Tag: twitter

Social Media Success; Learn how to use Trends, Hashtags & Yourself and have Real Conversations

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All people, in business and personal life, prefer to be talked to than at. Live interactions can define your reputation as a friend, foe, pro or troll to your communities far more so than the scheduled content you create and distribute across your “strategic #social channels.”

Want to use social media to grow your online presence?

Be a “friendly professional,” someone who has all the answers and others want to use as a resource, but don’t forget to also just be human.

#Marketers and other communications specialist use countless strategies, tools and working hours trying to start “human conversations” when real conversations are happening at a rate of +/- 10,000 tweets/minute, all day, every day.

#TBH –  I am an opinionated person, but most of what I share from my public accounts  is non-combative.

#SocialMedia is a huge part of my personal #brand and I make a concerted effort to reduce spamming my social #networks. I used to believe an objective, quantified tone helps combat the stigmas that all #WomenInBiz, tech, #finance, etc., face, and that if I showed human emotion, somehow humans would like me less.

But that changed a few nights weeks months ago (ah the joys of personal #blogging). I was scrolling through my social feeds when, percolating through the #software community, a newly trending hashtag caught my eye.

It was a #poetry challenge. Comical, casual and lacking any real reward besides community #BrowniePoints. The contributions coming in from other users inspired me.

He said

He said “quick,” and I was. Getting in on the trend early is important for maximizing the impressions and engagements you receive. Also, being the early bird to a trending worm makes you seem totally on top of your industry/topic’s game.

Their off-the-cuff #haiku[s] legitimately made me #LOL and helped inspire the oh-so-clever ideas (#imho) in my head that demanded to be written, shared and smirked at – at least I thought so.

A few ideas popped into my head right away, one of them actually exited my fingers and appeared in my #twitter text box. The #tweet was ready to be sent to strangers and appreciated by new friends. I took a quick glance for typos and without any further consideration hit send. I’d done it, I’d shared my own #DevOpsHaiku and tagged an #IndustryLeader or two I hoped (without expectation) I could stir a chuckle from.

I just couldn't stay away. I had the taste for a trend and my personal brand was getting unprecedented awareness through the mentions, retweets and replies of those far highter up the social latter than I.

I just couldn’t stay away. I had the taste for a trend and my personal brand was getting great awareness through the mentions, retweets and replies of those far higher up the social ladder than I – for making them laugh.

The rewards for actually drafting and responding publicly with my own #creative content, without first suffocating myself in doubt and revisions, blew away my expectations. 

I almost immediately found myself engaging with two of the very personalities I, plus tens-of-thousands of others in the #SoftwareDelivery/#Development world, avidly follow – @joshcorman & @RealGeneKim. Not only them, but C-levels from my #PR clients engaged with my posts positively and we were able to humanize each other a bit more – something that can be difficult when in #B2B relationships separated by time zones.

Restricting yourself to strictly content creation and distribution may allow you to reach the customers you’re targeting but not the humans want to talk to.

TL;DR: Find a trending hashtag that interest you, explore the conversation and speak up when you’re inspired to: Throughout this blog post I provided several #hashtags, hyperlinked for your convenience. There are also a variety of tools available for tracking current trends.

If you want to get social on social media, don’t blindly use keywords, hashtags or #SEO strategies to get placed into conversations you’re not present in. You’re perceived as legitimate when you provide a unique, individualized perspective. It may be as simple as hashtagging your location (e.g. #SanFrancisco, #Austin & #Boulder) and joining the local chatter happening around you; attending a live event and using its hashtag to connect with others there, or contributing to an online #TwitterChat.

Entering any conversation is the first step to leading it.

How To Live Tweet at an Industry Conference – Five Key Considerations

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Prepare images ahead of time if you have certain messages you know you want to convey throughout an event. I created this image for my agency's blog post on its involvement in the conference.

Prepare images ahead of time if you have certain messages you know you want to convey throughout an event. I created this image for my agency’s blog post on its involvment in the conference.

Studying the results of last year’s efforts and what I have learned since, I came up with five basic considerations to always keep in mind when sharing for/from/about an industry event similar to DOES.

  1. What topics and ideas is your audience most interested in?
    First and foremost, you want to share what people care about. Share tweetable tidbits from conference sessions, behind the scenes photos and secrets, trends you notice and other personal observations that provide your audience access/visibility to the event in some way they wouldn’t have without your help.Don’t tweet: “So-and-so is taking the stage to discuss [insert session title from conference pamphlet]”
    Tweet: “Loved @SoandSo’s take on______ ! “[insert quote from speaker]”Dont tweet: “There is a post-conference happy hour happening in the main lobby now.”
    Tweet: “Any hour w/the awesome folks at [insert event hashtag] is a happy hour. Come say hi to me in the main lobby now!”

    Don’t tweet: “The main stage is set up and ready to host the brilliant minds at [insert event name].”
    Tweet: Can’t wait to hear all the geniuses that will take the [insert event hashtag]’s awesome main stage” + an actual photo you took of the stage.

