Software Network at Intel Corp
• Aaron Tersteeg – Communities Team Manager at Intel Corporation
• Bryan Rhoads – Sr. Digital Marketing Strategist at Intel Corporation
• Amy Barton – New Media Communications Manager at Intel Corporation
• Bob Duffy – Social Media Strategist at Intel Corporation
• Ken Kaplan – Broadcast and New Media Manager, Global Communications at Intel Corporation
• Adam Christensen – Social Media – IBM Corporate Headquarters at IBM
• Jeanette Gibson – Director, New Media at Cisco Systems
• Deirdre Walsh – Community and Social Media Manager at National Instruments
• Annie Rodkins, Program Manager at Intel Corporation
• Kelly Ripley Feller – Social Media Strategist, Sales & Marketing Group at Intel Corporation
• Adam Gartenberg – Program Director, Information Management Marketing and Strategy at IBM
• Todd Watson – Social Media and Search Marketing Manager, IBM Software Group at IBM
• Jamie Pappas – Manager, Social Media Strategy at EMC Corporation
• Colleen Swanger – Director, Graphics and Digital Marketing at NCR
• Tony “Frosty” Welch – Lead Social Media Strategist and Community Manager : Personal Systems Group at HP
• Amy Paquette – Sr. Manager, New Media Communications at Cisco
• Zoya Fallah – Social Media Expert, Consumer Marketing at Cisco
• Frank Days – Director, New and Social Media at Novell
• Stephanie Marx – Social Media Marketing at Cisco Systems
• Steven Lazarus, Lead Strategist, Social Media & Interactive Marketing for SOA and WebSphere Software at IBM
• Carolina Velis – Social Media Strategist at Intel
• Ekaterina Walter, Social Media Strategist at Intel
• Petra Neiger – Senior Manager, Global Social Media at Cisco
• Becky Brown – Director, Social Media Strategy at Intel Corporation
• Deanna Govoni – Social Media Marketing Manager, Cisco
• Allison Johnson, Social Media Manager, Cisco Systems
• Sharon Crost – Global Online Marketing/ Social Media Manager, Hitachi Data Systems
• Shanee Ben-Zur, Social Media Manager, NVIDIA
• Kerry Bridge Social Media Communications Manager, EMEA
• Chris Byrd – Social Media Strategist – Dell Corporate Reputation & Relations, Dell
• Cory Edwards – Director, Social Media & Corporate Reputation at Dell
Technology: Software, Internet
• Diane Davidson – Sr. Manager of Customer Success and Community Program at Cisco WebEx Technology group
• Steven Tedjamulia – Head of Social Commerce Innovation at Dell
• Alison Bolen – Editor, blogs and social content at SAS Institute
• Marty Collins – Director of Emerging Media at Microsoft
• Mark Yolton – Senior Vice President – SAP Community Network at SAP
• Brian Ellefritz – Sr. Director, Social Media Marketing at SAP
• Maria Poveromo – Director, Social Media at Adobe Systems
• Shashi Bellamkonda – Director Social Media, Network Solution
• Natalie Hanson – Senior Director, Strategic Programs & User Experience Consulting at SAP
• Lorna Li – SEO & Social Media Marketing Manager at Salesforce.com
• David Kim – Group Manager, Consumer Content Strategy at Symantec Corporation
• Fred “Fritz” Alberti – Director of Social Media at Salem Web Network
• Vishal Ganeriwala – Sr. Manager Citrix Ready Program at Citrix Systems
• Peter Parkes – Social Media Communications Lead at Skype
• Betsy Aoki – Sr. Program/Product Manager, Social Media at Microsoft Bing
• Marcus Nelson – Director of Social Media, Corporate Communications Salesforce.com
• Michael Procopio – Social Media Strategist at HP Software
• Karen Wickre – Senior Manager, Global Communications & Public Affairs at Google
• Gurmeet Dhaliwal – VP, Internet Marketing at CA Technologies (formerly Computer Associates)
• Justin Kistner – Sr. Manager Social Media Marketing at Webtrends
• Winton “Sonny” Adcock – Program Manager, Social Media & Customer Channel for Technical Support at Intel Corp
• Jamie Grenney – Sr. Director of Social Media at Salesforce.com
• Brian Kling – Social Media Manager, eService at Autodesk
• Kirsten Watson – Director, Marketing at Kinaxis
• Gail Lyon – Global Internet & Social Media Manager at Siemens Enterprise Communications (UK)
• Venson Kuchipudi – Senior Director of Social Computing Strategy, Infor
• Benjamin Gauthey – Digital Marketing Manager/Marketing Technopologist at Microsoft
• Chip Rodgers, Vice President and COO, SAP Community Network
• Diane Beaudet – Vice President, Marketing Programs and Communications, Webroot Software
• Kris Kozamchak, Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications, NEC Corporation of America
• Doug Kern – Director, Corporate Communications at GXS
• Rawn Shah – Social Software Practices and Business Transformation Consultant at IBM
• Laurie G Buczek – Social Media Strategist & Platform Vision Team Manager at Intel
• Kirsten Hamstra – Social Media Manager at SAS Institute
• Rob La Gesse – Director of Customer Development, Rackspace
• Mario Sundar, Social Media Manager, LinkedIn
• Alan Belniak – Director of Social Media Marketing at PTC
• Dora Smith – Director of Global Social Media, Industry Automation, Siemens
• Robert Dell’Immagine – Director of Community at Qualys
• Adam Kranitz – Social Strategy, Segment & Product Marketing, Avid, Inc.
