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Everyone Needs An Anthem

Enjoy the process of exploration.

Enjoy the process of exploration even without an anthem.

Yesterday, after lunch with a few friends, I decided to listen to the radio for my short drive home. Flipping the dial, I found an old favorite song playing. As I listened, and as I relived the memories associated with that song, I realized that the song no longer meant the same thing to me. At one time, it was my theme song, an anthem about who I was and who I wanted to become, that I embraced with all of the gusto of my passions.

Theme Songs

Growing up, I knew the theme songs from nearly every TV show playing and would sing along with them, much to the dismay of my family. Some songs provided the whole setup for the show, like Gilligan’s Island or The Brady Bunch. Other shows set a mood, like the themes from Taxi and M*A*S*H and Miami Vice. They captured something essential about the shows.

My personal anthems are a bit like those TV theme songs. They capture a truth about me at a point in time. They are etched into my brain permanently. And I’ve sung them, often at the top of my lungs, more times than I could count.

Personal Anthems

As I thought more about the songs that have rotated through as my personal anthems, I realized they played different roles in my life.

  • Relationship songs. These songs capture the excitement or the dreams for the future for the relationship. For some relationships, I have my song and we had our song.  (If you don’t have a relationship song, you guys need to find one!) I can’t hear How Will I Know by Whitney Houston or Head over Feet by Alanis Morrisette without blushing with the memories of now lost loves.
  • Moment-in-time songs. These songs take me right back to a major event in my life like a time machine. For example, every time I hear Jack & Diane by John Mellencamp, I’m 24 and riding in a convertible top down with several girlfriends on our way to the Indiana State Fair to see him perform.  Or when I hear We Are Family by Sister Sledge, I’m once again that 19-year-old college sophomore who just rushed her sorority and was enjoying a new kind of campus life.
  • Battle songs. These songs contained my pain and anger, and singing them helped me to stay strong in the face of a challenge. As I was deciding to start my own business, I Won’t Back Down by Tom Petty was the salve I needed to return to battle each day.
  • Empowerment song. These songs capture the essence of something I want to become, and singing them inspired me to become that person. Soak Up The Sun by Sheryl Crow and Don’t Tell Me by Madonna both inspired me to change myself for the better.

I tried to recall all of my past anthems, but I’m sure my list doesn’t include them all. What I noticed is that I can’t recall ever having two anthems at the same time, even for different purposes.

Searching For An Anthem

The song that came on the radio was a former empowerment song. I have fond memories of it, and remember how hard I worked to become the person that song inspired me to be. But it doesn’t engage me like it used to engage me. Perhaps that is normal since I have become that person.

As I went back through my list of anthems, I realized that none of those songs currently has the electricity or the power of a current anthem. And that made me realize that I don’t have an anthem today. I spent some time thinking about this, and I realized something else. I also am not sure what I want to do next in my life, or what changes I want to make next in my life. Is that just an interesting observation, or do these two things have a more complex relationship. Is it possible that my current state of exploration has created both of these things, that there is a correlation between them? It seems logical.

I’m happy with my current situation. I’m happy to honestly admit that I’m exploring options and I’m not sure what direction I will head out next. I don’t feel any lack of guidance or have any sense of floundering while I’m exploring. In fact, I’m busier now than I have been at times when I had a clear direction and goal!

I would love to find an anthem about this, about being content to sit with what is in my life, to be happy exploring options without feeling any compulsion to choose a direction or path. If you know a song like this, I’d love to hear about it.

Because everyone needs an anthem, right?

Posted 04 June 2009 § Reflection ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , ,

So You Want To Be: A Copywriter

There are many people today who would love to have a career in writing. Perhaps you are one of them. In this new series, I’m going to give you an overview of various writing paths and point you to some great resources to get you started.

Copywriting is a creative use of solid writing skills.

Copywriting is a creative use of solid writing skills.

Copywriters write words to help promote businesses, organizations, and events that appear in brochures, websites, press releases, blogs, case studies, and many other locations. While some of the projects can be dry, it’s generally a creative writing path within the commercial writing or marketing communications (marcom) world.

What Copywriters Do

As a copywriter, you listen to people talk passionately about their business and capture that passion in writing. You interview people to get to the heart of their stories. You are the person who finds the compelling story hidden within the facts and daily details of the business. A great copywriter is the best friend of any business, because you present their hard work, great services, and outstanding products in a way that everyone can see their value.