  2. What topics and ideas are your client/boss most interested in promoting?Maybe you are just at an event for yourself, or because your company sent you to learn and absorb what you desire to.
    More likely, there is some sort of objective. Whether you are tweeting on behalf of an event (as I do), on behalf of someone else (a thought leadership strategy), or as a representative of a company present at an event (think sponsors), you must strongly consider what is it that those paying for you to be at an event care most about publicizing.At DOES there are several breakout sessions every day, that means four or more amazing sessions compete against each other at the same time, multiple times a day. While there may be topics you’re personally drawn to and want to cover, you must keep in mind what topics are most relevant your objective.Is anyone from the organization you are representing speaking at the event? – You gotta be there. 

    Are any of your client’s customers/partners present at the event? – You should be talking about that.

    What statements being made directly relate to the fields your client is involved in?
    – Have a reaction that is inline with organizational messaging and objectives.

  3. Is what you are about to share a coherent thought, understandable to someone not in the room?
    One of the most valuable aspects of sharing live updates and content via social media at an in-person event is that participants no longer have to be “in person.” To see what is going on at an event and involve themselves in happening conversations, all users need to do is log into twitter, facebook, instagram etc.
    But remember, that is all they are doing. They do not have the same visibility as you and they likely don’t have access into the information being shared that doesn’t make it to their social feed. If you are trying to drive involvement, don’t share content that is illogical from an outsider’s perspective.Include as much context as possible and try to ensure that what you’re sharing is a complete thought and could stand on it’s own

    Dont tweet: “Holy crap what a great session.”
    Tweet: “Holy crap, the entire [insert event hashtag] crowd just lost it when @[insert speaker handle/name] shared their results: [insert useful soundbite, shared stats, ect.]”

  4. Are You Fast and Focused?
    When sharing content live, there is always a rush. You are moving fast trying to listen, type and read at the same time. This is when serious mistakes get made. If you are halfway through writing a tweet and you can’t remember with certainty what was said, don’t tweet it – certainly don’t attribute it to anyone who may resent being misquoted.You have to focus on what was said while listening to what is being said. If a speaker starts a phrase like “The one thing you must consider when…” and then ends up on a tangent, never completing the thought, never complete the tweet.

    People are very aware of their social media profiles and presence, if you misquote someone badly enough to change their meaning you risk being called out on social media yourself – something one only enjoys in a positive light.

  5. How can you drive the most engagement from your micro content?
    Just because you are moving fast, doesn’t mean you have to move dumb. As always, you want to drive your content to as many relevant people as well. As with regular social sharing, this is greatly aided by the use of proper hashtags and handles.More often than not these days, conferences will have an official hashtag and publicize that at least somewhere in a program – if not more flagrantly. USE IT. Sending a tweet from a conference without its official hashtag sends the tweet to your followers, not those specifically interested in following the event.

    Also, if a speaker is worth his weight in stage time, they will have a social media presence and twitter handle. Find those ahead of time. Often an event’s program may include speaker handles, however this is not always the case. Come prepared with handles and hashtags identified and ready for use.

Use Twitter Lists! My Hidden Twitter Tip + 21 More in Inc. Magazine!

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There are so many tips, tricks and secrets to twitters that it takes a collection of power users to even begin listing them all! Last week, John Brandon did just that for Inc. Magazine. He sent out a HARO request and myself and some other social media badasses answered…

Check out this list of “22 Hidden Features to Help You get the Most out of Twitter” suggested by top twitter pros – myself included! 

From following the 80/20 content rule, hashtag hacks and more the list provides some great twitter tips for new users and those working on their personal brand online. Most are not truly hidden but are all to often forgotten, including my favorite, no.15, “Include an image in every tweet. No excuses.” – Sarah Mitus, Digital Strategist, InkHouse Media + Marketing.” Short, sweet and accurate.

What was my tip?

Take advantage of Twitter lists

“Lists allow you to follow far more people in an organized way. Instead of having a ratatouille of various industry information, personal status updates and cat pictures, utilize categorized, curated news feeds created by yourself or others (Hint: You can subscribe to other Twitter users’ lists) to stay in the know on the specific topics and profiles you care about in the moment.”

I have currently 43 different lists saved and curated on my personal twitter account, 20+ for @CodeCraftSchool.

Screen Shot 2016-06-12 at 7.10.39 PM

A few of my twitter lists. See them all: https://twitter.com/HalieNoble/lists/

Categories range widely. Those I follow for my job as Marketing Manager at a coding school include names like ‘Colorado Tech Influencers,’ ‘Startup & VC News,’ ‘Tech – Code Masters’ as well as a list of all past, present and upcoming CodeCraft students that are active on twitter.I follow just as many for the causes I am passionate about, namely women in leadership and diversity in tech news sources, influencers and affiliated organizations.

On top of that, I have my “Just for fun” lists which include comedians, authors my friends. The amount of “just for fun” accounts I follow is so grossly overshadowed by work and women accounts that if I ever wanted to use twitter for a laugh, I had to section out these accounts so I can easily enjoy. That reasoning is exactly why you create any list on twitter – minimize clutter when looking for specific conversations.