• Atom McCree- Digital Marketing Manager, ASG Software Solutions
• Charl Pearce -Sr. Marketing Manager, Emerging Media, US Integrated Marketing Programs, Microsoft Corp.
• Jacob Mullins – Sr. Marketing Manager, @BizSpark & Windows Phone 7, Microsoft Corp
• Claire Flanagan -Director, Social Collaboration Strategy, CSC
• Justin Levy – Senior Social Communications Manager, Citrix Online
• Tony Dunn – Social Media, Community & Web Marketing Manager, VMWare
• Nicholas Polt, Manager of Online Marketing and Social Media, MicroStrategy
Telecommunications
• Sherri Maxson – Director Interactive at US Cellular
• Keith McArthur – Senior Director of Social Media and Digital Communications at Rogers
• Bill Strawderman – Digital Marketing Lead, AT&T Business Marketing
• Trish Nettleship – Social Media Lead, AT&T Business Marketing
• Heather Thoms – Senior Communications Specialist, Tellabs
• Ronan Keane – Social Media Marketing Manager, XO Communications
Best Twitter Guides, Tips and Tools of 2010
Monday, January 31st, 2011Twitter came of age in 2010, growing at a scorching pace—from 75 million users at the beginning of the year to more than 190 million by the end of December. Twitter is used (officially) in 65 of the Fortune 100 companies, 63% of small to midsized businesses, and nearly half of all B2B enterprises.
As adoption skyrockets, marketers are striving to optimize their use of the world’s most popular microblogging platform. And that leads to questions, like: What are the best ways to attract more (relevant) followers? What types of information are worth sharing, beyond blog posts? Which companies are really succeeding on Twitter, and how are they doing it? How can I get more retweets? What’s a Twitter chat, and how do I participate in one? Which are the most helpful third-party tools for Twitter?
Get the answers to these questions and more here in some of the best Twitter guides, tips and tools of the past year.
How to Get More Followers on Twitter
How to grow your Twitter following by iMedia Connection
***** 5 Stars
Based on research, Courtney Wiley reveals what type of content to tweet, when to tweet it, and the ideal frequency of tweeting to use in order to grow a Twitter following.
47 Twitter Power Users’ Secrets To Getting Many Followers by JobMob
A selection of the Twitterati share their advice—ranging from short snippets to fairly detailed guidelines—on how to grow your Twitter following. Robert Scobel, Dan Schawbel, Peter Shankman and many of the others are legit no doubt, though a few of the “power users” here are questionable. Still, lots of good advice.
Get More Twitter Followers by Treating Your Profile Like a Landing Page by Social Times
Darko Johnson shows how to apply the principles of effective landing page design to your Twitter profile in order to increase the likelihood that people who see your profile will choose to follow you.
20 ways to increase the number of your followers on Twitter by Web SEO Analytics
Wisely warning against the use of automated programs or techniques, Vasilis Vryniotis offers 20 “white hat” best practices for increasing your Twitter following naturally, such as promoting your Twitter handle in online and offline locations (your blog, website, email signature and business cards), adding yourself to Twitter directories, and perhaps most important: mentioning and thanking the people who help you.
