Archive for April 2009
Twitter Tweachings
Posted on: April 24, 2009
The things I’ve learned thus far in my Twitter conquest are quite interesting. No, I haven’t learned how to get rich quick or gain a million followers. Reflecting on the time I spend on Twitter, it’s such a different experience than with any other social media programs I’ve taken part in. When I explain what Twitter is to nonusers, I continually mention the same things over and over. The crazy thing: it’s not just applicable to Twitter – it’s applicable to your life, your work and your personal relationships. Crazy, huh?
So here are the top three things I’ve learned on Twitter (Twitter Teachings, get it?):
- Engage in the conversation: Talk with your followers. It’s not about how many people you follow or vice-versa; it’s about engaging in relevant conversations that are beneficial to both parties. While this concept is painfully obvious on Twitter, it’s amazing that more companies don’t realize the benefits of this concept. Engage in conversation with your customers, even after they’ve purchased! The more you engage and interact with your customers, the better you will be able to anticipate their future needs and thus meet them with your products. Better yet, the more you engage, the more you’ll uncover evangelists singing the praises of your product!
- Give more, get more: The more you give, the more you get. Seems self explanatory. The more you comment on blog posts, retweet (RT) topics, and give solid information in your arena, the more your networks responds positively to you and returns the favor. It’s cyclical. It’s karma. Pay it forward. Whatever you call it, everyone benefits (especially you!).
- It’s all about relationships: You begin to build relationships after a few sub-140 character exchanges. For me, it means adding you to my ‘favorites’ group on Tweetdeck. I don’t want to miss your Tweets and I was to be able to share my advice with you. In turn, I hope when I have my random ‘how-to’ or ‘have you ever’ questions, you will respond. You #followfriday each other. It’s a beautiful thing.
So get engaged in the conversation. Start adding like-minded people, begin contributing to the conversation, commenting on tweets and building your relationship. Oh, and add me so I can be a part of it: @brandiheinz
What have you learned on Twitter?
I realized today how many emails I get notifying me about Whitepapers, Webinars, articles and other information on marketing. It’s almost overwhelming! If you are away from your email for any extended amount of time during typical business hours, you return to an inbox full of relevant (and not-so-relevant) promotional email messages or eNewsletters. I have a hard time sorting through all the good information, no less sorting through the unneeded information. I’m always afraid I will somehow miss that one article I need to read.
In reviewing my email inbox, I’ve decided to compile the top sources that deliver marketing trends and information right to my inbox:
- B@B: As a B2B marketer, this email never wastes my time with B2C marketing information. I know the recommendations, tips and statistics are relevant to my marketing programs and I can immediately see where I stand. You can sign up here.
- MarketingProfs: I especially recommend the ‘Get to the Point’ series (I think I rave about this every week on Twitter). They are short little ‘snippets’ of relevant information, plus they only take a minute to read. You can opt in to any of the many versions of information. I personally am signed up for the Email Marketing and Customer Insight emails – AND as I write this, I just opted in to 4 more. I ALWAYS read these emails. Even if I’m running away from my desk when any of the versions hit my inbox, I always flag them so I can followup on it later. You can sign up here.
- MarketingSherpa: MarketingSherpa was one of the first programs I signed up for. They were studying email and online marketing trends long before most other programs I was subscribed to. There is a wealth of information available on their website, and their emails even give you special access to locked information. My favorite program from them is their ‘Chart of the Week’ that’s sent out every Tuesday. You can sign up here.
- MarketingExperiments: A division of MarketingSherpa, MarketingExperiments looks at the analytical side of marketing, testing EVERYTHING! Their monthly clinics are interactive and very interesting. You can sign up here.
- Your Vendors: Make sure you are signed up for your vendors’ email programs. You ensure that you are getting up-to-date product information, as well as tips and tricks on how to optimize your use of your products. The really good vendors also share general industry best practices and guidance. One of my favorite programs is from our email marketing program, Silverpop EngageB2B because there is always a solid mix of product info and email marketing advice in their emails. Oh, and Silverpop has B2C advice too! You can sign up here.
What are your favorite sources of marketing information? I’m always looking for more! I am particularly interested in more information on social media marketing. Suggestions?
Thanks for hitting me!
Posted on: April 17, 2009
Yesterday I had the most hits EVER on my blog: 43. My next highest has ever been 18. I know, maybe a little lame in the blog world, but very exciting as I’ve just begun getting into the whole blog thing.
So, THANKS!
How did this happen? From what I can tell I have been slowly gaining traffic from accumulating so many followers on Twitter. But last night I spent some time commenting on various blog posts that I enjoyed which I think drove some traffic. Gave back a little, ya know? Give kudos where they’re deserved?