To become a great copywriter, you need a combination of skills:

  • A flair for storytelling.
  • A gift for putting ideas into writing.
  • Thorough grasp of language rules and grammar.
  • The ability to listen to what is said and what is left unsaid.
  • A knack for asking good questions.
  • Ability to produce content on demand and on schedule.
  • An understanding of what is interesting to other people.
  • The ability to tell the same story from several different angles.
  • An ego that lets you take pride in your finished work without needing to get credit.

See what I mean, it’s creative work! But copywriting is built on a foundation of solid writing and interviewing skills. Flair and personality in your writing will only take you so far if you can’t compose written materials that conform to language rules.

Copywriters work in a variety of job situations. You might be employed by a business or corporation within their marketing department. Marketing agencies and website development companies hire copywriters to describe businesses and products. You can also have a career as a freelance copywriter.

Getting Started In Copywriting

Several months ago, my friend Julie Roads, the writing force behind Writing Roads, created an ebook and a writer mentoring program for aspiring copywriters. Julie is a great copywriter, and her ebook contains information based on her many years of copywriting experience. What’s most amazing is that her ebook is available for free or for a voluntary donation.

Her ebook, How To Become A Successful CopyWriter, provides you with the most useful information to start your copywriting business gleaned from her successful career. In its 42 pages, you learn how to find your niche, how to create a portfolio, how to use social media to promote your services,  and how to get started.

In addition, Julie offers a self-paced training course for copywriters. The sessions give you structured writing exercises that she reviews so you get her feedback. It also includes some telephone time with Julie. This is an outstanding opportunity to have a mentor helping you start and build your copywriting business.

Julie is a great writer and a compassionate human being. We are fortunate that she has shared her passion and experience with us in her ebook. If you are even thinking about starting a copywriting career, or if you feel your career is in a slump, look into Julie’s mentorship program. You can’t go wrong with her beside you!

Julie’s latest adventure is a new blog, Soc Media 101, that she co-writes with Ron Miller. To learn more about Julie, check out her website, her blog, or follow her on Twitter.

Your turn: Are you a copywriter with tips and resources to share? Here’s your chance to let people see what you do by commenting on this post.

Posted 02 June 2009 § Job Search § Techniques ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Twitter Setup: Tell Me More

This is the second post in a new series designed to help you set up and fine tune your Twitter account. It’s geared for business people who use Twitter either for a company or as a professional networking tool. Most of the information also applies to the person using Twitter just for fun.

Give your Twitter visitors a great place to land in your online presence.

Give your Twitter visitors a great place to land in your online presence.

Your Twitter profile gives you the opportunity to link to a web destination that provides more information about you and your business. There are several ways you can use this link to enhance your profile and give potential followers the information they need to know about you and your business.

Your Web Presence

Twitter is a great tool for engaging people online. However, just having a Twitter account isn’t enough of an online presence.  If you are using Twitter for business, you should already have an online presence. You might have a blog or a website (or both) where you engage your customers or clients. If you don’t have an online presence, you should get one immediately.

Many companies are using social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to create a business presence. Depending on your industry and your technical skills, you may choose to use a social networking site in addition to a website and blog, or create them instead of these traditional online components. You must decide what is best for your business.

Web Link Options

There are several options for adding a more information link to your Twitter account.

  • Company website. If you tweet on behalf of your business, you might want to link to your company website. Or if you use Twitter to drive traffic to your website, this might  be a smart option.
  • Your blog. Your blog provides a personal look into your online presence that gives people the chance to see your personality and evaluate the types of things you could contribute to the Twitter conversation. You could link to the front page of your blog, or to a special About page that provides more personal information.
  • Twitter landing page. You can provide access to a special page designed for Twitter users to learn more about you, your company, and your Twitter use. You can create your Twitter landing page within your company website or blog. For more information about the types of information you can include on a Twitter landing page, see Twitter Landing Pages.
  • A social networking site. If you don’t have a website or a blog, but you have a business page or personal profile on a social networking site like Facebook or MySpace, or a business networking site like Biznik, you could link directly to that site. This would make it easy for people from Twitter to link up with you on the social networking site, also.
  • Your resume. If you use Twitter for professional networking, you might choose to link to your resume on a site like LinkedIn. This would allow a large number of people to see your resume, which would be especially helpful if you are actively looking for a job.

Deciding Factors

Consider these factors when you decide which web option to use for your Twitter account:

  • A Twitter landing page is usually the best option for the web link because it allows you to provide customized information for Twitter users. On this page, you can provide links to other important information within your website or blog. However, you must be able to update this page easily so it stays current.
  • A blog provides Twitter users with access to the latest information from your company. This is a good option if you have ongoing news about your products and services you want to provide to your Twitter visitors. However, your blog may not include all of the basic information about your company that appears on your website.
  • A company website generally provides the basic information about your company. However, a website usually isn’t updated as frequently as a blog, so it may not have the latest information. A website also doesn’t give potential Twitter followers a good idea of your writing style or personality, things that can influence their decision to follow you.
  • A social networking site may give your Twitter visitors the idea that your company isn’t serious or legitimate, depending on your industry and how well you execute your social networking presence.