Why 150 Followers Is All You Really Need by TwiTip
Then again, do you really need more followers? Srinivas Rao uses the theory of Dunbar’s Number to argue that 150 followers is all one needs on Twitter. The author makes an intriguing case, but I’m not sure I buy it (particularly given that he follows over 1,300 people on Twitter).
How to Do Lots of Other Things on Twitter
16 bitchin’ commands and shortcuts for Twitter by eConsultancy
Want to quickly see the last tweet from a particular Twitterer? Or the most recent tweets mentioning that person? How about performing advanced searches on Twitter, like exact match, either/or, hyper-local (with x miles of…), or find questions you can answer? Chris Lake shows you how to do all of this and much more with these helpful Twitter shortcuts.
40 useful things you can share on Twitter besides blog posts by Social Media Today
Frequent best-of contributor Adam Vincenzini contends that “the more unusual and varied your stream is, the better—both for you and your followers.” And with that in mind, he lists more than three dozen types of items you can share on Twitter other that stuff from your RSS stream, such as a new app or tool (with a quick tweet review), an interesting hashtag or discussion, an interesting/relevant YouTube video or a link to a Twitter list you think is worth following.
7 Really Cool Things About the New Twitter by Social Media Today
Tia Peterson praises seven features of the new Twitter interface (such as the “Recently Listed” box, easy DM replies, and ability to send a tweet from any page) but also cites three areas that still need improvement.
How Many Times Do You Tweet Your Blog Post? by Ask Aaron Lee
Most bloggers tweet each of their posts only once. How many times should a post be tweeted? In this post, Aaron Lee and Guy Kawasaki recommend an ideal frequency, backed up with some highly logical reasoning. Spock would approve.
How Twitter increased my blog’s traffic by 300% in one week by MackCollier.com
Ever wonder exactly what impact Twitter can have on blog traffic? Mack Collier details an experiment he ran and shares the nitty gritty numbers and percentages, as well as the process he used, concluding “even if you only have 100 followers, you can still leverage Twitter as a tool to build your blog IF you are active on Twitter. Active interacting with others, engaging in conversations, and linking to valuable content.”
13 Twitter Tips for Increasing Engagement by Sazbean
Sarah Worsham lists helpful tips for increasing engagement and growing your following on Twitter, such as sharing and retweeting, asking questions, attending tweetups and using Twitter directories to find people in your industry.
Twitter success stories: Explaining the ROI of Twitter by {grow}
As Mark Schaefer explains, “There are MANY benefits to Twitter besides direct sales. You might gain information, competitive intelligence, insight, a new supplier or partner, publicity, brand awareness, an idea, customer insights, and yes, even a potential customer. And while all of these are great, most are intangible and difficult to display in an Excel spreadsheet! So why keep trying to do it?…When benefits are difficult to quantify, the best way to explain the value is through a story.”
8 Ways to Not Get ReTweeted by HubSpot Blog
Dan Zarrella uses extensive HubSpot research to show that practices like talking about yourself, dumbing down the readability of your tweets, eschewing links, and repeating the same things everyone else is saying are great ways to avoid being retweeted.
26 Twitter Tips for Enhancing Your Tweets by Social Media Examiner
***** 5 Stars
Debbie Hemley provides a highly creative A-Z list of practical tips for maximizing the business impact of your tweets, from Answers and Behind-the-Scenes info to utilizing YouTube and a Zippy Writing Style.
4 Rules for Marketing on Twitter by Practical eCommerce
Paul Chaney reveals the “unwritten” rules for earning influence on Twitter, for example: “Don’t Follow Just to Pitch. A distasteful trend has developed among newer Twitter users. For example, people are following me and when I respond in kind, their first tweets are frequently to pitch me on a website they want me to visit or a service they provide…If you want a formula for how marketing via Twitter and other social networks should work, it’s this: Connect > Converse > Convert.”
Calculating and Improving Your Twitter Click-through-Rate by SEOmoz
The brilliant but oblivious Rand Fishkin illustrates how to calculate your Twitter click-through rate (CTR) and notes some findings from his own experience: shorter tweets and those that are on-topic (whatever your primary topic is) tend to get retweeted more frequently. Somewhat surprisingly, Klout scores appear to have little correlation with retweet rates.
Twitter Dictionary | 35 Twitter Abbreviations by Bit Rebels
Primarily for Twitter newbies, Diana Adams defines nearly three dozen common Twitter / texting abbreviations such as DM (direct message), IRL (in real life) and Gr8 (self-explanatory).