Karma, it’s great. It gets ya hits!
I don’t recall exactly how many contacts I had on Twitter on Friday morning. What I do know: it was well south of 100 for both people I was following and followers.
I had noticed #FollowFriday before, but never spent time looking into it because, well, it’s Friday and I work or I’m heading out to do something non-computer related on Friday nights. But since I was off on Good Friday and didn’t have much else to do, I started scanning the recommendations. Here’s what they look like:
It was contagious; I added a few people, then those people were making recommendations, and then people were adding me, and lo and behold after spending a few hours with #FollowFriday, I had around 150 ‘Tweeps’ I was following and a similar amount of followers. To find more people of interest, I went to search.twitter.com and searched #FollowFriday with keywords such as ‘social media’ and ‘marketing’ to find people of interest.
With so many new people to follow and keep up on, I asked for tips and recommendations to keep track of everything more easily. Tweetdeck was suggested again and again, so I decided to try it. It’s not the fanciest looking program and I haven’t quite figured out how to take advantage of all the functionality, but it definitely helps me keep track of everything without having multiple Safari windows open.
My new TweetDeck setup
Basically, you have a column of your friends, a column for direct messages, and a column for replies. From there, you can run new searches that add more columns. So, I now have columns for my #FollowFriday searches along with searches on products at my work. I also added a column of ‘Favorites’ to keep track of people I know provide valuable information as I sift through all the new messages. Another benefit: Tweetdeck also shortens URLs for you and allows you to reTweet messages very easily.
A few days later, I’ve sifted through and followed back people, unfollowed others, and I am now following 224 people and am up to 239 followers. The key is, not all are legitimate: get rich quick, business developers, random people. But, I have made connections with some really interesting people and am looking forward to more #FollowFridays!
Run with Nike+
Posted on: April 11, 2009
- In: Randoms
- 2 Comments
Nike+ Kit (image from freshnessmag.com)
In a previous post I touched briefly on Nike+, but didn’t go into much detail. While this is not a traditional social media/networking tool, I think it’s interesting how Nike has tapped into those features to create a running community that spans around the world.
How did I find out about it? It all started with an Amazon gift card I was given for my birthday. I knew I needed some new athletic shoes, and am a big fan of Nike Shox. I found a well-priced pair of shoes and saw that they were Nike+ shoes. I had a little more money left on my gift card, so I also purchased the Nike+ iPod Sport kit (it’s listed on Apple’s website for $29).
What does this mean? Basically there is a place cutout in the shoe where you can place a running sensor (Note: you can purchase a ‘pouch’ for your sensor that can be tied into your laces for a lot less then a new pair of shoes). Then, there is a small piece that you plug into your iPod, and, voila! Your sensor can communicate with your iPod to track your run speed, time, calorie burned and distance. Then, when you plug your iPod into your computer, it syncs up with your iTunes and Nikeplus.com accounts to graph out your run, track your runs to date etc.
Wanna see how it works? Here is a run I just synced up.
BabblingB's Synced Run
All of that is great, but what Nike has done to create community is the interesting part here. You can set personal goals, but you can also set up challenges and invite friends – or, leave it open and anyone can join the challenge.
I’m also a part of a few challenges, such as ‘Most miles in 30 days’ ‘100-mile Milestone Challenge’, or you can set up personal goals – mine is 12 runs in 4 weeks.
I have a ways to go...
My running goal this month
All in all I am very happy with my Nike+ purchase! It makes running fun for me again, and makes me feel accountable and more determined to run. If you’re a runner, you have to try this out!
Challenge me. My username is ‘brandigirl’. I need the motivation!
You are in LOVE with your computer
Posted on: April 8, 2009
My ‘hour per night’ maximum hasn’t really been the norm for my social media study. It’s been more like ‘sit on couch in front of TV with laptop in lap for entire evening until there is a perma-dent in couch cushion’. Seriously, I need to flip my cushions.
So, I have been accused of neglect, being obsessed with the Internet, and being in love with my computer by my boyfriend. Hmm… exactly what I was trying to avoid. The first step is admitting it, right?
Twitter is my new obsession
Posted on: April 4, 2009
Twitter is probably the newest social media outlet I’ve become a part of, and it’s quickly becoming my new obsession. I didn’t really get the point at first, but have come to find it’s terribly addicting!
My new favorite ‘feature’ I’ve found is TweetStats. You follow their Twitter account, then go to their website, put in your account name, and view statistics on your account. So cool! And another fuel to my fire of using Twitter for work – instant analytics! You can also see overall Twitter stats.