 

There’s No Value in Disingenuous Social Media

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When people talk about social media used for branding/PR/marketing, you always hear that it’s finally a chance for organizations to “have a voice, and open a dialog with their audiences.” Yet, as I scroll through my endless feeds on countless profiles, all I see are strategies that clearly view people as stats, never look beyond their own proliferation and entirely miss the unique value offered by social media.

Hamlet Quotes

So what’s the point?

If you’re trying to humanize your brand, what kind of person would your brand be based on the content you tweet and the practices you keep? We all have that friend (or those friends) that only talks about themself, is blatantly uninterested in what anyone else has to say, and worse, is always repeating the same, played-out stories.

Don’t be that person, but…do be a person. 

Automation and social technologies are key and necessary evils  lifeboats when managing large and/or multiple brands on social media. Social content’s shelf life is seconds-to-minutes max. In order to reach more of your audience, whenever they may choose to check their feeds, it’s necessary to schedule out evergreen content at a multitude and variety of times.

Big Data and analytics are a huge help when trying to optimize and guide your social strategy. When managing highly active social profiles that demand almost constant proliferation to meet business goals, tools that recommend and aggregate content can help drastically cut down the time. However, there should always be a human touch to your accounts.

I use countless tools for a variety of tasks: Content generation/aggregation, social listening, social media management and scheduling, analytics, competitor monitoring, influencer relations etc.

I’m not saying don’t follow back those who follow you. I’m saying follow back those you encounter who share things of value to you and your brand. Personally, I follow about 65% of those that follow me on Twitter. Once a person follows me, I check out what they’ve tweeted recently. If something catches my eye, I’ll follow.

Don’t follow blindly, your twitter feed should be a resource to you, an aggregation of thoughts/ideas/news that you have deemed relevant to the conversations you want to be a part of.

Also, don’t follow someone only in the hope that they will follow you back. I once had a client ask me, “is a week-long enough to wait before unfollowing those that didn’t follow us back?”

… … … no. Again, be genuine.

Follow those who share interests with your brand. If they don’t follow you back, that’s fine. All your “follows” need not be requited.

If you blindly follow back all those who follow you, or like pages and posts in an irreverent land grab of impressions, you lose sight of the new value social media offers. 

What’s 10,000 impressions on an audience that has no interest in you or what your brand has to say vs. 1,000 impressions that followed you organically and will actually digest, react and potentially “buy in” to what you’re saying?

Build more than an audience, but a community. Be a voice to your brand's customers, partners, fans and employees and listen to what they have to say back. Don't worry about reaching those that add nothing to this dynamic.

Build more than an audience, but a community. Be a voice to your brand’s customers, partners, fans and employees and listen to what they have to say back. Don’t worry about reaching those that add nothing to this dynamic.

…It’s like a man drowning of thirst opting for an ocean of salt water vs. a small, fresh-water creek…

Sure you have all these followers and your impression number is up, but you’re hard-thought content is being ignored by those who see it and unseen by those would have found the most value in what you have to share.

If you do successfully develop a community of followers genuinely interested in what your brand has to share, don’t punish them with endless self-promotional content. Your following has already “liked” (“followed”/”1+’d”/”connected”/ etc.) your profile, reward them by having something of use or entertaining for them in return.

Before you post: “Will this content be appreciated by my targeted audience(s) and is it inline with the campaign’s overall objective(s)?”

Yes, each of your posts, on any given platform will should immediately increase your profile’s impression count, but if your audience feels spammed, you’ve made the wrong impression.

Large followings of randomly construed interest groups and scatter-shooting dull, lead-generation posts may give you the numbers you (your board/investors/bosses) want to see, but through content no one else wants to be shown. Personally, I am far more concerned with stats like “engagement rating” and clicks than I am impressions. Getting content in front of someone is easy, making them care is the challenge.

Look at the brands you follow. What compelled you to do so in the first place? If it wasn’t just an attempt to cajole the brand into following you, identify what type of content attracted you. In general, (consumer) audiences are likely to start following a brand’s social profile in order to be in the know of company updates, discounts and promotions, thought-leadership in your areas of expertise and/or my personal favorite strategy, because you “surprised them with delight.”

Give your brand a real personality. In the virtual world, just as in the physical world, no one likes a fake.

Give your brand a real personality. In the virtual world, just as in the physical world, no one likes a fake.

Chances are if you’re not having fun creating the content, no one’s having fun reading it.

If you know there’s no value in what you put out, your readership will too. If even you’re bored reposting the same, dull lead generation posts, your audience probably tuned you out a while ago. If you disingenuously follow(back) profiles with no intention of listening to what they have to say, you’ve become the egotistical, attempt.

Having digested my thoughts spelling them out here, it’s clear to me what the no.1 guiding commandment for using social media in brand PR/marketing is: The Golden Rule.

Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.

Optimize not only your following’s experience, but that of your brand’s by listening closely and engaging thoughtfully.