If you have both a company blog and and a website, you must decide which one gives potential followers the best information about you and your company. If you decide to use either your website or blog for your web link, you may have to make small changes to make them a better fit for your Twitter visitors. For example, if you decide to use your blog but it doesn’t include basic information about your business, you might consider updating your blog to include this information in a prominent location.

What Should You Do?

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for selecting your Twitter profile web link. There are many options, each with advantages and disadvantages. Consider your business, your industry, and your Twitter goals when you decide this important profile element.

Your turn: Do you use one of these options for your Twitter profile web link, or did you come up with another idea? Have you changed your web link? Share your stories and insights here in the comments to this post.

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Posted 01 June 2009 § Blogging § Twitter § Twitter Setup ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: , , , , , ,

Twitter Setup: Rose By Any Other Name

This is the first post in a new series designed to help you set up and fine tune your Twitter account. It’s geared for business people who use Twitter either for a company or as a professional networking tool. However, most of the information applies to the person using Twitter just for fun.

Your Twitter user name is an important account setup decision.

Your Twitter user name is an important account setup decision.

Your Twitter user name is one of the most important decisions you make when setting up your Twitter account. In this blog post, I’m going to share with you some tips for selecting a great Twitter handle and how to change your Twitter handle if necessary.

Define Your Twitter Goal

Before you take one more step, stop to figure out your Twitter goal. The reason you use Twitter plays a major role in the rest of the decisions you make about your Twitter account. To figure out your Twitter goal, ask yourself the following questions.

  • Why am I considering using Twitter? (Or, why did I start using Twitter?)
  • Will I be talking to friends and family on Twitter?
  • Am I looking to find my customers on Twitter?
  • Am I hoping to connect with peers and create a professional network?
  • Am I going to use Twitter mostly to receive information, or do I plan to send out information on Twitter?
  • What do I plan to talk about on Twitter?

The answers to these questions help you to define your Twitter goal. You can have more than one Twitter goal as long as your goals are compatible. For example, if you want to talk with your bowling buddies and plan parties with them, you might not want to share that information with your potential customers. At the same time, if you want to educate your customers about your products and industry, you might not expect your bowling buddies to listen to that. If you goals are incompatible, you may need more than one Twitter account.

Twitter User Name Importance

Twitter allows you to provide your real name and define a user name. Twitter makes both names available to people, but your Twitter user name has additional visibility.

  • Twitter web address. Your Twitter user name appears in the customized web address for your Twitter archive. This impacts search engine results. If you have questions, ask your search engine optimization (SEO) guru or a website/blog developer.
  • Message label. On Twitter, you are your user name. People see your user name in their tweet stream as the message sender. People send messages to your user name.

One of the most important decisions you make about your Twitter user name is whether to use your real name or your company/brand.

  • Company/Brand Name. If you have a company or tweet on behalf of a business, you may want to identify the business or brand with your Twitter user name.
  • Your Name. If you are self-employed, provide freelance services, or operate as a solopreneur, you may use your business name or your real name for your Twitter user name. It’s a brand decision that you must make.

Defining You Twitter User Name

There are several other factors to consider when picking your Twitter user name.

  • Keep it short. Pick the shortest name that communicates your user name. Many people will be pecking out your user name on a cell phone, and a shorter name is easier to type.
  • Avoid punctuation. People typing your Twitter user name on a keyboard have access to all punctuation. However, many cell phones don’t have all punctuation marks available, or require the person to navigate through several menus to reach punctuation marks.

With the large number of people already on Twitter, your first choice for a user name may already be taken. You may have to be creative to define the user name you want.

Changing Your User Name

Twitter allows you to change your real name and user name at any time. This means that you can change your mind about your name setup, and that you can keep your Twitter account current as changes happen with your business or in your life.

When you change these account settings, Twitter updates everything automatically.

  • All existing messages are converted to your new user name.
  • Your archive web address changes to the new user name.

You don’t need to give your friends and followers a new user name to use. However, you may want to notify them before you make the change so they understand what is about to happen. They may see the new user name and think that Twitter has suddenly made them follow a stranger. You also must update every place where you have posted your Twitter archive web address (such as your blog or website).

Twitter provides instructions for changing your user name in its help forum.

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Posted 29 May 2009 § Twitter § Twitter Setup ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , , ,

Instant Community

Few people seem willing to wait while building community.