Typecasting Twitter: 7 Top Uses by iMedia Connection
Noting that “Twenty nine percent, one in every three tweets yields some kind of reaction—comments, re-tweets or clicks. Ten percent prompt a reply to the original tweet. These are direct marketing nirvana numbers,” Daniel Flamberg dissects research to isolate the seven most common uses of Twitter.
How to Participate in a Twitter Chat Session like #BlogChat or #AgChat by ag – a colorful adventure
For those who haven’t participated in a Twitter chat session before, Janice Person provides clear, step-by-step instructions for getting setup, using controls, and keeping up with the stream of conversation.
3 Absolutely Cool Twitter Search Tricks to Help You Save Money! by Sexy Social Media
In this helpful but brief post, Annie Wallace shares three clever Twitter search tricks you may not be aware of.
Best of 2010: 14 Ways Every Business Should Be Using Twitter by Inkling Media
Ken Mueller lists 14 practices businesses can adopt to optimize their benefit from Twitter, such as providing customer service, promoting events and monitoring competitors.
Twitter Tools
20 Top Twitter Monitoring and Analytics Tools by Pamorama
Pam Dyer serves up brief reviews of more useful Twitter tools including Twitscoop (trend-monitoring), TweetBuzzer (identifies popular brands on Twitter), Twitter Analyzer (kind of like Google Analytics for Twitter) and Tweeps (get stats that help you decide who to follow—or not—and find people you’d like to have following you).
How to Add a Tweet Button Anywhere by SitePoint
While there are several easy avenues to placing a Tweet button on a blog, Alyssa Gregory supplies simple instructions for adding Tweet buttons in other venues like emails, PDFs and Facebook pages.
11 Websites to Schedule Your Tweets Online for Free by TwiTip
Young Yang reviews free tools for scheduling tweets, like FutureTweets, HootSuite and SocialOomph. It’s important to remember that Twitter is a social platform, so your followers will expect interaction; if you’re busted relying too heavily on automated or pre-scheduled tweets, you will lose followers. However, these tools can be very helpful if used strategically and sparingly.
Type in any three words or phrases and compare how often each is tweeted about.
5 Best Twitter Tools For Smarter Blogging by Smedio
Sridhar Ramunajam provides quick reviews of five helpful Twitter tools including dlvr.it for auto-publishing blog content to Twitter and TweetStats, which provides stats about your account (e.g., tweets per hour, tweets per month, tweet timeline) in graphical format.
Six Benefits to Using Twitter.com Instead of an App by TwiTip
Shannon Albert makes the case for using Twitter itself rather than a third-party app (e.g., HootSuite or TweetDeck) for interacting on Twitter: it’s faster, has no limits on Tweets per hour and lets you see other users’ custom backgrounds among other advantages.
Twitter Stats
All You Need to Know About Twitter in 2010 [Infographic] by Mediabistro
Lauren Dugan presents an infographic from Flowtown that reviews Twitter highlights of 2010, from Bill Gates setting up a Twitter account in January through celebrity digital death at year end.
Related Post
50 (of the) Best Twitter Guides, Stats, Tips and Tools of 2010 (So Far)
Vote for Your Favorites in the B2B Twitterer of the Year Awards
Monday, November 8th, 2010Nominations and voting are now open for the B2B Twitterer of the Year (B2BTOTY) awards. Here’s your chance to recognize your favorite B2B organization or individual for their exceptional Twitter skills. Now in its second year, the B2BTOTY award recognizes examples of the outstanding use of Twitter by B2B personalities, vendors, publishers, organizations and institutions.
Nominations can be submitted in 10 categories:
- • National / International B2B Manufacturer (includes software developers)
- • National / International B2B Services
- • B2B Small to Mid-Sized Businesses (B2B SMB)
- • B2B Organizations
- • Business Schools
- • B2B Trade Associations
- • B2B Publications
- • B2B Business Journalists
- • B2B “Boss Tweet” Personality
- • B2B Twitter App
Nominating and voting couldn’t be easier; from any page on the B2BTOTY website, in the voting box near the top-right of the page, simply enter the Twitter handle of the company/person you’d like to vote for, select a category, and describe why you’re voting for that Twitterer (in 70 characters or less, so your vote fits as a tweet).
The steering committee for the awards includes some of the heaviest hitters in the B2B social media space, such as Ardath Albee, author of eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale
For an excellent in-depth look at the people behind the award, check out The Oscar of B2BTOTY Awards Needs Your Vote by Cheryl Burgess of Blue Focus Marketing.
