Successful Social Media: Ten Twitter Tips Part I

Here are Ten Twitter Tips, social media and it's best and worst. Hopefully this will inspire a few ideas on how to build and monetize your database using twitter. This post will be discussed on the David Kamatoy Radio Show.

Ten Twitter Tips, Successful and Unsuccessful Examples with David Kamatoy and Morgan Westerman. Morgan Westerman created one of the most successful viral videos of the internet and has recently focused his energy on social media. In just a few short months he has gathered about 25,000 followers on twitter. He is currently working with entrepreneurs on best practices in sales conversion. He can be followed @morganwesterman.

TEN TWITTER TIPS Part I

1. 

Dell Computers $2 million and counting: Dell was the first company to come out with a press release that actually stated that they made a profit via twitter. http://twitter.com/DellOutlet started tweeting for the U.S. Dell Outlet in June 2007 based on a suggestion from someone attending the   SXSW Interactive.

They rewarded dell followers by promoting refurbished gear specifically and have noted sales to prove it.

THE LESSON: They created a specific type of reward and message that was different from their other marketing. In tandem with the reality that most twitter followers will be a bit tech savvy purchasing online this was a good match.

The result would have been different if they didn't do the discounted and refurbished sales.

2. Steve Agee, The Sarah Silverman Project: Steve Agee comedian started off his twitter following by pulling off a stunt on Ustream.tv about reading all first 5,000 names live on air when he hit 5,000. He is currently at  863,420.

Really good example of someone in the public spotlight using that publicity to gather a following in a new genre. Dane Cook did it on myspace and now Steve Agee is doing it on twitter.

ENTERTAINER TIP: Remember that when your on a hit show or in the limelight. Use it to build your database. Anyone in this side of the business knows that you never know when your going to get your show canceled. In radio they often sell the station out from under you with very little rumbling. If they told you the advertisers would go away.

OWN YOUR OWN DATABASE AND GET THEM TO AM EMAIL LIST

LIKE JUGGLEMAIL RIGHT AWAY.

3. Burger Lounge: http://twitter.com/burger_lounge Our friends at burger lounge did a great promotion that got some solid coverage. They gave away a burger to their twitter followers for an evening.Twitter fans, get a FREE burger in Little Italy today!

The Lesson: REWARD your followers at some point with a free gift, special discount or content.

Unsuccessful Social Media:3 Examples

4. Straight to Sales: Straight to SPAM! http://twitter.com/Wealth_Formula No Humanity This is perfect example of what does not work and will most likely be deleted as spam. Straight to a landing page with only one message. REALLY!!!

5. Good Porn Bad Porn: http://twitter.com/A_Dempsey While this may go straight to a porn link the good thing is the quotes and a varying message. Sneaky Porn Spam generally bad. 

6. Don't Get Bitchy: It's a Public Forum... Personal Conversation Gone Wrong: http://valleywag.gawker.com/5152016/canuck-rag-regrets-tech-reporters-twitter-tirade Wow! read this exchange just awful. Thanks Joe Long.

The Lessons: 1. Use a landing page as seen below. 2. Quotes can be quite useful if used correctly. Choosing quotes that are related to your subject matter and then either blogging about them or just reference them back to you is a good idea in creating an ideal emotion. 3. It's public people remember that journalists are now quoting "tweets".

THREE TWITTER TIPS

7. Customize your twitter page. I use Google's picassa to create a collage using pictures and logos. You have to play with the output settings to get it right but it's a great free application. 

http://twitter.com/davidkamatoy

http://twitter.com/guykawasaki

http://picasa.google.com/

8. Use Social Media Landing Pages ala Darren Rouse and facebook. 

http://www.problogger.net/about-darren-rowse-problogger/

http://yotamak.blogs.com/davidkamatoy/about-david-at-davidkamatoycom.html

9. Content, Content, Content...

If you truly want to convert to sales or interactivity then you have to earn the respect of your followers through credibility. Therefore push content...

Blog postings- Like this one.

Press Releases- 

Email Marketing: Jugglemail emails create unique URL's that can be easily posted onto twitter. We do it all the time with our press release emails. 

Videos

Facebook

Other peoples content: rt someone elses tweet usually garners attention and is often reciprocated. 

10. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery: Pay attention to who you and others pay attention to and then customize that style to your own.

BONUS Final Advice: Remember that ultimately you don't own your twitter,facebook or myspace profiles. They can be deleted at anytime for complaints, overuse, spam. To top it all off the parameters are constantly changing.

TIP: Covert to a real email and contact information as quickly as possible for real contacts.

 jugglemail.com FREE TRIAL

We do this using the auto responders on our jugglemail system or just dropping them into the system upon approval. 

David Kamatoy is a juggler both literally and figuratively. He hosts a show on Ustream.tv 2-5 pst on Entrepreneurship, Entertainment and Internet Marketing. As a co-founder of the email marketing brand jugglemail.com one of his goals is to share best practices on how to integrate social media, blogging email marketing with more traditional models. Join the email list to contact him directly.