Few people seem willing to wait while building community.

In my last blog post, I shared some of my analysis about why so many people try Twitter and quit within a month. After dissecting the application and its use, after thinking through all of the factors that contribute to low user adoption, my mind is free to rethink the whole situation. And I have another big picture idea about Twitter. I’ll get to that in a minute.

Millennials and Instant Gratification

Since that blog post, I’ve also spent about 8 hours talking with my sister who lives 2,000 miles away and just popped in for a visit. We’ve been talking about family matters, and about the challenges we see for her kids and others in that generation. We are both amazed at how different the world is for the adults just entering the workforce and professional careers.

We both feel great compassion for this generation which we feel was raised to expect results instantly. From the cut/cut/cut video pacing of MTv’s music videos, to microwaves, to the unbelievable pace of electronics model upgrades, they were raised to expect new and now. This generation wasn’t raised to value the long journey of working towards goals, of appreciating what you have while you set goals and work towards the next thing. And we aren’t criticizing or blaming it on indulgent parents. Our whole popular culture has shifted, and this is the backdrop all children are raised against.

In contrast, we were raised by Depressions babies. Our parents endured the tough economy of the 1930s and WWII and it changed them. It changed their values. They raised us to save money and possessions, even to become pack rats of the slightly valuable because they knew real destitution and wanted to prepare us to avoid that. Some of what we learned was valuable, but some of it was just their knee-jerk reaction to their own childhoods.

In our conclusion, we feel that the Millennials were not given the opportunities to develop patience that you learn through personal savings programs, or having to wait for TV shows to come back in reruns. These things formed the backdrop for our childhood, and as adults, we appreciate the life wisdom they instilled.

Instant Twitter Community

Now, back to Twitter.

I’m not sure of the reasons why the Millennials are not embracing Twitter, but based on my talks with my sister, I have a perspective to approach this. And I believe it is related to the low user adoption rate for Twitter.

Twitter allows users to create powerful communities. Creating communities takes time. It’s more like growing a garden from seed than hiring a landscape architect and having an instant park. It takes some planning. It takes the time and patience to reach out, to try new things, to assess their impact, and then move forward in a slightly different manner. It requires patience. And as your community starts to grow, it requires monitoring and engagement.

Building community means that you do more than skim the incoming tweets. You have to care a little about each community member. They don’t become your best friends, but over time you know who has small children, who’s working back from a major illness or surgery, and who is really courageous in their professional life. Knowing these things changes how you interact with them, and changes the kinds of comments you make in response to them. Over time, you start to understand with greater focus the kinds of information that you can provide to help your community, to be of service to them.

Twitter can be used in many legitimate ways. You don’t have to use Twitter to build community. But if you do want to build community, that’s what it takes. It’s not as simple as the schemes for getting 10,000 followers in a month would make it sound. There’s a difference between building a following and building a community, after all.

Perhaps people who are used to living without savings accounts, who expect instant results, and don’t have the patience to grow something from seed won’t ever have the desire to build a community on Twitter. Perhaps the greatest thing Twitter has to offer, the ability to build a community, isn’t something that a large percentage of the population wants to have. Or perhaps many of them want it, but because of the way the world is, they just are not sure how to go about getting it.

It’s a new idea, and one I’m trying out.

Your turn: What do you think about Twitter and building community on Twitter? Here’s your chance to get in your opinion. Have I hit on something important, or do you think I’ve missed the main point?

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Posted 26 May 2009 § Generational Issues § Twitter ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , ,

Twitter User Adoption Rate

goldfish

Many new users are swimming in the Twitter pool and looking for help.

Over the last few months, an avalanche of people have joined Twitter thanks to some celebrity endorsements and mainstream media coverage. This influx challenged the Twitter team to make sure the application could keep running with a huge increase in traffic. They have done a great job with this.

This also meant that an army of new Twitter users were working to integrate themselves into the Twitter universe. They needed basic training on the Twitter features and use, and they needed an introduction to the shorthands and conventions in use by the existing Twitter community.

Unlocking The Twitter Secret Menu

If you live on the west coast, or if you’ve vacationed in California, you may know about a local burger chain, In-N-Out Burger. This restaurant, operating since 1948, has a cult-like following. While its menu is simple, over the years customers have created customized items that are available in every store. These items make up the secret menu which the company publishes on its website, but not on it’s menu board at the restaurants. In other words, you have to know there is a secret menu before you can order off it. Someone has to initiate you into the secret menu.