Winners will be determined based on numerous criteria by the B2BTOTY judges, but voting plays an important role—and it’s the only way to submit nominations. So if you know of a deserving individual or organization (or several), submit your nominations and vote now!
5 Great Reasons to Retweet Others on Twitter
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010One of the key characteristics I (and many other Twitter users) use when determining whether I should follow someone back on Twitter is the level of interaction in their tweet stream. Do they ask questions? Answer them? And most importantly, do they ever retweet others’ content?
Now virtually every blogger and business user on Twitter tweets their own content, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that—it’s one of the strengths of the platform. But Twitter is a social tool, not a broadcasting medium. Tweeting only their own stuff makes a person look like one of those cocktail party boors who only want to talk about themselves. More often than not, they end up talking only to themselves.
Retweeting is a key part of the social interaction on Twitter. Here are five great reasons to share content posted by others.
1. It helps those you retweet. Retweeting provides others with both social (“nice work!”) benefits as well as the practical benefit of driving more traffic to their content. It’s a nice thing to do, and (usually) appreciated.
2. It helps your followers. Tweeting and retweeting interesting and valuable content helps those who follow you. When you help your follows discover new knowledge and information, you become a valued information source and build trust.
3. It generates more retweets for you. Others are more likely to retweet your content when they view you as someone trying to share helpful content with the community rather than just broadcasting your own material.
4. It makes others more likely to follow you. People want to be retweeted. Having retweets and other interaction in your tweetstream makes you a much more attractive person/entity to follow than someone whose tweets are one-way and obviously done on auto pilot.
5. It gets you more #FollowFriday recommendations. For all of the reasons above, retweeting makes others more likely to recommend you to their followers, which in turn grows your following.
It all comes down to the “social” in social media; people value tools like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for the interaction with like-minded individuals they provide. Those who focus on “broadcasting” only their own content through these media tend to be shunned or ignored. Conversely, those who interact and add value grow their networks, influence and trust over time. Sometimes the best way to advance in social media is to retweet.
50 (of the) Best Twitter Guides, Stats, Tips and Tools of 2010 (So Far)
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010While a dwindling number of business executives still dismiss Twitter as a waste of time, recent research suggests it is one of the most valuable social networks for business. Awareness of Twitter has exploded; 87% of Americans said they were “familiar with” Twitter in a poll taken earlier this year, versus just 5% in 2008 and 26% in 2009. Although fewer Americans use Twitter than Facebook, Twitter users “are far more likely to follow Brands/ Companies than social networkers in general. 51% of active Twitter users follow companies, brands or products on social networks. Twitter users frequently exchange information about products and services.” 71% of business users now say Twitter is a useful tool, up from 59% a year ago. And 52% of journalists say they use Twitter to research stories and discover what’s hot.
So what are the best ways to use Twitter for business? How you can use it most effectively? Which tools are most helpful? You’ll find the answers to these questions and many more here in 50 of the best Twitter tools, posts, how-to guides and rants of 2010 so far.
Twitter Facts, Figures & Stats
New Data on Twitter Usage Can Strengthen Your Twitter Outreach by Search Engine Guide
Jennifer Laycock reports some fascinating statistics and insights from a HubSpot study, revealing factoids such as: the average Twitter user has about 300 followers and follows 170. Thursday is the busiest day of the week on Twitter, and the highest click through rate on tweeted links occurs between 2 and 3pm. Tweets that include links are far more likely to be retweeted than tweets without links. And much more.
The Truth About the Average Twitter User [STATS] by Mashable
Ben Parr digs into a study from Barracuda Labs demonstrating how power users rule on Twitter: “Only 26% of Twitter users had 10 followers or more by December 2009, while only 40% were following 10 people or more (in fact, a majority of Twitter users, 51%, were following less than five people)…only 21% of Twitter users are active users.”
I Tweet Therefore I Am by Brian Solis
How popular is Twitter? Who’s really using it? Brian Solis provides a wealth of statistics that answer these questions and more, e.g., 87% of Americans said they were familiar with Twitter in 2010, up from just 26% in 2009. Total volume is approaching 50 million tweets per day. Women slightly outnumber men, and one-third of Twitters are in the 25-34 year-old age bracket. 63% have at least a college degree, and roughly a quarter earn more than $75,000 per year (a figure that is likely higher, as 27% refused to answer the question).