Twitter Stats April 4, 2009
I downloaded Twhirl, but I may look into Tweetdeck or Twitterfeed since I’ve found it just as easy to just use the web application for updates. I also find it interesting how celebrities use Twitter. I’ve been following Perez Hilton on there, and have heard about Diddy and John Mayer being Twitter junkies – and this is proof! I just may have to start following them to see what all the buzz is about. In fact, I heard a big reason Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer broke up was due to Twitter? Hopefully my own addiction doesn’t hinder my relationship…
TweetCloud
I’ve only been on Twitter around a month, so my stats are a little lame. But I find the TweetCloud pretty cool, and you can see your top 5 Tweet words. Mine are marketing, twitter, event, awesome, work. Need to stop using awesome as a descriptor so much!
Yesterday I attended a tradeshow and conference, Digital Marketing World, hosted by MarketingProfs. I didn’t have to pack a bag, nor get in a car or on a plane, and I certainly didn’t have to check into a hotel and spend lotsa my company’s dough.
Yes, from the comfort of my cozy cubicle, I got myself a cup of coffee and sat down to attend an event with over 14,000 registrants. I was skeptical about this ‘Virtual Conference’. I had meetings throughout the day and a ton to do, so I didn’t want to waste my time.
What I found was a very cool experience. Something like a professional ‘Sims’ game, I quickly created a profile and uploaded my picture, then perused the conference. There was a showroom floor, with virtual show booths manned by staff than instantly welcomed me via chat. The marketing collateral and links to more information could be easily inserted into my virtual briefcase for safekeeping – no need to trek the tradeshow floor to find a bag giveaway to hold all my swag.
Digital Marketing World by MarketingProfs
In addition, there was an ‘auditorium’ where live webcasts were taking place, a networking lounge where you could chat with other attendees, and a resource center. I didn’t get a chance to view any of the live webcasts, but I did see that they were all recorded. I am particularly interested in viewing the recording of the presentation given my Barack Obama’s Campaign Manager on Online Branding Strategies and Tactics. I downloaded the handout that went with this presentation, ‘The Obama Playbook: How digital marketing & social media won the election’ and it is very interesting.
Once again, there was a Twitter hashtag set up for this event and people were Tweeting all day. It was really fascinating to see this happen for the second time in a couple weeks, and it’s making me think of how we can apply it professionally. It’s amazing how quickly digital media is spreading as a marketing vehicle. Just because it’s ‘free’, there can be a perception that it’s a ‘nice-to-have’ or unnecessary. I think this event showed that it’s essential in business today.
Chalk another one up for Social Media and Social Networking!
Stranger Danger
Posted on: April 2, 2009
I decided to check myself out on the Internet. Now that I’m on all these networks, I decided I should see what ‘Strangers’ can see about me. I’ve been pretty careful in the past, and in recent times have done a decent job of monitoring the things I post… but after my Tweet showing up for my director, and getting a notification that my exboyfriend was ‘following’ me on Twitter, I think I better re-examine!
When I Googled my Full Name, the first 3 results that came up were for Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
1) Facebook didn’t have my picture, but it did have the groups I’m in and what I’m a fan of, which includes my school and organizations I’m in. I went into my account settings and changed everything so that JUST my friends could see everything, and in ‘Search result content’, unchecked ‘My friends list’ and ‘Pages I am a fan of’. Now you really can’t see anything personal about me at all, just that I’m on Facebook. Switching into ‘Image’ search, there was an image of me attributed to facebook, so hopefully that has been changed now that I fixed my settings.
2) LinkedIn had my current workplace and school, but since it’s for professional networking, I think that’s ok. Just for the heck of it, I decided to check out the account settings and see what my options are. There are a few options to limit what is shown, but off the company you currently work for shown at the top of the screen is not possible. Little Scary…
3) Twitter was the freakiest – it showed a message I sent someone telling them where I work. Creepy. More account settings… ‘Protect My Updates’ needed to be checked.
Other things that showed up were my school records and running times, messages I had posted to my school’s blog using my full name, and a whole bunch of information that wasn’t me (nothing compromising, PHEW)
So the moral of the story is: I thought I was being careful, but it’s still pretty easy to find personal things out about ya, so be cautious!
Update 1: Unprotected my Twitter account updates after a coworker told me he felt creepy having to ask to follow me. Hopefully they will enable more variations to their security in the future.
Update 2: Removed the screen shot images on this post after I was told it was a little hypocritical to post about security then show my information on the shots… point taken!