New Twitter users have the help portal for reliable details, and can crowd source answers to their questions. Every day, new users ask for help in their early tweets, and many of them get responses from community-minded people. Things like hashtags, retweets and their notations, and events like follow Friday all need explanation to the incoming users. Twitter has its own secret menu that only the initiated can appreciate and enjoy.

Twitter User Retention Challenges

Recently, a statistic from Nielsen Wire said Twitter retains  less than 40% of its new users. That’s a very low user adoption rate. For comparison, Facebook retains about 70% of its users, and new software introduced into the work place expects 100% user adoption. (In other words, the company says you use the new software or else you don’t have a job anymore.)

There are several aspects of Twitter that together make it a challenge for new users. Any one of these is an obstacle for new users, and taken together, they make joining the Twitter ranks a real obstacle course.

  • Lack of metaphor. Twitter is a unique communication tool that borrows features from several communication tools and melds them together into something new. The cocktail party metaphor explains most of the basic features, but doesn’t cover them all. Without a cohesive metaphor, users struggle to wrap their heads around Twitter.
  • Information rich user interface. On the surface, Twitter appears to be a simple tool, but in reality, it has rich and complex features. Take the components of a tweet as one example. Encoded in the shorthand is a wealth of information about the tweet’s creation and its place in a conversation thread that are not obvious at first glance.
  • Community conundrum. People get a new account and expect to start using Twitter. But you can’t really begin to use or understand the Twitter features until you have a fully fleshed out community of people you follow and people who follow you. The user interface is structured to support communication, not community building. There are no clues about where to start community building. For example, there’s not a hint on the front page that you have to have people following you before you can send a direct message. Perhaps most important, there is no way to tell users how to find the the quality community members they need to have a great Twitter experience.
  • No real training program. If you use chat for the first time, you can observe what other people are doing to figure out how to chat for yourself. The same with Facebook and other communication tools. You can observe others to get clues about what to do. With Twitter, you can only learn informally through imitation after you complete significant community building. The help portal is constantly improving, and in some places, provides really good support for users. Unfortunately, most users are not willing to read through the help.
  • Third-party atmosphere. As a company, Twitter’s policy seems to be that they don’t expect to do it all. They expect and encourage third-party companies to jump into the Twitter universe. There are third-party Twitter tools that performs tasks that seasoned users consider essential, some duplicate Twitter features and some enhance Twitter. As a result, it seems that Twitter defines itself as the provider of the basic service, and everything beyond that, including user training, falls outside their scope and in the realm of third parties.

Building New User Community

The greatest obstacle I see for new users is building community. Without a solid user community, you can’t see the type of interesting communication that is possible with Twitter. In fact, you can’t even use all of the Twitter features until you have community in place. And yet, this is the feature that is least supported by the user interface.

Twitter realizes this initial struggle for new users. A while back, they implemented a suggested user feature that gave new users a list of people to start following. This strategy helps new users build community from the start. By selecting successful users with a large following, new users gain the opportunity to have good content to read, and joined large existing communities. However, this strategy has two major limitations:

  • Each Twitter user must create his own community. Jumping into an established community only helps new users begin listening. New users must still engage other users and find people who will follow them to have dialog. If they simply start following people with thousands of followers, even people who will follow them back, they are not likely to have dialog with them because of the size of the community.
  • The user community didn’t support the strategy. Instead of realizing that this was an effort to overcome the biggest contributing factor to user churn, other people in the community complained because they were not selected to be a suggested user. They felt others were given an unfair advantage to build their communities based on a tacit recommendation by Twitter.

This strategy provided a partial solution and postponed the onset of the worst symptoms. It’s a decent first strike in my opinion. As users get more experience, it seems logical that they will find other motivation to stay on Twitter and overcome the community building obstacle.

The user adoption issue doesn’t impact Twitter’s effectiveness as a business tool, but it does provide an opportunity for people to jump in with Twitter training materials and programs to help new users through the early community building phase.

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Posted 25 May 2009 § Information Design § Twitter ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Visit Twitter School

Learning Twitter is fun and easy with these materials.

Learning Twitter is fun and easy with these materials.

Last week, I wrote a blog post that pulled together all of my Twitter resources in one page. Then, I continued to write new Twitter resources, which immediately made my blog post obsolete.

After thinking about this conundrum, I realized that a blog post isn’t the best container for Twitter School. So today, I’m pleased to announce that I’ve added a new page to my blog, Twitter School, the permanent home of all of my Twitter resources.

To find the Twitter School page, you have to be on the main page of my blog. If you don’t see my Crow Information Design logo on the top of the right column, click the words “Blog Home” to move to the main page. Under the Crow Information Design logo, I’ve placed a list of pages. Twitter School appears alphabetically in the list.