The Ultimate List: 100+ Twitter Statistics by HubSpot
***** 5 Stars
Kipp Bodnar collects 17 Twitter infographics quantifying everything from the different categories of tweets and how Twitter compares to Facebook to the peak days for different types of tweets and the most-followed Twitter users (Ryan Seacrest beats CNN; that’s just sad).
Tracking the National Mood Through Twitter by The New York Times
Nick Bilton reports on how researchers from Northeastern University and Harvard have analyzed Twitter messages to keep tabs on the nation’s mood. Among the findings: during the work week, people are happiest in the early morning and late evening. When Twitter users get collectively upset, the most negative tweets tend to come from the central states and the East Coast. And as perhaps a hopeful sign, “the peak of happiness on Twitter is reached on Sunday mornings.”
Why should brands bother with Twitter? This table says why by Social Media Today
Dirk Singer uses data from an ExactTarget study to show that “US Twitter users in April 2010 were far more likely than general Internet users to post to forums (75% vs 25%), blog (72% vs 14%), comment on blogs (70% vs 23%) and post ratings / reviews (61% vs 20%). In other words, the 14 million odd people who regularly go on Twitter (as opposed to the 95 million that have signed up), are already active in social media, know how to make things happen and to create noise – good or bad – online, and take conversations elsewhere, be that to blogs, forums, other social networks, or even the mainstream media.”
How-To Guides and Best Practices
10 Tips to Getting More Retweets by TwiTip
Kiesha Easley shares her personal story of transition from Twitter newbie to expert and offers 10 tips for getting retweets she learned along the way including sending direct messages, tweeting others’ blog posts and responding to interesting tweets.
8 Simple Steps to Growing a Quality Twitter Following by Social Media Examiner
Cindy King supplies an excellent guide to creating a tweet plan, a strategic approach to using Twitter, though she helpfully warns “Don’t make the mistake of relying solely on the scheduled tweets in the tweet plan to connect with people and expect to build your business. You still need live tweets to engage with people.”
Secrets of Twitter Hashtags (For Those Still Unsure) by Interactive Insights Group
For those unsure of what hashtags are or unaware of their many uses on Twitter, Robin Broitman offers an extensive list of hashtag resources and guides.
Twitter: The 7 Rules of Business Engagement by Smedio
Douglas Idugboe advises Twitterers to keep their Twitter handle as short as possible (to help with retweets), avoid automated DM welcome messages (hate these!), be conversant, and retweet others among his best practices.
HOW TO: Make the Most of Your Twitter Profile Page by Mashable
Amy-Mae Elliott offers guidance on writing a great bio, selecting a Twitter picture, making the best use of your URL link and using lists to optimize your Twitter profile.
How to Monitor Your Brand Using Twitter Search by Pamorama
The always insightful Pam Dyer embeds and summarizes a video from John Hayden demonstrating how to create saved searches (for your brand, competitors, industry terms, etc.) in Twitter, track URL mentions, create feeds from searches and more.
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Tweets by Smedio
Jay Adams suggests that the “Twitter traits that make for effective tweets” include clarity, brevity (pretty much a requirement given the 140-character limit), and strategic use of keywords and links among other characteristics.
62 Ways to Use Twitter for Business by GigaOM
Twitter isn’t just for linking to blog posts or telling the world what you had for breakfast, as Meryl K Evans demonstrates in this extensive list of the business uses of Twitter such answering questions, providing highlights from a conference or event, getting and giving referrals, finding topic experts and tracking conversations about your brand.
The Ultimate Guide to Twitter Theme Design by 1stwebdesigner
***** 5 Stars
Anastasia Miles provides an outstanding, detailed, richly illustrated step-by-step guide to creating an attractive and effective Twitter background.
5 Secrets To Get Retweets That The Experts Won’t Tell You by Tremendous News
Am irreverent yet informative post that could have been included instead in the most-entertaining-of-the-year category, but is too helpful not to put here, on how to get more retweets. Example: “1. Focus On The Sexually Active. Think of a retweet as an STD. But one that’s not devastating. One that still retains a measure of hilarity. Crabs. Let’s do crabs. Now picture twitter as sexy college campus during the first week of school…Who is in danger of getting crabs?…Is the fat, hairy terroristy looking dude going to get crabs? Of course not. So don’t fill your followers with people like him. Focus on the sexually-liberated cool kids.”