Twitter School Levels

You can use the Twitter School resources in any order you want. However, I’ve organized them into four levels to help you know when each slice of information might be most helpful to you on your journey.

  • Level 1: Why Should I Use Twitter? These materials will help someone who is trying to decide the benefits of using Twitter.
  • Level 2: I’m On Twitter, Now What? These materials are designed for the new Twitter user, or the person who has not really gotten a great start on Twitter after being on it for a while.
  • Level 3: How Do I Get More From Twitter? After you are comfortable using Twitter, you are ready to dig in and improve your Twitter experience. These materials cover things that you need to know to master Twitter, but you don’t necessarily have to address in the beginning.
  • Level 4: What More Can Twitter Do For Me? After you feel you have mastered Twitter, these materials will give you new ideas, new ways to use Twitter and harness the power of your Twitter community to accomplish new things for your business.

My focus in my work is to help people use Twitter for business. I believe Twitter offers an amazing opportunity for most businesses to engage it’s customers in a new way. It’s also a great tool for professional networking.

Many people use Twitter just for fun and to connect with friends. I understand that, and I encourage you to do that. Most of my materials also will help you use Twitter just for fun.

Twitter School Materials

The Twitter School contains materials that I’ve written. I’ve created Twitter School to organize my materials and make them more accessible to you.

  • Ebooks. The ebooks I’ve created are available free online and with a Creative Commons license so you can email, copy, print, blog about, and share them with your friends, co-workers and clients.
  • Blog posts. So far, about 20% of my blog posts are about Twitter. If you don’t want to miss them, you can subscribe by email, by RSS, and now you can subscribe to the Kindle version.
  • Podcasts. I’m currently a guest on the Twooting daily Twitter podcast each Monday. I include a link to the studio video recorded with each podcast. You can also download these podcasts from the iTunes store.
  • Presentations. As I speak and present webinars about Twitter, I’ll be adding presentations to the mix. My presentations are copyrighted. You may read them for your own use, but you many not use them to conduct your own presentations.

There are many other resources for Twitter materials online. I encourage you to look for materials from other people, and I point out other resources in many of my blog posts.

If you have any questions, or if you have any topics you would like to see covered on Twitter, don’t hesitate to drop me a tweet!

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Posted 23 May 2009 § Twitter ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

Why Won’t You Follow Me?

Make it easy for people to want to follow you.

Make it easy for people to want to follow you.

If you have listened to me talk about Twitter, you know that I focus on the people I follow, not the people who follow me. There are many reasons why I focus on this. But the biggest advantage I see for staying focused on whom I follow is because it keeps me focused on my own behavior. My Twitter goals, my chosen community, and my interaction within my community are what matters most to me.

Building Community

I feel fortunate that I’ve found a formula for using Twitter that allows me to be successful. My community continues to grow, I continue to meet new people with similar interests, and I’m learning more about the people within my community.

There are many new people on Twitter who are trying to figure out how to harness Twitter for personal and business use. Some of them have been using Twitter for a while and find it frustrating because they are struggling with the community building aspects. Perhaps you are one of them.

Recently, Meryl Evans wrote a great piece on Web Worker Daily that went through real reasons people give for not following others.  I thought it was a great article, and it triggered my own thinking a bit more.

My Twitter Red Flags

If you are frustrated with your Twitter community and its slow growth, maybe you are not sending out the message you mean to send out. I can only talk about my opinions and the things I look for when I’m considering following you. I share these with the hope of giving you some insight on why people may not follow you at the rate you would like.

Each of these are things you can fix, some of them easier than others. I don’t  guarantee that fixing these things will have a dramatic impact, but I do believe not fixing them could be slowing down the growth of your Twitter community.

1. No Avatar (Or A Bad Avatar)

If you are still using the default [o_O ] image and you have been on Twitter more than 24 hours, you need to fix this! The best avatar is a picture of your face. It doesn’t have to be a professional headshot, and you don’t have to look like an underwear model. People are automatically drawn to faces. They want to have a mental picture of the people they engage.

I give more advice about avatars in my Twitter New User Checklist.

2. Incomplete Profile

Give me information. Tell me who you are. I don’t mind a snarky tone, as long as there is information. Drop clues about what you do, what you like, where your passions run. I’m looking for interesting people who talk about things I care about. If you don’t tell me you love antiquing or rollerblading or travel, how am I supposed to know what we have in common?

3. Goofy Numbers

I do check your following and follower numbers, your community numbers, as well as your update count. I’m looking more for patterns than specifics.

For example, if you have a small number of updates (under 100) and you follow a lot more people than follow you, that seems okay to me. That feels like someone who is working to build a community. But if you have a lot of updates (more than 1000) and the number you follow is way out of proportion to the people who follow you, I’m skeptical.

If your community numbers are small (under 100) and you have just a few updates, I might not follow you. I’ve decided that you are new and you haven’t quite found your voice. I’m going to look for another reason why I should follow you, something that shows me potential. Having solid tweets, full of interesting content, helps. So does posting a full profile.

Oh, and if you have a lot of followers (more than 100) and you have zero updates, I’m running away. Fast.

4. Broadcast vs. Reply Ratio

I check a page or two of your archives to see if you are having conversations with people, or if you are just talking into the wind. I like to see at least 25% replies in your archive. I don’t actually count, I just take an impression. Signs of conversations are good. Unless all of your replies are directed to known celebrity accounts. Then, I am history.

5 Intolerant Viewpoints

This one is a little harder to describe. I don’t look for people who think just like me. I’m not looking for evidence that you are liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, or any other dichotomy in our society. What I’m looking for is an open mind. Someone who engages in honest conversation and isn’t on a mission to convert the world to your viewpoint. Anger, hatred, inflexible view points are all turn-offs for me. If you believe the exact opposite of what I believe and you have honest, sincere conversations around topics where you listen as much as you talk, I’m cool with that. And I’ll follow you.

6. Nothing Stronger Than An R Rating

I’m an adult and I’ve seen a lot of things in my life. There is very little that offends me. But when I’m choosing the content that I’m going to see throughout every business day, I’m going to be a little picky. If every tweet contains profanity, I think you are not very creative with your language choices. If your avatar is definitely NC-17, you don’t meet my Twitter goals. At the same time, if you talk about something real without being graphic, you score points with me.

7 You Tweets Are All Trying To Sell Me Something

I have several free ebooks I peddle, and I tweet about my blog posts almost every day. But I never sell anything, and I promote other people’s work more often than my own. That’s what I expect of you. I’m cool with you mentioning your services and products from time to time. But do you promote the great work of others? Are you as generous in promoting others?

This is one of the biggest realities of social media. You can’t just show up and talk about yourself. If you are used to doing that through your emails and websites and blog posts, you will have a rough time getting real traction on any social media.

Perhaps You Just Need More Visibility

Building a Twitter community is work. It takes time, not just in the beginning, but every week. Set up some searches that help you find people talking about your passion topics, things that will help you meet your Twitter goals. Check them out. Follow them. Engage them in conversation.

If you are writing great tweets and having good conversation and your community isn’t growing, perhaps its just because you haven’t been reaching out to include new people in your community. Let more people into your world, let them see the great stuff you are doing, and let nature take its course.

Your turn: What do you look for when you evaluate someone new on Twitter? What raises red flags for you? Share your opinions in the comments.

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Posted 22 May 2009 § Twitter ‡ Comments (7) ° Tagged: , , , , , ,

Think Global, Tweet Local

Listen to the Twooting podcast where I’m interviewed about finding local people on Twitter.

Use Twitter to find and connect with customers near your business.

Use Twitter to find and connect with customers near your business.

Over the last few weeks, a small pizza joint in New Orleans has made a splash in the technology news. Naked Pizza identifies itself as an all natural pizza with no preservatives or additives, which makes it a healthier pizza. The moniker “naked’ describes it and catches your attention. But the unusual name is not the reason why everyone is talking about Naked Pizza. What really sets Naked Pizza apart is the way they use Twitter to impact their business.

Naked Pizza On Twitter

Naked Pizza focused on finding Twitter users within three miles of their restaurant, and use Twitter to  engage their customers and neighbors. In a scan of their Twitter timeline, you find them joking with customers, and including pictures of customers in the shop. I looked specifically for coupons or discount offers and didn’t find any in the last few pages of tweets. That doesn’t mean that they don’t offer discounts on Twitter that I didn’t find, only that discounts are not their primary message.

Naked Pizza does offer an outstanding example of a small local business that figured out a smart use for Twitter. If you run a small business, check out what they did and borrow some of their brilliance for your own Twitter strategy.

One key element of the Naked Pizza success is finding local Twitter users. If finding local Twitter users would help your business, there are several ways you can find them.

Nearby Tweets

You can use Nearby Tweets to find people on Twitter near any location on the planet. Type in the street address (or just the city) and the distance, and Nearby Tweets displays a list of Twitter users in that geographic area and their recent tweets.

Twitter Advanced Search

The Twitter advanced search form allows you to find users by geography. You identify a location and give a range of miles from that location.  You can enter a street address, a city, and other types of location identification. The results I found were somewhat inconsistent, with a search for Phoenix pulling in some people clearly identifying themselves as being in California. It’s not perfect, but it is a great starting point.