21 Twitter Tips From Socially Savvy Companies by Fast Company
The ubiquitous Brian Solis offers tips for Twitter success based on the experience of real-world companies like Dell (special offers), Comcast (customer service), using dedicated brand channels (Ford) and developing new ideas (Starbucks).
Twitter 101 for Business: A Special Guide by Twitter
Must-reading for any business owner or executive who still doesn’t “get” Twitter – the folks actually behind the world’s most popular microblogging platform put together a detailed guide to using Twitter for business, covering everything from getting set up and learning the lingo to building relationships and measuring value.
The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter by Webdesigner Depot
*****5 Stars
In this ambitious, long and lavishly illustrated post, Angela West compiles a remarkable collection of Twitter tips, etiquette, jargon, tools, apps, icons, WordPress plugins and more.
50 Power Twitter Tips by Chris Brogan
Social media rock star Chris Brogan offers 50 tips for interaction, technical considerations, business, integration, and off-Twitter activities (e.g., “Think of Twitter as a guidance system to what you think is interesting. A lot of that is likely off-Twitter.”).
10 Reasons You’re Not Getting Followers on Twitter by Social Media Today
Paul Sutton lists factors that can turn off potential followers on Twitter including using your profile to sell, excessively automating your tweets and tweeting repetitive messages.
Twitter Tips – Things You Should Know by Trailblaze Social Media with Josh
Joshua Lyons provides a short but useful set of tips he believes can help “make the difference between mediocre Twitter use and excellent Twitter use.”
Twitter SEO
How to Turn Your Twitter Profile Page into an SEO Masterpiece by TwiTip
David McClellan presents an outstanding to optimizing all of the elements of your Twitter profile (name, bio, avatar, URL and feed) for search.
Twitter SEO Best Practices by SEOptimise
Tad Chef covers the best practices for SEO with Twitter: how to rank in search with your profile and tweets, get found in Twitter search, make your tweets spread virally and capitalize on Google real-time search.
Twitter Strategy
Successful Twitter Marketing Strategies by Social Media Optimization
According to a MarketingProfs study, monitoring and responding to brand mentions are ranked among the most successful Twitter marketing tactics by both B2B and B2C marketers. Driving sales directly was ranked by both groups as the least effective use of the platform.
In Social Media, Twitter is Just the Start by Social Steve’s Blog
Steve Goldner lays out a strategy for using Twitter in conjunction with other social media tools like blogs, YouTube and Flickr to optimize your social media marketing success.
7 Insanely Useful Ways to Search Twitter for Marketing by OPEN Forum
John Jantsch shows how to target Twitter users by occupation, bio or location and get the most out of Twitter by creating “some very powerful searches and alerts combining Google and Twitter.”
9 Questions for Analyzing the Tweet Stream by iMedia Connection
Frequent best-of contributor Daniel Flamberg outlines the two biggest issues facing brands on Twitter, nine questions for addressing them, and a strategy for answering those questions to “get a feel for what’s being said, understand competitive comparisons, potentially identify brand loyalists or opinion-makers worthy of extra care and attention and intervene before problems or negative comments cascade into real trouble.”
Benefits of Twitter by Boomtown Internet Group
I’m guessing English isn’t Priyo’s first language so pardon the grammar and word usage issues here, but he presents a nice list of the benefits of Twitter use for business such as for collaboration, promoting content and improving SEO.
The A-Z List: How Twitter Can Make You A Better Blogger by Ink Rebels
***** 5 Stars
Diana Adams puts together a remarkable and entertaining post, lavishly illustrated, extolling the benefits of Twitter from A (“A is for – Ask”) to Z (“Z is for – Zen”).
14 Cool Things People Do On Twitter by Penn Olson
Sarah Chong’s recommendations for Twitter use range from the common (learn, be heard) to the unusual (monitor sensors in your home, catch thieves) to the truly inspired (write poetry).
Twitter Tools and Reviews
Twitter stats and analytics tools – top 10 by Social Media Today
Chris Norton writes that “There are hundreds of twitter tools that measure different statistics out there but many can be a bit of a waste of time. I have been through most of them in the last few years and given them some kind of test” before setting out mini-reviews of his top 10 picks including TweetStats, Tweetmeme and Twitterholic.
Get rid of stale Twitter users that have stopped tweeting by Social Media Today
It’s Chris Norton again, this time providing a quick review of UnTweeps, an handy tool for culling inactive Twitter users from those you follow.
The Complete Twitter ‘Follow / Unfollow’ Toolkit by COMMS Corner
The brilliant Adam Vincenzini offers a concise but valuable list of tools and advice for managing your Twitter following.
Local Tweets: 9 Ways to Find Twitter Users in Your Town by Mashable
Josh Catone describes how to use local events and tools like Localtweeps and TwitterLocal to identify and connect with Twitter users in your local vicinity.
Busting through the Twitter noise to find a signal by {grow}
Guest author Frank Podlaha explains how to craft a search strategy and then use tools like LocalChirps, Twitscoop and Radian6 to cut through the clutter on Twitter and find exactly what you’re looking for.
Twitter ROI: Show Your Clients the Effectiveness of Twitter Campaigns by Web Analytics World
Chuckie Oliver reviews five key tools for measuring the effectiveness of Twitter activities including Twitter Analyzer, Klout and Tweet Stats.
36 Twitter Resources: Advanced Twitter Search for Business by Social Media Today
Coree Silvera compiles an outstanding list of tools for Twitter research and monitoring, directories and geolocation, along with links to articles on improving Twitter search skills.
9 Twitter Apps Worth Another Look by Web Analytics World
Manoj Jasra reviews “interesting Twitter apps” Tweetshare, ComTweets, TheCadmus and half a dozen others.
27 Twitter Tools To Help You Find And Manage Followers by 1stwebdesigner
Dainis Graveris writes brief reviews of more than two dozen Twitter follower management tools including FriendOrFollow, WeFollow, Twubble and My Tweeple.
4 Free Tools that Publish Blog Updates to Twitter by Freesourcing Blog
Mini-reviews of that use RSS to automatically publish blog posts to your social networking sites inclding Dlvr.it and RSS2Twitter.
Top 20 Sites to Improve Your Twitter Experience by Mashable
Vadim Lavrusik offers his list of “the top 20 third-party websites for making your Twitter experience more useful and easier to manage,” including tools for management, filtering (such as the very cool create-your-own-newspaper site Paper.li), spotting trends, making lists, finding new followers, measuring influence, sharing photos and video, conducting polls and more.
The Ultimate Collection of FREE Twitter Tools by Regillo Consulting Group
***** 5 Stars
An outstanding collection of Twitter tools for analytics, business, follower/following management, network building, information gathering, media sharing, organization, blogging and more.
Don’t want to go through the trouble of creating a coolio Twitter background from scratch? Themeleon is a cool tool that automates Twitter background theme development.
***** 5 Stars
One of the tightest Twitter tools around, Tweetake lets you export your followers and following lists to Excel for analysis, grouping, backup or any other purpose you can think of. In the words of the site, “The brainchild of Alfred Armstrong and Nikki Pilkington, Tweetake is here to allow you to back-up your followers, people you are following and Tweets with just one click.”
Sort of Swiss Army knife for Twitter, Tweasier’s functions include Twitter analytics, finding and sorting followers, email alerts, conversation tracking and more. Free and fee-based versions are offered.
Slick map-based interface lets you zoom in on any geographic area to find local Tweeps to follow.
Twitter Rants and Musings
Why Your 4,243,564 Twitter Followers Don’t Mean Jack by aimClear
Another post that would have been a great post to include in most-entertaining-of-the-year as well. We’ve all seen the buffoons on Twitter who somehow manage to amass a large following despite offering no apparent value or even seeming to have a clue as to what “social” media means. Noting that “there are also bandwagon-jumping companies and celebrity glory-whores who go at Twitter like a portly dude at a buffet. They use it as self-centered bullhorn and nothing more,” Lauren Litwinka here brilliantly categorizes these Twitter-star wannabes into archetypes such as “You have 822,780 followers. You follow two people,” “Your feed consists of status updates. And only status updates” and my favorite: “You share would-be Zen gems through a f*cking API.”
Ten Things You Need to Stop Tweeting About by The Oatmeal
Simply awesome. Anyone who’s spent any serious time will relate to this entertaining and creative list of things we’re tired of seeing people tweet about, including what they’re eating, their workouts, their pets, and the incredible (or not so) number of Twitter followers they have.
Bye Bye Birdie: Why Twitter is On the Outs by Techi
Timothy James Duffy argues that Twitter’s popularity is fleeting, it offers most users little value, and it will never make money. Agree? Disagree? Check out the 72 comments in response to this post.