TweepSearch

This tools allows you to search for a specific word or phrase that appears in Twitter user profiles. The results for this search depend on how people enter their location information, and your creativity (or diligence) in thinking of all the possible ways it could appear. For example, they might omit the state, spell out the state name, or use a two-letter state abbreviation. It doesn’t check just the location part of the profile, so if someone mentions another location in their description, that would be in your search results as well. It doesn’t allow you to focus into a specific area around the location.

Twitter Grader

Twitter Grader has a feature that allows you to see the Twitter elite in each city.  These are the top 50 Twitter users according to their Twitter grade. If you live in a large metropolitan area, these results may be too far from your business to help, but are worth reviewing. If you live in a smaller town, you can find some great results here.

The advantage to using this source is that you find people who are successful Twitter users with a large following. One retweet can expand your reach to many other people whom would have been harder to locate through other means.

Twellow

Twellow is primarily a Twitter user directory, but they have a local search feature that allows you to search through the directory listings for your location information. I found different results here than I did from several of the other search options, so I thought this was a valuable addition to your toolbox.

Other Ways To Build Your Community

If you want to build your Twitter community based on your business location, there are several other things you can do.

  • Include your Twitter username in your advertising, including your business cards.
  • Put up a sign when people enter your business that includes your Twitter information.
  • Post a sign on your building or consider renting a billboard to post your Twitter information for people driving near your location.
  • Offer to host a tweetup if this is appropriate for your business. This will bring local Twitter users to your business and will give them a reason to tweet about you with their communities.

When you give your Twitter account information, always remember to ask people to follow you. And consider the possibility of giving them an incentive.

Your turn: Do you have a local business success story to share? Have you done something smart with your Twitter community, or have you seen a business in your community reach out through Twitter? Share your stories here!

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Posted 21 May 2009 § In The News § Twitter ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Blog Resources

Blogs provide an amazing resource for your business needs.

Blogs provide an amazing resource for your business needs.

One thing I love about having a blog is that it gives me a platform to provide bite-sized nuggets of juicy information. Sometimes that information comes from my own business, and sometimes it comes from one of the brilliant bloggers I’ve run across in my research.

My Writing Blogroll

If you haven’t take the time to read through my blogroll, the list of blogs I recommend, check it out now. It’s located in the right column under my blog archive calendar (on my main blog page). I’ve got them organized into categories to help you find just what you need in each visit. Curious about my categories?

It’s about writing:

  • Writing covers a wide range of topics from how to write specific formats, how to write better, and other insights for people who make a living from stringing together words.
  • Creative Writing covers prose, poetry and other types of writing not strictly non-fiction or technical writing. For more general writing or for non-fiction writing, see Writing.
  • Technical Writing covers blogs specially designed to support technical writers.
  • Writing Tools covers the platforms for writing and general information about the range of writing tools available to writers of all kinds.

It’s about information and design:

  • Information Design covers the wide range of topics about how to organize and structure information in any format.
  • Design covers a wide range of visual design and graphic design topics, because even technical writers who focus on content care about the look of their finished products.
  • User Experience covers topics like user interface design, human/computer interaction, and how the design of practical world objects impacts the way we use them. It also covers the way your customers experience your business, whether you are online or in a brick-and-mortar business.
  • Websites covers information about websites, supporting technologies, and insights on how to make better ones.
  • Software covers the tools used to create and process information and publish it for consumption.

It’s about promoting your business:

  • Marketing covers ideas and resources for marketing your small business or solopreneur services. Blogs specifically about social media appear in a separate topic.
  • Social Media covers information and insights about using the wide range of social media tools. Because social media is a marketing platform, you might also want to check out the Marketing category.

It’s about your work life:

  • Freelance covers anything that supports a freelance or solopreneur career and lifestyle.
  • Working Life addresses the information needs for people at work, including job searching, customer satisfaction, and dealing with the darlings in the workplace.
  • Personal Development is the category I could have called “how to nurture yourself while running a business,” but that name is much too long for the narrow column.

It’s about a few other important things:

  • Miscellaneous includes anything that didn’t fit into one of the other topics, but is something of such value and interest that I wanted to share it with you.

Within these categories, I’ve listed nearly 100 blogs, and I add new blogs every week. If you are looking for inspiration or practice advice, check out these great resources!

Your Turn: Do you have a favorite blog that fits into one of my categories that isn’t mentioned here? Why not share it in a comment so we can all discover it.

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Posted 20 May 2009 § Reviews ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , ,